Buddhist Missionaries Research Articles

The Indian Buddhist Missionary Dharmaksema (385-433): A New Dating of his Arrival in Guzang and of his Translations

The Indian Buddhist Missionary Dharmaksema (385-433): A New Dating of his Arrival in Guzang and of his Translations

The Buddhist Dimension of John

AbstractMany features of the Fourth Gospel have hitherto found no source and commentators are confined to imagination. Meanwhile Buddhists' use of Greek, Roman and Jewish materials is established. It turns out, from a close examination of twelve instances, that Buddhist traditions, found in Hīnayāna and Mahāyāna sources, contemporary in essence with St John, offered the latter an opportunity to make his gospel attractive to contemporary targets of Buddhist missions, groups for whom Moses was not a commanding figure. Buddhists would recognise Jesus, already known from "synoptic" or para-synoptic materials, as a Bodhisattva, now a Buddha, who like Gautama promised a Paraclete, strongly resembling Maitreya in character and function.

Iraq and Democracy

There is an uneasy feeling in our country-a feeling that something unprecedented is happening. A Vietnam veteran put it more bluntly: We've lost all 3 branches of governmentothe judiciary when they selected the President, the Congress when they abdicated to the Executive Branch, the Executive Branch when they refused to listen to dissenting Americans. There is an uneasy feeling in the country-our founding fathers placed the war-making power in the hands of Congress where decisions could be openly debated. Slowly realize that a dozen unelected men and one woman are making decisions that will compromise the lives of American fighting forces, the lives of Iraqis say want to liberate, the future of American schools, health care, our relations with old allies; the costs of war unfathomable. Senator Byrd's we stand passively mute speech objected to Congressional abdication. Three branches of government are now one; objections by high-ranking military officers are muted-all of this justified by unsubstantiated presuppositions fed to the public ad nauseam: 1) that Iraq has weapons of mass destruction and that they are linked up with al Qaeda; 2) that the rest of the world, including NATO allies, are wrong: 3) that the Iraqis would welcome us as liberators-in spite of 12 years of sanctions and thousands of child deaths, in spite of daily bombing missions since 1991, in spite of an illegal invasion. Such prognostication is indicative of poor intelligence, an example of what happens when a president is isolated by a band of self-serving advisors. How little know of the Arab world, of Iraq and its people, of the place that Baghdad-the Florence of the Middle East-has in the hearts and minds of Arab peoples. Iraq-the cradle of civilization. How could have thought that Iraqis would not defend their country from invasion? Why would the Shias in the south have welcomed the Americans when Shia Iran is also being threatened by the American administration? How little know about the Arab world-do really think there is no consequence of our double standard foreign policy? One for Saddam Hussein and one for Ariel Sharon-both brutal men responsible for the death and destruction of innocent civilians. Hussein gassed the Kurds, Sharon killed 17,000 Lebanese civilians before he got to Sabra and Chatilla, to one side his provocation of the present intifada, both fed by arms from the United States. Double standard-the attack on the USS Cole by Muslim terrorists was rightly condemned, but the USS Liberty in 1967 bombed by Israeli war planes was covered up by the Pentagon. Israel is the sole country in the region with weapons of mass destruction. I've taught about the peoples and cultures of the Arab world at the University of California, Berkeley since 1960. Currently, I teach a seminar on what other civilizations think of the west, beginning with a Chinese Buddhist missionary who went west to India in the 9th century. In teaching I have been struck by the depth of ignorance about this large expanse of the world. In my research I have noticed mirrored images. Arab historians of the Crusades thought the Crusaders were barbaric savages, ignorant of medicine, without no culture or civilization, although they had technology. Gandhi said the same about the British-brute force. Some years ago when the Middle East Center entertained a visit from Moroccan governors, I argued with one of the governors over their use of light water nuclear reactors along their coast in the absence of Moroccan know-how making them dependent on the French, their former colonizers. In frustration the governor blurted out, The French-they have no culture, no civilization, but they do have technology (not the same as civilization). This is an observation that hear from Tokyo to Gibraltar, most recently from Japanese CLOs, and even more recently the Europeans refer to the US as the extreme West in making similar points. In her new book, Leap of Faith, Queen Noor of Jordan quotes George Bush Sr. …

