Vajrayana Buddhism Research Articles

Zen/Ch’an-Catholic Dialogue Explores the Path to Spiritual Maturation

Zen/Ch’an-Catholic Dialogue Explores the Path to Spiritual Maturation Francis V. Tiso The second in a four year series of dialogues between Catholics and Buddhists on the West Coast was held at Mercy Center, Burlingame, California, on the topic “Abiding in Christ; Taking Refuge in the Buddha: Then What?” The January 28–February 2, 2008, meeting was cochaired by Rev. Heng Sure of the Institute for World Religions, Berkeley, California, and John C. Wester, Bishop of Salt Lake City, Utah. In his keynote, Bishop Wester observed that one year previous (January 24–27, 2007) at the City of the Ten Thousand Buddhas, the dialogue considered the topic “Abiding in Christ; Taking Refuge in the Buddha.” The participants explored the Buddhist “Refuge” practice, entailing “taking refuge in, or relying upon, the Buddha, his Teachings, and the enlightening Community” (the “Three Jewels” of Buddha, Dharma, and Sangha). This was compared with the Catholic sacraments of initiation (Baptism, Confirmation, and Eucharist). Both practices constitute the basis for entry into the spiritual life for both communities, and both continue to impact the integration of faith with daily life. “Abiding in Christ” and “Taking Refuge in the Three Jewels” are prerequisites for serious engagement with the spiritual and ethical values of Catholic Christianity and Zen/Ch’an and Vajrayana Buddhism. Since these “initiatic” practices involve personal commitment and free choice, they illuminate the heart of our previous four years of dialogue: “Walking the Bodhisattva Path / Walking the Christ Path” (2003), “Transformation of Hearts and Minds: Approaches to Precepts” (2004), “Practice: Means Toward Transformation” (2005), and “Meeting on the Path” (2006). Although the topic under consideration in 2007 might have been considered “basic material” for the way people enter the spiritual life, the dialogue was rich in the range of topics discussed. The participants in 2007 revisited some of the great dyads of the spiritual life, such as the distinction between cataphatic and apophatic spirituality, between the active life and the contemplative life, between attainment of wisdom and the practice of compassion, between verbalization and ineffability, between experience and that which transcends even the category of experience. Moreover, the group expressed a great interest in exploring more deeply the subject of ethical responsibility in transmitting these teachings to students and communities. Transmitting [End Page 145] the teachings involves both accumulating a substantial body of knowledge and also having a personal commitment to the transformative process. Giving emphasis to this dialogue’s long-term commitment to transformation, this year’s theme builds upon previous efforts to understand “abiding and refuge.” It is therefore in this light that the discussion raises the question: “Then what?” What does a Christian do, what does a Buddhist do with his or her life, once initiation has been completed? In order to answer this question, the dialogue took a step forward from last year’s discussion of Christian and Buddhist initiation into the terrain of spiritual progress, maturation, mentoring, and guidance. In order to bring an experiential dimension into the work of dialogue, there was a willingness to take the risk of introducing two afternoons of experiential contemplative practice. In this way, the methods available to Buddhist practitioners and the Christian faithful can be seen from the perspective of lived experience and commitment. The group quickly raised questions directed towards making sense of what is called “spiritual progress” or “transformation.” What do these terms actually mean in real human lives? How do the participants embody these processes? How do they discern the authenticity—or lack thereof—in both practices and practitioners? How do they hand the practices, and the knowledge about spiritual growth, to others? How also do they and their communities train those whose ministry it will be to lead and guide others? Resonating with the insightful comments (Osservatore Romano, December 15, 2007) of Cardinal Jean-Louis Tauran, president of the Pontifical Council for Inter-religious Dialogue, this year’s dialogue pursued an “exchange of our own spiritual experiences.” One participant emphasized: “Sharing each others’ religious practices really is the heart of this dialogue for me; this is where I experience our underlying unity.” Two practical strategies were employed in order to facilitate this exchange. The first strategy was...

