ISSN 1076–9005
Volume 7, 2000
The Ethics of Esteem
Maria Hibbets
California State University, Long Beach
This article discusses a number of South Asian discourses on the gift that were composed in the medieval period, mostly in the eleventh-thirteenth centuries C.E. I consider several Theravada anthologies on lay conduct that discuss dana, together with several Hindu Dharmasastra digests on the gift (dananibandhas) and Jain texts on lay morality (sravakacaras), and trace out quite remarkable similarities in their terminology, interests, and formal concerns regarding the gift. I am interested in how these discourses scrutinize the face-to-face hospitality encounter, and how this scrutiny is a kind of critical and second order reflection on ethical questions. I argue that these gift discourses articulate a moral point of view, which I call an “ethics of esteem,” in which the chief moral disposition that a giver should possess is a feeling of unquestioning esteem towards the recipient. Gifts are conceived to flow upwards to worthy recipients (usually monks, nuns and Brahmans) out of esteem and devotion. Conversely, gifts made out of compassion or pity to the needy are not so highly valued.
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ISSN 1076–9005
Volume 7, 2000
Selflessness: Toward a Buddhist Vision of Social Justice
Sungtaek Cho
State University of New York at Stony Brook
The difficulty of developing a theoretical framework for Buddhism’s engagement with contemporary social issues is rooted in the very nature of Buddhism as an ontological discourse aiming at individual salvation through inner transformation. It is my contention, however, that the concept of “selflessness” can become the basis of a Buddhist theory of social justice without endangering Buddhism’s primary focus on individual salvation. In this article, I show how the key concept of selflessness can provide a viable ground for Buddhist social justice by comparing it with one of the most influential contemporary Western theories of social justice, that of the American philosopher John Rawls. Drawing on the bodhisattva ideal and the Buddhist concepts of “sickness” and “cure,” I then demonstrate how selflessness can serve as a link that allows Buddhists to be socially engaged even while pursuing the goal of individual salvation.
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ISSN 1076–9005
Volume 7, 2000
Family Matters: Dramatic Interdependence and the Intimate Realization of Buddhist Liberation
Peter D. Hershock
East-West Center
Asian Studies Development Program
In this paper, I assemble a set of narratives that will persuade us to refrain from seeing Buddhist families as either fundamentally biological or essentially cultural phenomena, but rather as dramatic communities in narrative motion away from saṃsāra toward nirvāṇa—communities intent on anuttara samyak sambodhi or utmost and all-encompassing enlightenment. Such a view of the family will stand in significant opposition to the interpretation of enlightenment as a peak and private experience; to the reduction (Buddhist) teachings to texts; and to the belief that it is on the basis of valorizing individuality and equality that we are best able to realize satisfyingly human community. Hopefully, it will also encourage us to question our own prejudices for minimally defining family and community in objective and institutional terms rather than in terms of dramatically exemplary or virtuosic relationships.
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ISSN 1076–9005
Volume 7, 2000
We Are All Gzhan stong pas
Reflections on The Reflexive Nature of Awareness: A Tibetan Madhyamaka Defence. By Paul Williams. Surrey, England: Curzon Press, 1998, xix + 268 pp, ISBN: 0–7007–1030–2, $55.00.
Reviewed by Matthew T. Kapstein
The University of Chicago
The present review article discusses aspects of Paul Williams’s excellent and highly recommended book, which focuses on the question of “reflexive awareness” (Tib. rang rig, Skt. svasaṃvittiḥ, svasaṃvedana) in Tibetan Mādhyamika thought. In particular, I am concerned with his characterization of so so rang rig ye shes and its relation to Rdzogs-chen teaching, and his notions of the gzhan stong doctrine and its place in the intellectual life of Far-eastern Tibet. My critical remarks on these topics are in many respects tentative, and I would welcome correspondence about them.
