Buddhist Perspective Research Articles

Mistaken Compassion: Tibetan Buddhist Perspectives on Neuroethics

For more than 20 years, Western science education has been incorporated into Tibetan Buddhist monastics’ training. In this time, there have been a number of fruitful collaborations between Buddhist monastics and neuroscientists, neurologists, and psychologists. These collaborations are unsurprising given the emphasis on phenomenological exploration of first-person conscious experience in Buddhist contemplative practice and the focus on the mind and consciousness in Buddhist theory. As such, Tibetan monastics may have underappreciated intuitions on the intersection of science, medicine, and ethics. Yet despite their overlapping interests, Buddhist perspectives are largely absent in contemporary neuroethical analysis, apart from conceptual arguments for their relevance. This article attempts to fill this gap by presenting the results of eleven semi-structured interviews with Tibetan Buddhist monastics in India on three issues in neuroethics: identity and authenticity, enhancement, and disorders of consciousness. The results of this empirical study reinforce the conclusions of theoretical work on Buddhism and neuroethics while also identifying future areas of inquiry, including the importance of community, the challenges in acting from compassion, and the value of self-directed mental cultivation.

“Snake” by D.H. Lawrence in a Buddhist Perspective

Snake is a reptile, very much respected in many cultures throughout the world, depending on what species it is. Ornate snake sculptures in Sri Lanka, India, England, China, Greece, Rome, Egypt, Africa, America, Australia, etc. (Steel, 2021) are evidence of the respect the reptile earned in most of the ancient civilisations by becoming a seminal influence in the mythologies, folklores, beliefs, values, morals, rituals, and arts that have evolved in them. Coming from a Western Christian elite socio-cultural background, D.H. Lawrence gets fascinated by the asp rattler that he meets in Sicily in 1920, and in a while tries to kill it under the influence of his zoological knowledge and the warnings he has had on the deadliness of its venom. Later he feels relieved that his attack did not hurt the snake and yet regrets his being indecent to the creature. Lawrence’s delayed realisation of the snake’s right to existence tallies the example of unreserved compassion towards life, irrespective of what species it is, the Buddha sets during his two famous encounters with lethal snakes. Unlike Lawrence’s silent snake, one of the two snakes the Buddha encounters protects him from the rain, and the other vertically challenges him, spraying his deadly venom at him. Nevertheless, the Buddha’s only reaction to them both is to unveil his compassion indiscriminately. Unlike Lawrence, he concludes both encounters without regret. Taking the respective behaviours of Lawrence and the Buddha in the presence of snakes, this paper proposes that, in preventing regret, while managing interactions with other forms of life, compassion inspired by spirituality transcends all other emotions engendered by fascination and apprehension that are part and parcel of Lawrence’s religion, “flesh and blood”

Revisiting and re-envisioning mindfulness: Buddhist and contemporary perspectives.

Revisiting and re-envisioning mindfulness: Buddhist and contemporary perspectives.

The Adaptation of the Buddhist Death Acceptance Scale for Vietnamese Persons with Cancer

PurposeThis study reports on selected psychometric properties of the adapted Buddhist Death Acceptance Scale (BDAS) for Vietnamese persons with cancer. MethodsThe original 13-item BDAS was developed based on Buddhist perspectives toward death and life and was translated from Thai into Vietnamese. Item content checking with five Vietnamese local experts suggested three items of the original BDAS were irrelevant in Vietnamese culture and hence should be excluded. Psychometric properties of the 10-item BDAS Vietnamese version were tested using a convenience sample of 193 Vietnamese Buddhists with cancer. ResultsThe internal consistency coefficient of the scale was found to be 0.73. Exploratory factor analysis showed that the 10 items of the BDAS Vietnamese version constituted 2 factors, explaining 51.1% of the variance of death acceptance. The first factor was “acceptance of natural process of death” and the second was “preparing for death.” Both factors reflected explicitly Buddhist viewpoints toward death acceptance and were consistent with the original Thai BDAS. However, although similar factors were found, some items in the Vietnamese BDAS did not load to same factors as in the Thai BDAS. ConclusionsThe BDAS Vietnamese version provides an initial suitable measurement for death acceptance among Vietnamese Buddhists. Its availability will enable cross-cultural research to investigate death acceptance among Buddhist patients with cancer in Vietnam. However, the differences in item loadings between the Thai and Vietnamese scales suggest that further conceptual and empirical works to refine the measurement are needed.

