Buddhist Studies Commons^™

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, …

Ancient Magic And Modern Accessories: Developments In The Omamori Phenomenon, Eric Teixeira Mendes

Masters Theses

This thesis offers an examination of modern Japanese amulets, called omamori, distributed by Buddhist temples and Shinto shrines throughout Japan. As amulets, these objects are meant to be carried by a person at all times in which they wish to receive the benefits that an omamori is said to offer. In modern times, in addition to being a religious object, these amulets have become accessories for cell-phones, bags, purses, and automobiles. Said to protect people from accidents, disease, loneliness, failure, computer viruses, among many other things, these objects are one of the few material aspects of religion that are a …

Interfaith Dialogue And A Lotus Practitioner: Yamada Etai, The Lotus Sutra, And The Religious Summit Meeting On Mt. Hiei, Stephen G. Covell

Comparative Religion Publications

This article is an examination of Yamada Etai, the 253rd head priest (zasu) of the Tendai denomination and his efforts to host the Religious Summit Meeting on Mt. Hiei. Following an in-depth analysis of Yamada’s understanding of the Lotus Sutra, especially as it relates to interfaith outreach, Yamada’s efforts to reshape contemporary Tendai Buddhism through a focus on compassionate service and salvation are examined in light of his efforts to put on a large-scale international interfaith meeting.

Contesting Buddhisms On Conflicted Land: Sarvodaya Shramadana And Buddhist Peacemaking, Masumi Hayashi-Smith

The Journal of Sociology & Social Welfare

Buddhism in its various incarnations has both aided and hindered the peace processes in Sri Lanka. Sarvodaya Shramadana, a Buddhist development organization, stands out in the way it uses religion to promote peace through a more humanist interpretation of Buddhist teachings. While Sarvodaya's alternative approach toward the religion provides an optimistic space for promoting peace, its connections to and dependence on populism can also complicate its politics. This article argues that the most effective means of peace work can be found through the same channel of collective mobilization that hindered it, Buddhism.

A Qualitative Study Of Buddhist Informed Psychotherapists, Michael Sean Harris

Dissertations

The field of psychology has a history of distancing itself, if not outright dismissing, both religion and spirituality. In recent years, however, psychology has come to move more toward an embrace of religious and spiritual experience. Buddhism, often expressed as a philosophical system without regard to theistic or nontheistic underpinnings, has been integrated with psychological theory in recent scholarly literature. This dissertation is an exploratory study regarding howBuddhist psychological perspectives are applied in actual psychotherapeutic practice. A participant pool of ten psychotherapists who self-identified as utilizing Buddhism in their work was studied along a variety of dimensions. Demographic questionnaires, audiotaped …

The Biographic And Poetic Dimensions In Gary Synder’S Green Buddhism Poetry: Cold Mountain, Mountains And Rivers Without End, And Danger On Peaks, Byoungkook Park

Dissertations

From the perspective of ecology, many scholars have examined works of Gary Synder, who is an environmental activist, a peasant-Buddhist, and one of the most beloved and significant poets in the East and West. While his poems have been widely read, they have been rarely articulated from the perspective of East Asian Mahayana Buddhism or, which I would call, Green Buddhism. Considering this, my dissertation focuses on Snyder's Green Buddhism poetry and delineates the concept of Green Buddhism and how it has emerged in his Green Buddhism poetry over the past fifty years. According to my research, his poetic dimensions …

Learning To Persevere: The Popular Teachings Of Tendai Ascetics, Stephen G. Covell

Comparative Religion Publications

This paper introduces the teachings of three contemporary practitioners of Tendai Buddhism. I argue that the study of Japanese Buddhism has focused on doctrine and the past to the detriment of our understanding of contemporary teaching. Through an examination of the teachings of contemporary practitioners of austerities, I show that practice is drawn on as a source more than classical doctrine, that conservative values are prized, and that the teachings show strong similarities to the teachings of the new religions, suggesting a broad-based shared worldview.

Editors' Introduction: Traditional Buddhism In Contemporary Japan, Stephen G. Covell, Mark Rowe

Comparative Religion Publications

First paragrph:

This special issue focuses scholarly attention on various aspects of cctraditional” Buddhism (kisei bukkyd 既成仏教 or dento bukkyd 伝統仏教）in the contemporary period. The articles included here all seek to highlight and challenge certain assumptions about how contemporary Japanese Buddhist doctrine, practice, and teaching are understood. Implicit in this project is the idea that contemporary forms of Buddhism are not degenerations of a pure, original essence, but rather represent a varied and complex tradition in the midst of important challenges.

Review Of Richard M. Jaffe. Neither Monk Nor Layman: Clerical Marriage In Modern Japanese Buddhism, Stephen G. Covell

Comparative Religion Publications

First paragraph:

Clerical marriage stands alongside changing attitudes towards funerary care as one of the most critical issues in contemporary Japanese Buddhism. In this richly detailed and clearly written work, Richard Jaffe describes how the issue of clerical marriage came to dominate modern Japanese Buddhism. In so doing he provides a valuable contribution to the fields of Japanese Studies and Buddhology. Moreover, through his focus on the interaction between the Meiji state and Buddhist organizations Jaffe provides abundant material for anyone interested in state-religion issues.