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ISSN 1076–9005
Volume 7, 2000
Nature, Nurture, and No-Self: Bioengineering and Buddhist Values
Michael G. Barnhart
Kingsborough Community College, CUNY
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ISSN 1076–9005
Volume 7, 2000
Saving the Rainforest of Ethics: Society, Urgency, and the Study of Asia
William R. LaFleur
University of Pennsylvania
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ISSN 1076–9005
Volume 7, 2000
How to Reform a Serial Killer: The Buddhist Approach to Restorative Justice
David R. Loy
Bunkyo University
This article considers how Buddhist perspectives on crime and punishment support the contemporary movement toward restorative (in place of retributive) justice. It begins by examining the two Pāli suttas that most directly address these issues: the Angulimala Sutta, about the reform of a serial killer, and the Lion’s Roar Sutta, about the responsibility of a ruler. Then it looks at the Vinaya, which has many implications for our understanding of motivation and reform, and finally at traditional Tibet to see how its criminal justice system embodied these Buddhist perspectives. It concludes with some reflections on why our present criminal justice systems serve the purposes of the state better than the needs of offenders and their victims.
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ISSN 1076-9005
Volume 7, 2000
Abhidhamma Studies: Buddhist Explorations of Consciousness and Time. By Ven. Nyanaponika Thera. Edited By Bhikkhu Bodhi. Boston: Wisdom Publications, 1998, xxviii + 145 pages, ISBN: 0–86171–135–1 (paperback), US $16.95.
Reviewed By Rupert Gethin
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ISSN 1076-9005
Volume 7, 2000
Dreaming in the Lotus: Buddhist Dream Narrative, Imagery, and Practice. By Serinity Young. Boston: Wisdom Publications, 1999, xxii + 296 pages, ISBN 0–86171–158–0, US $18.95.
Reviewed by James Gollnick
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ISSN 1076-9005
Volume 7, 2000
Imaging Wisdom: Seeing and Knowing in the Art of Indian Buddhism. By Jacob N. Kinnard. Richmond, Surrey: Curzon Press, 1999, xi + 210 pages, ISBN: 0–7007–1083–3 (cloth), US $55.00.
Reviewed by Kevin Trainor
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ISSN 1076-9005
Volume 7, 2000
The Cult of Pure Crystal Mountain: Popular Pilgrimage and Visionary Landscape in Southeast Tibet. By Toni Huber. N.Y./Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1999, xxi + 297 pages, ISBN 0–19–512007–8, US $65.00.
Reviewed by Alex McKay
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ISSN 1076-9005
Volume 7, 2000
Emptiness Appraised: A Critical Study of Nagarjuna’s Philosophy. By David F. Burton. London: Curzon Press, 1999, xvi + 233 pages, ISBN 0-7007-1066-3 (cloth), £40.
Reviewed by Paul J. Griffiths
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ISSN 1076-9005
Volume 7, 2000
Mental Culture in Burmese Crisis Politics. By Gustaaf Houtman. Tokyo: ILCAA Study of Languages and Cultures of Asia and Africa Monograph Series, no. 33, Publication of the Institute for the Study of Languages and Cultures of Asia and Africa, Tokyo University of Foreign Studies, 1999, viii + 392 pages, ISBN 4-87297-748-3 (paperback), Free.
Reviewed By Karen Derris
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ISSN 1076-9005
Volume 7, 2000
Tashi Jong: A Traditional Tibetan Community in Exile. Producer/Videographer: Barbara Green; Editor: Nathaniel Dorsky; Narrator: Dechen Bartso; Singer: Thrinlay Choden. 45 Minutes. ISBN: 0–9675021–0–x, Available from Tibetan Video Project, 2952 Pine Avenue, Berkeley, CA 94705. (510)540–8401, bcgreen@attglobal.net, http://www.tibet.org/tashijong, US $35.00 for individuals, US $108 for institutions.
Reviewed by Daniel Cozort
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ISSN 1076-9005
Volume 7, 2000
Buddhism and Africa. Edited By Michel Clasquin and Jacobus S. Krueger. Pretoria, South Africa: University of South Africa Press, 1999, 133 pages, ISBN 1–86888–139–3 (paper), Rand 35.00, US $10.00.
