Buddhist Cosmology Research Articles

Lighting Design for Lanna Buddhist Architecture: A Case Study of Suan Dok Temple, Chiang Mai, Thailand

In Chiang Mai, Thailand, there has been an increasing demand for lighting design strategies that enhance tangible and intangible values of cultural heritage destinations. This research explores the role of lighting design in enhancing the cultural experiences and promoting the cultural tourism of Lanna Buddhist architecture. Suan Dok Temple was selected as a case study due to its historical, social, and cultural significance. This research uses qualitative approaches such as field surveys, photographic documentation, and interviews with temple authorities, cultural heritage experts and tourism professionals for the formulation of initial users’ requirements and lighting design criteria and concept. Data analysis suggested that cultural heritage and conservation, cultural tourism management, and operation and maintenance are important factors in heritage lighting design for cultural tourism. Realistic rendering images of lighting design scenes for the temple’s chedis and vihara are generated based on the concept of luminance layers representing the Buddhist cosmology idea. In addition, lighting operation and installation details are developed and presented to stakeholders for discussion on contextual and operational appropriateness. Finally, the study discusses critical lighting design factors for the development of lighting design solutions for heritage sites, particularly Lanna Buddhist temples, contributing to sustainable cultural tourism.

Research on Buddhist Cosmology from the Perspective of Religious Comparison

With regard to the assertion of the nature of the world, primitive Buddhism advocates “all phenomena that arise from causes” and opposes the existence of “God” or “Creator”, who created everything in the universe, which is significantly different from monotheistic beliefs such as Brahmanism, Christianity, and Islam and is therefore often called “atheism”. This paper introduces the Buddhist cosmology of Mount Sumeru and the tri-sahasra mahā-sahasra lokadhātu under the perspective of comparative religions and the first human beings who came to this world from the ābhāsvara-deva as recorded in the Buddhist scriptures and explores the question of whether Buddhism is atheistic. It is believed that the key to the debate between Chinese and Western scholars on whether Buddhism is atheistic is the difference in understanding the concept of “God”. Buddhism does not deny the supernatural power of “ghosts and gods”, so its essence is still theism.

When planetary cosmopolitanism meets the Buddhist ethic: Recycling, karma and popular ecology in Singapore

AbstractBy thinking with and through Buddhist cosmology, this paper explores the emergence of an ethical sensibility—what we call planetary cosmopolitanism—that is based on not just a spatially expanded ethic of care to ecological worlds, but also a temporally extended sense of justice to the future Earth. This transtemporal sense of ethical becoming reflects how the possibility of future ‘rebirth’ and accountability for past actions can motivate new ecological consciousness in the present. We forge these ideas through an empirical focus on popular Buddhist ecological practices in Singapore, where green recovery visions have primarily been driven by a secular and technocratic ethos. In negotiating the prevailing modernist ecological discourses, many Buddhists tap into an alternative imagining of cosmological time that regards Earth not simply as a place to be left behind at the end of one's life, but a permanent home for all future beings. This reading of human–ecology relations emphasises a causal responsibility to secure planetary well‐being, moving the making of cosmopolitan sensibilities from the realm of beneficence into justice. Yet, this renewed cosmopolitan sensibility to Earth is not simply a prescriptive ethical framework articulated on an abstract level, but materially performed and negotiated at the level of everyday life. Recycling becomes a site of rapprochement that allows Buddhists in Singapore to promote and negotiate their ecological consciousness within the strictures of the secular state. In doing so, it opens up new spaces of postcapitalist possibility that enable Buddhists, alongside people of other or no faith, to imagine alternative ways of inhabiting the planet. By developing an alternative account of cosmopolitanism grounded in Buddhist cosmology, we identify Buddhism as a decolonial lens through which we can critically reimagine human–ecology relations, and illuminate diverse modes and practices of ethical becoming in this age of ecological crisis.

