Buddhist Studies Research Articles

The Role of Buddhist Studies in Fostering Metadisciplinary Conversations and Improving Pedagogical Collaborations

Buddhist studies has been at the center of a number of pedagogical experiments that have emerged on my campus over the last five years in response to Penn State University’s general education reform introducing an integrative studies requirement. The first half of this paper introduces two of these interdisciplinary collaborations. I discuss the structure and goals of these two courses and detail how I integrated Buddhist Studies into the design of each. In the second half of the paper, I describe how the practice of what I call “metadisciplinarity” can help to avoid some of the pitfalls commonly faced in interdisciplinary collaborations. I discuss both how to engage in metadisciplinary reflection and communication and the strengths that Buddhist studies scholars can bring to this kind of pedagogical collaboration based on some core features of our field.

From the concept of Fate to the Theory of Generations (to the 75th Anniversary of the Professor Vanchikova Tsymzhit Purbuevna)

The article examines the creative path of Tsymzhit Purbuevna Vanchikova, doctor of historical sciences, professor, chief researcher of the Institute for Mongolian, Buddhist and Tibetan studies of the SB RAS, an Honored researcher of the Republic of Buryatia, whose 75th anniversary will be celebrated by the scientific community. Ts. P. Vanchikova gave 52 years to her native Institute, having prepared many monographs, articles, reviews and dozens of graduates, being the head of many scientific projects and international grants, a regular participant of numerous international forums. At the same time, the peculiarity of the researcher’s biography is shown not through the prism of a dynasty of Orientalists, but through the concept of fate. That is, her work is considered as a predetermined and logical continuation of the creative path of her father, a well-known source scholar, historiographer and a specialist in the study and publication of medieval texts, candidate of historical sciences Purbo Baldanzhapov, with whom the hero of the day has joint publications. In turn, this family tradition and predestination, which has been passed on to the daughter of the hero of the day, Tatyana Sergeevna, which fits perfectly into the 100-year cycle of the theory of generations. That is why the article also features the future lawyer-the favorite grandson of the anniversarian. Keywords: Professor Vanchikova Tsymzhit Purbuevna, the Center of Oriental manuscripts and xylographs, source studies, study and publication of medieval texts, historiography, Mongolian studies

Japan's "Priests' Bars": "Bad Buddhism" or Hope for the Future?

For a telling example of allegedly “Bad Buddhisms” in the contemporary world, one need look no further than urban Japan and its numerous “Priests’ Bars” ( Bōzu bāzu ) that allow a heady interaction of Buddhism and alcohol. While listening, lecturing, and sometimes even mixing drinks, priests of various denominations are proprietors for a new type of upāya practice (or “skillful means”) for disseminating the dharma . They have the opportunity to encourage their clientele towards solving personal problems and perhaps even awakening as they violate the fifth Buddhist precept which warns monks of the dangers of intoxication. The priests in charge of these bars are well aware of the prohibition against alcohol, and yet, given a variety of social problems facing Japanese workers and citizens, feel compelled to experiment in delivering the teachings of their traditions. Though “bad” from the perspective of Buddhist practitioners outside Japan (as well as that of traditional Buddhist studies), these bars remain a constructive means for moving Japanese Buddhisms into the twenty-first century.

Integrating Contemplative and Ignatian Pedagogies in a Buddhist Studies Classroom

The burgeoning application of contemplative pedagogy (CP) in Buddhist studies courses has been widely discussed; yet, how educators incorporate it with other teaching strategies has not attracted much scholarly attention. Drawing from the author’s teaching experience at a Jesuit University, this article demonstrates that integrating CP’s first-person, second-person, and third-person approaches with the Ignatian Pedagogical Paradigm (IPP) will create a multidimensional environment in learning Buddhism in higher education. This article first argues that the issue of avoiding even implied proselytizing can be successfully overcome, as it is related to the application of Buddhist-inspired contemplative practice, such as Cognitively-Based Compassion Training®, in class. Next, based on the principles of CP and the IPP, this study shows specific examples of multisensory contemplation activities that expand students’ ways of knowing about Buddhist practice and foster their consideration for others. Third, to complement the Jesuit educational purpose of students’ spiritual growth, and the CP’s advocating for inner growth, this research navigates these concerns in a way that also enhances students’ learning in the course content. In conclusion, a combination of CP and the IPP facilitates the whole-person development as well as deepens students’ understanding of Buddhism.

A Review of the “Current Problems of Buddhist Studies–7, 8” Conferences’ Agendas (St. Petersburg, February 2019 — June 2019)

Two meetings of the conference were held during the period under review.

