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Articles 91 - 111 of 111

Full-Text Articles in Buddhist Studies

The Scope And Limits Of Secular Buddhism: Watanabe Kaikyoku (1868–1912) And The Japanese New Buddhist 'Discovery Of Society', James Mark Shields Mar 2017

The Scope And Limits Of Secular Buddhism: Watanabe Kaikyoku (1868–1912) And The Japanese New Buddhist 'Discovery Of Society', James Mark Shields

Faculty Contributions to Books

Although New Buddhism is a term sometimes employed to refer to the broad sweep of reform and modernization movements in Japanese Buddhist thought and practice beginning in the 1870s, the term shin bukkyō refers more specifically to a broadly influential movement of some two dozen young scholars and lay Buddhists active in the last decade of the Meiji period (1868–1912). Founded in February 1899 as Bukkyō Seito Dōshikai (Buddhist Pure Believers Fellowship or Buddhist Puritan Association), the group changed its name to Shin Bukkyō Dōshikai (New Buddhist Fellowship) in 1903. Notto Thelle refers to the NBF as “the most consistent …


Kuiji’S Analysis Of Individual Capacities For Enlightenment: Philosophical Foundations Of His Chinese Yogācāra Buddhist Tradition, Ronald S. Green Jan 2017

Kuiji’S Analysis Of Individual Capacities For Enlightenment: Philosophical Foundations Of His Chinese Yogācāra Buddhist Tradition, Ronald S. Green

Philosophy and Religious Studies

According to Mahāyāna Buddhism as seen in the Lotus Sūtra and many other Buddhist texts revered in Chinese and other East Asian traditions, the Buddha used his insight into each individual’s capacity for understanding, to tailor his teachings about how they should proceed toward overcoming suffering. For this reason, the Buddha is sometimes called the Great Physician, having the ability to diagnose an individual’s case and prescribe a specific remedy. This is the Buddha’s skillful means or skill-in-means (upāya), his expertise in crafting a personal plan for liberation. Thus, the overall ethical imperative is the same regardless of an individual’s …


The Shingon Ajikan, Meditation On The Syllable ‘A’: An Analysis Of Components And Development, Ronald S. Green Jan 2017

The Shingon Ajikan, Meditation On The Syllable ‘A’: An Analysis Of Components And Development, Ronald S. Green

Philosophy and Religious Studies

This paper examines what has been described as the most basic and essential element of Kūkai’s (774-835) religio-philosophical system (Yamasaki 1988:190), meditation on the Sanskrit syllable ‘A’. According to Shingon Buddhist tradition, Kūkai introduced the meditation on the syllable ‘A’ (hereafter referred to as the Ajikan) into Japan in the early 9th century, at the time he transmitted the Shingon Dharma to that country from China. Materials clearly showing the origin and development of the Ajikan before Kūkai’s time have either not been discovered or have not been analyzed in relationship to the Ajikan. Indeed, some researchers have argued that …


Śākya Chokden, Yaroslav Komarovski Jan 2017

Śākya Chokden, Yaroslav Komarovski

Department of Classics and Religious Studies: Faculty Publications

During his long writing and teaching career, Śākya Chokden (1428-1507) developed a novel, and in many respects unusual approach to the key systems of Buddhist thought and practice. A recurrent theme given special attention in his numerous works is the question of the relationship between conflicting conceptual models of ultimate reality and the means of its realization on the one hand, and practical outcomes of utilizing those models in contemplative practice on the other. The position he articulates based on critical comparison of several Buddhist systems of thought and practice, is that despite their different, and often conflicting, conceptual approaches …


Zen Noir Vis-À-Vis Myers-Briggs Personality Typology: Semiotic Multivalency As Grounds For Dialog, Edward J. Godfrey Oct 2016

Zen Noir Vis-À-Vis Myers-Briggs Personality Typology: Semiotic Multivalency As Grounds For Dialog, Edward J. Godfrey

Journal of Religion & Film

Marc Rosenbush’s film, Zen Noir (2004) is at first glance a Buddhist film wherein a troubled detective finds himself at a Zen temple with a murder to solve. But upon further investigation, it becomes evident that the film can also be understood in terms of Myers-Briggs personality typology, which is an extension of the personology and depth psychology of C.G. Jung. This suggests a multivalency which allows the imagery of the film to be interpreted in two different ways; as both suggesting Zen enlightenment and Jungian individuation. To assist with this comparison, this paper introduces the Ten Ox-Herding Paintings of …


