Contemporary Approaches to Buddhist Philosophy and Ethics

Dear Colleagues,

Like all living beings, adherents to religious and philosophical traditions have endeavored to adapt to changing circumstances. Modern, postmodern and postcolonial contexts have been filled with turmoil regarding traditional philosophies and religions. In the contemporary world, Buddhists have been particularly creative in steering between reaction and secularism in order to realize and demonstrate their tradition’s ongoing relevance to scientific, political and liberatory thought and values. This Special Issue will include academic philosophy and practical—often also philosophical—ethics. Articles may agree or disagree with various aspects of Buddhism.

Several academic articles will cover doctrines such as dependent origination, impermanence, and others as treated variously by philosophical successions such as Abhidharma, Mādhyamaka and Yogācāra. Classic interpretations of basic Buddhist doctrines will be engaged with contemporary philosophy of science, mind and religion, cognitive science, phenomenology and existentialism on topics such as causality, process, spirituality and embodiment.

Life, including contemporary life, is not entirely captured by academic research on abstract topics.  Articles on contemporary Buddhist practical ethics include theories only as integral to the implementation of strategies for ethical struggle. These essays will cover what has been broadly described as socially engaged Buddhism on issues such as spiritual values, justice and equity, peacekeeping, feminism and environmentalism.

We will also solicit articles on the alternative metaphysical, epistemological, existential and ethical orientations of Pure Land Buddhism.

We request that, prior to submitting a manuscript, interested authors initially submit a proposed title and an abstract of 400–600 words summarizing their intended contribution. Please send it to the Guest Editors ([email protected]) or to the Religions Editorial Office ([email protected]). Abstracts will be reviewed by the Guest Editors for the purposes of ensuring proper fit within the scope of the Special Issue. Full manuscripts will undergo double-blind peer-review.

Prof. Dr. David Peter Lawrence
Guest Editor

Manuscript Submission Information

Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All submissions that pass pre-check are peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 100 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for announcement on this website.

Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a double-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Religions is an international peer-reviewed open access monthly journal published by MDPI.

Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 1800 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.

• Buddhist philosophy
• Buddhist ethics
• intercultural philosophy
• philosophy of mind
• intercultural ethics
• engaged Buddhism
• Buddhist feminism
• Abhidharma
• Yogācāra
• Mādhyamaka
• Pure Land