Divine Entity Research Articles

The Earth Mourns: Interconnectedness of Yahweh, People and Land in Jeremiah 23:10 and 15

ABSTRACT According to Jeremiah 23:10 the land mourns because of the unethical behaviour of the religious leaders in Judean society. The example set by these leaders gives leeway to the people of Judah to follow suit. The article discusses the relationship between the actions of people in society and the effect of their behaviour on the land. I depart from the assumption that this reciprocal relational reliance is the result of a particular worldview in which there exists interconnectedness of the divine, the people relating to this divine entity and the land allotted to them. The view argued is that Jeremiah 23:10 reflects a particular worldview consisting of the conceptual structures HOLY/COMMON and PURE/IMPURE. Besides discussing the issue of the relationship between the divine, the people and the land in 23:10 and 15, I make some suggestions relevant to the ecological debate in society. Keywords: Mourn; land; unethical behaviour; curse; worldview; Jeremiah 23:10; adultery; evil

Making the Gods Speak: The Ritual Production of Revelation in Chinese Religious History by Vincent Goossaert (review)

Reviewed by: Making the Gods Speak: The Ritual Production of Revelation in Chinese Religious History by Vincent Goossaert Gilbert Z. Chen (bio) Vincent Goossaert. Making the Gods Speak: The Ritual Production of Revelation in Chinese Religious History. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Asia Center, 2022. 368 PP. Hardcopy $60.00, isbn 978-067-427-094-7. For any students of Chinese religious history, the sheer number of various kinds of religious texts (canonical scriptures, ritual manuals, etc.) supposedly handed [End Page 181] down by an assorted group of divine entities to mankind is nothing but overwhelming: thousands, if not tens of thousands, of them have appeared since the early medieval era. Until recently, however, this vast body of revelation texts, except for a few prominent titles which have secured canonical status within their respective religious traditions, has largely remained unscrutinized. Part of the reason for this scholarly neglect was the widely shared assumption that these texts usually fall into the amorphous category of folk or popular religion, which for long has occupied a marginalized position in the field of religious studies. Fortunately, a small but growing group of scholars has begun to address the omission over the past decades.1 Even though their works have greatly augmented our understanding of revelation texts and their significance in Chinese religious history, they collectively suffer from several noticeable limitations. First, scholars often focus on a selected number of texts produced within a specific religious or sectarian tradition. Consequently, we have a number of fine case studies but lack a framework for a more holistic and comparative perspective. Moreover, previous scholarship has primarily analyzed the content of revelation texts with little consideration of the ritual context in which revelations took place. Vincent Goossaert's new book under review here, which is the culmination of years of meticulous research, squarely addresses these shortcomings. Consequently, it succeeds in providing the hitherto most systematic and comprehensive study of the subject, significantly deepening our understanding of the evolution of the ritual production of revelation throughout Chinese history. Making the Gods Speak consists of two parts besides the introduction and the conclusion. In the first part (chapters 1 and 2), the author mainly introduces an overarching theoretical framework to account for different modes of human-divine interaction or "divine presence" (p. 6) and offers a typology to classify different types of revelation. Building upon these analytical tools, the second part (chapters 3–8) zooms in to provide a more dynamic narrative to chart and explain several turning points of far-reaching significance in the history of revelation. Goossaert begins the book by identifying two paradigms of divine presence in Chinese religious history. The first is that of spontaneous presence in which gods come to interact with humans on their own initiative without any forewarning. This type of presence may take various forms. In a typical scenario, a person unexpectedly encounters a god in a reclusive area (e.g., remote mountains), and the latter then bequeaths a sacred text to the former. In contrast to spontaneous presence underlining divine agency in the process of divine–human interaction, the second model of ritualized presence foregrounds human agency; that is, religious practitioners employ a set of ritual techniques to initiate communication with divine beings. [End Page 182] Divine presence often, but not necessarily, generates revelation. The author defines revelation as discursive content that is depicted as originating from a spirit and is of general interest to humanity, which is analytically opposed to divine response answering an individual's specific needs. Based on three criteria of the ritual technique used, the scenario of the event of revelation, and the form and content of the revealed text, Goossaert proposes a typology of five ideal-typical categories of revelation. In the sutra type, there is no mention of how a revealed text reached humanity. By contrast, in the encounter type, the reader is informed of the details surrounding the revelatory event. Nevertheless, the receiver apparently does not employ any ritual technique to materialize the revelation. In the possession type, divine pronouncements are made through possessed mediums. Occasionally, rituals are performed to bring about spirit possession. Ritual techniques, however, become crucially important in the visualization type in...