The 2007 Meeting of the Society for Buddhist-Christian Studies: San Diego, California, November 16–17, 2007

The 2007 Meeting of the Society for Buddhist-Christian StudiesSan Diego, California, November 16–17, 2007 Peter A. Huff The Society for Buddhist-Christian Studies sponsored two sessions in conjunction with the 2007 annual meeting of the American Academy of Religion (AAR). Each session highlighted themes related to the work of a major figure in Buddhist-Christian dialogue. The first session, addressing the topic “Homosexuality, the Church, and the Sangha,” was organized in honor of Roger Corless (1938–2007), longtime member of the society, dual practitioner of Roman Catholicism and Vajrayana Buddhism, and a well-known voice for “queer sangha.” The second session, a panel discussion titled “The Thought and Legacy of Masao Abe,” focused on the career achievements of Abe (1915–2006), widely acknowledged as one of the most innovative and influential scholars in modern Zen studies, interreligious dialogue, and comparative philosophy. The first session, moderated by Harry Wells (Humboldt State University), featured three papers on issues of gender, sexual ethics, and religious identity. Robert Fastiggi, professor of systematic theology at Sacred Heart Major Seminary (Detroit), presented the paper “The Catholic Church and Homosexuality.” Arguing that the Catholic tradition avoids an “either/or” approach to homosexuality, he outlined the church’s official distinction between morally neutral homoerotic identity and what Vatican documents call “intrinsically disordered” homosexual acts. He also noted that Catholic researchers differ significantly on the question of the genetic origins of same-sex attraction. The key to Catholic moral teaching on homosexuality, he explained, is a “theology of the body” that envisions male-female complementarity as the divinely ordained pattern of creation. Fastiggi suggested that further discussion of related ideas such as celibacy, chastity, desire, and concupiscence would enhance future Buddhist-Christian dialogue on homosexuality. Ilene Stanford, a ThD candidate in religion, gender, and culture at Harvard University, presented the next paper, “In or Out? Marriage as a Social Practice.” Describing marriage in the United States as a “site of contestation,” she explored the conflicting [End Page 137] models of sexual union that currently inform public debates in political and ecclesiastical contexts. Using William Johnson’s A Time to Embrace: Same-Gender Relationships in Religion, Law, and Politics (2006) as a point of departure, she argued that many contemporary examinations of sexual relationships, even some of the most inclusive, fail to reckon with the way in which the West’s Augustinian legacy continues to make heterosexual marriage the norm for all moral reflection on sexual identity and expression. The escalating controversy in the international Anglican community, she said, exposes the weaknesses of Johnson’s “deliberative democracy” model and other theoretical models that minimize the role of political and social power in the construction of sexual ideals. José Ignacio Cabezón, who holds the XIV Dalai Lama Chair in Tibetan Buddhism at the University of California, Santa Barbara, presented the final paper: “Is Homosexual Sex ‘Sexual Misconduct’? Critical Reflections on Some Classical Indo-Tibetan Sources.” Analyzing the changing portraits of sexual immorality in the Pali canon, Indian Sanskrit texts, and Tibetan scholastic treatises, Cabezón traced the evolution of monastic commentary on lay sexuality over the course of several centuries. What originated primarily as a simple prohibition against some forms of male adulterous activity, he explained, eventually became an unprecedented attempt to regulate intricate details of sexual behavior. Identifying Ansanga (fourth century ce) as the first Buddhist writer to proscribe same-sex activity between men, Cabezón suggested that changing social mores, intra-Buddhist debates, and the fertile monastic imagination contributed to the gradual elaboration of moral teaching in ancient and classical Buddhist literature. After the paper presentations, Richard Reilly, professor of philosophy at St. Bonaventure University, responded with provocative comments. He raised critical points about the significance of the distinction between sexual acts and erotic relationships, the strategic though limited value of “deliberative democracy” in multicultural faith communities, and the need for more rigorous comparative study of homophobic legislation in Buddhist and Abrahamic religious traditions. Sparking an engaging discussion among presenters and members of the audience, Reilly’s remarks underscored the importance of ongoing interdisciplinary investigations into homosexuality, the church, and the sangha. The society’s second session at the AAR provided a venue for former...