The Translation of Modern Western Science in Nineteenth-Century China, 1840-1895

The translation of Western science texts into Chinese began with the Jesuits in the sixteenth century, but by 1800 their impact had waned. The First Opium War (1839-1842) and the Taiping Rebellion (1850-1864) stimulated renewed interest in Western military technologies and in the sciences that underpinned them, leading to the beginning of systematic translations at government institutions in the late 1860s. At the same time, Western missionaries were making their own science translations, in the belief that science would be an auxiliary to the spreading of the gospel. Translation techniques are compared to those of the early Buddhist missionaries. Methods for creating new terms and their relative merits are discussed, together with the opinions of those who argued that the whole enterprise was impossible. The relatively small direct influence of the translations is contrasted with their effect as catalysts for intellectual and political changes that would find their full expression only in the next century.

The History and the Present State of the Buddhist Missions in Ethnic Minority Areas in Myanmar

The History and the Present State of the Buddhist Missions in Ethnic Minority Areas in Myanmar

From Protean Ape to Handsome Saint: The Monkey King

The novel Monkey or Journey to the West tells of a simian's revolt against Heaven, of its defeat by the Buddha, and of its later being recruited as a pilgrim to protect the monk Tripitaka on his quest for scriptures in India. This essay traces Monkey's background to a) a mythic battle between a land deity and a water deity; b) a myth about an aboriginal in a medieval forest who is converted by Buddhist missionaries and becomes a saint who protects his new faith, just as St. Christopher, originally a subhuman Dog-man in the forest, became the patron saint of travelers; c) a folk Zen parody of the Sixth Patriarch Huineng (who was called a barbarian monkey); d) an ancient tradition about the Chinese Titansthe demigods of Xia-striking back at the Zhou god of Heaven that displaced them. The appendix goes into the folklore of the Frog, a chthonic deity kept alive among southern non-Chinese aboriginals.

Buddhist Missionary Project in the Hills of Northern Thailand:

Buddhist Missionary Project in the Hills of Northern Thailand:

Two Masters, One Message: The Lives and Teachings of Gautama and Jesus. Roy C. Amore.

Two Masters, One Message: The Lives and Teachings of Gautama and Jesus. Roy C. Amore. Abingdon, Nashville 1978. Reprinted by the Buddhist Missionary Society, Kuala Lumpur 1985. 208 pp.

Sinkiang: A Profound Inspiration to Chinese Artists

The province of Sinkiang and parts of Central Asia were called Xiyu (which means the Western Region) during the Han Dynasty (207 BC-220 AD) and the Tang Dynasty (618-907 AD). In 138 BC the Emperor Wu Di sent the envoy Zhang Qian to these regions. The latter learned that there were many wealthy and prosperous countries in the distant West. Later, Western Han troops smashed the rule of the Xiong Nu tribes north and south of the Tianshan Mountains, and converted the various petty states of the Western Regions into vassal states of Western Han. From that time on, traders from China and Central Asia sent Chinese merchandise, particularly silks, westward to Da Yuan, Kang Ju, Da Xia, Persia and Da Qin (believed to be the Roman Empire). From these countries they brought back products such as grapes, pomegranates, peppers, horses and camels. Also the cultures of those countries were introduced to China through the world-famous Silk Road. Many Buddhist missionaries from India reached Sinkiang and translated a great many Buddhist texts into the indigenous languages of that region. Music, dance and art, too, were imported from the West into China along this road. All these material and cultural exchanges had a strong impact on Chinese culture. Ancient Sinkiang, a part of the Western Region, was playing a leading role in the diffusion of various forms of intellectual and artistic expression and it linked the East with the West culturally for many centuries. We are told that in Central Asia, crossed by the great caravan routes that linked the Mediterranean west with China, different religions co-existed: Buddhists, Christians, Zoroastrians, Manicheans and Saivites frequently had their places of worship side by side This peaceful coexistence, which was due to the fact that there was no official state religion, frequently led to forms of ... [1]. This syncretism can be seen in the remains of wall paintings in monastery temples or caves scattered in various areas of Sinkiang. In the ruins of a monastery at Miran were found the fragments of a mural painting depicting seven figures with wings. Are these angels from the Bible? No evidence has been given by archaeologists. But we can say that the figures might have been influenced by Christian art. Although many Buddhist temples were destroyed by Islamic invaders in the past centuries, there are still precious survivals of Buddhist art in the region, which attracted a lot of adventurers and archaeologists from both the West and the East to seek treasures buried in the sands of Sinkiang.