Spirituality, happiness and auditors' commitment: an interbeing perspective

PurposeThis study attempts to explore the meaning and implication of spirituality in an accounting firm by using a Buddhist perspective of interbeing. It explains how the happiness of individuals (auditors, partners, clients and auditor family members); organisational performance and growth and auditors' commitment are interconnected and impermanent.Design/methodology/approachThis study employed an interpretive case study in an Indonesian accounting firm. The researchers explored the collective and individual feelings, thoughts, actions and experiences of the firm's actors. The data collection methods were interviews, participant observations and documentary analysis.FindingsLeadership plays a major role in cultivating spirituality in an accounting firm. The spirituality increases auditors' commitment, (conditional) happiness and performance resulting in client satisfaction and the firm's growth. From an interbeing perspective, partners, auditors and clients are interconnected and impermanent. A firm's growth creates a growing sense of unhappiness due to the diminishing of auditors' comfort zone. Spirituality in the workplace can only engender conditional happiness and organisational commitment that offset the importance of material rewards and career prospects. To reach ultimate (unconditional) happiness, one requires a continuous spiritual development.Research limitations/implicationsThe insights gained from this study need enrichment from cases in different contexts, e.g. multinational firms with members from different countries and cultures.Originality/valueThis study develops the discourse of emancipation in the accounting literature by taking into account spirituality and happiness.

Socio- Political Education and Women Empowerment in Buddhist Perspective

The purpose of research was to study the socio-political education and women empowerment in Buddhist perspective. The researchers studied and collected the data from Buddhist scriptures, texts, and related document about socio-political education and women empowerment in Buddhist perspective and analyzed by using content analysis. The results indicated that For decades, women have been parts of the supply of cheap, unskilled or semi-skilled labors for the industrial and service sectors. Gender discrimination continues even in the present times. At the same time, the problems of rural and urban lower-class women cannot be ignored. The empowerment of women is one of the solutions to the problems of inequality, subordination and marginalization that women face in the society. However, this kind of empowerment is only partial for all though they have economic and political power, they are kept out of decision making or they are dependent on their husband, father or brother for crucial decisions. Buddhism accepts that every human being, independent of the consideration of sex, gender, class etc. is composed of five elements (Paṇcakkhandhā): namely rupa skandha, samjṇa skandha, vedanā skandha, saṁskāra skandha and vijṇanā skandha. On this basis, Buddhism has advocated the equality between man and women and thus has transcended the gender difference. It treats man and woman equally. Buddhism reflected in the Buddhist scriptures that there is a biological difference between women and men, but they have similar intellectual, mental as well as spiritual capabilities.

Considering Karma: Reviving Student Agency Amid Pandemic Disempowerment

As pandemic lockdowns creep onwards to the end of 2020 many of my higher education students have become disempowered and despondent. In a bid to revive their agency and resilience a postgraduate class was offered this essay for critique. Karma is examined from contemporary understandings, and historical, and spiritual contexts, including some specifics from a Buddhist perspective where the intentions that impel actions become the prime determinants of resulting effects. Agentic attention to causality, interconnection and intention, endemic in global epistemologies, is presented as an empowering consideration regarding individual and collective activities to future researchers in the human sciences

Mereological Composition in Analytic and Buddhist Perspective

AbstractComparing Buddhist and contemporary analytic views about mereological composition reveals significant dissimilarities about the purposes that constrain successful answers to mereological questions, the kinds of considerations taken to be probative in justifying those answers, and the value of mereological inquiry. I develop these dissimilarities by examining three questions relevant to those who deny the existence of composite wholes. The first is a question of justification: What justifies denying the existence of composite wholes as more reasonable than affirming their existence? The second is a question of ontology: Under what conditions are many partless individuals arranged composite-wise? The third is a question of reasonableness: Why, if there are no composites available to experience, do “the folk” find it reasonable to believe there are? I motivate each question, sketch some analytic answers for each, develop in more detail answers from the Theravādin Buddhist scholar Buddhaghosa, and extract comparative lessons.