Reviewed By Martin Baumann
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ISSN 1076-9005
Volume 7, 2000
Many Petals of the Lotus: Five Asian Buddhist Communities in Toronto. By Janet McLellan. Toronto: University of Toronto Press, 1999, xii + 264 pages, ISBN 0–8020–4421–2 (cloth), 0–8020–8225–4 (paper), $60.00 (cloth), $24.95 (paper).
Reviewed by Lionel Obadia
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ISSN 1076-9005
Volume 7, 2000
The Zen Works of Stonehouse: Poems and Talks of a Fourteenth-Century Chinese Hermit. Translated by Red Pine. San Francisco: Mercury House, 1999, xvi + 231 pages, ISBN: 1–56279–101–X, US $14.95.
Reviewed by Eric Reinders
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ISSN 1076-9005
Volume 7, 2000
Practically Religious: Worldly Benefits and the Common Religion of Japan. By Ian Reader and George J. Tanabe, Jr. Honolulu: University of Hawaii Press, 1998, xii + 303 pages, ISBN: 0–8248–2065–7 (Hardback), ISBN: 0–8248–2090–8 (Paperback), US $45.00 (Hardback), US $22.95 (Paperback).
Reviewed by Fabio Rambelli
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ISSN 1076-9005
Volume 7, 2000
Buddhism: A Very Short Introduction. By Damien Keown. Oxford: Oxford Paperbacks, 1996, xiii + 141 pages, ISBN: 0–1928–5386–4, US$8.95.
Reviewed by James G. Mullens
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ISSN 1076-9005
Volume 7, 2000
Recognizing Reality: Dharmakirti’s Philosophy and Its Tibetan Interpretation. By Georges B. J. Dreyfus. Albany: State University of New York Press, 1997, xxi + 622 pages, ISBN 0–7914–3097–9 (hardcover), ISBN 0–7914–3098–7 (paperback), US $68.50 (hardcover), US $22.95 (paperback).
Reviewed by Pascale Hugon
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ISSN 1076-9005
Volume 7, 2000
Environmental Philosophy and Ethics in Buddhism. By Padmasiri de Silva. Houndmills, Basingstoke, Hampshire: Macmillan Press Ltd., 1998, xviii + 195 pages, ISBN: 0-333-67906-7, £50.
Reviewed By Pragati Sahni
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ISSN 1076-9005
Volume 7, 2000
Buddhism in America. By Richard Hughes Seager. New York: Columbia University Press, 1999, xviii + 314 pages, ISBN: 0–231–10868–0, $35.00.
Reviewed By Alioune Koné–el–Adji
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ISSN 1076-9005
Volume 7, 2000
Global Healing: Essays and Interviews on Structural Violence, Social Development, and Spiritual Transformation. By Sulak Sivaraksa. Bangkok: Thai
Inter-Religious Commission for Development and Sathirakoses-Nagapradipa Foundation, 1999, 164 pages, ISBN: 974-260-156-9, US $15.00.
Reviewed by Donald K. Swearer
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ISSN 1076-9005
Volume 7, 2000
The Glorious Deeds of Purṇa: A Translation and Study of the Purṇavadana. By Joel Tatelman. Surrey: Curzon Press, 2000, xii + 228 pages, ISBN 0–7007–1082–5 (cloth).
Reviewed by Jonathan S. Walters
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SSN 1076-9005
Volume 7, 2000
Bodhisattva Archetypes: Classic Buddhist Guides to Awakening and their Modern Expressions. By Taigen Daniel Leighton. New York: Penguin Arkana, 1998, xviii + 364 pages, ISBN: 0–14–019556–4 (paper), US $14.95.
Reviewed by Franz Aubrey Metcalf
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ISSN 1076–9005
Volume 7, 2000
Engaged Buddhism: New and Improved!(?) Made in the U. S. A. of Asian Materials
Tom Yarnall
Columbia University
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