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Budhi: A Journal of Ideas and Culture

Contributors

Socrates And Early Buddhist Medical Ethics: Foundations Of Moral Reasoning In The Care Of Body And Mind, Chandima Gangodawila

Budhi: A Journal of Ideas and Culture

While Buddhist traditions articulate a parallel moral vision in the early discourses of the Pāli Canon, Western traditions usually locate the roots of ethical reasoning in Socratic inquiry. Especially in their approaches to bodily care, spiritual well - being, and moral responsibility, this article contends that both Socratic and Early Buddhist ideas converge on fundamental principles in medical ethics. Through a comparative textual and philosophical study, the paper examines how Socratic dialectics and the Buddha's diagnostic approach to dissatisfa ction/ suffering (dukkha) both produce frameworks for ethical healthcare anchored in the development of virtue, wisdom, and care for the integrity …

Martial Arts Studies: A Commentary On The Exploration Of Consciousness In Modern Martial Arts, James H. Sutton

Journal of Conscious Evolution

The rapid globalization of martial arts has reconditioned how the beliefs, customs, and philosophies of traditionally based systems are interpreted and applied in modern practice. As contemporary scholarship struggles to accommodate the cultural histories, myths, and traditions that permeate the perception of martial arts in modern contexts, the focus of inquiry has shifted towards explaining cultural variations in practice rather than understanding the nature of self-awareness derived from self-practice. Consequently, the deeper meanings of martial arts as pathways to personal and transpersonal awareness are often invalidated in favor of objective and verifiable explications. In short, the role of consciousness is …

The Structuralist Semiotics Of Hidden Places, Alexander Shin

Episteme

No abstract provided.

Investigating The Relationship Between Noun Classes And Plant Folk Taxonomy In Chasu Language Of Kilimanjaro Region In Tanzania, Peter Rabson Mziray

Journal of Humanities and Social Sciences

The current study investigates the relationship between noun classes and plant folk taxonomy in Chasu (G 22). The study focuses on two objectives: the first objective is to describe the plant folk taxonomy in Chasu and the second objective is to determine the relationship between noun classes and plant folk taxonomy in Chasu. Data were collected from rural villages in Same and Mwanga districts by using free listing, field interviews (jungle-walk-and-identify), and written texts containing Chasu plant names. The findings reveal that Chasu folk taxonomy reflects different ethnobotanical categories; including a unique beginner which is mmea/mimea ‘plant(s)’, and three life …

New Appointments

Journal of East Asian Libraries

No abstract provided.

The Earliest Documents In Old Javanese, Arlo Griffiths, Titi Surti Nastiti, Wayan Jarrah Sastrawan

Wacana, Journal of the Humanities of Indonesia

This short contribution presents two recently discovered inscriptions from Central Java that are among the oldest documents in the Old Javanese language, namely a dated stone from Kesongo (685 Śaka/743 CE) and the Disunuh inscription (709 Śaka/787 CE). These two artefacts constitute new evidence that Old Javanese had become a written language in this part of Java already in the eighth century CE. Previously, the period of use of Old Javanese in epigraphy was reckoned to have begun in the ninth century, and in East Java, based on the Harinjing A inscription from Kediri, assumed to date to 726 Śaka/804 …

A Buddhist Critique Of Harmony, James Mark Shields

Faculty Contributions to Books

No abstract provided.

From Meditation To Magic: The Spectrum Of Buddhist Tourism In Thailand, Brooke Schedneck

International Journal of Religious Tourism and Pilgrimage

Buddhism can conjure distinctive ideas and images for different groups of people, especially travelers to a Buddhist majority country like Thailand. Discussing three different modes of Buddhist tourism— meditation, magic, and mega statues— this article illuminates the varieties of Buddhist tourism in contemporary Thailand. While foreign visitors from Western countries are assumed by Thai Buddhist practitioners to favor engagement with Buddhism related to meditation, Chinese and Thai Buddhists are seen to appreciate Buddhism for its magical protective powers. Chinese tourists in particular are now being targeted to purchase products and experiences related to mutelu, which is a term for objects …

Cinema Illuminating Reality: Media Philosophy Through Buddhism, Teng-Kuan Ng

Journal of Religion & Film

This is a book review of Victor Fan, Cinema Illuminating Reality: Media Philosophy through Buddhism (Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press, 2022)

Culturally Sustaining Practices For Advanced Multilingual Adult Esol Students, Benjamin F. C. King

School of Education and Leadership Student Capstone Projects

King, B. (2025)

Culturally Sustaining Practices for Advanced Multilingual Adult ESOL Students

Advanced multilingual ESOL learners need safe and positive learning environments that are responsive to their needs. This project seeks to answer how an adult English for Speakers of Other Languages (ESOL) curriculum can be adapted using an emergent curriculum approach to be more culturally sustaining. As a white teacher with many privileges, I know the content and language skills I teach will never perfectly match the interests, desires and needs of all my students. Nonetheless, through the process of investigating culturally sustaining pedagogy (CSP), I have identified …