A Study of Religious and Scientific Perspectives on Buddhist Cosmology

This research was qualitative, it was to investigate Buddhist cosmology as found in Buddhist scriptures and compare cosmological perspectives between 5 Buddhist scholars and 5 scientists. In Thai Buddhist cosmology, the principles of Paṭiccasamuppāda and Tilakkhaṇa share some similar ideas with the causality principle of science. Scientists regard them as a fundamental universal principle that underpins the laws of nature, which is unsurprising. Another similarity is Saṃsāra, the cycle of rebirth, which may be compared to the birth and extinction of stars but is not comparable to the physical Universe as a whole. Thai Buddhist scholars have accepted that Buddhist and scientific cosmologies are compatible. I argue that when it comes to the physical matter of the universe, its definition, evolution, shape, space, and time, the perspectives of Buddhist scholars and scientists are radically different and cannot be compared. Furthermore, Buddhist and scientific approaches to understanding natural laws are diametrically opposed; Buddhism concentrates on the mind, whilst science concentrates on the physical universe; thus, they cannot be naturally compared.

Utsana Phloengtham'sThe Story of Jan Daraas a Buddhist modernist novel

Utsana Phloengtham'sThe Story of Jan Darais one of the most widely known stories in Thailand. It is remembered as ‘erotic fiction’ as well as an ‘immortal classic’. It has also been praised as a Buddhist treatise. Yet, despite being replete with Buddhist terminology and references, it has never been analysed in English as a work of Buddhist fiction. This article argues thatJan Darais one of the very few examples of Thai Buddhist modernist literature, and a highly original and highly layered one at that. The novel employs a diverse number of techniques and concerns derived from modernist authors such as D.H. Lawrence to explore sexual life in an aristocratic mansion of the 1930s. Understood with reference to the literary modernist tropes it employs and the debates in Buddhist cosmology and morality at the time of writing, it can be shown to be a scathing indictment of old-fashioned moralistic ‘hypocrites’ who practice decadent lives ‘while mouthing the Buddhist precepts’.

Brian Houghton Hodgson. At the origins of European Buddhology

The article describes the life and work of Brian Houghton Hodgson (1801–1894), who was servant of the Honourable East India Company (HEICo) in Nepal in 1820−1843. After this he worked as an independent scholar in Sikkim until 1858. Hodgson was among the first European scholars of Buddhism, and the article focuses on the analysis of his views on Buddhism, as well as his efforts to collect Sanskrit manuscripts of classical Buddhist texts. The life and scientific research of Hodgson is considered a typical example of the activities of the first Western Orientalists, who combined service in the colonies with the study of the languages and culture of the Asian peoples. Hodgson received special training for colonial officials and worked for many years as a servant of the HEICo in Nepal, where, along with his official duties, he studied natural history, ethnography and religion of the region. Hodgson collected and donated to universities, libraries and museums in Europe more than four hundred manuscripts of Sanskrit Buddhist writings, previously either completely unknown to European science, or known only in Chinese and Tibetan translations. The study and translation of these manuscripts laid a solid foundation for European Buddhology. In his own works on Buddhism Hodgson identified and characterized four philosophical schools of Indian Buddhism, outlined the Buddhist concepts of the "primordial Buddha" (Adi-Buddha), "contemplation buddhas" (dhyani-buddhas), described Buddhist cosmology and a number of other Buddhist concepts. In addition, he classified the genres of Buddhist literature, took part in the discussion about the original language of the Buddhist canon, showed the inconsistency of the ideas that existed at that time about the African origin of Buddha Shakyamuni. Hodgson's Buddhist views gained recognition in the 19th century, but the accumulation of scientific knowledge about Buddhism showed the fallacy of many of the concepts he put forward. Nevertheless, they played a role in the formation of Western Buddhology, and understanding the history of the study of Buddhism in the West is completely impossible without taking into account Hodgson's works.

From Mount Meru to Mind-Only: Chinese Buddhist Cosmology in the Fajie anli tu 法界安立圖 or An Illustrated [Guide to] the Established Order of the Dharma-realm

Fajie anli tu (An Illustrated [Guide] to the Established Order of the Dharmadhatu 法界安立圖, X 972) is an orderly account of Buddhist cosmology composed by the monk Renchao 仁潮 in Hangzhou. This book reflects the most detailed account late imperial Chinese Buddhists had of Buddhist cosmology and the physical world around them. It was well received in China since its first publication in 1607 and had a far-reaching influence during its transmission to other parts of the world, especially Japan and Britain. However, this book has not been given the attention it merits in contemporary studies of Buddhist history. In this essay, I introduce its authorship, analyze its content and writing skills, as well as examine its reception among disparate groups of readers in China and abroad using a methodology developed in the field of book history. Through a close reading of texts from the work and its history of circulation, this essay demonstrates how Buddhist cosmological discourses evolved within the Chinese context from detailed descriptions of the physical cosmos to philosophical explanations of the universe emphasizing the supremacy of the “mind” (xin 心).

