Digital Commons Network^™

Reinterpreting Catuṣkoṭi In Contemporary Philosophy: Tensions Between Non-Classical Logic And East Asian Buddhist Soteriology, Ronald S. Green

Philosophy and Religious Studies

This study aims to evaluate the reinterpretation of the concept of catuṣkoṭi (tetralemma) in contemporary philosophy, particularly within the discourse of non-classical logic, and to compare it with traditional interpretations found in East Asian Buddhism. The research addresses the tension between modern logical approaches—such as those proposing the addition of a fifth truth value (ineffability)—and soteriological frameworks within traditions like Mādhyamaka, which emphasise the function of liberating individuals from conceptual entanglements. This study employs qualitative methods, incorporating hermeneutic and comparative approaches, along with close textual analysis of classical primary sources, including the Mūlamadhyamakakārikā, and the works of East Asian Buddhist …

Memory, Music, Manuscripts: The Ritual Dynamics Of Kōshiki In Japanese Sōtō Zen, Junko Oba

Yale Journal of Music & Religion

A book review is presented for Memory, Music, Manuscripts: The Ritual Dynamics of Kōshiki in Japanese Sōtō Zen, authored by Michaela Mross, by Junko Oba.

Cultural And Religious Perspectives On Suicide And Healing, Arielle Friedman

be Still

This essay is built off of a paper I wrote in a college global health course on culture and mental illness. I have always been fascinated by cultural interpretations of illness & believe that as a future physician, it is my responsibility to educate myself and others on the complex interplay between religious ideologies & recognition/management of biological disease in order to provide appropriate patient-centered care.

Exploring The Growth And Impact Of Contemporary Mindfulness Programs In Japanese Society, Shreya Wagh

Japanese Society and Culture

In today's fast-paced world, mindfulness practice offers a peaceful way to enhance awareness and find clarity in the mind. This practice, rooted in Hindu and Buddhist traditions, aims to achieve spiritual enlightenment. In the late 20th century, mindfulness was adapted into secular, evidence-based therapeutic interventions in the West, leading to its widespread inclusion in healthcare, education, and corporate settings globally. The Westernized version of mindfulness has also been reintroduced to its countries of origin. Japan is no exception. The purpose of this article is to comprehend the rise and growth of mindfulness programs in Japan by analyzing existing literature, particularly …

Mola: A Tibetan Tale Of Love And Loss, Dereck Daschke

Journal of Religion & Film

This is a film review of Mola: A Tibetan Tale of Love and Loss (2025), dir. Martin and Yangzom Brauen.

The Valley Of The Wind And Buddhism, Grace Aulicino

CAFE Symposium 2025

Hayao Miyazaki’s Nausicaä of the Valley of the Wind is a philosophical exploration of fulfillment, rooted in Buddhist and Taoist principles. The film contrasts the destructive forces of greed and individualism, embodied by Kushana and the Tolmekians, with the harmonious collectivism of the People of the Valley of the Wind. Nausicaä, the film’s heroine, challenges traditional gender norms by being a strong, selfless leader who seeks peace and balance rather than power. Her journey reflects the Taoist ideal of surrender as a path to enlightenment, ultimately sacrificing herself to unite humanity and nature. Through stunning visuals and rich storytelling, Miyazaki …

Is “Sám Hối” An Adequate Form Of Apology?, Hien Vu Gia

CAFE Symposium 2025

This project studies a recent Buddhism scandal in Vietnam, examining whether the apology offered by the authorities was successful. From this, the project explores if “sám hối” (or repentance) could be considered a form of apology.

Is Buddhist View Of Mental States In Consonance With The Foundational Tenets Of Their System?: Investigating Nyāya And Buddhist Debate On Perception In Jayanta Bhatta’S Nyāyamanjari, Ajay K. Verma

Comparative Philosophy

The first noble truth in Buddhism points toward a purely phenomenal experience. Though purely qualitative in nature, the experience of suffering has an existential aspect. As stated in the second noble truth, suffering has a cause that relates to our situatedness in the world. Notwithstanding, the cause of suffering has to be something external to the mental state of suffering itself. Some of the more recent studies on mental states suggest two different positions on the nature of mental states. One may view mental states as self-referential, reflexive and purely qualitative in nature; alternatively, one could view them as transitive …

40 Years Passing By In (A) “Heartbeat”, Christopher Janney

Monsoon: South Asian Studies Association Journal

This article outlines the forty-year history go Christopher Janney’s iconic performance work “HeartBeat.” Trained as an architect and jazz musician, Janney combines these two disciplines to create large interactive light/sound installations and performances. On the one hand, he attempts to make architecture more like music, more “alive” using real-time sensing devices as on his “Harmonic Convergence” installation on the Miami International Airport. On the other hand, he attempts to make music more like architecture, more physical more visual. In his “HeartBeat” performance, a dancer wears a heartbeat device that amplifies his/her heartbeat in “real time.” Over this pulse, live musicians …

