Digital Commons Network^™

Faculty Honors: A Roundup Of Recent Awards, Erika Mantz

UNH Today Archive

No abstract provided.

A State Of Impermanence: Buddhism, Liberalism, And The Problem Of Politics, Cory Michael Sukala

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

This dissertation explores the relationship of Buddhist political thought and liberal political thought at the level of first principles. I will examine the tension created by the Buddhist view of political life as instrumental and secondary to man's being as a function of the transition of the Buddhist world into the sphere of Western political life, which views the role of politics as primary to man's nature. In Part I, this will be accomplished through a consideration of the origins of political life and the foundation of the political state in each tradition as viewed through the themes of human …

Cseas Weekly Bulletin (March 18, 2019), Center For Southeast Asian Studies

CSEAS Bulletin

No abstract provided.

Cseas Weekly Bulletin (March 11, 2019), Center For Southeast Asian Studies

CSEAS Bulletin

No abstract provided.

Islam And Buddhism: The Arabian Prequel?, Anna Akasoy

Publications and Research

Conventionally, the first Muslim-Buddhist encounters are thought to have taken place in the context of the Arab-Muslim expansions into eastern Iran in the mid-seventh century, the conquest of Sind in 711 and the rise of the Islamic empire. However, several theories promoted in academic and popular circles claim that Buddhists or other Indians were present in western Arabia at the eve of Islam and thus shaped the religious environment in which Muhammad’s movement emerged. This article offers a critical survey of the most prominent arguments adduced to support this view and discusses the underlying attitudes to the Islamic tradition, understood …

Cseas Weekly Bulletin (March 4, 2019), Center For Southeast Asian Studies

CSEAS Bulletin

No abstract provided.

Review: Melissa Anne-Marie Curley, Pure Land, Real World: Modern Buddhism, Japanese Leftists, And The Utopian Imagination, James Mark Shields

Other Faculty Research and Publications

No abstract provided.

How Hugging Mom Teaches Me The Meaning Of Love And Perhaps Beyond, Ethan Trinh

The Journal of Faith, Education, and Community

Hugging mom is unconventional in a traditional Vietnamese family. I write this piece to articulate my thoughts to describe different ways to look at the meanings of hugging. During my writing process, I use a walking meditation as a Buddhist practice to calm my mind so that I can see my true self and a clearer picture of different layers of the act of hugging. I believe hegemonic gender roles and patriarchy happen everywhere in the world, not particularly in Vietnam. I do not plan to devalue my home country’s cultural values in this paper. This is not the purpose …

Cseas Weekly Bulletin (February 25, 2019), Center For Southeast Asian Studies

CSEAS Bulletin

No abstract provided.

Vista: February 21, 2019, University Of San Diego

USD Vista (1965-)

No abstract provided.

Cseas Weekly Bulletin (February 18, 2019), Center For Southeast Asian Studies

CSEAS Bulletin

No abstract provided.

Cseas Weekly Bulletin (February 11, 2019), Center For Southeast Asian Studies

CSEAS Bulletin

No abstract provided.

Cseas Weekly Bulletin (February 4, 2019), Center For Southeast Asian Studies

CSEAS Bulletin

No abstract provided.

Celebration Of Faculty Scholarship 2018, Olin Library

Celebration of Faculty Scholarship

No abstract provided.

Cseas Weekly Bulletin (January 28, 2019), Center For Southeast Asian Studies

CSEAS Bulletin

No abstract provided.

How To Understand The Identity Of An Object Of Study In Comparative Philosophy, Soraj Hongladarom

Comparative Philosophy

No abstract provided.

Recapture, Transparency, Negation And A Logic For The Catuṣkoṭi, Adrian Kreutz

Comparative Philosophy

The recent literature on Nāgārjuna’s catuṣkoṭi centres around Jay Garfield’s (2009) and Graham Priest’s (2010) interpretation. It is an open discussion to what extent their interpretation is an adequate model of the logic for the catuskoti, and the Mūla-madhyamaka-kārikā. Priest and Garfield try to make sense of the contradictions within the catuskoti by appeal to a series of lattices – orderings of truth-values, supposed to model the path to enlightenment. They use Anderson & Belnaps's (1975) framework of First Degree Entailment. Cotnoir (2015) has argued that the lattices of Priest and Garfield …

Cseas Weekly Bulletin (January 21, 2019), Center For Southeast Asian Studies

CSEAS Bulletin

No abstract provided.

Essay: “My Life In Buddhist Studies", James Mark Shields

Other Faculty Research and Publications

No abstract provided.

Amdo Politics And Religion—Tuken Losang Choki Nyima (Thu’U Bkwan Blo Bzang Chos Kyi Nyi Ma, 1737-1802)1, Paul K. Nietupski

2019 Faculty Bibliography

No abstract provided.