Review: Bangkok Utopia: Modern Architecture and Buddhist Felicities, 1910–1973

Review: <i>Bangkok Utopia: Modern Architecture and Buddhist Felicities, 1910–1973</i>

The transformation of the wrathful deity Mahākāla into the god of happiness and good luck Daikokuten in Japanese Buddhism.

The transformation of the wrathful deity Mahākāla into the god of happiness and fortune Daikokuten in Japanese Buddhism. This study is devoted to the process of the transformation of the wrathful Hindu deity Mahākāla into the god of happiness and fortune Daikokuten in Japanese Buddhism. While in Hinduism and Vajrayāna Buddhism, Mahākāla was a wrathful deity, performing the functions of the Dharma protector, then as a result of the transference of this deity to the Japanese culture, his functions changed. The earliest examples of this process have been already marked in China, from where they later went to Japan. In the paper are traced the description of Mahākāla in the Japanese Buddhist textual tradition in the most notable Japanese text “Daikokutenjin-ho 大黒天神法” (“The Law of the Great Black God”), his iconography and the transformation in local folklore. The formation of Mahākāla iconography in Japan was influenced by a process of the Shintō-Buddhist syncretism, which combined the esoteric doctrines of the Tendai school, traditional Japanese Shintō mythology, Buddhist cosmology and related elements of Hinduism. All these trends are also well traced in Japanese folklore. As a sequence, we could come to conclusion that the process of transformation of the wrathful Hindu deity Mahākāla into one of the Japanese gods of happiness Daikokuten was influenced by the desire to rid Mahākāla of his original destructive deadly attributes, since they were not combined with the original Japanese Shintō tradition, referring to death and its manifestations as an impurity.

The Concept of Karma and Buddhist Cosmology: A Study in the Early Buddhist Context

The Concept of Karma and Buddhist Cosmology: A Study in the Early Buddhist Context

Taming Dragons: The Buddhist Mythmaking of Sacred Violence in Medieval Buddhist Tales Samgukyusa and Konjaku Monogatarishū

The insights available in Japanese medieval Buddhist narratives on the appropriation and reconstruction of various non-Buddhist divine characters has long been overlooked. Yet an examination of these narratives reveals Buddhist thinkers’ endeavors to reconfigure the religious and cultural roles of folk religious worship and related figures into essential tools through which they could popularize Buddhism, legitimize Buddhist cosmology, and, ultimately, to dominate the religious and cultural milieu of medieval Japan. This essay compares such medieval Buddhist narratives of Japan with Korean mythic tale literature. It pays particular attention to representations of folk religious figures in the works, and in particular, the dragon, an exceptionally prominent character associated with particular roles and symbolism in the simplified, popularized Buddhist framework represented in the dragon character in Korean literature Samgukyusa (三國遺事) and Japanese Konjaku monogatarishū (今昔物語集). The essay investigates various representations of the dragon, which was apparently understood in ambivalent terms—as both a sacred figure and a being inferior to Buddhist figures. Moreover, the way in which such representation is related to medieval Japanese discourse of defilement and threatening power is illuminated. Consequently, the essay discusses how Buddhist mythographers in medieval Japan devised a sophisticated literary strategy to accommodate non-Buddhist religious symbols and, simultaneously, to marginalize them.

Situating Mindfulness, Part 1: Early Buddhism and Scientific Research in Psychology

As the first of three articles, the present essay explores the character of selected aspects of early Buddhism in order to assess its potential relevance as a reference point for those engaged in research on mindfulness in psychology. The exploration, which proceeds in critical dialog with suggestions made by Donald Lopez Jr. and Evan Thompson, covers the topics of the Buddha’s omniscience, Buddhist cosmology, the notion of karma, the role of rebirth, the past lives of the Buddha, and the role of religious authority vis-à-vis the scope of personal investigation in early Buddhist thought. The present paper is meant to serve as a corrective to an apparent tendency in recent scholarship, as part of an in itself deserved criticism of exaggerated positions taken by Buddhist modernists, to overlook or even deny rational dimensions of Buddhist thought, here in particular taken up from the viewpoint of its earliest phase. This tendency appears at times to be based on a lack of historical perspective or understanding of Buddhist doctrines and their development.