'Buddhist Contramodernism: Shinnyo-en’s Reconfigurations of Tradition for Modernity'

Shinnyo-en, and other twentieth-century Buddhist lay movements emerging from older monastic and temple institutions, reconfigures elements of “traditional” Buddhism and “folk” religion to meet the conditions of modernity. Shinnyo-en’s founders and their successors envisioned a particular strategy for being Buddhist in modernity, one which aligns with some, but not all, scholarly characterizations of Buddhist modernism. As a result, Shinnyo-en and other lay organizations have largely remained on the margins of Buddhist studies despite their apparent popularity and proliferation. This article offers a new category for theorizing and positioning such organizations as contramodern —connected with, but divergent from mainstream forms of Buddhist modernism. In this light the emergence of Shinnyo-en in the 1930s, and the soteriological centrality of its founders’ lives, can be better understood in their historical and social contexts as being both connected to over one-thousand years of Shingon tradition and completely unique. The concept of contramodernism opens scholarly discussion of the many forms of Buddhism extant in modernity to those movements and organizations that are historically new, yet not entirely modernist.

An Anachronistic Analogy: Rereading the Dàshèng qǐxìn lùn in the light of Ratnākaraśānti’s Prajñāpāramitopadeśa

This paper is a comparative study of two texts separated by a considerable temporal-spatial gap. The methodological approach is, as we would like to define it, a-philological. Five central concepts drawn from the Dasheng qǐxin lun (大乘起信論, *Mahāyānaśraddhotpādaśāstra, QXL), traditionally associated with Aśvaghoṣa (1st-2nd cent. CE), Paramārtha (499–569 CE), and Śikṣānanda (652–710 CE), shall be examined against the related ideas found in Ratnākaraśānti’s (970–1045 CE) Prajnāpāramitopadeśa (PPU). Our observations are the following: 1) The two dimensions of the single mind (一心二門, yīxīn ermen) advocated in the QXL are doctrinally identical to the two forms (rūpa) of the dependent nature (paratantrasvabhāva) in the PPU. 2) The intermingling mind (和合識, hehe shi) which is taken as ālayavijnāna (阿梨耶識, āliyē shi) in the QXL, corresponds to the imagination of the unreal (abhūtaparikalpa) in the PPU. 3) The mutual perfuming of the real and the unreal (真妄互熏, zhēnwang huxūn) is in essence the same as the false inseparability (tādātmya) of clear light (prakāśa) and image (ākāra) in the PPU. 4) The essence of perception (覺性, juexing) and its synonyms used in the QXL, its commentarial literature and other related texts, find equivalents such as prakāśamānatā, prakāśātmatā, saṃvedyatā, buddhilakṣaṇa, in the PPU. 5) The concept of activated perception (始覺, shǐjue) in the QXL sheds light on a puzzling word in the PPU, arvāk, which can be interpreted as the opposite of “suddenly” (忽然, hūran) in the QXL. Our investigation reaffirms the philosophical value as well as the religious legitimacy of the QXL, and it underscores the significance of the late mādhyamika texts for Buddhist Studies.

Portrait

Autobiographical Reflections on Anthropology and Religion, Talal AsadFor Talal, Jonathan BoyarinOn Anthropology as Translation, Nadia FadilFriendship and Time in the Work of Talal Asad, Hussein Ali AgramaTalal Asad’s Challenge to Religious Studies, Donovan O. SchaeferFinding Talal Asad in and beyond Buddhist Studies: Agency and Race in Modern Pasts, Ananda Abeysekara

