Buddhist Studies Commons^™

Foreword To Martin Kovan, A Buddhist Theory Of Killing: A Philosophical Exposition, James Mark Shields, Dan Cozort

Other Faculty Research and Publications

No abstract provided.

Turning Red, Micah Dunwoody

Journal of Religion & Film

This is a film review of Turning Red (2022) directed by Domee Shi.

Midwives, Sheila J. Nayar

Journal of Religion & Film

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

Círdan The Shipwright: Tolkien’S Bodhisattva Who Brings Us To The Other Shore, Douglas Charles Kane

Mythlore: A Journal of J.R.R. Tolkien, C.S. Lewis, Charles Williams, and Mythopoeic Literature

Tolkien wrote that Círdan the Shipwright “saw further and deeper than any other in Middle-earth” despite being a minor, incidental character in both The Silmarillion and The Lord of the Rings. The important role that Círdan plays in Tolkien’s secondary universe can be understood by looking at him as a bodhisattva in a Buddhist tradition. Círdan’s role throughout the Three Ages of Middle-earth chronicled by Tolkien was to come to the aid of others, to reduce their suffering, and particularly to help facilitate their sailing to the “Blessed Lands” in the West (which can be seen as a metaphor for …

Zen And The Art Of Resistance: Some Preliminary Notes, James Mark Shields

Faculty Contributions to Books

In the Western and oftentimes Asian imagination, Buddhism generally—and Zen more specifically—is understood as being resolutely disengaged, attaching itself to a form of awakening that is not only, as the classical phrase has it “beyond words and letters,” but in the modern summation by D. T. Suzuki, perfectly compatible with any and all forms of political and economic “dogmatism,” whether capitalist, communist, socialist, or fascist. Of course, as numerous scholars have shown over the past century, on the level of historical actuality, Buddhist and Zen teachers and institutions have long participated in (usually hegemonic) economic and political structures. The …

"Trading Western Suits For Monastic Robes" : Remaking Tibetan Buddhism In The Chinese Religious Revival, Jue Liang

Faculty Publications

No abstract provided.

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

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 …

Sankyoku Magazine And The Invention Of The Shakuhachi As Religious Instrument In Early 20th-Century Japan, Matt Gillan

Yale Journal of Music & Religion

The early 20^th century was a period in which understandings of music, religion, and the nation-state underwent rapid change in Japan. In this article I examine Japanese cultural discourse from the first decades of the 20^th century in which the shakuhachi, a Japanese bamboo flute, was frequently portrayed as a religious instrument. In some cases, this discourse referenced pre-20^th century historical affiliations of the shakuhachi with the Fuke-sect, an organization that was loosely affiliated to Rinzai Zen Buddhism. But the article also explores how religio-musical discourse surrounding the shakuhachi intersected with developments in modern Japanese religious life, …

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

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, …

Reviews Of Rajesh Singh, _Periodisation Of Rock-Cut Monuments Of India_ And _Khīṅgīla Vs. Buddhist Caves_, Charles Willemen

The Indian International Journal of Buddhist Studies

No Abstract.

Review Of Shohei Ichimura, _The Canonical Book Of The Buddha's Lengthy Discourses_, Bhikkhu Analayo

The Indian International Journal of Buddhist Studies

no abstract

Note About Early Buddhist Schools, Charles Willemen

The Indian International Journal of Buddhist Studies

No abstract

Sattha, Money And Idols: Intersections Between Capitalist Commodification Of Thai K-Pop And Buddhist Fandoms, Pornpailin Meklalit

Master's Projects and Capstones

This study investigates the cultural, economic, and spiritual meanings, as well as the goals of activities carried out by both the K-pop fandom (specifically fans of EXO and NCT) and Buddhist devotees in Thailand—and their considerable degree of overlap. While Thai Buddhism is revered, K-pop fandom is stigmatized as an extreme, problematic form of behavior. This research builds parallels between these activities as forms of faith, which are mostly shaped by the same economic structures, with money as a medium that allows spiritual connection and comfort for fans. Moreover, travel and pilgrimages are physical and spiritual journeys that exist for …