“One’s Own Body of Pure Channels and Elements”: The Teaching and Practice of Tibetan Yoga at Namdroling

The Tibetan yoga practice known as “winds, channels, and inner heat” (rtsa rlung gtum mo) is physically challenging, and yet is intentionally designed to transform the mind. This chapter explores the relationship between Buddhist doctrine and this physical practice aimed at enlightenment through the teachings of a contemporary yoga master at Namdroling Tibetan Buddhist Monastery and Nunnery in Bylakuppe, Karnataka, South India. This ethnographic profile exemplifies the role of a modern Tibetan lama who teaches a postural yoga practice and interprets the text and techniques for practitioners. While many modern postural yoga systems are divorced from religious doctrine, Tibetan Buddhist yoga is not. This essay highlights three key areas of Buddhist doctrine support the practice of Sky Dharma (gNam chos) yoga at Namdroling: (1) The history and legacy that accompany the practice, which identify the deity of Tibetan yoga as a wrathful form of Avalokiteśvara, the Buddha of compassion; (2) The role of deity yoga in the practice of Tibetan yoga, where the practitioner arises as the deity during yoga practice, an all-consuming inner contemplation; and (3) The framing of Tibetan yoga within the wider philosophy of karma theory and its relationship to Buddhist cosmology. Practitioners of Tibetan yoga endeavor to burn up karmic seeds that fuel the cycle of rebirth in the six realms of saṃsāra. In Tibetan yoga, the body acts in service of the text, the philosophy, and the mind to increasingly link the logic of texts to experience in meaningful ways.

Japanese Concepts of Angels: Analyzing Depictions of Celestial Beings in the shōjo Manga Kamikaze Kaitō Jeanne

&#x0D; White wings, long hair, 'pure' faces: the appearance of angels frequently follows similar aesthetics connected to Christian imagery. Angels and Christian religion also are popular themes in manga, Japanese comics, often intermingled with Buddhist or Shinto notions. Since imagery in popular culture resonates and shapes vernacular and cultural perspectives, manga like Kamikaze Kaitō Jeanne (KKJ) provide an important insight into the conceptualization of angels in Japan. This article therefore analyzes the contrary role of angels in KKJ as the Other, the mysterious, serene one, while simultaneously angels are depicted as part of the circle of life every creature undergoes in Buddhist cosmology. Based on a visual hermeneutic approach, this article demonstrates how the intermix of both visual and religious traditions in Japan shape the depiction of angels in Japanese popcultural media.&#x0D;

Ethnohistorical Archaeology and the Mythscape of the Naga in the Chiang Saen Basin, Thailand

AbstractThere is a northern Thai story that tells how the naga—a mythical serpent—came and destroyed the town known as Yonok (c. thirteenth century) after its ruler became immoral. Despite this divine retribution, the people of the town chose to rebuild it. Many archaeological sites indicate resettlement during this early historical period. Although many temple sites were constructed in accordance with the Buddhist cosmology, the building patterns vary from location to location and illustrate what this paper calls ‘nonconventional patterns,’ distinct from Theravada Buddhist concepts. These nonconventional patterns of temples seem to have been widely practiced in many early historical settlements, e.g., Yonok (what is now Wiang Nong Lom). Many local written documents and practices today reflect the influence of the naga myth on building construction. This paper will demonstrate that local communities in the Chiang Saen basin not only believe in the naga myth but have also applied the myth as a tool to interact with the surrounding landscapes. The myth is seen as a crucial, communicated element used by the local people to modify and construct physical landscapes, meaning Theravada Buddhist cosmology alone cannot explain the nonconventional patterns. As such, comprehending the role of the naga myth enables us to understand how local people, past and present, have perceived the myth as a source of knowledge to convey their communal spaces within larger cosmological concepts in order to maintain local customs and legitimise their social space.