불교전통에서의 불교학, 우리 시대의 불교학

본고는 ‘인문학으로서의 불교학, 어떻게 할 것인가?’라는 주제의 한국불교학회 2020년 하계 워크숍에서 발표한 것으로, 필자는 그 답을 불교전통에서 찾고자 하였다. 계(戒)·정(定)·혜(慧)·해탈(解脫)·해탈지견(解脫知見)의 오분법신(五分法身)이 그것이다. 이는 불교 수행론의 기본구도라고 할 만한 것으로, 뒤의 두 가지가 수행(修行)/수학(修學, śikṣā)의 결과이기 때문에 실천수행도는 앞의 세 가지이다. 그러나 불교교학상에서 계율은 그 자체가 목적이 아닌, 선법(善法)을 방호(saṃvara: 律儀)하기 위한 것이고, 선정은 [4성제나 空性과 같은] 관찰해야 할 지식의 대상에 대해 전념하는 것으로 결정적 판단(즉 지혜)의 토대(āśraya: 所依)이기 때문에 지혜의 성취가 수행도의 목적이자 본질이라 할 수 있다. 불교전통에서 지혜(prajñā)는 분석판단(pravicaya: 簡擇)을 가능하게 하는 힘 즉 판단력으로, 청문(聽聞, śruta)과 사유(思惟, cintā)와 수습(修習, bhāvanā) 세 가지 방식으로 성취된다. 이를 각기 문(聞)·사(思)·수혜(修慧), 즉 믿을만한 이의 말씀(āptavacana: 至敎)을 듣고 생겨난 지혜[聞所成慧], 이를 이론/논리(yukti: 正理)적으로 고찰함으로써 생겨난 지혜[思所成慧], 이후 삼매의 실천(samādhibhāvanā)을 통해 진리와 직접 대면하여 생겨난 지혜[修所成慧]라고 한다. 사혜(思慧)는 의심과 탐구를 본질로 하는 것으로, 여기에는 성전의 불설·비불설, 요의·불요의의 문제를 비롯하여 인간이성이 제기한 온갖 문제가 포함되는데, 지난 2천년에 걸친 다이내믹한 불교사상사는 이에 따른 것이었다. 그렇기 때문에 오늘의 불교학의 정체성 역시 여기서 찾지 않으면 안 된다. 성전의 말씀을 잘 이해 기억하여 강의하고 저술하는 것, 혹은 선정을 통해 직접 경험/체험하는 것은 불교학자 본연의 임무가 아니다. 이는 불교신행자나 수행자의 몫이다. 불교원전에 대한 비판적 분석 탐구 없이, 다만 오늘 우리에게 주어진 특정불교를 [시간적 공간적 맥락의 고려 없이] 주어진 대로, 거기서 설하고 있는 대로/글자 뜻대로 이해하는 것은 불교학이 아니다. 불교학자는, 오로지 믿음을 통해 진리성을 승인하고 그 전파에 힘쓰는 포교사나 의심과 비판(즉 思惟)은 배제한 채 다만 선정이라는 직접경험을 통해 진리성을 확인하려는 수행자와 구별되어야 한다. 아울러 과거의 불교학자(논사)들이 그러하였던 것처럼 성전(āgama)과 정리(yukti)를 통해 새로운 비전을 제시해야 한다. 불교사상사를 통해 볼 때 불교(학)의 최종 관심사인 불타 깨달음 즉 ‘진실(眞實, tattva, satya)’은 고정된 불변의 관념이 아니었다. 따라서 항상 이를 확인하고 변증하는 일, 이것이 불교학자의 소임이라고 필자는 생각한다.

A Buddhist Study on the Effect of Forest Healing

A Buddhist Study on the Effect of Forest Healing

CHINESE ESOTERIC BUDDHISM: AMOGHAVAJRA, THE RULING ELITE, AND THE EMERGENCE OF A TRADITION. By Geoffrey C.Goble. The Sheng Yen Series in Chinese Buddhist Studies. New York, NY: Columbia University Press, 2019. Pp. XII, 319. $70.00.

Religious Studies ReviewVolume 46, Issue 2 p. 262-262 Short Reviews of Recent Publications: Buddhism CHINESE ESOTERIC BUDDHISM: AMOGHAVAJRA, THE RULING ELITE, AND THE EMERGENCE OF A TRADITION. By Geoffrey C. Goble. The Sheng Yen Series in Chinese Buddhist Studies. New York, NY: Columbia University Press, 2019. Pp. XII, 319. $70.00. First published: 03 July 2020 https://doi.org/10.1111/rsr.14676Read the full textAboutPDF ToolsRequest permissionExport citationAdd to favoritesTrack citation ShareShare Give accessShare full text accessShare full-text accessPlease review our Terms and Conditions of Use and check box below to share full-text version of article.I have read and accept the Wiley Online Library Terms and Conditions of UseShareable LinkUse the link below to share a full-text version of this article with your friends and colleagues. Learn more.Copy URL Share a linkShare onFacebookTwitterLinkedInRedditWechat No abstract is available for this article. Volume46, Issue2June 2020Pages 262-262 RelatedInformation

CHINESE PURE LAND BUDDHISM: UNDERSTANDING A TRADITION OF PRACTICE. By Charles B.Jones. Pure Land Buddhist Studies Series. Honolulu, HI: University of Hawai’i Press, 2019. Pp. XV, 205. $68.00.

