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Religious Thought, Theology and Philosophy of Religion Commons

Open Access. Powered by Scholars. Published by Universities.®

2009

University of San Diego

Articles 1 - 3 of 3

Full-Text Articles in Religious Thought, Theology and Philosophy of Religion

Creating Religious Identity, Karma Lekshe Tsomo Phd Oct 2009

Creating Religious Identity, Karma Lekshe Tsomo Phd

Theology and Religious Studies: Faculty Scholarship

The author, a Buddhist monastic and scholar, explores the varieties of religious identity, their sources, and their effects on society. She discusses the fluidity of religious identities in the modern world and, in particular, the various challenges to women in confronting the stubborn persistence of gender-based exclusionary practices in religious traditions.


Socially Engaged Buddhist Nuns: Activism In Taiwan And North America, Karma Lekshe Tsomo Phd Jan 2009

Socially Engaged Buddhist Nuns: Activism In Taiwan And North America, Karma Lekshe Tsomo Phd

Theology and Religious Studies: Faculty Scholarship

The last decades of the twentieth century have been a time of new visibility and social activism for Buddhists in Taiwan and around the world. This paper compares the social engagement of nuns in the Chinese Buddhist tradition in Taiwan and North America. I would like to argue that whereas nuns in Taiwan have developed a variety of approaches to social involvement, their counterparts in the Chinese diaspora in North America have had to face a set of challenges specific to overseas Chinese communities in addition to Chinese Buddhist tradition. The article concludes with reflections on the prospects for nuns' …


Being Buddhist, Karma Lekshe Tsomo Phd Jan 2009

Being Buddhist, Karma Lekshe Tsomo Phd

Theology and Religious Studies: Faculty Scholarship

When I first encountered the Buddhist teachings, they vastly expanded my evolving ideas about life and helped me to recognize the limitations of my own perceptions. As a child, I suspected that perception was an individual process and that misunderstandings between people were based on different perspectives. Human beings' backgrounds and experiences seemed so diverse; it came as no surprise that they saw the world differently. Buddhist views on perception not only confirmed my suspicions, but also explained in depth the processes involved in human cognition and the ways in which our personal biases and preferences colour our images of …