What can Buddhism offer evaluation? Applying Buddhist concepts in evaluation

Buddhism and evaluation share many things in common: They both help people make progress towards their goals by overcoming problems and challenges with the understanding of their strengths and values and the relationship between causes and effects. This paper explores what Buddhism can offer evaluation by discussing five aspects of evaluation for which there is a distinct Buddhist perspective. A Buddhist worldview sees an equal and interdependent relationship between the evaluator and the evaluand, gives certainty to cause and effect, and is mindful and respectful of the subjective nature of knowledge. This Buddhist perspective brings an evaluator closer to a deeper understanding of causality for judgement and action. Through focusing on inner change, Buddhism provides a way for the empowerment of individuals and the transformation of society. The author concludes that looking at evaluation through a Buddhist perspective supports evaluation to be more honest, thoughtful, and inclusive as a discipline. The remaining task is putting theory into practice.

“Breathe in… breathe out”: Contextualizing the Rise of Mindfulness in Canadian Schools

Mindfulness practices have exploded onto the mainstream North American cultural landscape. Not surprisingly, proponents of mindfulness can also be found within education systems in North America and the western world more generally. In Canada, mindfulness-based programs have filtered into faculties of education as well as public school classrooms. Yet, despite the rapid spread of the mindfulness movement, relatively little is known about it historically. This article pieces together some of the key intellectual and cultural developments that have enabled the growth of this phenomenon: North Americans’ encounters with Buddhist perspectives since the 1950s and 1960s, the intersection of psychology and Buddhist practice, the flourishing of progressive educational ideals, and the growth of school psychology. It then briefly explores the kinds of citizenship ideals promoted by mindfulness practices as well as educators’ rationales for their implementation. Tracing this history demonstrates that, despite its relatively recent entry into schools and its promotion as a scientifically-based physiological practice, mindfulness is a phenomenon with deep historical roots within a particular British and North American social and cultural context. Exploring this context and the reasons for educators’ turn to mindfulness will help us better understand our modern education system and the kinds of students it aims to produce.

The medieval Chinese vision of Japan: Buddhist perspectives in the Tang and Song periods

ABSTRACT This article explores the medieval Chinese perception of ‘Japan’ in both secular and Buddhist sources, arguing that in reality two separate lineages of history writing and geography-ethnography existed in China: one based out of the court and another rooted in the Buddhist community. This comparative exercise will further highlight the utility of using state and Buddhist texts when exploring the treatment of foreign polities from the Chinese perspective. In addition, these resources can be aligned with contemporary Japanese sources to further evaluate and confirm details and narratives. This article will argue that major Chinese Buddhist interest in Japan commenced from the tenth century, which was due to connections between Tiantai and Tendai, although recorded testimonies from the ninth century demonstrate that this relationship originated during the late Tang.

Death acceptance from a Thai Buddhist perspective: A qualitative study.

To have more in-depth understanding of death acceptance among patients with terminal cancer in Thailand. A qualitative descriptive research approach was used to capture the perspectives of patients with terminal cancer about death acceptance. Purposive sampling was used to recruit the participants. A semi-structured interview guide was used during data collection to obtain in-depth interviews with 12 patients diagnosed with terminal cancer. An interpretive descriptive method was used for analyzing data. Analysis of the data for this study was conducted by the analytic team beginning at initial data collection. The findings of this study revealed six major themes relating to death acceptance: 1) perceiving death as a natural part of life; 2) perceiving that death cannot be controlled; 3) thinking that death can come at any time; 4) letting everything go before dying: finding a calmness; 5) additional Buddhist practices: clean living and making merit; and 6) additional means for attaining a peaceful death and peaceful life before death. Understanding death acceptance is important for nurses providing care for patients with terminal cancer in order to find strategies and support for patients to accept death and live peacefully with their family in the time they have left.

The Meaning of Caring: A Buddhist Perspective

A review of the literature reveals that an inclusive examination of the Buddhist perspective is needed to explain the diversity in meaning and scope of caring in nursing practice. This article briefly explains various definitions of caring according to the six major conceptualizations of caring from the Buddhist perspective: caring as a human trait; caring as a moral imperative; caring as an affect; caring as an interpersonal interaction; caring as a therapeutic intervention; and caring as a spiritual intervention. Buddhists view caring as love, trust, commitment, and ensuring a good relationship between nurses, the patient, family, and community.