Indian CSR - An Overview

Ancient Vedic invocations of India have essentially been global in their value premises. A stakeholder approach to management is elaborated by many great ancient Indian scriptures. The Indian scriptures analyzed essentially point out that organization and its members can relate themselves with the stakeholders either by the Family Relations View or the Transcendental Spiritual View. The Indian scriptures spell out the relationship that should exist between the leader and the stakeholders. The Charity was part of Indian culture and history at all times. The concepts of community food, giving alms to the poor and destitute, making offerings in the temple, serving the underprivileged and feeding orphans on their birthdays, keeping some part of their monthly income aside for donations or in the name of the Almighty, etc. are an indication of rich and socially responsible behavior of every Indian. The four reasons for the adoption of CSR policies and practices attributed by Sundar to the Indian companies were Contributing to society without expecting anything in return, or philanthropy, Internal reasons, such as the desire to improve relations with employees, customers, and shareholders, Better relations with local communities for publicity or tax benefits and Enlightened self-interest. The four phases of business philanthropy in India identified by are, Ethical Model Statist Model Liberal Model Stakeholder Model Oriental thinkers view the entire creation to have emanated from one supreme power, including the instruments of economic production. Nature, which is harnessed by industry, is also a part of that Divine Entity. Hence management now becomes grateful to that Entity for its bounty. An insight into the history of CSR reveals that the idea of philanthropy solely dominated and businesses often restricted themselves to a one-time financial grant till the 1990's. Commitments to their resources for long term projects were absent. . The concept of CSR has been changing over the last few years with the transition from giving as an obligation or charity to giving as a strategy or responsibility. What is necessary today is the need for a reorientation of corporate organizations’ approach towards stakeholders and stakeholders’ welfare, coupled with an ardent desire to implement the same. Relationships with stakeholders are considered extremely important. Changes in business have stressed upon the application of a wide range of approaches. These are characterized by harnessing the product with increased levels of satisfaction among consumers. Attention to business ethics is rising across the globe, and many companies realize that to succeed, they must earn the respect and confidence of their customers. The economic reforms at the beginning of the 1990's opened the Indian economy for international competition and privatization. However; the Indian economy is still challenged by widespread poverty widening gaps between different income groups, which creates opportunities for CSR to contribute to development. CSR in India has always been linked with the idea of social welfare and development. India became the first country to make CSR mandatory in 2013. Mandatory CSR is perhaps a solution to reach places that State cannot reach on its own The CSR mandate may give organizations the opportunity to broaden their vision of CSR. The progress on CSR has been slow but is showing signs of improvement as it completes five years. There is a widespread feeling in India, that the high GDP growth rate of the past decade has remained confined to urban areas only and has not reached rural India to lift the poor section of the society. . But many view the mandatory proposal as a contradiction and contend that CSR should be voluntary.

Les éléments naturels et leur interaction dans l'œuvre de Maryse Condé

The work of the Guadeloupian author Maryse Condé is indicative of a highly animist Creole identity. Thus, the belief in a vital force that animates the natural elements is exacerbated through her writing. Nature embodies this refuge with which the Creole man needs to revitalise himself. Modernism is seen as an environmental and identity threat, responsible for having broken the harmony that Antilleans maintained with nature. Natural disasters are perceived by the Condean characters as manifestations of the wrath of the elements, divine entities that they can’t control anymore after losing ancestral knowledge. However, the disasters inherent in the brutality of the Tropics give men the opportunity to rebuild everything on a new basis, their will to survive being always stronger than the feeling of despair. At the same time, they invite the reader to think about the global ecological crisis that we are experiencing. L’œuvre de Maryse Condé, romancière guadeloupéenne, est révélatrice d’une identité créole à caractère hautement animiste. Ainsi, la croyance en une force vitale qui anime les éléments naturels est exacerbée à travers son écriture. La nature incarne ce refuge dont l’homme créole a besoin pour se ressourcer. Le modernisme est perçu comme une menace environnementale et identitaire, ayant rompu l'harmonie qu'entretenaient les Antillais avec le milieu insulaire. Les catastrophes naturelles sont perçues par les personnages condéens comme des manifestations de la colère des éléments, entités divines qu'ils n'arrivent plus à dompter suite à la perte des savoirs ancestraux. Toutefois, les désastres propres à la brutalité des Tropiques donnent l'opportunité aux hommes de tout reconstruire sur de nouvelles bases, leur volonté de survie triomphant toujours sur le sentiment de désespoir. Par la même occasion, ils invitent le lecteur à réfléchir sur la crise écologique mondiale que nous vivons.