Religious Studies ReviewVolume 46, Issue 2 p. 262-262 Short Reviews of Recent Publications: Buddhism CHINESE PURE LAND BUDDHISM: UNDERSTANDING A TRADITION OF PRACTICE. By Charles B. Jones. Pure Land Buddhist Studies Series. Honolulu, HI: University of Hawai’i Press, 2019. Pp. XV, 205. $68.00. First published: 03 July 2020 https://doi.org/10.1111/rsr.14677Read the full textAboutPDF ToolsRequest permissionExport citationAdd to favoritesTrack citation ShareShare Give accessShare full text accessShare full-text accessPlease review our Terms and Conditions of Use and check box below to share full-text version of article.I have read and accept the Wiley Online Library Terms and Conditions of UseShareable LinkUse the link below to share a full-text version of this article with your friends and colleagues. Learn more.Copy URL Share a linkShare onFacebookTwitterLinkedInRedditWechat No abstract is available for this article. Volume46, Issue2June 2020Pages 262-262 RelatedInformation

Contemporary Tibetan Buddhist <i>Rimé</i> Response to Religious Diversity

In a world where communities across the globe are becoming increasingly interconnected, encounters with diverse cultures and faiths are inevitable. How can diverse communities approach these encounters in a way that fosters dialogue rather than conflict, peace rather than war? Specifically, in the context of Buddhism, how should Buddhists relate to religious diversity in a way that simultaneously remains faithful to their own spiritual traditions while being openminded and respectful towards the beliefs and practices of others? One of the most well-known Buddhist responses to religious diversity was the rimé movement in nineteenth-century eastern Tibet. While the term “rimé” (meaning “impartial” or “non-sectarian” in Tibetan) has become a catchphrase in contemporary Tibetan Buddhist contexts, there has been little sustained engagement with this topic by Buddhists and Buddhist studies scholars. This essay documents and contextualizes the contemporary uses of the term rimé (non-sectarianism) in Tibetan Buddhist communities and situates it within Tibetan Buddhist literature and history. I argue that it is essential for both Buddhists and Buddhist-studies scholars to devote significant attention to the concept of rimé and to engage in interfaith dialogue. For Buddhists, the very survival of their religion depends on it. For Buddhist-studies scholars, it contributes to the development of an accurate understanding of one of the most significant intellectual moments in modern Tibetan history. For humankind, it contributes to interfaith understanding, harmony, and peace.

TSONG KHAPA’S ILLUMINATION OF THE HIDDEN MEANING, PART I: MAṆḌALA, MANTRA, AND THE CULT OF THE YOGINĪS. Translated by David B.Gray. Treasury of the Buddhist Sciences. New York: American Institute of Buddhist Studies, 2017. ISBN: 978‐1935011095. Pp. 449. Hardback, $59.95.

Religious Studies ReviewVolume 46, Issue 1 p. 122-123 Short Reviews of Recent Publications: Buddhism TSONG KHAPA’S ILLUMINATION OF THE HIDDEN MEANING, PART I: MAṆḌALA, MANTRA, AND THE CULT OF THE YOGINĪS. Translated by Gray, David B.. Treasury of the Buddhist Sciences. New York: American Institute of Buddhist Studies, 2017. ISBN: 978-1935011095. Pp. 449. Hardback, $59.95. First published: 25 April 2020 https://doi.org/10.1111/rsr.14388Read the full textAboutPDF ToolsRequest permissionExport citationAdd to favoritesTrack citation ShareShare Give accessShare full text accessShare full-text accessPlease review our Terms and Conditions of Use and check box below to share full-text version of article.I have read and accept the Wiley Online Library Terms and Conditions of UseShareable LinkUse the link below to share a full-text version of this article with your friends and colleagues. Learn more.Copy URL Share a linkShare onEmailFacebookTwitterLinked InRedditWechat No abstract is available for this article. Volume46, Issue1March 2020Pages 122-123 RelatedInformation

“Like a Mother Her Only Child”: Mothering in the Pāli Canon

AbstractThis paper examines mothers and mothering in the Pāli canon and commentaries and contends that a mothering path emerges when the deeply patriarchal traditional hierarchy of values is challenged and, following Karen Derris, the unthoughts related to mothers and mothering, which this hierarchy of values generates, are also challenged. The article focuses on three main female characters, Māyā, Mahāpajāpatī, and Visākhā, whose paths as mothers or as lay followers of the Buddha who “stand in the position of a mother” constitute a deliberate soteriological path in the Pali Buddhist texts. It draws on contemporary Buddhist Studies feminist scholarship (in particular, the work of Karen Derris (2014) and Liz Wilson (2013)) as well as motherhood studies (in particular, Sara Ruddick’s (1989) work based on Adrienne Rich’s (1976) foundational distinction between motherhood as a patriarchal institution that oppresses women and mothering as women’s lived experience to outline how mothering activities in the Pāli canon can be discerned as a soteriological path that follows the same trajectory as the Buddha’s Bodhisatta path that begins with making a solemn vow (patthanā) and ends with awakening (nibbāna). I conclude that adopting this approach allows us to reenvisage activities and relationships usually understood as “this-worldly” in the canonical and commentarial Pāli texts, and in contemporary feminist scholarship, as the embodiment of a soteriology based on interdependence and compassionate care for others.