불교 관점에서 바라본 인체 발생론

발생학은 서양 현대 의학의 하부단위로서, 생식과 관련된 제반 문제와 태아의 발달 과정을 다루고 있다. 본 연구에서는 불전에 수록된 내용들을 검토하여 불교의 인체 발생학을 인도의 고전 문헌을 포함하여 아유르베다 학파의 문헌 내용들과 비교 검토하여 살펴보고자 한다. 불전의 4종 중생발생설은 『마하바라타』의 5종 탄생설과 『유크티디피카』의 6성취 그리고 『선견율비바사』의 ‘7사수태’(七事受胎) 개념으로 분화되어 제시되는 측면이 있다. 이는 전체적으로 수비학적 또는 법수체계적으로 분화되는 양상이다. 또한 불전에서는 태내5위(胎內五位) 등의 태아 관찰은 주간 단위로 분석하여 제시함은 물론 10종분관이나 태내8위상으로 확장되며 수행자들의 편의를 위하여 다양한 방식으로 제시하고 있다. 불전의 태내오위의 설명방식과 대조를 이루는 아유르베다는 의료적 측면에서 인체 발생 과정을 한 달 단위로 파악하여 태아의 변화양상을 제시하고 있다. 이에 반하여 불교에서의 인체 발생 관련 내용은 부정관 수행을 위한 관법의 하나로 제시한 것이다. 이러한 근본적 차이점에도 불구하고 불교의 인체 발생을 서술한 내용이 보여주는 현저한 특징은 그 실증적 태도와 과학성이라고 할 수 있다.

Hope and Community

In the final volume of his Constructive Theology, V.-M. Kärkkäinen presents his eschatology and ecclesiology. The approach is grounded in a Trinitarian theology, which explains the interaction of Father, Son, and Holy Spirit as the reason for hope in a new creation. The plausibility of this hope Kärkkäinen explores in light of cosmological scenarios and in comparison with Jewish, Islamic, Buddhist, and Hindu perspectives. Interreligious comparison of sociological models also serves as the starting point for Kärkkäinen’s ecclesiological inquiry. He argues that the church not only has a mission but is mission in its very nature and in ecumenical engagement.

“Writing as enlightenment”: Don DeLillo’s Buddhism and postsecular writing

This essay conducts a cross-cultural study of Don DeLillo’s novels from a Buddhist perspective. DeLillo’s writing has long been concerned with profound spiritual and religious yearning, but it has often been read within a Catholic context due to the author’s Catholic background. This essay argues that DeLillo’s engagement with mysticism also owes debts to his knowledge of Buddhism. By referring to DeLillo’s early adulthood experience in the 1960s, I position DeLillo’s novels in a postsecular narrative which means not only the resurgence of religious belief in a secular age but the coexistence of various beliefs in both social and literary context proposed by John McClure. Specifically, this essay will examine DeLillo’s Buddhist engagement within the framework of three turnings of the dharma wheel, namely, the four noble truths, emptiness and Buddha nature. This new framework would allow me to explore systematically how DeLillo’s Buddhist imagination has filtered into the fabric of everyday life of his characters. And reading through the lens of Eastern religion would also open up new possibility in understanding both DeLillo and contemporary American postsecular literature.

A Comparative Study between the Buddhist Perspective and Immanuel Kant’s Perspective towards Metaphysics

The term ‘metaphysics’ should be firstly defined before going into its deeper analyses with reference to both Buddhist perspectives and Kant’s views on metaphysics. Metaphysics is a branch of philosophy which deals with the first causes of the things that includes the terms like being, time, space and knowing. Other definition of metaphysics is that they are abstracts with no basis in reality. Later it was interpreted as the science of things which transcends what is physical or natural. Both the Buddha and Immanuel Kant have been explained metaphysics in a similar manner. Although some religions try to prove the existence of God by using a number of arguments, the Buddha do not accept the existence of a creator God. Kant also denies the existence of the God by using three arguments. Even in ordinary sense, by knowing metaphysical things, it would affect neither to one’s personnel growth nor to the development of the world. Nevertheless, it would be helpful to understand the world.

