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Identities Of Women In Indian Art And History, Nalini Rao Jan 2023

Identities Of Women In Indian Art And History, Nalini Rao

Monsoon: South Asian Studies Association Journal

The stereotypical image of Indian women portrayed in the art of stone sculpture is often interpreted as images of beauty that are sensuous, religious as well depict social life. There are historical reasons for depicting her as such. This paper inquires into the changing depiction and social forces that influenced feminine imagery. This paper examines the portrayal of beauty through idealization of female body which has evolved over the centuries in India. It also aims to understand their changing status and explores issues of feminine identity, status, and empowerment largely in ancient and medieval India. It also provides a brief …


Book Review: Animal Care In Japanese Tradition: A Short History, James Stone Lunde Jan 2023

Book Review: Animal Care In Japanese Tradition: A Short History, James Stone Lunde

Asia Pacific Perspectives

No abstract provided.


Prolegomena To A Buddhist(Ic) Critique Of Capitalism, James Mark Shields Nov 2022

Prolegomena To A Buddhist(Ic) Critique Of Capitalism, James Mark Shields

Faculty Contributions to Books

Not even three decades removed from Francis Fukuyama’s post-Cold War proclamation of the “End of History,” the Western world is now undergoing a crisis of conscience – at the very least – with respect to both capitalism as an economic system and neoliberalism as its less-recognized but ever-present ideological foundation. The financial crisis of 2008, the subsequent Great Recession, the Occupy movement(s) of 2011, the 2016 challenge of self-styled Democratic Socialist Senator Bernie Sanders for the Democratic nomination, and growing anxiety about the fate of the planet, particularly among the young, have opened up new avenues of critique, and brought …


The Rinpoche Sent Me A Friend Request: The Roles And Perceptions Of Social Media In Buddhist Religious Life, Solveigh Barney Oct 2022

The Rinpoche Sent Me A Friend Request: The Roles And Perceptions Of Social Media In Buddhist Religious Life, Solveigh Barney

Independent Study Project (ISP) Collection

When I first heard about His Eminence the 8th Chokyong Palga Rinpoche, I didn’t expect to find an Instagram page consisting of gym pics and sunglass selfies. As I kept scrolling through Instagram, I soon found out that Palga Rinpoche is not alone in this influencer-like social media façade; he is a part of a younger generation of Buddhist monastics who are trying to be what some call monkfluencers. These monastics are growing up in the digital world of social media, making it more accessible to share with the outside world the #monklife. My goal is to investigate the relationship …


Monuments As A Lens To Understand Climate Change: A Survey Of Altered Indian Architecture, Mckenzie Davis Oct 2022

Monuments As A Lens To Understand Climate Change: A Survey Of Altered Indian Architecture, Mckenzie Davis

Independent Study Project (ISP) Collection

My project is asking in what ways climate change is impacting monuments in the developing world using case studies in India? The project will be a survey of sites occupying different positions in environment, religion, and history in order to assess the multitude of threats on cultural heritage created and/or exacerbated by climate change. The Taj Mahal (17th century) will be assessed in order to discuss the impacts of air pollution associated with an urban environ ment and drought along the Yamuna river, using a widely known icon of India to serve as a visualization of slow violence taking place …


Taming The Wandering Mind: Where Buddhism & Polyvagal Theory Meet, Tamara Embrey Sep 2022

Taming The Wandering Mind: Where Buddhism & Polyvagal Theory Meet, Tamara Embrey

Mindfulness Studies Theses

The ability to tame the wandering mind is at the heart of the insights emerging from the places where Buddhism and the Polyvagal Theory (Porges, 2001, 2011) meet. A polyvagal understanding of how our nervous system functions opens the door to developing skills that can strengthen our ability to regulate ourselves and others during times of challenge. The Buddha’s meditation instructions, laid out in the Satipaṭṭhāna Sutta, the Establishment of Mindfulness Discourse offers a type of attentional training that allows us to become aware of our current neural state so that we can make intentional choices to tame our wandering …


Neoliberal Hegemonic Masculinity And Mcmindfulness: The Need For Buddhist Values And Principles In Mindful Masculinity Programs, David Forbes Jun 2022

Neoliberal Hegemonic Masculinity And Mcmindfulness: The Need For Buddhist Values And Principles In Mindful Masculinity Programs, David Forbes