A Preliminary Study on the View of Women held by Vajrayana Buddhism

A Preliminary Study on the View of Women held by Vajrayana Buddhism

Death and dying in Buddhist Ladakh

This paper focuses on the nature of cultural practices and belief systems related to death and dying in Vajrayana (Tibetan) Buddhism. Based on ethnographic and psychological fieldwork conducted in a Buddhist society located in the western Himalaya, it explores how the monks and laypersons of Ladakh approach the hour of their death. The paper includes a discussion of the Bardö T'ödröl, also known in the west as the Tibetan Book of the Dead. It concludes by giving some pointers to western counsellors who may be asked to interact with Buddhist clients in the wider context of death and bereavement. You are a house of bones Flesh and blood for plaster Pride lives in you And hypocrisy, decay and death. The glorious chariots of kings shatter So also the body turns to dust. But the spirit of purity is changeless And so the pure instruct the pure… [I have] beaten out desire And now my mind is free. Siddhartha Gautama Man says: Time passes. Time says: Man passes. Tibetan proverb If you want to know about living, study Confucianism; If you want to know about death and dying, study Buddhism. Chinese saying The geographic focus of this paper is Buddhist Ladakh, a part of Kashmir tucked away high up in the western Himalaya and the Karakorum range. Although politically a part of India, the central and eastern areas of Ladakh border on Tibet, People's Republic of China, and many of its people have for many centuries endorsed the tenets of Tibetan Buddhism together with various associated cultural customs. At the time of my fieldwork there in 1980 and 1981, Ladakh had just been opened up to western tourists and researchers, and its religious heritage and culture had not yet been transformed by the forces of globalisation and its accompaniment, pervasive culture change. Indeed, the Leh District of Ladakh is an area where many of the age-old traditions of Vajrayana (Tibetan) Buddhism continue to be practised to this day. Buddhism, it is sometimes stated, is a death- oriented religion: traditional Tibetans, Chinese and Japanese have looked to Buddhism as the religion that can best teach us how to die while preparing ourselves for the journey to ‘the other shore’. According to tradition, the Buddha became a renunciant after he had encountered old age, illness and death. Furthermore, Buddhist teachings are singularly focused on the nature of mind. Consequently, Buddhist attitudes towards death are inextricably interwoven with Buddhist conceptions of what the mind is, what it is not, and how to train it. Buddhism is simultaneously philosophy, religion and psychology—with various individuals emphasising any one, or a combination of those strands according to their understanding and preferences. Buddhist teachings on the nature of mind and on death-related practices should therefore be of special interest to the multicultural counsellor and to the cultural psychologist, who after all has staked out a rather similar territory when trying to understand how thoughts, feelings and cultural practices coalesce in shaping a person's approach to basic questions of living, suffering, minimising distress and dying. In this paper I explore the nature of Vajrayana Buddhism, death related belief systems and practices prevailing in Ladakh, and the central role of the Bardö T'ödröl in these practices. The paper concludes by outlining some general ideas that western counsellors might find useful when interacting with Buddhists who are approaching death, are bereaved or have loved ones close to death. Such Buddhists may come from a variety of cultural and ethnic backgrounds.

