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Buddhism in the Modern World explores the challenges faced by Buddhism today, the distinctive forms that it has taken and the individuals and movements that have shaped it. Part One discusses the modern history of Buddhism in different geographical regions, from Southeast Asia to North America. Part Two examines key themes including globalization, gender issues, and the ways in which Buddhism has confronted modernity, science, popular culture and national politics. Each chapter is written by a distinguished scholar in the field and includes photographs, summaries, discussion points and suggestions for further reading. The book provides a lively and up-to-date overview that is indispensable for both students and scholars of Buddhism.
A great deal of Buddhist literature and scholarly writing about Buddhism of the past 150 years reflects, and indeed constructs, a historically unique modern Buddhism, even while purporting to represent ancient tradition, timeless teaching, or the "essentials" of Buddhism. This literature, Asian as well as Western, weaves together the strands of different traditions to create a novel hybrid that brings Buddhism into alignment with many of the ideologies and sensibilities of the post-Enlightenment West. In this book, David McMahan charts the development of this "Buddhist modernism." McMahan examines and analyzes a wide range of popular and scholarly writings produced by Buddhists around the gl...
Yet another contribution to the RoutledgeCurzon Critical Studies in Buddhism series This study examines the roles of metaphor, and especially visual metaphor, in the construction of epistemic systems It is important and timely as it substantially develops the theme of vision in South Asian religions - a subject which has so far been noticed in scholarly works but seldom analysed thematically The book also expands the current discussion of vision and its roles in constructing epistemic systems and cultural practice beyond its exclusively European and American focus The book develops the discussion of visual themes treated in Jacob Kinnard's Imaging Wisdom, previously published in the series
In this book, David McMahan charts the development of modern Buddhism. He presents modern Buddhism as a complex historical process constituted by a variety of responses to some of the most important concerns of the modern era.
The scientific study of Buddhist forms of meditation has surged in recent years, capturing the popular imagination and reshaping conceptions of what meditation is and what it can do. For perhaps the first time in history, meditation has shifted from Buddhist monasteries and practice centers to some of the most prominent and powerful modern institutions in the world, as well as non-institutional settings. As their contexts change, so do the practices-sometimes drastically. New ways of thinking about meditation are emerging as it moves toward more secular settings, ways that profoundly affect millions of lives all over the world. To understand these changes and their effects, the essays in thi...
The past couple of decades have witnessed Buddhist communities both continuing the modernization of Buddhism and questioning some of its limitations. In this fascinating portrait of a rapidly changing religious landscape, Ann Gleig illuminates the aspirations and struggles of younger North American Buddhists during a period she identifies as a distinct stage in the assimilation of Buddhism to the West. She observes both the emergence of new innovative forms of deinstitutionalized Buddhism that blur the boundaries between the religious and secular, and a revalorization of traditional elements of Buddhism such as ethics and community that were discarded in the modernization process. Based on extensive ethnographic and textual research, the book ranges from mindfulness debates in the Vipassana network to the sex scandals in American Zen, while exploring issues around racial diversity and social justice, the impact of new technologies, and generational differences between baby boomer, Gen X, and millennial teachers.
The first authoritative volume on the totality of Buddhism in the West, Westward Dharma establishes a comparative and theoretical perspective for considering the amazing variety of Buddhist traditions, schools, centers, and teachers that have developed outside of Asia. Leading scholars from North America, Europe, South Africa, and Australia explore the plurality and heterogeneity of traditions and practices that are characteristic of Buddhism in the West. This recent, dramatic growth in Western Buddhism is accompanied by an expansion of topics and issues of Buddhist concern. The contributors to this volume treat such topics as the broadening spirit of egalitarianism; the increasing emphasis on the psychological, as opposed to the purely religious, nature of practice; scandals within Buddhist movements; the erosion of the distinction between professional and lay Buddhists; Buddhist settlement in Israel; the history of Buddhism in internment camps; repackaging Zen for the West; and women's dharma in the West. The interconnections of historical and theoretical approaches in the volume make it a rich, multi-layered resource.
This book introduces contemporary Buddhists from across Asia and from various walks of life. Eschewing traditional hagiographies, the editors have collected sixty-six profiles of individuals who would be excluded from most Buddhist histories and ethnographies. In addition to monks and nuns, readers will encounter artists, psychologists, social workers, part-time priests, healers, and librarians as well as charlatans, hucksters, profiteers, and rabble-rousers—all whose lives reflect changes in modern Buddhism even as they themselves shape the course of these changes. The editors and contributors are fundamentally concerned with how individual Buddhists make meaning and display this understa...
It will primarily be of interest to those that study Buddhism at a post-graduate level - extracts from the book are already being used as teaching material for an MA in Religious Studies Fills the gap for a textbook in Early Buddhism - which is taught in American universities Of interest to the growing market of educated Buddhists who want to read around the subject First anthology to explore all meditation objects in early Buddhism Features new translations of actual texts, not merely commentaries
Incorporating the novels, pamphlets and letters of Henry Miller, Killing the Buddha argues for Miller’s written work to be considered as a whole in relation to the theme of Zen Buddhism, specifically the concept of Satori (awakening). By reading Miller’s literary output and letters as a spiritual journey to awakening, it is possible to chart his development as a writer, and offer insight into his repetitive use of biographical material. Reflecting upon the influence of Otto Rank and Henri Bergson on Miller’s conceptualization of the role of the writer, and then by examining his complex rejection of Surrealism, it is possible to show Miller’s burgeoning Zen Buddhism as a life-long quest for acceptance and authenticity explicitly explored within his work. With close readings of the ‘Obelisk Trilogy’ of the 1930s (Tropic of Cancer, Tropic of Capricorn and Black Spring) and The Rosy Crucifixion Trilogy (1949-1960), Miller’s complex journey to Satori is shown as a continuous progression from his early notorious novels through to the essays and pamphlets of his later career.