Category Archives: Volume 26 2019

Volume 26 2019

The Global Refugee Crisis and the Gift of Fearlessness

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ISSN 1076-9005
Volume 26, 2019

The Global Refugee Crisis and the Gift of Fearlessness

Christina A. Kilby
James Madison University

This article is a critical-constructive application of the Buddhist ethical concept of the gift of fearlessness (abhayadāna) to the global refugee crisis and to nativist policy responses. Investigating classical South Asian literary sources on the gift of fearlessness, typically glossed as the offer of refuge or protection to those in danger, I present today’s refugee as situated at the nexus of two types of fear: the fear that drives vulnerable people to flee from harm and the fear that drives a potential refuge-offering state to close its borders or build walls. I argue that the gift of fearlessness, if extended beyond its classical scope to include the challenges of xenophobia and terrorism threats, is a capacious framework through which to probe the moral contours of contemporary refugee policy and the security concerns of states. Read article

Volume 26 2019

Recent Publications on Buddhism and Ecology

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ISSN 1076-9005
Volume 26, 2019

Buddhist Responses to the Ecological Crisis: Recent Publications on Buddhism and Ecology

Christopher Ives
Stonehill College

A review essay on four recent publications on Buddhism and environmental issues: Ecodharma: Buddhist Teachings for the Ecological Crisis by David R. Loy; Ecology, Ethics, and Interdependence: The Dalai Lama in Conversation with Leading Thinkers on Climate Change, edited by John Dunne and Daniel Goleman; Green Buddhism: Practice and Compassionate Action in Uncertain Times by Stephanie Kaza; and Mountains, Rivers, and the Great Earth: Reading Gary Snyder and Dōgen in an Ecological Crisis by Jason W. Wirth. Read article

Volume 26 2019

Disengaged Buddhism

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ISSN 1076-9005
Volume 26, 2019

Disengaged Buddhism

Amod Lele
Boston University

Contemporary engaged Buddhist scholars typically claim either that Buddhism always endorsed social activism, or that its non-endorsement of such activism represented an unwitting lack of progress. This article examines several classical South Asian Buddhist texts that explicitly reject social and political activism. These texts argue for this rejection on the grounds that the most important sources of suffering are not something that activism can fix, and that political involvement interferes with the tranquility required for liberation. The article then examines the history of engaged Buddhism in order to identify why this rejection of activism has not yet been taken sufficiently seriously. Read article

Volume 26 2019

Western Buddhism in the Russian Federation

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ISSN 1076-9005
Volume 26, 2019

Western Buddhism in the Local Context of the Russian Federation: The Case of the Russian Association of Diamond Way Buddhists of the Karma Kagyu Tradition

Valentina Isaeva
Saint-Petersburg State University

How Buddhist organizations adapt to new environments appears to be the key question defining their activities and the possibility that they will attract new followers. This article considers the case of the Russian Association of Diamond Way Buddhists of the Karma Kagyu tradition in the context of the social and cultural milieu of the Russian Federation. In particular, it looks at significant features of historical development and legislative regulation of the religious sphere in Russia and how Diamond Way as a Western Buddhist organization has implemented culture politics to correlate its ethics with the local environment and to create cultural coherence with the broader Russian society. The research explicates four main guidelines of the culture politics of Diamond Way: (1) integration into the sociocultural environment of the city and the country; (2) assertion of its traditionality on the territory of the Russian Federation; (3) political neutrality in the public sphere; and (4) a variety of leadership styles. Read article

Volume 26 2019

Review: Buddhist Monastic Organization in Pre-Modern Tibet

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ISSN 1076-9005
Volume 26, 2019

The Monastery Rules: Buddhist Monastic Organization in Pre-Modern Tibet. By Berthe Jansen. Oakland, California: University of California Press, 2018, xii + 284 pp., ISBN 978-0-520-96953-7 (Open Access e-book: https://www.luminosoa.org/site/books/10.1525/luminos.56), ISBN 978-0-520-29700-5 (Paperback), $39.95.