The Nichiren Shoshu of America

The United States has become a mission territory for the Japan-based Nichiren Shoshu (the orthodox sect of Nichiren). Since 1960, a sizable number of Americans has been converted to this alien faith. As a Buddhist movement in the United States it represents a small portion of the energetic propagation eflorts of the gigantic Sokagakkai (the ValueCreating Society) of Japan, which believe that only its version of "True Buddhism" can assure salvation for all mankind because other world religions have become obsolete and irrelevant to most contemporary men. Although Nichiren Shoshu tenets, rituals, and commandments are relatively simple, this faith demands that it be urgently shared with others, a fact that drives each convert to become a zealous missionary. A series of random sample surveys conducted among these Buddhists in the Los Angeles, Chicago, and New York areas indicates, among other things, that relatively youthful, fairly well-educated Americans are eagerly embracing the Nichiren Shoshu for some striking reasons, and that it is a vital religious force that deserves scholarly attention. Probably for the first time in the his-, tory of East-West relations, a large number of Occidentals, including some 200, 000 families of various racial and social backgrounds in the United States, are enthusiastically embracing an Asiatic religion.' These believers of Nichiren Shoshu (the orthodox sect of Nichiren, a 13thcentury Buddhist saint of Japan) have rejected their Judeo-Christian heritage in order to follow a Japanese-based Buddhism which has spread during the past decade to some parts of Southeast Asia, Europe, Africa, and the Western hemisphere. Of all these areas, the Buddhist propagation has progressed most rapidly in the United States in the past five years. The loud, monotonous, and almost hypnotic chanting of "Nam-myoho-rengekyo" (Devotion to the Wondrous Law of Lotus Sutra) has been heard from California to New York, from Milwaukee to Dallas as the United States has become the foremost Japanese Buddhist mission territory. The command post of the Nichiren 169 This content downloaded from 157.55.39.55 on Tue, 23 Aug 2016 05:05:33 UTC All use subject to http://about.jstor.org/terms 170 REVIEW OF RELIGIOUS ,RESEARCH Sholshu of America, located at the Ocean Front of Santa Monica, California, is headed by Joint-Headquarters-Chief Masayasu Sadanaga, who recently changed his legal name to George M. Williams. The life of this energetic man of 42 is totally dedicated to the task of "kosen rufu," or worldwide propagation of the true Buddhism. As the head disciple in the United States of President Daisaku Ikeda of the Nichiren Shoshu Sokagakkai (Value-Creating Society) of Japan," he represents the dynamic society, which in Japan claims a membership of over 7.5 million households, and the society's political arm, the Komeito (Clean Govern-