Yoga Sūtra Book Four And The Yogabindu, Christopher Key Chapple

Monsoon: South Asian Studies Association Journal

Four themes from the fourth pāda of Patañjali’s Yoga Sūtra are examined here: karma (IV:2-13), individuality (IV:16), humility (IV:20-22), and freedom (IV:29-34). Affirmations and variant interpretations of these four are provided from Haribhadra Virahāṅka’s Yogabindu, most likely composed a century or two later.

Collective Karma: From The Yogasūtra To Taylor Swift, Zoë Slatoff

Monsoon: South Asian Studies Association Journal

The Indian knowledge traditions speak at length about karma, which is divided into three categories—accumulated (saṃcita), ripe (prārabdha), and future (kriyamāṇa). While much is said about our individual karma and how it affects our repeated reincarnation in cyclic existence, how does this affect others and how do others affect us? In other words, as this paper explores, what is our reciprocal and collective karma?

Painting Liberation: A Visual Ontology Of The Interplay Of Mind And Consciousness In Book Four Of The Yoga Sūtras, Melissa Townsend

Monsoon: South Asian Studies Association Journal

This presentation explores how artistic practice can illuminate philosophical questions about the nature of mind, consciousness, and liberation as articulated in Book Four of the Yoga Sūtras of Patañjali. Through a series of paintings that visually translate these sūtras, I propose that art offers a unique, experiential means of engaging with the complex relationship between citta (mind) and puruṣa (consciousness).

The paintings function as a form of “visual ontology,” inviting viewers to engage with abstract philosophical concepts in a sensory, tangible way. By depicting the interplay between the mutable processes of the mind and the unchanging awareness of consciousness, these …

Transformation Of Buddhist Musical Practices From The 7th-13th Centuries As A Response To Political And Social Disorder In Medieval India, Stephan I. Duran

Monsoon: South Asian Studies Association Journal

This article gives an account of the development of Buddhist musical practices on the Indian subcontinent from their earliest, datable instances, to the disappearance of Buddhist institutions from India proper, demonstrating the persistence of descendant traditions of Sanskrit Buddhist chant and song in contemporary Japanese, Tibetan, and Newar esoteric Buddhist communities. It is argued that the Buddhist musical theory and praxis of these three cultural spheres both preserve features of ancient and medieval Indian Buddhist music and sonically illustrate the transition from political and social order to de-centralized social organization, a shift that took place between the 7^th and …

Sacred Recitation Of The Tibetan Yungdrung Bön Tradition: The Kharnatsang Collection Of Skad And The Arrangement Of The Three Heart Mantras, Christiane Strothmann

Yale Journal of Music & Religion

The digital age has long dawned in many of the Tibetan Monasteries in exile. Thus, the inclusion of internet platforms and the usage of digital communication technologies was naturally part of my ethnomusicological collaboration with the Tibetan Bön monastic chant leader and scholar Geshé Dawa Namgyal Kharnatsang on the sacred recitation of the Yungdrung Bön tradition of Menri Monastery in Dolanji, India. In this article I will offer insights into Kharnatsang’s and my motivation to develop a hybrid collaboration and discuss the role and impact of the digital technologies on the traditional chain of transmission. I will draw on two …

The Pig, The Snake And The Pigeon: A Buddhist Reimagination Of The Classic Tale Of Zhou Chu, Henry C.H. Shiu

Journal of Religion & Film

This article examines the Buddhist inspirations underlying the contemporary reinterpretation of the classic, Zhou Chu Chu Sanhai (Zhou Chu Eliminates the Three Scourges) in the Taiwanese film entitled The Pig, the Snake, and the Pigeon. Beyond the obvious reinterpretation of the “three scourges” in the original tale as the “three poisons” of greed, hatred, and delusion in the film, one also finds a deeper connection with the notion of “skillful means” (upāya-kauśalya) and the Parable of the Burning House in the Lotus Sūtra as well as the tension between established religious beliefs and new religious …

Zeami's Buddhism And Noh In Kurosawa's Ikiru, Ronald S. Green

Journal of Religion & Film

This paper explores the influences of Noh drama theorist Zeami Motokiyo on Akira Kurosawa's 1952 film Ikiru. While Kurosawa's adaptations of traditional Japanese arts are well documented, this study uniquely demonstrates how specific Noh aesthetics shaped this film. It analyzes how Kurosawa's direction of actor Takashi Shimura embodies Zeami's aesthetic principles of awareness of impermanence (mujō), profound mystery (yūgen), and no-mind (mushin), which are performative expressions of Buddhist philosophies. Kurosawa employs four methods developed by Zeami: the use of masks, sparseness in settings and costumes, singing, and the application of an …

