Search Results (4)

Since the Northern and Southern Dynasties, the question of whether ordinary beings (fanfu 凡夫) could attain rebirth in Amitābha’s Pure Land became a central concern in Chinese Buddhism. In the Chen and Sui periods, exegetes of the She lun 攝論 and some Di lun 地論 masters generally denied this possibility. By the seventh century, however, Master Huai’gan 懷感, building on the teachings of Shandao 善導, systematically addressed these doubts in his Treatise on Resolving Doubts about the Pure Land (Shi jingtu qunyi lun 釋淨土群疑論). He refuted the Yogācāra (Weishi zong 唯識宗) claim that only bodhisattvas can be reborn there, insisting that all beings, though differing in spiritual capacities, are able to attain rebirth in Pure Land. Against the Three Stages teaching (Sanjie jiao 三階教), which regarded beings of the degenerate age as wholly evil and unfit for Pure Land practice. Huai’gan stressed the role of bodhicitta and argued that Buddha recitation eradicates karmic obstacles, enabling even perpetrators of the Ten Evils or slanderers of the Dharma to be reborn. Reconciling discrepancies between the Sūtra of Infinite Life and the Contemplation Sūtra on the issue of the five grave offenses, he highlighted the criterion of ten invocations as sufficient for rebirth. Huai’gan effectively universalized the Pure Land path by reconciling the Yogācāra-based theory of the Transformtion Land with the orthodox Pure Land view of the Reward Land (baotu 報土) as a literal reality generated by Amitābha Buddha’s Vow-power. In doing so, Huai’gan shifted pre-Tang restrictive views toward a more inclusive Pure Land vision, paving the way for the open orientation of early Tang Pure Land thought. Full article

This paper argues that the philosophy of Buddhist emptiness not only finds expression in Alice Walker’s Taking the Arrow Out of the Heart with its two most salient manifestationsdependent origination and impermanence, but is applied to alleviate suffering in the poetry, and the two approaches the poetry collection are (1) to recognize emptiness in times of crisis and (2) to cultivate bodhicitta through using emptiness to extend loving kindness to all beings. Furthermore, it is argued that emptiness enriches Buddhist womanism by strengthening its theoretical underpinnings, redirecting the focus from practice to cognitive transformation, and harmonizing the priorities of individual and communal wellbeing. Full article

Tonglen is a Tibetan Buddhist practice that aims at developing the practitioner’s bodhicitta. In this article, I argue that it not only finds expression in Alice Walker’s The Color Purple through the protagonist Celie, but adds more complexity to the womanist philosophy for which Walker has been ensconced in positions of influence. More specifically, Celie follows an implied Buddhist practice of tonglen; in the process of “taking in and sending out”, her bodhicitta has been generated and cultivated. Underlying her tonglen practice is Buddhist womanism demonstrating how African American women can survive the social oppression and injustice by way of acknowledging their own terrible afflictions, empathizing with those enduring intense suffering, male and female, extending their loving kindness, comprehending the absence of intrinsic entity and the principle of dependent origination, etc. In addition, the article suggests that the fight for the survival of the oppressed is a type of Buddhist practice in Walker’s Buddhist womanism. Full article

In the face of current turbulent times including climate emergencies, species extinction, the erosion of democracy and the rise of authoritarianism—in short, a suffering world—the authors of this paper propose that education needs to be centrally an activist effort dedicated to healing and repairing the increasingly wounded and damaged world. To this end, this paper explores Buddhism as an educational program that centralizes a healing curriculum based on the understanding that healing comes from waking up from the delusion of possessive individualism (ego-selves) that gives rise to neoliberal capitalist societies. This delusion is the existential home of suffering. Waking up requires the disciplined effort of seeing through and past individualism to the workings of mutual causality within a universe of interconnection (Interbeing), such as ours. The mindfulness (sati) practice that the historical Buddha taught is such a form of mental discipline. Through the agentic cultivation of sati and subsequent remembrance of our inherent Interbeing, we can rediscover and rekindle the inherently enlightened mind of bodhicitta. This paper explores various psychological, sociocultural, ideological, and relational conditionings that act as barriers to seriously practicing mindfulness, including the currently popular conceptions of mindfulness in North America. While acknowledging that successful practice takes setting up the right conditions, our paper also delves into helpful and supportive conditions for mindfulness practice for activists, namely, ethical motivation and contemplative/healing emotions such as the Four Immeasurables. Full article