Publications and Research

This paper explores how certain Buddhist-inspired principles such as impermanence of self and compassion for all (metta) and the practice of mindfulness can contribute to challenging ways in which young men adopt troublesome aspects of systemic patriarchy. It (1) briefly examines the problem of systemic patriarchy in its most dominant forms, neoliberal hegemonic masculinity and right-wing racist authoritarian masculinity; (2) critically discusses examples of mindfulness education and counseling programs for young men that have been severed from their Buddhist origins (McMindfulness) that attempt to challenge young men around patriarchal beliefs and thoughts but end up reproducing neoliberal hegemonic masculinity; (3) …


Midwives, Sheila J. Nayar Apr 2022

Midwives, Sheila J. Nayar

Journal of Religion & Film

This is a film review of Midwives (2022), directed by Snow Hnin Ei Hlaing.


The Rise Of An Eco-Spiritual Imaginary: Ecology And Spirituality As Decolonial Protest In Contemporary Multi-Ethnic American Literature, Andrew Michael Spencer Apr 2022

The Rise Of An Eco-Spiritual Imaginary: Ecology And Spirituality As Decolonial Protest In Contemporary Multi-Ethnic American Literature, Andrew Michael Spencer

English Theses and Dissertations

The Rise of an Eco-Spiritual Imaginary reveals a shared ecological aesthetic among contemporary U.S. ethnic writers whose novels communicate a decolonial spiritual reverence for the earth. This shared narrative focus challenges white settler colonial mythologies of manifest destiny and American exceptionalism to instantiate new ways of imagining community across socially constructed boundaries of time, space, nation, race, and species. The eco-spiritual imaginary—by which I mean a shared reverence for the ecological interconnection between all living beings—articulates a common biological origin and sacredness of all life that transcends racial difference while remaining grounded in local ethnicities and bioregions. The novelists representing …


Buddhist Ethics As A Path: A Defense Of Normative Gradualism, Javier S. Hidalgo Apr 2022

Buddhist Ethics As A Path: A Defense Of Normative Gradualism, Javier S. Hidalgo

Jepson School of Leadership Studies articles, book chapters and other publications

This essay defends a new interpretation of Buddhist ethics: normative gradualism. According to normative gradualism, what we have normative reason to do depends on our stage along the Buddhist spiritual path. The essay shows how normative gradualism can justify distinctive features of Buddhist ethics and reconcile consequentialist and eudaimonistic interpretations of Buddhist moral thought.


If These Walls Could Talk: Restoring 15th Century Paintings In Upper Mustang, Ellie Penner Apr 2022

If These Walls Could Talk: Restoring 15th Century Paintings In Upper Mustang, Ellie Penner

Independent Study Project (ISP) Collection

The Thupchen monastery, or gompa, in Lomanthang is a site that hosts monumental 15th century Buddhist artworks, which reflect an abundant history from the key trade region of Upper Mustang, Nepal. This site, after neglect and use as a storage space until the 1990s, has seen radical change in the past two decades through an ongoing painting restoration project. Since these restorations began, there have been discrepancies between how scholars and restoration artists believe the work should be done, and how the local community of Lomanthang wants their monastery to be restored. This study aims to examine why the temple …


Vedantic Basis And Praxis Of The Integral Advaita Of Sri Aurobindo, Debashish Banerji Mar 2022

Vedantic Basis And Praxis Of The Integral Advaita Of Sri Aurobindo, Debashish Banerji

Monsoon: South Asian Studies Association Journal

The integral nondualism of Sri Aurobindo can be traced to the great pronouncements (mahāvākya) of the Upanishads and later commentaries. This study examines teachings on the Supermind (vijñāna) and the other four kinds of consciousness that define human reality: Matter (annaṃ), Life (prāṇaḥ), Mind (manaḥ), and Bliss (ānanda). Through Yoga and Tantra, one learns and embodies the pathway to the divine.


Digital And Spatial Humanities Mapping: Eurasia-Pacific Early Trade And Belief Linkages, Igor Sitnikov, David Blundell Mar 2022

Digital And Spatial Humanities Mapping: Eurasia-Pacific Early Trade And Belief Linkages, Igor Sitnikov, David Blundell

Monsoon: South Asian Studies Association Journal

The Eurasia-Pacific is a dynamic region of rapid economic growth, cultural awareness, natural resource exploration, and military buildup. The concept of the region is relatively new, featuring contested vast areas of geo-resource space of numerous cultures and languages. The current findings in anthropology and archaeology and even its more specific subfields such as folklore are important contribution to the understanding of periodic environmental changes and technical innovations were the main forces of transformations in social structures that have determined the mechanisms and levels of cross-cultural trade activity across the region. We have traced early trade and belief linkages across Eurasia-Pacific …