Peasant Revolts As Anti-Authoritarian Archetypes For Radical Buddhism In Modern Japan, James Mark Shields Jun 2016

Peasant Revolts As Anti-Authoritarian Archetypes For Radical Buddhism In Modern Japan, James Mark Shields

Faculty Journal Articles

The late Meiji period (1868-1912) witnessed the birth of various forms of “progressive” and “radical” Buddhism both within and beyond traditional Japanese Buddhist institutions. This paper examines several historical precedents for “Buddhist revolution” in East Asian—and particularly Japanese—peasant rebellions of the early modern period. I argue that these rebellions, or at least the received narratives of such, provided significant “root paradigms” for the thought and practice of early Buddhist socialists and radical Buddhists of early twentieth century Japan. Even if these narratives ended in “failure”—as, indeed, they often did—they can be understood as examples of what James White calls “expressionistic …


Opium Eaters: Buddhism As Revolutionary Politics, James Mark Shields Apr 2016

Opium Eaters: Buddhism As Revolutionary Politics, James Mark Shields

Faculty Contributions to Books

There is no one, single answer to the question: What is or are ‘Buddhist politics’? Rather than seek general historical trends or broad tendencies, in this chapter I explore the meaning and implications of the modern, Western conception of ‘politics’ as understood in relation to key features of Buddhist doctrine. In particular, I pose the question of whether we might fruitfully conceive at least certain interpretations of Buddhism—or perhaps, of Dharma—as politics, rather than ‘religion’ or ‘philosophy.’ I argue that twentieth century progressive Buddhists Seno’o Girō (1889–1961) and B. R. Ambedkar (1891–1956) were not so much in conflict with …


East Asian Buddhism, Ronald S. Green Nov 2015

East Asian Buddhism, Ronald S. Green

Philosophy and Religious Studies

No abstract provided.


Xuanzang’S Text Of Bodhisattva Precepts, Ronald S. Green, Chanju Mun Jan 2015

Xuanzang’S Text Of Bodhisattva Precepts, Ronald S. Green, Chanju Mun

Philosophy and Religious Studies

A translation from the Chinese with annotations.


From Topos To Utopia: Critical Buddhism, Globalization, And Ideology Criticism, James Mark Shields Nov 2014

From Topos To Utopia: Critical Buddhism, Globalization, And Ideology Criticism, James Mark Shields

Faculty Contributions to Books

No abstract provided.


Seno'o Giro: Life And Thought Of A Radical Buddhist, James Mark Shields Jul 2014

Seno'o Giro: Life And Thought Of A Radical Buddhist, James Mark Shields

Faculty Contributions to Books

No abstract provided.


Xuanzang’S Manual For Conferring The Bodhisattva Precepts, Ronald S. Green, Chanju Mun Jan 2014

Xuanzang’S Manual For Conferring The Bodhisattva Precepts, Ronald S. Green, Chanju Mun

Philosophy and Religious Studies

This is a translation of the Manual on the Procedures for Conferring the Bodhisattva Precepts (T.24.1499.1104c19- 1106b27) by Xuanzang (602-664) and the preface to it written by the monk Jingmai (T.24.1499.1106c3-29). Xuanzang was a Chinese monk and a translator of Buddhist scriptures. Although it is recorded that Xuanzang translated this manual in 649, he may have written it himself based on the Yoga-ca-- s rabhu-mi-s´astra in 100 fascicles. After travel through Central Asia and India from 629 (or 627?) to 645, he translated 75 Buddhist scriptures in 1,335 fascicles into Chinese, including a number of major Yoga-ca-ra Buddhist texts. He …


Zange And Sorge: Two Models Of 'Concern' In Comparative Philosophy Of Religion, James Mark Shields Feb 2013

Zange And Sorge: Two Models Of 'Concern' In Comparative Philosophy Of Religion, James Mark Shields

Faculty Contributions to Books

The concept of Sorge, as developed in Martin Heidegger’s (1889–1976) classic work, Sein und Zeit (1927), describes an existential-ontological state characterized by “anxiety” about the future and the desire to “attend to” the world based on our awareness of temporality. In Japan, this concept was borrowed and critically developed by Watsuji Tetsurō (1889–1960). In Rinrigaku (1937–49), Watsuji argued that Heidegger’s Sorge remains overly reliant on the philosophical structures of Western individualism and subjectivism, and thus neglects the social dimension of human being. In turn, Watsuji’s contemporary, Tanabe Hajime (1885–1962), developed an alternative theory of “concern” in his reflections on …