Motherhood in the Realm of Eastern Indian and Himalayan Art: An Iconographic Study of Visual Forms of Prajñāpāramitā from the National Museum, Delhi

This paper aims to outline and explore the development of iconographic forms and metaphysical grounding of one of the most venerable and distinguished Buddhist female deities, Prajсāpāramitā. The Buddhist female pantheon gained a paramount pre-eminence with the idolization of Prajñāpāramitā, establishing the significance of female figure and, especially, mother symbolism during the early medieval period under the liberal patronage of the Pala dynasty of Eastern India. The religious imageries and practices of this deity gradually disseminated to the adjoining Himalayan kingdoms of Nepal and Tibet through pedagogic and religious linkages, and became an integral part of their society. To understand the factors of cross-cultural assimilation through the study of representational forms and its metaphysical grounding, the paper explores and shows the metaphorical meaning of ‘prajсā’ propounded in the Prajñāpāramitā discourse, and its representation in cultic icons of the goddess Prajñāpāramitā and the manuscript. This thematic narrative opens up new avenues of interpretations on gender-subjectivity in Buddhist cosmology and pantheistic belief system which are touched upon in this paper. The idea of pronouncement and expansion of female-oriented texts and icons is highlighted through a study of select devotional icons of this deity, Prajсāpāramitā, from the collection of the National Museum, Delhi.

Sacred heights in the topography of flatlands. Ovaa kurgans in the Kalmyk Buddhist landscape

Since their migration to the northern Caspian, the Kalmyks have attributed the ritual, political and functional roles of the sacred cairns (Mo. ovoo, Kalm. ovaa) of Inner Asia to steppe kurgans, or ancient burial mounds that abound throughout the North Caucasus and Caspian Depression, the oldest dating from the early Bronze Age. This study is concerned with Kalmyk terminology, certain ritual practices and contemporary discourses constructing burial mounds as reference points of Kalmyk Buddhist cosmology and history. Focusing on two examples of particular mounds, I present popular narratives, some archaeological findings and recent public events in connection with the chosen sites in order to explore how these landscape entities are conceptualized as powerful agents of Kalmyk religious and ethno-cultural renewal. Whether ovaa kurgans can be situated within the category of the Inner Asian ovoos or whether they present a separate type of ritual structure is another set of questions the article raises.

Animal Release and the Sacrificial Ethos in Inner Asia

Abstract Animal release is often understood as the practice of freeing an animal from human consumption or the burden of labour. Typically associated with various Buddhist or Daoist cosmologies in which liberating an animal is a merit-making act, animal release tends to be conceptualised in altruistic terms. Yet the diverse forms that sacrifice and animal release take across Inner Asia suggest that the focus of analysis sometimes shifts from a concern with freeing animals to protecting the human imperative to live. Introducing new ethnography on the ethical underpinnings of sacrifice among Buryats in northeast Mongolia and the Nuosu of southwest China, I propose that animal release can be an act of restrained violence that evokes the mythopoetic contours of human–animal relations, animal sentience and human self-preservation. Offering case studies on scapegoats, deferred sacrifice, and contingent forms of slaughter, I show how Buryats and Nuosu manage the ethical tensions posed by sacrifice.

The Offering of Mount Meru: Contexts of Buddhist Cosmology in the History of Science in Tibet

Convergences and conflicts in the dialogue between Buddhism and modern science occasionally find precedent in historical sources and encounters, some of which have set the stage for scenarios that are commonplace in the current dialogue. This paper brings recent scholarship and Tibetan sources on astronomy and geography in Tibet into conversation with the ongoing Buddhism and science dialogue. In response to a lack of context in the dialogue, the paper gives attention to how two contexts in particular, namely, the contemplative and historical, inform currents in the Buddhism and science dialogue about cosmology. The paper challenges claims made that Tibetans did not encounter European science until the twentieth century and that Tibetans were unaware of scientific cosmological ideas, and therefore have not updated the Buddhist Mount Meru cosmology. To address tensions inherent in the binary discourse on science vs religion, this paper asks, does the Mount Meru cosmology represent a domain wherein Buddhism or science hold more appropriate tools for meaningful discourse and resolution about its existence?

Developing a Thai Theological and Biblical Understanding of the World: Rethinking Thai Cosmology in Light of Divine Council theology

This article is an attempt to compare and contrast biblical divine council cosmology (Heiser, 2008) with Thai Buddhist cosmology. The Ramakien and the Three Worlds According to King Ruang are the primary cultural narratives of the Thai people. These narratives give us insight into the worldview of the Thai. By comparing the Thai worldview with the biblical worldview, we can see where they intersect and where they are in conflict. The goal of this article is to spark a dialogue for producing a Thai theological and apologetic perspective that takes seriously Thai cultural worldview understandings in light of divine council cosmology and develops new tools for reaching Thai culture with the Gospel.