Sectarian ethics and the moral point of view? Buddhist views on withdrawal of care

Presented here for analysis are distinct and opposed Buddhist perspectives on the issue of withdrawing life support from a brain-dead individual. Of the four views considered, Peter Harvey argues that withdrawal of care and cessation of treatment is justifiable in a Buddhist context. Another perspective (Scott Stonington and Pinit Ratanakul) points out that the Buddhist physician who withdraws a respirator acquires a karmic demerit that can negatively affect this life and future lives. This second view then concludes that Western bioethical resources are inadequate to address the problem of withdrawal of care. In light of these opposing ethical stances grounded in sectarian viewpoints, this presentation will argue that religious ethics should not be considered “irrational” due to their religious foundations. Furthermore, importing local religious concepts can be deemed morally justifiable if doing so endorses the “moral point of view” in its appeal to universalizability, impartial justice, beneficence , and adherence to a set of normative principles. Can ethics criticize religious views that do not conform to the moral point of view or that seem scientifically uninformed, irrational, sectarian, or in some cases even fanatical ? Even though Western concepts for bioethical analysis should not be accepted uncritically, appeal to the moral point of view is necessary for resolving moral problems even if specifics of that perspective may be backgrounded in non-Western contexts. Sont présentées ici pour analyse des perspectives bouddhistes distinctes et opposées sur la question du retrait des systèmes de survie d’un individu en état de mort cérébrale. Parmi les quatre points de vue considérés, Peter Harvey soutient que le retrait des soins et l’arrêt du traitement sont justifiables dans un contexte bouddhiste. Un autre point de vue (Scott Stonington et Pinit Ratanakul) souligne que le médecin bouddhiste qui retire un respirateur acquiert un démérite karmique qui peut affecter négativement cette vie et les vies futures. Ce deuxième point de vue conclut ensuite que les ressources bioéthiques occidentales sont insuffisantes pour résoudre le problème de l’arrêt des soins. À la lumière de ces positions éthiques opposées, fondées sur des points de vue sectaires, cette présentation ferra valoir que l’éthique religieuse ne doit pas être considérée comme « irrationnelle » en raison de ses fondements religieux. En outre, l’importation de concepts religieux locaux peut être considérée comme moralement justifiable si elle fait sien le « point de vue moral » dans son appel à l’universalité, à la justice impartiale, à la bienfaisance et à l’adhésion à un ensemble de principes normatifs. L’éthique peut-elle critiquer des opinions religieuses qui ne sont pas conformes au point de vue moral ou qui semblent scientifiquement non informées, irrationnelles, sectaires, voire fanatiques dans certains cas ? Même si les concepts occidentaux d’analyse bioéthique ne doivent pas être acceptés sans esprit critique, un appel au point de vue moral est nécessaire pour résoudre les problèmes moraux même si des spécificités de cette perspective peuvent être mises en contexte dans des contextes non occidentaux.

A study for the Buddhist meaning of ‘The Travel for Searching Happiness’

This study is the first study that aims to analyze the Buddhist meaning of ‘The Travel for Searching Happiness.’ Although in the folktale ‘the transcendental who manages the blessing’ and ‘the designation of the transcendental world as the destination of travel’, etc. strongly represent Buddhist features, the interpretation of the Buddhist perspective has only partially existed. The motive for the traveling is interpreted not as ‘penury’ but as ‘a state of suffering’, that is, not obtained even when trying hard to get something. As the characters whom the protagonist met while traveling are united into one, ‘the idea of equality’ of Buddhism and ‘yeon-gi-beop’ could be found. Regardless of class, gender, or age, all beings are experiencing the suffering, and the travel of the protagonist is interpreted as experiencing the whole world. ‘Chintamani’ is interpreted not as ‘property’ but as implementing that the protagonist became ‘a different level of existence.’ In addition, the meaning of the travel is understood as ‘go-jib’ being ‘myeol-do’, and the protagonist becoming from ‘beom-bu-jung-saeng’ to a ‘bosal.’ Also, as the protagonist conveys the Buddha s lessons to others in the state of absence of ego and solves everyone s suffering , the true meaning of bok(blessing) is interpreted as ‘mu-wi-bok’ from Geumganggyeong

Confronting Racism with Mindfulness

Racial oppression is a longstanding and widespread problem with significant repercussions and consequences for the health of those impacted. The roots of racial prejudice reach far back into the history of European culture. A contribution to the much-needed change can be found in the cultivation of mindfulness, in particular in its external dimension. This emerges from considering the background provided by the early Buddhist dismissal of caste prerogatives in the ancient Indian setting, granting priority to ethical conduct over birth. Besides opening up a new dimension for mindfulness-related research, which has so far predominantly focused on the internal cultivation of mindfulness, exploring the early Buddhist perspective also shows that diversity work can become an integral part of the Buddhist path of practice. This holds in particular for white Buddhists, who need to confront their superiority conceit as an obstruction to their own progress to liberation.