God-like robots: the semantic overlap between representation of divine and artificial entities

Artificial intelligence and robots may progressively take a more and more prominent place in our daily environment. Interestingly, in the study of how humans perceive these artificial entities, science has mainly taken an anthropocentric perspective (i.e., how distant from humans are these agents). Considering people’s fears and expectations from robots and artificial intelligence, they tend to be simultaneously afraid and allured to them, much as they would be to the conceptualisations related to the divine entities (e.g., gods). In two experiments, we investigated the proximity of representation between artificial entities (i.e., artificial intelligence and robots), divine entities and natural entities (i.e., humans and other animals) at both an explicit (Study 1) and an implicit level (Study 2). In the first study, participants evaluated these entities explicitly on positive and negative attitudes. Hierarchical clustering analysis showed that participants’ representation of artificial intelligence, robots and divine entities were similar, while the representation of humans tended to be associated with that of animals. In the second study, participants carried out a word/non-word decision task including religious semantic-related words and neutral words after the presentation of a masked prime referring to divine entities, artificial entities and natural entities (or a control prime). Results showed that after divine and artificial entity primes, participants were faster to identify religious words as words compared to neutral words arguing for a semantic activation. We conclude that people make sense of the new entities by relying on already familiar entities and in the case of artificial intelligence and robots, people appear to draw parallels to divine entities.

Mystery of the Trinity: a Reply to Einar Bøhn

In this journal, Einar Bohn has proposed a solution to the so-called Trinitarian Paradox. After summarizing the Paradox and Bohn’s proposed solution, I argue that those committed to Christian orthodoxy cannot accept the solution, for three reasons: First, it requires positing more kinds of divine entity than God and the Persons of the Trinity; second, it is based upon a false assumption; and, finally, the proposed solution amounts at best to a form of obscurantism.

A Pragmatic Analysis of Deixis in a Religious Text

This research tackles the pragmatic analysis of deixis in a religious text. It aims at: 1) Identifying and showing the occurrences of deixis in the religious text. 2) Finding out the most dominant type of deixis in the text. 3) Analyzing the reasons behind using these types of deixis and how they affect the audience who hear or read the speech. The source of data was taken from a religious lecture presented by Imam John Starling at Queens College in 22/10/2014 about imaan (faith) which is taken as a sample. The procedure followed in this research was reading and writing down the deictic expressions: person, place and time deixis. The findings showed that person deixis occurred for 202 times, place deixis for 11 times and time deixis for 6 times only, which indicates that the most dominant type is person deixis. After analyzing the three types of deixis in this text, the researcher has concluded that the reason behind the frequent use of person deixis could be due to the particularity of the religious texts which are centered on the Divine Entity, thus the speakers/writers always making a reference to God by using the third person pronoun ‘He’. In addition, this kind of texts is usually about guidance and advice, therefore, the pronoun ‘You’ also occurs frequently to address the audience directly and to draw their attention. And since the adviser (imam) wants to make his audience feel that he belongs to them and shares with them the same destiny, he used the pronouns ‘We’ and ‘Us’. In return, place and time deixis are very few in this text and occurred mostly during narrating some stories and setting some examples.

Place Spirituality

The expression of attachment to the divine in certain places among different groups has been documented by anthropologists and sociologists for decades. However, the psychological processes by which this happens are not yet fully understood. This article focuses on the concept of ‘place spirituality’ as a psychological mechanism, which allows the religious believer or non-believer to achieve an organised attachment strategy, involving the interplay of place and spiritual attachment. First, place spirituality is considered as an experience that satisfies the attachment relationship criteria in that geographic places and divine entities can be perceived as ‘objects’ of attachment. Second, it is proposed that the maturational aspects of the attachment repertoire in adults make the place spirituality experience possible since adults’ cognitive abilities are much wider than those of children and can include relationships to geographical spaces and invisible divine entities. Finally, the theme of place spirituality is explored to further position the concept as a relational paradigm for understanding the relationship between place experiences and spiritual attachment.