The Provenance Of A Pali- And Thai-Language Manuscript At The Rollins College Library: A Buddhist Book Of Merit And Its Long Journey From Southeast Asia To America, Wenxian Zhang

Faculty Publications

Through researching the provenance of a Buddhist manuscript written in the Pali and Thai languages currently held at Rollins, this article seeks to answer the question of how a religious document created in Thailand ended up in a liberal arts college library in America. Regarded as an act of devotion by many Buddhist followers in Southeast Asia, the use of folding manuscripts (samut khoi) has been observed for centuries. The folding manuscripts served as handbooks and chanting manuals for Buddhist monks, who often recited in religious ceremonies while paying tributes to the deceased, with the hope of reincarnation in a …

Buddhism, Daoism, And Jeet Kune Do: A Contemporary Analysis Of Nondual Traditions In A New Age Martial Art, James H. Sutton

Journal of Conscious Evolution

Traditional martial arts are known for their focus on spiritual cultivation through a combination of self-defense training and contemplative practices like meditation. Traditional martial art systems tend to utilize nondual traditions commonly associated with Buddhism and Daoism; however, modern martial art practices, particularly those of MMA, no longer place a strong emphasis on such traditions. In turn, this has led to the development of high-performance sport athletes who emphasize self-defense efficiency in combat (usually combat sports) over all other attributes while also mixing “arts” or “styles” as necessary for the individual’s own self growth. I dub these as “new age” …

Understanding And Accessing North Korean Religion, Byun Jin Heung

Asia Pacific Mission Studies

Questions about North Korean religion always come with a question mark, and the general level of understanding about North Korean society is very low. This stems from doubts about North Korean communism. However, North Korea is a human society in which people live. As the society of North Korea has changed, so has the religion of North Korea. North Korea, especially after the collapse of the Cold War between East and West, has sought to change to survive and has used religion to gain recognition and acceptance from the international community. Religion has always been a tool to be used. …

Of Light And Shadows: Buddhism, Cinema, And The Question Of Diffused Religion In Modern China, Teng-Kuan Ng

Research Collection College of Integrative Studies

While the scholarship on premodern Chinese Buddhism has explored the tradition’s rich diffusion throughout various realms of sociocultural life, the study of modern Chinese Buddhism leans heavily towards its monastic, institutional, and overtly “religious” forms. This split mirrors the logic of modern secularization, whereby religion should be rationally differentiated from the broader social fabric, institutionalized, and delimited within its own discrete functional sphere. This article rethinks the putative rupture between Chinese Buddhism’s past and present incarnations. Through the prism of cinema, a technology that arrived on Chinese shores at the same moment as the Western concept of religion, I illuminate …

Anātman & Lack: Between Nāgārjuna And Lacan, Carter Morris

The Confluence

The notion of the Self lies at the heart of subjectivity. This paper aims to analyze and compare two intellectual traditions that have their own subversive philosophies of the Self and subjectivity—these two traditions being Mādhyamaka Buddhism and Lacanian psychoanalysis. Beginning with primers on both Nāgārjuna’s philosophy and Jacques Lacan’s psychoanalytic theory, this paper will discuss the comparative psychologies and philosophies of subjectivity presented by the ideas of non-Self and Lack, respectively. Also briefly compared are the implied metaphysics of both Śūnyatā and Lacanian Lack. An examination of these comparisons’ weaknesses follows along with some closing remarks.

Synesthetic Symbolism: Community Engagement With The Sacred At The Boudhanath Stupa, Madeleine E. Tevonian

Lawrence University Honors Projects

This paper is a discussion of the complex relationship between the Great Boudhanath Stupa in the Kathmandu Valley, and the diverse Buddhist community that surrounds it. I argue that liberative sense experience and movement-encoded cultural knowledge make the community of practitioners a part of the stupa—and thus necessary to any examination of it. My argument is contextualized by a background on stupas and etymology of several Sanskrit and Tibetan terms, and I utilize a framework of religious studies concepts of sacred space and pilgrimage as well as on-site anthropological fieldwork focusing on practitioners’ daily lives. I investigate how the stupa …

Buddhism In Thailand: Why Don’T The Youth Believe In Buddhism?, Nutnicha Teekatanasuk

Master's Theses

In Thailand, Buddhism is now known as a Buddhist country. Almost 96% of people in Thailand believe in Buddhism but it is declining every single day. Technology has made many people change their minds and not believe in Buddhism. Surprisingly, people who have been involved in Buddhism since they were born don’t believe, especially the young generation. The number of believers is declining every single day and many people have changed their minds and don’t believe in Buddhism. Surprisingly, people who have been involved in Buddhism since they were born don’t believe anymore. This might be because of Thai monks’ …

間, Lele Dai

Theses and Dissertations

LeLe Dai makes contingent participatory public interventions using sensory materials such as sound, flickering light, and water. This paper examines their works through the lens of Chinese character Jian (間), meaning “gap/slit/incision,” to investigate the concept of “in-betweenness.”