Response: Commentary: The Human Default Consciousness and Its Disruption: Insights From an EEG Study of Buddhist Jhāna Meditation

Response: Commentary: The Human Default Consciousness and Its Disruption: Insights From an EEG Study of Buddhist Jhāna Meditation

Relevance of the Buddhism Program in Mahachulalongkornrajavidyalaya University

This study focused on the relevance of the Buddhism Program in Mahachulalongkornrajavidyalaya University, Thailand. It looked into the status of the Buddhism program along administration, vision, mission, goals and objectives, research and development, curriculum management, and curricular and extra - curricular activities. The relevance of the program is measured in terms of their service to the community, relationship with the Buddhist Religion, and the values and attitudes developed. The descriptive-correlational research design was utilized in the study. Questionnaire Checklist and Documentary analysis were used. There were 245 respondents. Ethical protocols were observed. Mean and simple correlation analysis were the statistical tools used. Results showed that the status of the Buddhism Program of Mahachulalongkornrajavidyalaya University is commendable. Second, it offers a very relevant Buddhism program that is worthy of the respect of other universities offering Buddhist studies in Thailand and other countries of the world. Lastly, curriculum management has a significant bearing on community service as well as on the values and attitudes of the graduates. It is highly recommended that the status of the Buddhism Program of Mahachulalongkornrajavidyalaya University should be maintained or further improved by constantly enhancing and updating its administration, vision, mission, objectives and curriculum. To guarantee the attainment of program objectives and to ensure effective teaching and learning, co-curricular and extra-curricular activities should be considered in curriculum management.

Mindful Leadership: The Ability of the Leader to Develop Compassion and Attention without Judgment - A Case Study of the Leader of Buddhist Higher Education Institute

<p style="text-align:justify">The objective of this research is to describe the practice of mindful leadership at the IABS - Plum Village Buddhist Monastery Upper Hamlet, France, looking at the abbot's pattern and role in developing and managing the Institute of Advanced Buddhist Studies and the monastery. This research uses the approach of qualitative research with the method of a single case study. The research data collection uses the techniques of observation, interview, and documentation study. The research procedure used in this research consists of several research steps utilizing the case study method of Robert K. Yin: research planning, research design, research preparation, research data collection, research data analysis, and doing the research report. The research analysis is done by pattern matching. The data validity testing through data source triangulation and technique triangulation. The result of this research shows that mindful leadership can develop the ability to develop compassion and attention without judgment. The study shows that a leader has compassion towards global issues and can accept with openness. A leader who practices mindfulness for a long time can direct towards openness of one’s self to others. The leader can lead with compassion and care and also understand hi members well. The ability to develop this compassion shows the ability to listen without judgment, not blame, and not discriminate.</p>

Буддологические исследования

Буддологические исследования

Нижнетунгусская этнографическая экспедиция 1930 г. (по материалам личного архива П.П. Хороших)

The article introduces written and visual materials from the center for Oriental Manuscripts and Woodcuts of the Institute of Mongolian, Buddhist and Tibetan Studies of the SB RAS archival collections related to the 1930 expedition to the Evenks of Lower Tunguska. Ethnographers Poltoradnev P.G. and P.P. Khoroshikh from Irkutsk worked as the members of the expedition. In the personal archive of P.P. Khoroshikh a map-scheme of the route, field records about the material, ritual and everyday culture of the Evenks, drafts of articles on the results of the expedition, as well as photographs and drawings with explanations by the author were revealed. The narrative part of the travel diary is compiled in chronological order of visiting camps and localities, contains various details of a complex and long journey. For the first time, the text of travel notes “Under the Arctic circle” is published, compiled in chronological order of visiting camps and localities and revealing various details of a complex and long journey. The subject matter of the identified materials fully reflects both the tasks set for the expedition and the professional interests of the team members – this is an information about the settlement of families, the peculiarities of making homes (chums), boats, utensils, clothing, crafts, rituals, etc. The collected information is supplemented by numerous photos of the region's aborigines, objects and localities, as well as drawings and diagrams of the location of objects with dimensions, orientation to the cardinal directions, location relative to each other, Evenk names and translation into Russian. The authors have formulated the questions, the answers to which have not yet been found in the archive materials – about the future fate of the collected collections, about the actual distribution of the responsibilities in the expedition, about a small number of publications on its results.