Review Of Victor Fan, “Cinema Illuminating Reality: Media Philosophy Through Buddhism”, Teng-Kuan Ng

Research Collection College of Integrative Studies

This is a book review of Victor Fan, Cinema Illuminating Reality: Media Philosophy through Buddhism (Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press, 2022)

The Buddhist Recluse In The Late Heian (794–1185) And Early Kamakura (1185–1333) Periods As Seen Through Kamo-No-Chômei’S Hôjôki And The Poems Of Saigyô, Scott Lloyd

The Ozark Historical Review

Kamo-no-Chômei and Saigyô,two of Japan’s most well-known aesthete-recluses and open a window through their works not only into the life of the recluse as an individual but also into the broader culture. The following pages will attempt to shed light on the overall concept of reclusion and its importance by looking specifically at what they had to say about their own experiences: Saigyô through his collected poems, and Chômei through his seminal poetic essay Hôjôki “Ten-Foot- Square Hut”, written in 1212.

Merit Transference And The Paradox Of Merit Inflation, Matthew Hammerton

Research Collection School of Social Sciences

Many religious traditions and ethical systems hold that individuals accrue merit through their good intentions, acts, and character, and demerit through their bad intentions, acts, and character. This merit and demerit, accumulated by individuals throughout their lives, gives each person a kind of ethical “score” that can determine what they deserve, and influence whether good or bad things happen to them (e.g., divine punishments and rewards, a favourable or unfavourable rebirth, etc.). In some traditions (most notably Buddhism, but also to a limited extent in Hinduism, Islam, and Christianity), “merit transference” is a feature of these merit-based ethical systems. This …

Dragon Guitars And Sexy Zombies: Tracing The Meta-Motion Of The Naga Motif In Northeast Thailand, Aaron Michael Stanley

Dartmouth College Master’s Theses

Abstract

This thesis traces the evolving symbolism of the Naga motif (a mythic water serpent) in Northeast Thailand through a framework I call meta-motion, which maps symbolic persistence of this cultural signifier and boundary marker across four cultural horizons—animist (Z), Hindu–Khmer (B), Buddhist (A), and modern/global (C). Like electrons in quantum super position, symbolic motifs circulate as overlapping “waves” of potential meaning and are concretized into cultural “particles” only when recruited for specific ritual, commercial, or political purposes. I add a bookend extension to Chang’s Hindu-Buddhist (B/A) typology with the addition of Horizons Z and C in order to make …

Buddhism For Thinkers, Chang-Seong Hong, Sun Kyeong Yu

MSU Authors Collection

This book is an introduction to Buddhist philosophy. It uses the methods of analytic philosophy to approach the major topics of Buddhism.

How Theravāda Buddhism Enriches The Language Of Thought Hypothesis: Beyond Syntax, Juanjuan Cheng, Sumanasara Sandamadulle

Comparative Philosophy

The Language of Thought Hypothesis (LOTH) posits that mental states operate through a language-like representational system physically implemented in the brain. However, this purely symbolic approach faces a significant limitation: certain mental phenomena—such as intuitions, emotions, and intentions—lack the syntactically compositional structure required by LOTH and therefore cannot be adequately explained within its symbolic framework. To address this theoretical challenge, we turn to Theravāda Buddhism (TB), an early Buddhist tradition that integrates rigorous philosophical inquiry with meditative practice. Remarkably, TB began to prefigure a solution to LOTH’s limitations over 2,300 years ago. Although LOTH and TB differ …

The Uses Of Dramaturgical Research In Cinematic Storytelling, Asset Design, And Adaptation In Animation, Delaney L. Walker

All Theses

“The Black Hair” is a creative project that explores the convergence of cinematic adaptation, dramaturgical research, and animation design in retelling a traditional Japanese short folktale from the Heian Era. Rooted in the practice of theatrical dramaturgy, this thesis advocates for a research-driven creative pipeline by developing a culturally respectful and historically grounded approach to developing cinematic storyboards. By thoroughly examining the chronicles of history and the sociocultural context, the project seeks to foster deeper cultural appreciation while reintroducing a lesser-known narrative to modern audiences through a visual medium. The project draws stylistic and narrative inspiration from iconic Japanese filmmakers …

Queera Personalis: Theorizing A Queer Ignatian Pedagogical Paradigm In First-Year Writing, Jimmy Hamill

Jesuit Higher Education: A Journal

This article argues that putting the Ignatian Pedagogical Paradigm (IPP) in conversation with Queer Composition Pedagogy can support LGBTQIA+ students and their often-fraught positions at Catholic universities. Beginning with my history as a gay Catholic at a Jesuit college, I examine the Jesuit value of cura personalis or “care for the whole person” by asking how queer students at a Catholic college can be wholly cared for in an institution that marginalizes queer people. Locating this conversation in the context of the first-year writing classroom, a contact zone where students come from diverse personal and disciplinary backgrounds, this article links …