Tusha Hiti: The Origin And Significance Of The Name, Deepak Shimkhada Mar 2022

Tusha Hiti: The Origin And Significance Of The Name, Deepak Shimkhada

Monsoon: South Asian Studies Association Journal

In this article, the author examines the royal bath called Tushā Hiti located in Sūndari Chowk (Beautiful Courtyard) of Pātan Durbar Square, using six different methods of investigation. The question: What is in a name? started the ball of investigation rolling and along the way were added more supporting blocks such as history, iconography, function and purpose, notion of purity and impurity, and finally the hiti in popular culture to get a complete picture of the subject in question.


Diversity, Equity, And Inclusion: Perspectives From Contemporary India And 6th Century Jain Yoga, Christopher Key Chapple Mar 2022

Diversity, Equity, And Inclusion: Perspectives From Contemporary India And 6th Century Jain Yoga, Christopher Key Chapple

Monsoon: South Asian Studies Association Journal

Times New Roman


Ganges In Indian Sculpture And Literature: Mythology And Personification, Nalini Rao Mar 2022

Ganges In Indian Sculpture And Literature: Mythology And Personification, Nalini Rao

Monsoon: South Asian Studies Association Journal

The river Ganges is a symbol of wealth, purity and eternity, and its sacred waters have inspired sages, philosophers, and artists in India who have immortalized its divine imagery. However, it has rarely been understood from a historical point of view, as to how it became so sacred and to view it from a multi-dimensional and interdisciplinary perspective with an accumulation of layers of historical thought and practices, provides a rationale for the living practices around the river. The paper explores the evolution of the concept of sacredness and eternity of River Ganges through art- historical and archaeological evidence. It …


Unexpected Side Effects: A Cautionary Note On Challenges Of Persistent Self-Transcendence, Elizabeth D. Stephens, Harris L. Friedman Jan 2022

Unexpected Side Effects: A Cautionary Note On Challenges Of Persistent Self-Transcendence, Elizabeth D. Stephens, Harris L. Friedman

International Journal of Transpersonal Studies Advance Publication Archive

Self-transcendence is an ambiguous construct without consensual meaning, yet many claim that it relates to, or even causes, beneficial outcomes. Few discuss its potential deleterious side effects, choosing to focus primarily on positive effects. However, anything with sufficient potency to heal may have unintended side effects, especially when it leads beyond a transitory state to becoming an enduring trait, such as when self-transcendence (ST) becomes persistent self-transcendence (PST). With PST, evidence is overviewed here, along with two illustrative case reports, that people can suffer emotional difficulties, motivation changes, loss of self-reflexivity, anhedonia, dissociation, depersonalization, memory problems, and other psychological concerns. …


Religion Has A Public Relations Problem: Integrating Evidence-Based Thinking Into Clinical Practice, Thomas G. Plante Jan 2022

Religion Has A Public Relations Problem: Integrating Evidence-Based Thinking Into Clinical Practice, Thomas G. Plante

Psychology

Religion and religious institutions receive a great deal of negative, rather than positive, attention and press. This creates an impression, for the casual observer, that religion and associated institutions are a plight on the planet. It is critically important for evidence-based research and best practices in clinical services to be well known and utilized within professional psychotherapy practice. Clinicians must be mindful of the many advantages of religious engagement for physical, mental, and community health and wellness. Psychologists, and other mental health professionals, tend to be secular and nonreligious and receive little, if any, training on religious diversity that may …


Unreality And Loss Of Self: Dissociative Experiences In Buddhist Practitioners, Jill Loving Jan 2022

Unreality And Loss Of Self: Dissociative Experiences In Buddhist Practitioners, Jill Loving

Graduate School of Professional Psychology: Doctoral Papers and Masters Projects

On the surface, the Buddhist idea of emptiness and experiences of depersonalization and derealization seem to have significant overlap. Meditations on emptiness in the Buddhist tradition seek to lead meditators to observe the ego as illusory and empty of inherent content as one step in the journey to liberate oneself from suffering. Conversely, dissociation is generally an involuntary, automatic response to severe trauma that can become more common or chronic in an individual over time. Topographically, these experiences may look similar; both include a sense of unreality of the self and often of the broader world. However, differences in stimulus …