Buddhist Environmentalism: How Buddhist Values And Practices Offer Hope For Escaping The Climate Crisis, Alexa Rae Rohrkasse

Honors Theses

The 2015 United Nations' Paris Climate Agreement signed by 191 parties and the 1997

The Kyoto Protocol currently agreed to by 192 international parties, state that the fate of

humanity depends on its ability to recognize its self-destructive actions and act rapidly to reverse

their effects (UNFCC, 1). Throughout our time on earth, the same internal struggles and external

battles have persisted and continue to repeat. It is only recently that these battles have begun

impacting everyone and everything on earth in way that must be urgently addressed for survival.

These events have always been detrimental to our internal struggles …

Case Study: Religion, Socialism And Secularization In Modern Japan: The New Buddhist Fellowship, James Mark Shields

Faculty Contributions to Books

No abstract provided.

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 …

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.

The Illusion Of Self Revisited: Replies To Critics, Karsten J. Struhl

Comparative Philosophy

Anand Vaidya, Sean Smith, and Mark Siderits have presented thoughtful comments and provocative challenges to my article “What Kind of an Illusion is the Illusion of Self?” Their challenges raise significant questions about the nature of illusion, whether Buddhism is denying the self in all senses of the term, whether there could be a self that exists for some limited duration of time and has at least some measure of control, whether there is a phenomenal illusion of self, whether the neuropsychological assumptions embedded in Thomas Metzinger’s Phenomenal Self Model is consistent with Buddhist metaphysics, the usefulness of evolutionary psychology …

Empty Or Emergent Persons? A Critique Of Buddhist Personalism, Javier Hidalgo

Comparative Philosophy

In contrast to Buddhist Reductionists who deny the ultimate existence of the persons, Buddhist Personalists claim that persons are ultimately real in some important sense. Recently, some philosophers have offered philosophical reconstructions of Buddhist Personalism. In this paper, I critically evaluate one philosophical reconstruction of Buddhist Personalism according to which persons are irreducible to the parts that constitute them. Instead, persons are emergent entities and have novel properties that are distinct from the properties of their constituents. While this emergentist interpretation is an interesting and well-motivated reconstruction of the Personalist position, I ultimately reject it on substantive grounds. I distinguish …

Righteous Remixes, Sacred Mashups: Rethinking Authority, Authenticity, And Originality In The Study Of Religion, Seth M. Walker

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

This dissertation sets out to place emergent theories of “remix” in conversation with scholarship exploring changes in the definitions and practices associated with the word “religion.” Through particular case studies, the dissertation analyzes the ways that certain contemporary creators, writers, and influencers have emerged as constructors of contemporary Buddhism. Specifically building upon the critiques of religion put forth by Jonathan Z. Smith, Russell T. McCutcheon, Brent Nongbri, Jane Iwamura, and others, I am concerned with how individuals who are not part of the religious studies scholarly community participate in the processes of constructing religion, and in this case, in constructing …

A Dilemma For Buddhist Reductionsim, Javier S. Hidalgo

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

This article develops a dilemma for Buddhist Reductionism that centers on the nature of normative reasons. This dilemma suggests that Buddhist Reductionism lacks the resources to make sense of normative reasons and, furthermore, that this failure may cast doubt on the plausibility of Buddhist Reductionism as a whole...Can Buddhist philosophy make sense of reasons? In this article, I have examined whether one important Buddhist view—Buddhist Reductionism— has the resources to justify the existence of reasons. My diagnosis is pessimistic. I have argued that Buddhist Reductionism lacks the resources to make sense of reasons and, furthermore, that this failure casts doubt …

Creative Nothingness: Dada As Art, Politics And Religion In Interwar Japan, James Mark Shields