Empire Falls and How A Disillusioned Society of the Early 21st Century Resorts to Romantic Tendencies

This paper is principally aimed at analyzing the theme of Richard Russo’s Empire Falls in its relation with the socio-economic context of its publication in 2001, namely the economic recession that characterizes the earliest decade of the 21st century. The analysis will be based on historical approach’s assumption of the correlation between literary works and social context in which they are produced. Intrinsically, the novel is dissected into two levels. They are surface level (form) and deeper level (content). The results of the analysis are in the form of philosophical speculations of the novel, which are believed to follow the mood of the early 21st century, including 1) disillusionment to social mobility, 2) incredulity to human agency, and 3) romantic tendencies. This novel’s reaction to the decline of capitalism in the early 21st century seems to be similar to early romantic reaction to the rise of capitalism by returning to nature and resorting to external forces whether divine entity or otherwise.Keywords: 21st century novel; American economic recession; romanticism.

Visualization of the abstract Biblical entities of the highest heavenly hierarchy (seraphim, cherubim, thrones)

The Biblical texts with descriptions of the higher divine entities of the heavenly hierarchy – seraphim, cherubim and thrones – are analyzed. The interpretation of their symbols by Dionysius the Areopagite and the Christian theologians of the IV–XIII centuries Gregory the Theologian, Ioan Damaskin, Maxim the Confessor, and Gregory Palama is clarified. It is determined that the heavenly entities of the highest order are regarded as abstract God-like categories, endowed with the divine qualities of absolute purity, free of sinful spots, possessing the knowledge of the highest world, and the ability to contemplate the primordial, incomprehensible and tripartite beauty of God-Creator. In the Christian tradition, they are also honored with the environment and communication with Jesus and Mary, the Mother of God. The attributes of the seraphim, the cherubim and the thrones in the Christian iconography are investigated, which, due to the difficulties of their visualization, were transmitted by symbols: all-pervading and enlightenment – by symbols of wings, wheels and eyes, and supernatural power – by four anthropo-zoomorphic images: man, bull, eagle and lion. The seraphim were identified with the help of six wings, and the Cherubim with the four. Attributes of the Thrones were the wheels. The symbolic attribute of the celestial entities was also transmitted using the color: the red one for the flaming Seraphim and the fiery Thrones and the blue for the enlightened Cherubim.On a concrete illustrative material, the transformation of their iconographic images is traced. It is substantiated that after the canonical recognition of isichasm as the basis of Eastern theology by the Constantinople Cathedral in 1351, the images of mystical symbols of heavenly forces began to be replaced by anthropomorphic images of angels, and in the center of iconography of the cosmological world there was a manly image of Jesus Christ and the Mother of God, the resurrection and sacrament of the Eucharist. It is demonstrated how the Renaissance and Baroque era displaced the mystical symbols of the Old Testament celestial forces from iconography and replaced them with images of innocent infants with wings, and the Thrones became depicted in the form of a flat plane and the throne on which Christ is sitting.Keywords: seraphim, cherubim, thrones, Dionysius the Areopagite, iconography, symbols

Proskynēsis: From a Persian Court Protocol to a Greek Religious Practice

Greek ambassadors who were granted an audience before the Persian King were required to observe a certain form of court ritual. Although the Persian proper name for this ritual has since been lost to us, the Greeks called this act of homage proskynēsis; a term normally understood to refer to the act of “falling down” and prostrating oneself before the king. At the same time, the Greeks employed a gesture also called proskynēsis, which was performed when addressing a divine entity. These two acts, while different in their functions, shared the same name on the basis that their outward appearances bore a co- incidental likeness to each other. Greek ambassadors, who would have come to Susa for the purpose of petitioning assistance from the Great King, were rigorously hesitant to follow the Persian practice, arguing that the religious practice of proskynēsiswas reserved exclusively for the divine among them. In this paper, I endeavour to elucidate the true nature of this Persian court pro- tocol, and to show why the Greeks were so unwilling to perform this ceremo- nial act. I conclude that the normal posture of the Persian proskynēsis was most represented by that of a bow with a hand raised up to the mouth, the depth of the bow being dependent on the ethnicity of those performing it and their relative status. In contrast to the Greek version, this Persian proskynēsiswas a rather secular practice, serving to authenticate social hierarchy between su- periors and inferiors. Even though some of the Greek ambassadors must have been aware of this, or perhaps as a direct result of this understanding, they remained loath to accept the insult that offering proskynēsiswould cause to the belief of their perceived freedom from Persian subjugation.