Neither Buddhist Nor Taoist, But Both (And Even More): Exploring The ‘Hall Of Infinite Principle’ (Guangli Fotang): A Chinese Temple In The Romanian Capital, Serban Toader Dec 2021

Neither Buddhist Nor Taoist, But Both (And Even More): Exploring The ‘Hall Of Infinite Principle’ (Guangli Fotang): A Chinese Temple In The Romanian Capital, Serban Toader

Occasional Papers on Religion in Eastern Europe

This ethnography regards the sole Chinese temple in the Romanian capital Bucharest, its people and activity, as well as the thinking that supports this new religious movement (Maitreya Great Tao,Mile Dadao 彌勒大道). It is common knowledge that Taoism, Budhism, and Confucianism appear, at least in the official discourse, as a braided rope of unified Chinese tradition, each of the three at the same time preserving their particular features. Nevertheless, Mile Dadao not only seems to implicitly unite the three traditions in one (to which other foreign or popular traditions may be added as well), but also aims to act as …


Understanding Religious Tolerance In Yongchang, China, Liming Gao Oct 2021

Understanding Religious Tolerance In Yongchang, China, Liming Gao

Honors Program: Senior Projects (Public)

The formation of China is a process of national integration and a fusion of different beliefs. However, under Chairman Mao (1949-1976) and specifically during the Cultural Revolution (1966-1976), people were reeducated to focus on Communism and expel remnants of traditional Chinese culture including the various religions. Although, after the Cultural Revolution, China reinstated its policy of religious freedom, there were still strict laws against religion. Despite such circumstances, Chinese people still practice their religious beliefs. The Yongchang area, located in Gansu Province in the northwest of China is a typical region of Chinese culture. At the same time, compared to …


Delusional Mitigation In Religious And Psychological Forms Of Self-Cultivation: Buddhist And Clinical Insight On Delusional Symptomatology, Austin J. Avison Oct 2021

Delusional Mitigation In Religious And Psychological Forms Of Self-Cultivation: Buddhist And Clinical Insight On Delusional Symptomatology, Austin J. Avison

The Hilltop Review

This essay examines Buddhist forms of self-cultivation and development that enable a psychosocial capacity for emotional, cognitive, and behavioral adjustment by improving an individual's characteristic mode of interaction within the world. First, we will consider the religious form of self-cultivation seen in the context of Buddhism and its desire to remove delusional perspectives through developmental practices. In this, we will consider the cultivating function of clinical psychology through the therapeutic application of cognitive restructuring techniques as a form of cultivation. Next, considering psychological self-cultivation, training, development, and education concerning the treatment of schizophrenia and its characteristic criterion of delusions. Further, …


Sharing Hearts: Buddhist Charity And Urbanization In Vietnam, Sara Ann Swenson Jul 2021

Sharing Hearts: Buddhist Charity And Urbanization In Vietnam, Sara Ann Swenson

Dissertations - ALL

My dissertation analyzes how and why volunteers joined or established grassroots Buddhist charities in Ho Chi Minh City. I spoke with approximately 400 members of 25 charities, focusing on seven main groups that shared an overlapping network of volunteers. My research includes perspectives from demographic groups often excluded from positions of authority in institutionalized Buddhism and, in turn, Buddhist studies scholarship, such as low-income day laborers, elderly women, Buddhist nuns at peri-urban temples, and a lay community of queer "same-gender-loving" [đồng tính] men. Despite their marginalization from formal leadership in Vietnam's state-managed National Buddhist Sangha, volunteers claimed social and moral …


Mindfulness Workshop For Airline Pilots, Eric Miller May 2021

Mindfulness Workshop For Airline Pilots, Eric Miller

Mindfulness Studies Theses

The science on mindfulness as it relates specifically to aviation is sparse. It has only been in recent years that mindfulness has been examined as it relates to aviation. That being the case, this paper draws connections from areas that are already well studied with mindfulness; stress, anxiety, attention, and communication. Evidence exists that even short duration mindfulness interventions can have positive effects on mindfulness. The one-day workshop created with this thesis gives pilots a cursory overview of mindfulness as it relates to various areas of commercial aviation. Furthermore, the workshop will teach pilots how these different mindfulness techniques can …


Placing God: Defining “Post-Christianity” For Contemporary Japanese Christians, Leryan Anthony Burrey May 2021

Placing God: Defining “Post-Christianity” For Contemporary Japanese Christians, Leryan Anthony Burrey