A Summoned Life: Vocation In The Analects, Teng-Kuan Ng

Research Collection College of Integrative Studies

This article explores the concept of vocation in the Analects. While most treatmentsof vocation focus on the Christian tradition, and while Confucian thought is oftenviewed as categorically nontheistic, Robert Merrihew Adams’s Finite and InfiniteGoods (1999) presents an illuminating comparative framework for tracing outKongzi’s religious ethical vision of how persons think, act, and feel when graspedby a sense of divine calling. I argue that in the Analects a vocation is compositelyconceived as: (1) a special divine imperative to an individual or a community (2) tolove particular goods within one’s actual circumstances (3) with nonconsequentialist,noncompetitive, and potentially counter-cultural commitment (4) such that …

Anthony Le Duc, Buddhist Environmental Humanism: Doing Good For Self And Others, London: Ethics Press, 2025, 259 Pp., Roderick Evans M. Bartolome

Social Transformations Journal of the Global South

Excerpt: Anthony Le Duc’s Buddhist Environmental Humanism: Doing Good for Self and Others is a significant addition to the current discussions on religion and ecology. Written by a Catholic priest and scholar deeply involved in interreligious dialogue and environmental ethics, the book provides a carefully constructed framework for how Buddhist principles can address ecological challenges. Le Duc currently serves as Executive Director of the Asian Research Center for Religion and Social Communication in Bangkok and is the Editor-in-Chief for the Religion and Social Communication journal of the research center. His institutional role and his location in Thailand give him a …

Sacral Glitch, Kareena Naresh Solanki

Masters Theses, 2020-current

Growing up in a multifaith environment in Mumbai, I witnessed many religious sites and people with diverse beliefs. My parents always remained open-minded to other faiths, and my house remained replete with idols of deities of different religions. I studied Nichiren Buddhism, particularly the Lotus Sutra, as my mother began practising it along with her faith in Hinduism. Philosophical studies became a part of my life at the age of nine. Catholic prayers turned into rituals in my convent school days, and Islamic prayers resonated from afar. I often reflect on the influence of multiple religions in shaping my approach …

Polemik Catra Pada Stupa Induk Candi Borobudur: Kajian Arkeologi Dan Filosofis, So Tju Shinta Lee, Salim Lee

Paradigma: Jurnal Kajian Budaya

This paper explores the profound meaning of the main stupa at Candi Borobudur and analyzes the implications of the proposed catra installation on the monument’s spiritual and cultural values. The interpretation is based on a post-processual perspective that emphasizes the importance of considering context, internal evidence, and internal symbolic relationships rather than seeking externally sourced validation. Through a combination of literature study, observation, and comparative analysis of stupas at Borobudur itself, contemporary Buddhist candis in Central Java, and various types of stupas abroad, this research concludes that the proposal for catra installation on the main stupa of Borobudur lacks …

Entheogens: The Hallucinogenic Plants That Shaped Religion, Nicolas A. Michaud

Young Historians Conference

Entheogens have played a pivotal role in religious and spiritual practices across diverse cultures, aiding in the pursuit of divine connection and higher consciousness. Evidence suggests that dating as far as back as a million years ago, early human species such as Homo erectus and Homo habilis experimented with hallucinogenic plants like psilocybin mushrooms, introducing the earliest forms of shamanic practices. As societies became more structured, the use of entheogens expanded throughout various parts of society. In ancient Greece, oracles utilized plants like henbane to communicate with the divine, molding military and political policy. During the Middle Ages, Tibetan Buddhism …

Embodied Self-Remembering; Toward A Personal Movement Philosophy, Nicholas Greenlund

University of Montana Conference on Undergraduate Research (UMCUR)

The possibility examined in this project is the expansion of human consciousness through Inner work. This “Inner work” integrates the insights of Buddhist psychology, Integral psychology, Enneagram philosophy, and Somatic practices for the expansion of conscious potential in and through the cultivation of compassionate understanding. By observing and identifying the conditions that reinforce a reactive state of being, a choice emerges to remain or grow a capacity of responsiveness. This process is through the body’s sensory presence, the heart’s courage to love, and the mind’s construction of Self. The subjective exploration of the interconnected body-mind integrates the complex study of …

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 …

Beyond The Battle: Historical, Religio-Philosophical, And Literary Depths Of Demon Slayer: Mugen Train, Ronald S. Green

Philosophy and Religious Studies

This paper argues that Demon Slayer: Mugen Train is not merely an animated cinematic phenomenon but a multifaceted narrative that intricately weaves together diverse elements of Japanese cultural heritage. It offers a unique lens through which to examine some of the complexities of Japan's sociocultural and philosophical landscapes and conversely, the impact of these on the film. It makes this argument in three sections: (1) The Importance of the Historical Setting in Demon Slayer, (2) Shintō, Buddhism, and Confucianism in Demon Slayer: Mugen Train, and (3) Relations to Antecedent Representations of Dreaming in Japanese Literature and Anime.

This article was …