Medieval Khmer Society: The Life And Times Of Jayavarman Vii (Ca. 1120–1218), Paul K. Nietupski

2019 Faculty Bibliography

Jayavarman VII (ca. 1120–1218) is one of the best known Cambodian “Angkor” leaders, in part because he was able to unite the numerous small, fragmented Khmer Cambodian and Cham kingdoms of the day. He ruled his consolidated Khmer kingdom from 1181–1218, bringing the decentralized Khmer and Cham states together through political and military alliances. Religion, especially India-derived Brahmanism, or “Hinduism,” Mahāyāna Buddhism, and local Cambodian religion, was a key component of Khmer society. Over time different Khmer rulers endorsed one or more of the religious systems to their own advantage. Jayavarman VII was especially committed to Mahāyāna Buddhism, evidenced by …

Defining Choices Redefined: Heroic Life Narratives Of Taiwanese Buddhist Monastics, Hillary Crane

Faculty Publications

The Taiwanese Buddhist monastics in this study confront negative stereotypes that dominate within their wider societal context, and they challenge these stereotypes by positing counter-narratives. After exploring the monastics’ interest in proselytizing both to me and to a wider audience as a context that influences the interview encounter, this chapter focuses on the monastics’ response to negative stereotypes and their endeavors to craft a new, positive image of monastics. I argue that they employ the heroic trope of the da zhangfu (大丈夫, ‘great man’) to reconceive as heroic the life choices they have made that wider Taiwanese society characterizes as …

The Blind Arhat And The Old Baby: Liberation By Wisdom, The Dry-Insight Practitioner, And The Pairing Of Calm And Insight, David V. Fiordalis

Faculty Publications

The distinction between “calm” (Pāli: samatha; Sanskrit: śamatha) and “insight” (P: vipassanā; Skt: vipaśyanā) is one of several ostensibly related dichotomies that have exerted a significant influence on classical and contemporary understandings of Buddhist practices, institutions, and history, as well as of the Buddhist path(s) to and conception(s) of awakening. However, scholars continue to debate whether Buddhists ever conceptualized two (or more) different paths or conceptions of this goal. Much of the debate has been based on the interpretation of doctrinal and theoretical materials. This essay takes as its starting point the concept of “liberation by …

Unh: The Magazine Of The University Of New Hampshire, Winter 2019, Unh Magazine

UNH Magazine

No abstract provided.

Out Of The Shadows: Socially Engaged Buddhist Women, Karma Lekshe Tsomo Phd

Theology and Religious Studies: Faculty Scholarship

In this volume, stories about the experiences of women in remote regions like Mongolia and Zangskar appear alongside essays on philosophy and history. The fact that so many different voices are included and valued is profound testimony to Buddhist women’s diversity in terms of their educational background and approach to social concerns. It is an immense privilege to honor the hard work that these women are doing to benefit society, even against great odds. We are pleased to highlight these achievements, so that readers can learn more about the Buddhist traditions and the vibrant communities of Buddhist women practitioners around …

The Search For Microbial Martian Life And American Buddhist Ethics, Daniel S. Capper

Faculty Publications

Multiple searches hunt for extraterrestrial life, yet the ethics of such searches in terms of fossil and possible extant life on Mars have not been sufficiently delineated. In response, in this essay I propose a tripartite ethic for searches for microbial Martian life that consists of default nonharm toward potential living beings, default nonharm to the habitats of potential living beings, but also responsible, restrained scientific harvesting of some microbes in limited transgression of these default nonharm modes. Although this multifaceted ethic remains secular and hence adaptable to space research settings, it arises from both a qualitative analysis of authoritative …

Vatican Ii: A “Crisigenic” Council With An Unwritten Agenda, Aloysius Pieris Sj

Asia Pacific Mission Studies

The Second Vatican Council was like a new Pentecost which John XXIII invoked upon the Church. The Council emphasized a pastoral renewal that required attitudinal as well as structural change. Pieris offers the “Council” of Jerusalem as a precedent: it also dealt with a crisis that called for a conciliar decision. Since then, Vatican II is the first council to make crisigenic decisions which triggered both a caesura from the euro-ecclesial domination and a renewal in theology, spirituality, and sacramental life. Reform is from the center, renewal from the periphery. Fidelity to the Council demands maintaining the momentum of renewal …

Leaves Of The Bodhi Tree From East To West: The Symbol Of The Sacred Fig Tree In Ancient India, Southeast Asia And Contemporary Contexts, Amanda J. Spradling

Graduate Research Theses & Dissertations

This thesis examines the depiction of the Bodhi Tree, a common Buddhist symbol. Bodhi tree simply means tree of enlightenment and Buddha Shakyamuni reached enlightenment while in meditation beneath the particular tree species of ficus religiosa, or sacred fig. Though the sacred fig tree, as a native tree to India, has historically held significance, today it is principally known for its association with the Buddha, particularly his single most important life event, his enlightenment.

Tree worship and its universal practice is well understood and many studies of the Bodhi Tree explore its associated pilgrimage site, Bodh Gaya, and monument, the …

“There Are No Dharmas Apart From The Dharma-Sphere”: Shakya Chokden’S Interpretation Of The Dharma-Sphere, Yaroslav Komarovski

Department of Classics and Religious Studies: Faculty Publications

As is well known to contemporary scholarship and demonstrated by the works contained in the present volume, the Tibetan term zhentong (gzhan stong, being empty of other) refers not to any one unanimous view or system of thought but to a wide variety of philosophical theories formed primarily in India and Tibet. Those theories are often contrasted with rival rangtong (rang stong, being empty of self)¹ theories in their interpretations of reality, buddhahood, path, and other elements of the Buddhist worldiew. While many of those elements are equally open to the zhentong and rangtong interpretations, …

Deities And Devotion In Mongolian Buddhist Art, Charles Mason, Andie Near, Tom Wagner

Kruizenga Art Museum Exhibition Catalogs

Design by Tom Wagner. Produced by Storming the Castle Pictures (StCP) as a catalog for the Kruizenga Art Museum exhibition “Deities and Devotion in Mongolian Buddhist Art,” August 30 – December 14, 2019.

Kruizenga Art Museum Online Collection - Exhibition Gallery