And Everything Began with Laughs and Tears… The Creation of the Gods According to Esna II, 163, 16-17; III 206, 8-9 (§13) and III, 272, 2-3: Precedents, Interpretation and Influences

The tears of the demiurge play a prominent role within ancient Egyptian cosmogonic traditions regarding the genesis of the human being. However, the creation of the gods as a consequence of the demiurge's laughter appears to be a unicum of the Esna temple texts. This is not to say, however, that certain precedents of laughter as a vitalizing agent cannot be traced at least from the Old Kingdom, which would later be duly reworked by Latopolitan theologians during the late period. It is precisely this topic that will be studied in this work, showing some possible antecedents in which the idea of ​​the creation of divine entities through laughter would have settled, at the same time that it will delve into the meaning of this theogonic method compared to the anthropogonic. Likewise, the relevance or not of the hypothesis formulated by some researchers regarding the transmission of this notion of theogonic laughter to different texts written in Greek will be analyzed, as well as the intellectual context in which such an event could have occurred.

THE DOM FOR THE CRAFT AND THE GIFT FROM GOD: ETHNOGRAPHIC EXPLORATIONS AMONG THE TRADITIONAL MIDWIVES OF SANTANA

Abstract This article studies the traditional midwives living and working in Santana, the second largest city of Amapá state, Brazil. We present and discuss the midwives’ worldviews, highlighting how the obligations associated with non-compulsory debts in the cycles of giving, receiving and returning are not limited to the relationship between the patient’s family and the midwife. According to local conceptions, the most important relations of obligation associated with the dom for the craft are those established between humans and God. The counter-gift is accomplished through patient care, but as a form of obligation towards God. Assisting the women who seek out the help of the midwives is thus understood as the adequate means of settling the debt with the divine entity.

An assessment of meaning in life-threatening illness: development of the Healing Experience in All Life Stressors (HEALS).

ContextPatients with life-threatening or chronic illness report an experience of increased positive psychological, social, and/or spiritual change during diagnosis and/or treatment of their illness, even in the face of unfavorable prognosis. This transformation begins through the ability to make their life meaningful by forming meaningful connections that emerge through self-introspection and relationships with a divine entity, nature, and other people. The Healing Experience in All Life Stressors (HEALS) assessment provides a way to identify distress-causing changes that may interfere with the development of meaning and psycho–social–spiritual homeostasis.ObjectivePreliminary examination of responses to items on the HEALS and examination of the factor structure.MethodThe 48-item HEALS questionnaire was developed using a multistep process: literature review for concept development, item generation from qualitative data, and face and content validity by expert panel. In the current study, HEALS was completed by 100 patients diagnosed with life-limiting disease and seen by the palliative care team at a large research institution in the US. Exploratory factor analysis techniques were used to determine scale structure of the instrument.ResultsOutcome testing of sample adequacy using Kaiser–Meyer–Olkin statistic was 0.75, which exceeds the recommended value of 0.60. The HEALS show very good internal consistency with a Cronbach’s a of 0.94. Overall results of the exploratory factor analysis established a four-factor questionnaire: 1) religion; 2) spirituality, demonstrated by a) interaction with a religious community and b) belief in higher power; 3) intrapersonal; and 4) interpersonal relationships expressed through psychological changes resulting in enhanced outlook and improvement in relationships with family and friends.ConclusionThis study involved the initial step to commence the process of scale validation, with promising outcomes identifying subscales as an effective way to assess the construct of healing. These findings support further examination using cognitive appraisal and confirmatory factor analysis.

Resilient Cosmologies: Water Deities and Divine Agency in Post-Mao China

ABSTRACTThis article explores ritual practices among the Premi people in Southwest China at the beginning of the new millennium. Living in the periphery of Tibetan, Han Chinese and other Tibeto-Burman ethnic groups, Premi villagers have continued to keep an understanding of how the world works that is markedly different from their neighbours. The all-encompassing economic development of China is posing new challenges to the intangible entities in Premi cosmology. In its management of forests, waterways or birth control, the Chinese state is increasingly interfering with Premi ways of dealing with their surroundings. The chapter proposes to focus on the way one category of intangible entities of Premi cosmology, the lwéjabu or water deities, are seen as acting towards these challenges, rather than on the underlying ontological changes. An event where a member of a neighbouring ethnic group becomes an unwitting participant in a Premi medium séance makes the case for approaching extra-human forms of agency by beginning with the ‘work’ or ‘effect’ of the divine entities.

