Contemporary Understandings of Buddhism (talk)

This book introduces Buddhism by describing its approach to spiritual development and those who undertake the Buddhist path. It aims to make Buddhism more easily understood by those who might be unfamiliar with its objectives – and this task is made easier by the pragmatic ways in which Buddhism meets our enduring urge for happiness. Among the various spiritual traditions that have been developed over the past three thousand years to relieve humans of their suffering and distress, Buddhism is perhaps the most methodical, practical and comprehensive. As a function of its essential tolerance and loving kindness, the Buddhist tradition is expressed in a variety of forms that recognise different individual needs, and diverse cultural environments throughout the world. Our appreciation of this tradition, as it expands in the West, will increase as we understand some of its insights and key principles of spiritual development.

As an incredibly diverse religious system, Buddhism is constantly changing. The Oxford Handbook of Contemporary Buddhism offers a comprehensive collection of work by leading scholars in the field that tracks these changes up to the present day. Taken together, the book provides a blueprint to understanding Buddhism's past and uses it to explore the ways in which Buddhism has transformed in the twentieth and twenty-first centuries. The volume contains 41 essays, divided into two sections. The essays in the first section examine the historical development of Buddhist traditions throughout the world. These chapters cover familiar settings like India, Japan, and Tibet as well as the less well-known countries of Vietnam, Bhutan, and the regions of Latin America, Africa, and Oceania. Focusing on changes within countries and transnationally, this section also contains chapters that focus explicitly on globalization, such as Buddhist international organizations and diasporic communities. The second section tracks the relationship between Buddhist traditions and particular themes. These chapters review Buddhist interactions with contemporary topics such as violence and peacebuilding, and ecology, as well as Buddhist influences in areas such as medicine and science. Offering coverage that is both expansive and detailed, The Oxford Handbook of Contemporary Buddhism delves into some of the most debated and contested areas within Buddhist Studies today.

This textbook, bases on the earliest stratum of Buddhist texts, provides a holistic and proportionate account of the range of the Buddha’s Dharma, interpreted for the modern student. We discover in the earliest teachings a corpus that is astonishingly profound and comprehensive, consistent, brilliantly coherent and still intelligible today. Topics include not only the higher training of meditation, psychology and the path to awakening, but also practical advice on virtue, harmony, community and basic human values. This book is divided into two parts, each of which can be studied independently: Buddhist Life concerns living devoutly, virtuously, harmoniously and in community. Buddhist Path, on the higher course of training toward awakening based on the noble eightfold path.

International Review of Social Research

"the great thinkers, great mystics, great sages […], by their uncommon intellect, and supreme wisdom made a great impression upon the thought of people; the sculptors and artists and Buddhism hewed great cave temples and stupas which are to this day among the great achievement of humankind" (Sankrityayan, 1973: 328-349 apud Ahir, 2013: ix). In its long history, Buddhism became the national religion of India during King Aśoka, reaching its zenith during the reign of Harsavardhana (606-647 C.E.), the last "Buddhist Emperor". Different researchers have defined the historical phases of the evolution of Buddhism in India as: consolidation, systematic propagation, becoming a popular religion, struggling and maintaining, massacre and regression, followed by a period of apparently disappearance (see Naik, 2006). A renaissance and revival of Buddhism is agreed to have started in India as early as 1891, with the intention of restoring the sacred Buddhist shrines, as well as with the discovery of numerous relics on the Indian territory, or the return of the relics kept abroad. After 1947, "the Buddhist revival movement came to be associated with nationalism and ancient Indian culture" (ibid: 9). In 1956, to mark 2500 years of Buddhist Era commenced on the day of the Mahaparinirvana celebrated worldwide, in India a Buddha Jayanti Celebrations Committee has been appointed; the same year, Dr. B. R. Ambedkar adhered to Buddhism, along with half a million followers. While a significant increase in the Buddhist population in India took place since then, Buddhism in India is still far from having the power of a living religion (Ahir, 2011: 201). Starting with 1950, India Archeological Survey also started systematic archeological works and restoration of Buddhist heritage, the Buddhist sites being nowadays among the most important travel and tourism destinations, nationally and internationally. India is now represented as "The Land of Buddha", in the Ministry of Tourism promotion campaigns. In the context of all Indian religions, Buddhism occupies a unique place, firstly for addressing and accepting people of all strata of society, but also populations like the Indo-Greeks and Indo-Scythians, who settled in India at the time, and secondly, for its

Buddhism - What It Is and Is Not, 2020

Confusion If there is one thing that marks the Age in which we live, it is confusion. “What do you mean? I’m not confused.” “How can we be confused when we have the Internet?” Despite the fact that humankind has more information at its fingertips than any other time in history, how is it that people seem to know less…really know less? In some respects, the Internet contributes to confusion due to the glut of information that is not consistent, and this includes information about what the World calls “Buddhism.” This paper does not seek to expose confusion with respect to the state of the World in terms of its political aspects or even the psychological characteristics of confusion. Rather, this paper seeks to provide a clear and basic understanding of what the World refers to as Buddhism; what Buddhism is, and specifically what it is not. This paper is for those who have an interest in the teachings of the Buddha; for those who consider that they have been practitioners for a long time, and for many who have yet to be exposed to the teachings. Perhaps, in some small way, this article may help to re-align some common concepts. The purpose of this paper is not to re-hash or reiterate a bunch of definitions, rules, doctrines or policies. Rather, the goal of this paper is to provide the essence, the flavor, a milieu, of the teachings of the Buddha without the conceptual overtones or shades that support common concepts and beliefs about what it means to learn and live the teachings of the Buddha. Learning and living the teachings of the Buddha does not make you a Buddhist, because truly, there is no such thing in reality. “Buddhist” is a concept, nothing more. Even to say that what the Buddha taught is a philosophy or a tradition, is conceptual, and one must live it to truly realize this. The teachings of the Buddha contain the possibility that if one seriously dedicates their lives to living how life ought to be lived, as ascribed in the Four Noble Truths and the Eightfold Noble path, then there is the probability that such a person will completely eradicate their suffering, birth and death. If you randomly ask ten people what they believe Buddhism is, you will likely get ten different responses. However, the one common response you will almost always get, is that it is a religion. However, for those who have a more than cursory understanding of the teachings knows that what the Buddha taught is not about Buddhism. Quite the contrary. The Buddha did not teach Buddhism—not by any stretch of the imagination. In fact, it is likely that the Buddha would not be in concert with what today is called Buddhism.

Numen-international Review for The History of Religions, 1998

The Island, 2020

This month (May) celebrates the birth, enlightenment, and passing away of Gautama Buddha, the founder of Buddhism. Religious ideology is inextricably linked to the rise of new patterns of life and economic relations. So it was with Buddhism, the development of which in India went hand in hand with the urbanisation of the Ganges Valley, the growth of a new merchant class opposed to the rigid, caste-driven orthodoxy of Brahmanism, and the withering away of tribal republics in favour of empires and monarchies. This essay is an attempt at establishing the links between these factors.