Report on the Parliament of the World's Religions

The 1993 Parliament of the World's Religions was held at the Palmer House in Chicago from 28 August to 5 September. A number of our members participated in various programs at the Parliament. In the following report, I will mention the programs that involved these members and/or the BuddhistChristian dialogue to some degree. A four-day Conference on Pluralism addressed issues involved with the theme, Identity, Conflict and Globality. Speakers who participated in the Buddhist-Christian dialogue included Raimundo Panikkar, Arvind Sharma, Julia Ching, Leo Lefebure, Sunnan Kubose, Paul Knitter, Ronald Kidd, and Masao Abe. A major presentation on Two Types of and Religious Pluralism was given by Masao Abe, with a response by Donald Mitchell titled Unity and Ultimate Reality. Both presentations will be published in The Eastern Buddhist. The Faiths in the Committee of the Catholic Church in the United States held a workshop on the Buddhist-Christian dialogue, with the main presentation given by Donald Mitchell and responses by George Inouye and David Owens. Geshe Sopa and Sister Pascaline Coff participated in another major presentation on Spirituality and Healing. Kananke Dhammadinna and Ursula King took part in a series of seminars on World Scriptures: Learning from Other Traditions. was well represented at the Parliament. For example, among the Theravadins, the Venerable Ratanasara, the Venerable Dr. Phangcham, the Venerable Payutto, the Venerable Preah Maha Ghosananda, the Venerable Panyananda, Sulak Sivaraksa, and David Kalupahana all gave major addresses on Buddhist issues such as Buddhism and Peace. The Maha Bodhi Society of India presented a program on the religious life as seen from the Buddhist perspective. Among the many Tibetans, Sogyal Rinpoche, Samdhong Rinpoche, Khenchen Palden Sherab Rinpoche, and Khenpo Tsewang Dongyal Rinpoche all gave major addresses on Vajrayana Buddhism. One of the best received panels of the whole Parliament, according to conference organizers, was a major presentation on socially engaged Buddhists given

Sindhu Raja-legenden og buddhismen i Bhutan

The purpose of this article is to show how a old form of Buddhism integrated with the local cult in the remote country of Bhutan in the Himalaya. How the former gods and demons were not unly subdued, but also convinced to fight for the new belief. They were not destroyed but converted and at the same time degraded. In accordance with geomantism the monasteries are to be built where they have the greatest effect. The physical presence of the monasteries symbolizing the capture of the demoness, whose body constitutes the country. It is all described in the legend of King Sindhu Raja, whose conversion is connnected with his recovering from a dangerous illness. Padmasambhava, the great buddhist and tantric yogi from Tibet, is called to Bhutan to fight the demon who has stolen the life force of the King. As he succeeeds in the fight, the king and country is converted. The fight persists until this day in Bhutan's version of Vajrayana Buddhism, the hBrug-pa school, as the old gods and demons still have to be reminded to fight for buddhism. For this purpose they have tantric rituals connected with exorcism like in the case of the legend of Sindhu Raja, where the King's stolen soul was freed by means of meditation and magic by the great mahasiddha Padmasambhava. Thus the connection between myth and history shows us the function of the culture hero who created social order and organized the country as an independent Buddhist kingdom by means of the sindhu Raja-legend.

L'usage politique du mythe au Népal. Une lecture ethno-historique du dieu Matsyendranâth

La théorie des trois fonctions indo-européennes s'applique-t-elle au monde hindou post-védique ? Georges Dumézil le pensait qui s'est employé à identifier des traces de cet ancien héritage commun aux peuples indo-européens dans certains textes et institutions du brahmanisme classique : le système quadripartite des « ordres » varna, la classification des différents types de mariage dans les traités de droit, la série des cinq héros Pândava de l'épopée du Mahâbhârata, etc. Daniel Dubuisson, un disciple de Dumézil, a tenté il y a peu d'étendre cette approche au Râmayâna, l'autre grande épopée de la littérature indienne, composée probablement à l'aube de notre ère.