The motive of Hieros Gamos in Jesus’s Baptism in the Jordan River and in Jewish Kabballah

This paper suggests an alternative interpretation of Christ’ baptism, and more precisely, of the dove's role in it. One of the main rituals in the Ancient East was the 'sacred marriage' (Hieros Gamos), the purpose of which was to assure abundance, prosperity, and cosmic fertility, and to validate the status of the king. In many cases, the actual crowning, which followed the main ritual, was performed by a dove, one of the symbols of the feminine partner in the sacred marriage – the great goddess.Through the centuries, this ancient ritual underwent extensive transformations and reforms, but even though the goddess seemed to have vanished, her disappearance was only an illusion. There is abundant evidence to show that the ritual reform did not suppress the old traditions and beliefs but merely hid them beneath the surface. This evidence suggests that the goddess reappeared, sometimes centuries later, manifesting herself in numerous guises, as, for example, in the Kabbalah and in Middle Eastern folk tradition. Furthermore, both textual and archeological findings indicate the continuous presence of the motive of the dove as a symbol of the goddess, who elects and coronates the king. The projection of this motive onto the familiar Christian scenario of Jesus’ baptism can shed new light on the survival of the ancient, forgotten, symbolic meaning of the dove as a female divine entity who chooses and crowns Christ.

<em>Bayonetta</em>: A Journey through Time and Space

<em>Bayonetta</em>: A Journey through Time and Space

Editorial

Morals, laws and ethics determine what is good or right for human beings and society, what goals people and society ought to pursue, what rules should govern desirable behaviour and what actions they ought to perform. However, they are not the same.Morals are derived from the conventional social norms and expectations that guide behaviour. People of different ethnic backgrounds hold different views about many social norms, such as marriage, the right way to do business, etc. Morals are often associated with the views or precepts of religions. A religion is the set of beliefs, feelings, dogmas and practices that define the relations between human beings and a sacred or divine entity. Religions promise that current behavioiurs will lead to future rewards or punishments.

Umbrellas, Wheels and Bumps on the Head: A Proposed Solution to the Uṣṇīṣa Mystery

By the early centuries CE, Buddhism had acquired various divine entities: bodhisattvas, mahāsattvas, and cosmic Buddhas with their own supramundane paradises. One popular set of bodhisattvas all had names which included the word uṣṇīṣa – the cranial protrusion said to be a characteristic of all Buddhas. These “Uṣṇīṣa-deities” were usually listed or depicted in groupings of eight (Skt., aṣtoṣṇīṣa) but the constituent members of such groups varied widely. Bhattacharyya observed that, despite their names, these deities had no discernible connection to crown-bumps. Their actual significance remains unexplained. This paper presents evidence supporting the view that the tantric Buddhist sacrament, amṛita, was adopted from a pre-Buddhist tradition of psychoactive mushroom use and that the particular mushroom species used have a “crown-bump”. It is proposed that the Uṣṇīṣa bodhisattvas may be best understood in the context of the fungal sources of amṛita, Vajrayāna’s psychedelic sacrament.

Secular, Radically Engaged Buddhism: At the Crossroads of Individual and Social Transformation

In this article I offer a perspective—secular, radically engaged Buddhism—which incorporates two important trends within Western Buddhism: secular Buddhism and an ‘engaged’ Buddhism oriented toward radical social change. I argue that secular, radically engaged Buddhism challenges two key tenets of Buddhism as it is currently practised in the West. On the one hand, secular Buddhists not only reject the transcendent divine entities and cosmological realms found in the various Asian Buddhisms, but also consider problematic the notion of an ‘absolute’ or ultimate reality—nirvana—whether understood as the dualistic opposite to the relative, conditioned world of samsara or apprehended as an underlying ground which integrates the diversity of forms. Radically engaged Buddhists critique another tenet shared by most Western Buddhists: the view that the root cause of social problems is primarily due to individuals’ thoughts, emotions, and actions being determined by greed, hatred, and delusion. Based on this dual critique, I propose an alternative approach, one which provides a more solid foundation for facilitating the intertwined processes of individual and social transformation.