Faculty Journal Articles

The decades immediately following the Meiji Restoration of 1868 saw Japan rapidly develop as a “modern” nation — replete with industrial technology, a powerful and sophisticated military, a burgeoning capitalist economy, a broad based educational system, and, by the early twentieth century, a massive influx of contemporary Western political, philosophical, literary and artistic ideals, including socialism, anarchism, and nearly all variations of avant-garde art and aesthetics. By the end of the Meiji period, however, with the crackdown on leftist activities in the wake of the High Treason Incident (1910–1911) and the slow but steady accretion of Japanese imperialist ideology through …

What Kind Of An Illusion Is The Illusion Of Self, Karsten J. Struhl

Comparative Philosophy

Both early and later forms of Buddhism developed a set of arguments to demonstrate that the self is an illusion. This article begins with a brief review of some of the arguments but then proceeds to show that these arguments are not themselves sufficient to dispel the illusion. It analyzes three ways in which the illusion of self manifests itself – as wish fulfillment, as a cognitive illusion, and as a phenomenal illusion (what might be called the “I” sense). With respect to this last, the article reviews some recent developments in cognitive neuropsychology and neuroscience to discuss the way …

Creatively Exploring Self: Applying Organic Inquiry, A Transpersonal And Intuitive Methodology, Larisa J. Bardsley Phd

The Qualitative Report

This article explores the merit of using Organic Inquiry, a qualitative research approach that is most effectively applied to areas of psychological and spiritual growth. Organic Inquiry is a research approach where the psyche of the researcher becomes the instrument of the research, working in partnership with the experiences of participants and guided by liminal and spiritual influences. Organic Inquiry is presented as a unique methodology that can incorporate other non-traditional research methods, including intuitive, autoethnographic and creative techniques. The validity and application of Organic Inquiry, as well as its strengths and limitations are discussed in the light of the …

Silence Is Golden: Eschewing Medicine And The Marine Corps, James Ross Finds A Contemplative Path To Fulfillment, Maeve Dolan

Colby Magazine

"There are many translators but not many businesspeople in Buddhism, because it's not often seen as a compatible path with a contemplative lifestyle." -James Ross '18

The Transition Of Guanyin: Reinterpreting Queerness And Buddha Nature In Medieval East Asia, Robert Wilf

Religious Studies Honors Papers

Avalokitesvara, better known by the Chinese name of Guanyin, is perhaps the second most pervasive figure in all of Buddhism after the historical Buddha himself. Part of this popularity comes from his adaptability and willingness to change to order to save everyone, no matter what part of society they might be from. It is thanks to this adaptability that Guanyin’s iconography varies wildly by region, with much of Theravada and tantric Buddhism depicting him as a man, while Mahayana Buddhism tends to revere her as the patron of women. From their earliest description, Guanyin was known to transcend boundaries to …

Widening The Circle, Philip Novak

Faculty Authored Books and Book Contributions

Joanna Macy is a scholar of Buddhism, systems thinking, and deep ecology whose decades of writing, teaching, and activism have inspired people around the world. In this collection of writings, leading spiritual teachers, deep ecologists, and diverse writers and activists explore the major facets of Macy’s lifework. Combined with eleven pieces from Macy herself, the result is a rich chorus of wisdom and compassion to support the work of our time.

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

Libraries

Theories of charismatic leadership present leadership as an influence process where part of the leader’s role is to attract followers through individual example and vision. Charismatic leadership acknowledges the potential dangers of narcissism in the leader and leader-obsession among their followers. Meanwhile, central tenets of Zen philosophy include that of non-attachment to self, interdependence of all beings, and impermanence. Interviews with four American Zen practitioner-leaders were analyzed for themes related to the influence of ego on leadership. This paper presents findings from the interviews, and discusses these along with observations from other Zen scholars and practitioners. The discussion is complemented …