Review: Christopher Ives, Imperial-Way Zen: Ichikawa Hakugen’S Critique And Lingering Questions For Buddhist Ethics (Uhp, 2009), James Mark Shields Apr 2012

Review: Christopher Ives, Imperial-Way Zen: Ichikawa Hakugen’S Critique And Lingering Questions For Buddhist Ethics (Uhp, 2009), James Mark Shields

Other Faculty Research and Publications

Review of Christopher Ives, Imperial-Way Zen: Ichikawa Hakugen’s Critique and Lingering Questions for Buddhist Ethics (UHP, 2009)


Buddhist Exploration Of Peace And Justice, Ronald S. Green, Chanju Mun Jan 2006

Buddhist Exploration Of Peace And Justice, Ronald S. Green, Chanju Mun

Philosophy and Religious Studies

Contains five speeches and twenty-three articles presented in the Fifth International Seminar on Buddhism and Leadership for Peace on the theme "Exploration of Ways to Put Buddhist Thought into Social Practice for Peace and Justice." The seminar was held under the joint auspice of Dae Won Sa Buddhist Temple of Hawaii and the Korean Buddhist Research Institute of Dongguk University, 1991.


Translation: “Kiyozawa Manshi And Nishida Kitarō,” By Fujita Masakatsu., James Mark Shields, Masakatsu Fujita Feb 2003

Translation: “Kiyozawa Manshi And Nishida Kitarō,” By Fujita Masakatsu., James Mark Shields, Masakatsu Fujita

Other Faculty Research and Publications

No abstract provided.


Translation: Ama Toshimaro, “Shin Buddhism And Economic Ethics”, James Mark Shields, Toshimaro Ama Apr 2002

Translation: Ama Toshimaro, “Shin Buddhism And Economic Ethics”, James Mark Shields, Toshimaro Ama

Other Faculty Research and Publications

No abstract provided.


Trends. Spinning Buddhas, Ibpp Editor Mar 2001

Trends. Spinning Buddhas, Ibpp Editor

International Bulletin of Political Psychology

This article discusses the March 2001 destruction of the Bamiyan Buddhas in Afghanistan by the Taliban.


The Bodhisattva Ideal In Theravāda Buddhist Theory And Practice: A Reevaluation Of The Bodhisattva-Śrāvaka Opposition, Jeffrey Samuels Jul 1997

The Bodhisattva Ideal In Theravāda Buddhist Theory And Practice: A Reevaluation Of The Bodhisattva-Śrāvaka Opposition, Jeffrey Samuels

Philosophy & Religion Faculty Publications

In the academic study of Buddhism the terms" Mahayana" and "Hinayana" are often set in contradiction to each other, and the two vehicles are described as having different aspirations, teachings, and practices. The distinctions made between the Mahayana and the Hinayana, how-ever, force the schools into neat, isolated, and independent categories that often undermine the complexities that exist concerning their beliefs, ideologies, and practices.


Dogen And Bankei And A Study Of The Soto Zen, Kazumitsu W. Kato Jan 1959

Dogen And Bankei And A Study Of The Soto Zen, Kazumitsu W. Kato

University of the Pacific Theses and Dissertations

The reason I am writing this dissertation is to introduce another side of Zen, Soto, which is completely unknown in the Western world; and at the same time to bring Dogen's teaching to the attention of Western scholars, since it is famous in Japan as the most profound branch of the philosophy of Zen. Unfortunately, none of Dogen' s teaching has yet been translated into English except Masunaga's private publication given above. Therefore I am taking this opportunity to translate and to add a commentary of my own for the better understanding of Dogen as well as the historical survey …


Conceptions Of Formative Processes In Western Science And Eastern Philosophy, Glenn E. Kaufmann Jan 1958

Conceptions Of Formative Processes In Western Science And Eastern Philosophy, Glenn E. Kaufmann

University of the Pacific Theses and Dissertations

The central theme of this paper concerns the way Eastern and Western (sometimes termed Oriental and Occidental) thought view the formation of the world; the means of arriving at these conclusions and the concepts or pre-conceived ideas upon which they are based. Western thought has been limited to views that have developed out of modern science, post-1500; they are mechanistic science, evolution, Whitehead's philosophy pertaining to God and modern physics. For the purpose of this paper, the emphasis in Eastern thought is placed on Mahayana Buddhism, especially the Madhyamika school of philosophy. In India it developed in contact with many …