Master's Projects and Capstones

This work suggests that we consider a new, working definition of post-Christianity. This new paradigm is in response to Western Christian thought being too dominant a force that fails to take into enough account other global experiences— like those of Japanese Christians. These reflections are based on scholarly opinions claiming that Christianity is a “global culture,” and ultimately argues for more international inclusivity in Western Christian thought and institutions, especially regarding the Asia-Pacific. Moreover, this paper illuminates how iitoko dori allows Christian thought to peacefully coexist in Japan’s greater society. The research also explores specific Japanese cultural practices that make …


The Role Of Aesthetics In Classroom Design: Implications For Engagement And Equity, Giuliana Barraza May 2021

The Role Of Aesthetics In Classroom Design: Implications For Engagement And Equity, Giuliana Barraza

Master's Theses

The desire for achieving greater equity in education has been a prevalent topic of research, with many studies indicating that the current education system in this country is designed in a way that exacerbates initial inequities and has a negative impact on student motivation and engagement (EOCD, 2012). While existing scholarship mostly discusses equity and engagement through the lens of curriculum and instruction, the power of physical classroom environments and aesthetic elements present in those environments is less explored. With student populations becoming more diverse, there is a greater need for new tools for teachers to utilize in pursuit of …


The JāTakamāLā Reliefs Of Borobudur: Beneficial And Insightful Acts In Adverse Times, So Tju Shinta Lee May 2021

The JāTakamāLā Reliefs Of Borobudur: Beneficial And Insightful Acts In Adverse Times, So Tju Shinta Lee

International Review of Humanities Studies

This study is aimed to examine seven selected allegories of Āryaśūra’s Jātakamālā engraved in Candi Borobudur, to analyze the multiple aspects of the six perfections (pāramitās) exemplified in them and how these perfections are applied in day-to-day life. The literature study involved data collection triangulation to determine the extant Jātakamālā and pāramitā texts closest to the sources. Content analysis on the Jātakamālā texts and observation of its corresponding reliefs were carried out to identify the message and substantial points of each allegory. Both the actions and the motivation driving the character to perform such actions are considered. Using thematic analysis, …


An Abhidharmic Theory Of Welfare, Javier S. Hidalgo Mar 2021

An Abhidharmic Theory Of Welfare, Javier S. Hidalgo

Jepson School of Leadership Studies articles, book chapters and other publications

Do Buddhist philosophical commitments support a particular theory of well-being? Most authors who have examined this question argue that Buddhist ideas are compatible with multiple theories of well-being. In this paper, I contend that one tradition of Buddhist philosophy—Abhidharma—does imply a specific theory of welfare. In particular, Abhidharma supports hedonism. Most Ābhidharmikas claim that only property-particulars called dharmas ultimately exist and I argue that an Abhidharmic theory of well-being should only refer to these properties. Yet the only dharmas that could plausibly be intrinsically good are phenomenal properties that are good in virtue of how they feel. Thus, the only …


A Buddhist-Informed Conceptual Framework For Compassion Fatigue Prevention, Andrei A. Agapi Feb 2021

A Buddhist-Informed Conceptual Framework For Compassion Fatigue Prevention, Andrei A. Agapi

University Honors Theses

The purpose of this thesis is to present Buddhist meditation practices and modes of investigation that can mitigate compassion fatigue, some of which have not yet been acknowledged in this research field. Conducting a literature review, I found multiple frameworks for compassion fatigue that have different and sometimes contradictory causes, and a lack of clear differentiation between sympathy, empathy and compassion. Both of these aspects are explored. I explain the Buddhist approach to compassion, and the cause of fatigue from a Yogachara philosophical perspective. Then, I write about a bodhisattva’s training in no-self, the five-aggregate model of mind, Chenrezig practice, …


Reflections On “To Study The Self Is To Forget The Self’: Zen Lessons On Ego And Leadership In Higher Education”, Jody Condit Fagan Jan 2021

Reflections On “To Study The Self Is To Forget The Self’: Zen Lessons On Ego And Leadership In Higher Education”, Jody Condit Fagan

Libraries

Stuart Lachs kindly wrote a response to my conference paper, “To study the self is to forget the self’: Zen lessons on ego and leadership in higher education” (Fagan, 2020), which led to a highly fruitful correspondence and an expansion on my thinking related to Zen, ego, and Zen practice in America today. Conversations with fellow practitioners and follow-up readings have also continued to shape my thinking. This response paper summarizes my reflections.