Houses Built For Gods: Articulations Of Urban Hokora In Kyoto, Steele Engelmann

Anthropology Undergraduate Honors Theses

Amidst the urban landscape of Kyoto, Japan, there are thousands of hokora, small neighborhood shrines. This study uses social theories of pilgrimage and space to examine the articulation of hokora, community, and personal desire. As sites of local pilgrimage, hokora form networks of communal, but also individual, aspirations across the urban spiritual landscape of the city. This thesis argues that communities are connected to the larger social structures of Kyoto through hokora. As such, neighborhoods are reproduced and displayed through their hokora’s entanglements with the urban, social, and religious landscapes of Kyoto. Therefore, this study deploys an ethnographic approach to …

Dispelling Delusion And Seeing Nature: A Comparative Analysis Of Lucretius’ _De Rerum Natura_ And Hui-Neng’S _Platform Sutra_, Isaac Raymond

Honors Theses

Lucretius’ De Rerum Natura and Hui-neng’s Platform Sutra have never been compared in a scholarly context; as such, this paper builds a new bridge between Western and Eastern philosophical literature, examining language, narrative, ethics, teleology, theology, and departures from orthodox philosophies in order to synthesize a clear and complete view of the two works in dialogue. De Rerum Natura, or On the Nature of Things, is a first-century BC epic poem composed in Latin by Titus Lucretius Carus which explains Epicurean philosophy in great detail through verse. The Platform Sutra is an eighth-century AD Chinese Zen (Ch’an) Buddhist sermon, …

Agent Of Happiness, John C. Lyden

Journal of Religion & Film

This is a film review of Agent of Happiness (2024), directed by Arun Bhattarai and Dorottya Zurbó.

Associating Academic Identity With Language Socialization In Virtual Community: A Case Study Of A Chinese Graduate Student’S Learning Experiences In Religion Studies, Xiaolong Lu

The Qualitative Report

This longitudinal case study explored the academic identity and language socialization of a Chinese graduate student enrolled in an online religion course at a U.S. university during the COVID-19 pandemic. Data were collected via online classroom observations, oral interviews, and artifacts. The theoretical framework was taken from language socialization and identity, together with positioning theory. The study differs from previous research, arguing that instead of language competence, the constructed academic identity is occasionally crucial for the successful academic discourse socialization of international students in bilingual and virtual settings. Moreover, the inclination toward interactive positioning between students and instructors can arise …

Cultural Erasure And Non-Violent Resistance In Tibet, Nikolina K. Klinkenberg

ENGS 15.11: Design and Education

This lesson uses lectures, discussions, and hands-on activities to encourage students to empathize with the Tibetan people and to think critically about responses to the Chinese Communist Party’s oppressive policies. The lesson begins with an overview of Tibetan Buddhism, Tibetan history since the Chinese invasion, and religious policy in China. Next, students actively interpret instances of self-immolation and analyze non-violent strategies for resolving conflict, connecting these subjects to their learning about Tibetan Buddhism and their prior knowledge of non-violent resistance. The lesson concludes with a reflection in which students connect the lesson’s topics to circumstances in their own lives.

Weaving Maṇḍalas With Jñāna: Shakya Chokden's Yogācāra-Based Approach To The Practice Of Guhyasamāja Tantra, Yaroslav Komarovski

Department of Classics and Religious Studies: Faculty Publications

This paper explores Shakya Chokden’s approach to the philosophical dimensions of the tantric path. In particular, it explores how his philosophical ideas inform his interpretation of several stages of the Guhyasamāja practice with references to the generation stage (bskyed rim) and the completion stage (rdzogs rim). Shakya Chokden’s interpretive approach involves four interrelated points: all ultimate and relative phenomena are mind- made; tantric practice is based on the other-emptiness view of reality as jñāna; conceptuality envisioning tantric maṇḍalas is destroyed by—not transformed into—the non-conceptual jñāna manifesting them; and visions of maṇḍalas cultivated on the tantric …