A Study on the Doctrinal Background of Buddhist Missionary Works

A Study on the Doctrinal Background of Buddhist Missionary Works

Practical Aspect of Newar Buddhism and the Context of History

No abstract available
 
 Voice of History Vol.16(2) 2001 pp.57-66

A Reflection on a Trend toward Practicality in Buddhist Missionary Movement

A Reflection on a Trend toward Practicality in Buddhist Missionary Movement

The Place of Mahakaccana in the History of Early Buddhist Missions

The Place of Mahakaccana in the History of Early Buddhist Missions

The Buddhist Missionary to Mleccha in Early Sangha

The Buddhist Missionary to Mleccha in Early Sangha

A Call for a Buddhist Mission

A Call for a Buddhist Mission

REVIEWS OF BOOKS

Book reviewed in this article:THE ENCYCLOPÆDIA OF RELIGION AND ETHICS ON MISSIONS: Buddhist Missions. By Professor Masaharu Anesaki, D.Litt. Zoroastrian Missions. By L. H. Gray, Ph.D. Muhammadan Missions. By Professor T. W. Arnold, C.I.E., Litt.D. Christian Missions, Early and Mediæval. By Professor C. R. Beazley, D.Litt. Roman Catholic Missions. By Professor Maternus Spitz, O.S.B. Protestant Missions. By H. U. Weitbrecht, Ph.D., D.D. Encyclopædia of Religion and Ethics. Edited by James Hastings, D.D.THE COMPARATIVE STUDY OF RELIGIONS: Comparative ReligIon: Its Adjuncts and Allies. By Louie Henry Jordan.INDIA AND ITS FAITHS: India and Its Faiths. A Traveller's Record. By James Bissett Pratt, Ph.D.THE HEART OF BUDDHISM: The Hurt of Buddhism Being an Anthology of Buddhist Verse. Translated and edited by K. J. Saunders.THE NORTHERN BANTU: The Northern Bantu: An Account of some Central African Tribes of the Uganda Protectorate. By John Roscoe.SAVAGE MAN IN CENTRAL AFRICA: Savage Man in Central Africa: A Study of Primitive Races in the French Congo. By Adolphe Louis Cureau. Translated into English by E. Andrews.ASHANTI AND SIERRA LEONE: A History of the Gold Coast and Ashanti, from the Earliest Times to the Beginning of the Twentieth Century. By W. Walton Claridge.ASHANTI AND SIERRA LEONE: Human Leopards: An Account of the Trials of Human Leopards before the Special Commission Court. With a Note on Sierra Leone, Past and Present. By K. J. Beatty. Preface by Sir William Brandford Griffitha.ASHANTI AND SIERRA LEONE: Ashanti Proverbs: The Primitive Ethics of a Savage People. Translated from the Original with Grammatical and Anthropological Notes. By R. Sutherland Rattray. Preface by Sir Hugh Clifford, K.C.M.G.THE HEART OF ASIA: Turkestan: The Heart of Asia. By William Eleroy Curtis.THE HEART OF ASIA: In Russian Turkestan: By Annette M. B. Meakin.THE HEART OF ASIA: Le Turkestan Husse. By A. Woeikof, Hon.FOUR BOOKS ON JAPAN: A Short History of Japan. By Ernest Wilson Clement.FOUR BOOKS ON JAPAN: The Mikado, Institution and Person. A Study of the Internal Political Force of Japan. By William Elliot Griffis, D.D.FOUR BOOKS ON JAPAN: Working Women in Japan. By Sidney L. Gulick, D.D.FOUR BOOKS ON JAPAN: Sketches From Formosa. By William Campbell, D.D.AFRICAN LANGUAGES: The Language Families of Africa. By A. Werner, Lecturer in Swahili, King's College.

Art. XVIII.—Notes of a Correspondence with Sir John Bowring on Buddhist Literature in China

When Sir John Bowring was on the eve of leaving this country for China, he expressed that willingness which might have been expected from his literary and liberal character, to promote any objects of inquiry which the Royal Asiatic Society might desire to have set on foot. There was no time for any communication with the Society, but I took advantage of the opportunity to suggest the desirableness of endeavouring to ascertain the existence of any of the books which were carried from India to China by Buddhist missionaries, in such numbers, during the first six or seven centuries of the Christian era, availing myself of the details furnished on this head by M. Julien, in his life of Hiouen Thsang. The suggestion has been most zealously acted upon by Sir John; and I have the pleasure to lay before the Society some of the results.