Reviewed by Brenton Sullivan

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Volume 26 2019

Sexual Misconduct in Early Buddhist Ethics

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ISSN 1076-9005
Volume 26, 2019

Sexual Misconduct in Early Buddhist Ethics: A New Approach

Ven. Pandita (Burma)
University of Kelaniya

In this paper, I argue that (1) rape is not covered by the concept of sexual misconduct prohibited by the Third Precept of the universal Five Precepts morality in Buddhism; and (2) many problematic issues surrounding this precept go away when we interpret it in this way.
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Volume 26 2019

The Experience of Dukkha and Domanassa among Puthujjanas

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ISSN 1076-9005
Volume 26, 2019

The Experience of Dukkha and Domanassa among Puthujjanas

Ashin Sumanacara
Mahidol University

In the Pāli canon, the terms dukkha and domanassa are used with reference to different types and degrees of suffering that must be understood according to context. This article first examines the meaning of puthujjana in the Pāli Nikāyas. It then analyses the contextual meanings of dukkha and domanassa, including a discussion of their types based on a thorough investigation of the Pāli Nikāyas. Finally, it examines the explanation in the Pāli Nikāyas of the arising of dukkha and domanassa, and, in particular, how lust, hatred, delusion and some other negative emotions are considered to cause physical pain and mental pain among puthujjanas.
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Volume 26 2019

Buddhism and Capital Punishment: A Revisitation

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ISSN 1076-9005
Volume 26, 2019

Buddhism and Capital Punishment: A Revisitation

Martin Kovan
University of Melbourne

The first Buddhist precept prohibits the intentional, even sanctioned, taking of life. However, capital punishment remains legal, and even increasingly applied, in some culturally Buddhist polities and beyond them. The classical Buddhist norm of unconditional compassion as a counterforce to such punishment thus appears insufficient to oppose it. This paper engages classical Buddhist and Western argument for and against capital punishment, locating a Buddhist refutation of deterrent and Kantian retributivist grounds for it not only in Nāgārjunian appeals to compassion, but also the metaphysical and moral constitution of the agent of lethal crime, and thereby the object of its moral consequences. Read article

Volume 26 2019

Conference: Reducing Suffering During Conflict

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ISSN 1076-9005
Volume 26, 2019

Reducing Suffering During Conflict: The Interface Between Buddhism and International Humanitarian Law

International Conference of The International Committee of the Red Cross
Dambulla, Sri Lanka
4–6 September 2019

Though there are over half a billion Buddhists around the world, there has so far been no systematic and focused study of the interface between Buddhism and International Humanitarian Law (IHL). The core of IHL—also known as “the law of war” or “the law of armed conflict”—is formed by the Geneva Conventions and their Additional Protocols. Its purpose is to minimize suffering during armed conflict by protecting those who do not—or no longer—participate directly in hostilities, and by regulating the means and methods of warfare.

Buddhism has grappled with the reality of war throughout its long history. But what guidance does Buddhism provide to those caught up in the midst of hostilities, and how do Buddhism and IHL compare in this respect? It is timely and relevant to explore these two distinct bodies of ethics and legal traditions from inter-disciplinary perspectives.

This conference, organized by the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) in collaboration with a number of universities and organizations, will explore correspondences between Buddhism and IHL and encourage a constructive dialogue and exchange between the two domains. The conference will act as a springboard to understanding how Buddhism can contribute to regulating armed conflict, and what it offers in terms of guidance on the conduct of, and behavior during, war for Buddhist monks and lay persons—the latter including government and military personnel, non-State armed groups and civilians. The conference is concerned with the conduct of armed conflict, and not with the reasons and justifications for it, which fall outside the remit of IHL.
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Volume 26 2019

Sustainability Views in Two Rural Development Movements

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ISSN 1076-9005
Volume 26, 2019

A Comparative Analysis of Sustainability Views across the Saemaul Movement in South Korea and the Sarvodaya Shramadana Movement in Sri Lanka

Jungho Suh
University of Adelaide

This paper compares and contrasts the Saemaul Movement in South Korea and the Sarvodaya Shramadana Movement in Sri Lanka. The paper identifies and polarizes sustainability views played out from each of the two rural development movements, making use of content and discourse analysis techniques. Although the two movements commonly emphasize the mobilization of human resources available in rural villages, both are premised on contested sustainability views. The Saemaul Movement has been driven by a solely growth-oriented developmentalism and has strived for affluent rural villages whereas the Sarvodaya Shramadana Movement has been guided by a Buddhist ethic and has pursued a “no-poverty and no-affluence” society. The former is hardly concerned with the ecological dimension of sustainability, while the latter is very concerned about it. The former tends to risk eroding social capital whereas the latter weighs the overriding importance of social capital. The Sarvodaya Shramadana Movement recognizes interdependence between the economic, ecological, and social dimensions of sustainability, and also endeavors to put a holistic sustainability view into practice. Read article