Responses to Rita Gross

RUETHER: SinceJohn Cobb responded to Rita Gross' first paper on the Three YanaJourney, I will concentrate more on another paper which she submitted as background: on the feminine principle in Vajrayana Buddhism. The paper deals with meditational practices in Vajrayana Buddhism and focuses on the feminine principles as a key part of the initiation. Gross raises questions about concepts of dividing masculine and feminine and suggests that this division is still rooted in gender stereotyping of male and female roles. She also discusses the visualization of feminine as divinity and the effect of that on the self within a tradition which has basically suppressed all female symbols of deity. She then examines what she calls the triple revolution in God language in the Western orthodox tradition: Jewish, Christian and Islam. The triple revolution is one of monotheism, transcendence of nature, and abolition of divine gender, which upholds the concept of the oneness of God-a oneness of God which is, in theory, beyond nature and gender. In actuality, this triple revolution does not really transcend gender, but in fact, it promotes the male gender as symbolic of unity and transcendence. It also suppresses female symbols. Female symbols have become symbolic of that which is non-divine or creaturely. Gross explores the more recent efforts to reclaim feminine symbols expressed in yin/yang psychological terms which refer to the androgyny of the self. In her view, the feminine is still symbolized in terms of the unconscious. If the feminine is the unconscious, therefore consciousness is masculine, and hierarchal symbolism still remains preserved. Gross then examines feminist spirituality as exemplified in Wicca movements, which she finds unsatisfactory because they tend toward a gynocentric reversal in which the feminine or the goddess becomes the dominant symbol, the symbol of wholeness. The male becomes either an auxiliary or an actual representation of the maimed or the defective-a reversal of Aristotelian anthropology in which the feminine is the defective. What Gross is obviously looking for in Vajrayana Buddhism is some kind of balanced symbolization of the masculine and feminine. She explores that

The Three-Yana Journey in Tibetan Vajrayana Buddhism

Tibetan Vajrayana Buddhism is a unique form of Buddhism. At this point, it is not as well or as accurately known to theologians or to the public as are some other forms of Buddhism, especially Theravadin, Zen, or Pure Land Buddhism. Because of the self-secret nature of the Vajrayana teachings and the oral transmission of most of those teachings, it can be a difficult form of Buddhism to study. Much of the popular literature on Tantra is unreliable, and much of the more academic literature is difficult for the non-initiate. Nevertheless, this form of Buddhism is extremely rich and well-developed. What it has to say about the human condition and spiritual transformation is a philosophical-theological resource that could prove to be challenging and provocative to anyone. A major topic in Vajrayana Buddhism is the path, that is, the method of transformation from confusion to enlightenment. Thus, the topic of change or transformation, both individual and social, is well-suited for a basic presentation of Vajrayina Buddhism. Vajrayana Buddhism talks very explicitly about the spiritual path as a three-yana, or three-stage journey involving the Hinayana, the Mahayana, and the Vajrayana. In my paper, I will present some rather traditional discussions of how one gets onto and moves along a spiritual path. I will end the paper by discussing a non-traditional topic-a challenge to Buddhism to respond to specific external forces and modern conditions with appropriate internal doctrinal and institutional changes. In the more traditional part of my paper, I will use a traditional teaching

Tibet as a Stateless Society and Some Islamic Parallels

Tibet is the most numerically significant society practicing Vajrayana (Tantric) Buddhism. The unusual features of religion in Tibetan society are often understood in terms of differences between Vajrayana and other forms of Buddhism. The author suggests here that Tibet is not a “typical” Vajrayana society compared to the Newars or the Balinese, and that what is special about religion in Tibet is related to structural differences between Tibetan society and Buddhist states elsewhere in Asia. Tibet historically has been a region where a centralized state was barely achievable, and Tibetan political structures have more in common with stateless societies than with states. Buddhism in Tibetan society has analogies with Islam in structurally similar Islamic societies.

Mandalas and Mesoamerican Pecked Circles [and Comments and Reply

The notion of the archetype of the Self in Jungian psychology and its expression in mandala or sacred-circle symbolism is reviewed. The role of mandalas in Hinduism and Buddhism is then briefly discussed, with special emphasis on Vajrayana Buddhism. The universality of the mandala and its function of aiding the integration of the individual into the Absolute is stressed by also examining the sacred rites of the Oglala Sioux. Then it is shown how mandalas can be used to interpret pecked circles (ancient quartered circles chiseled in stone) in a logically consistent manner within the context of Nahua cosmology.