A Study on Gapi (加被) Cases of Modern Lay Buddhists through the Buddhist Invocation about the Buddha - With Reference to the Avalokitesvara Cult -

2018 ◽  
Vol 86 ◽  
pp. 63-90
Author(s):  
Sang Jun Hwang
Keyword(s):  
Lay Buddhists ◽  
The Buddha

1. Buddhist morality

2020 ◽  
pp. 1-16
Author(s):  
Damien Keown
Keyword(s):  
Common Core ◽  
Moral Beliefs ◽  
Monastic Community ◽  
The Law ◽  
Moral Teachings ◽  
Lay Buddhists ◽  
Moral Choices ◽  
The Buddha

This chapter summarizes the main moral teachings, precepts, and virtues common to the major schools of Buddhism. While these schools often exhibit divergent practices and customs, it seems legitimate to speak of them sharing a common moral core grounded in the teachings of the Buddha originating in the 5th century bce and then handed down largely unaltered through the centuries. A central part of this common core are the Five Precepts observed by lay Buddhists everywhere. The monastic community has its own set of rules and regulations in the Vinaya. Buddhist moral beliefs are underpinned by the cosmic principle of Dharma, of which the law of karma is an aspect. Like science, karma is objective, but unlike science it is not value-free. Karma is concerned with voluntary actions and the good and bad consequences flowing from moral choices.

The Place of Relic Worship in Buddhism: An Unresolved Controversy?

2013 ◽  
Vol 30 (1) ◽  
pp. 71-87 ◽  
Author(s):  
Karel Werner
Keyword(s):  
Devotional Practice ◽  
Lay Buddhists ◽  
Correct Understanding ◽  
The Buddha ◽  
The Way

Although worship of the relics of the Buddha — and its corollary, st?pa worship — is a widespread feature of Buddhist devotional practice among both lay Buddhists and monks, there is in some quarters a view that, while recommended to lay followers, it is forbidden to monks. This controversy started very early after the Buddha’s parinibb?na and has reverberated throughout the centuries till the present time. Its source is in the Mah?parinibb?na Sutta, and it stems from the ambiguity in the meaning of the compound sar?ra-p?j? in the Buddha’s reply to ?nanda’s two questions concerning the actions to be taken after the Master’s death with respect to his body. The resolution of the controversy depends on a correct understanding of the nature of the Buddha’s replies to the two questions. This paper analyses the relevant passages of the sutta and the way they have been translated, correctly or incorrectly, into Western languages and into Chinese, and finally arrives at a solution derived entirely from within the text of the Mah?parinibb?na Sutta itself.

Religious Traditions in Politics: Buddhism

2019 ◽  
Author(s):  
André Laliberté
Keyword(s):  
Southeast Asia ◽  
Soft Power ◽  
Colonial Era ◽  
Religious Traditions ◽  
Contemporary Politics ◽  
Written Form ◽  
Lay Buddhists ◽  
The Times ◽  
The Buddha ◽  
Different Cultures

Buddhists constitute a majority of the population in peninsular Southeast Asia, but the largest concentration of Buddhists lives in East Asia. The delay between the times the Buddha gave his teachings and they were transcribed in written form and the adoption of the latter through centuries in countries with vastly different cultures hampered the development of a unified Buddhist political thought. Two major trends within Buddhism aspire to influence contemporary politics: “Buddhism for the human realm,” a reform movement originating in Republican China, and “engaged Buddhism,” which is a contemporary international network of activists rather than a systematic body of thought. The three major schools of Buddhism do not differ fundamentally on matters of doctrine, so the variety of Buddhist political orientations has more to do with the historical and national circumstances of the religion’s diffusion. Buddhism has expanded out of its country of origin, India, where it has almost disappeared but remains an important source of soft power. The Mahayana school has spread to China, where it has developed an eschatology that has inspired rebellions through history. The Theravada school has spread to Southeast Asia and has provided a source of legitimation for many rulers. The colonial era brought a key change, as lay Buddhists and monastics inspired many nationalist movements. Only six governments give a “special place” to Buddhism in their constitutions, but other countries with large Buddhist populations feel its influence on politics through the sangha. In countries of the Theravada tradition, monastics play an important role in politics, whereas in countries where the Mahayana school prevails lay associations mobilize Buddhists. Very few Buddhist political parties have emerged and only in Japan has one endured in a coalition government. In Southeast Asia, the politics of Buddhism is often associated with nationalist intransigence, in contrast to the peaceful and tolerant image of the religion’s politics promoted by many of its exiled leaders in the “engaged Buddhist” network.

Lay Buddhists and Moral Activism in Contemporary China (当代中国的佛教居士与道德能动主义)

2017 ◽  
Vol 4 (2) ◽  
pp. 247-270 ◽  
Author(s):  
Gareth Fisher
Keyword(s):  
Chinese Society ◽  
Religious Activity ◽  
Grassroots Groups ◽  
The Social ◽  
Economically Marginalized ◽  
Lay Buddhists ◽  
Organizational Cohesiveness ◽  
The Buddha ◽  
Moral Discourses ◽  
Contemporary Chinese

The last few decades have seen the rise of grassroots groups of lay Buddhists in post-Mao China who, through the composition, exchange, and discussion of Buddhist-themed media, foster moral discourses that critique what they perceive as the materialistic direction of contemporary Chinese society. Disseminated at legal but unregulated spaces within Buddhist temples, these discourses empower the economically marginalized lay practitioners who gather there and provide them with new purpose in life. Practitioners are also able to transmit these moral discourses through networks to other temple spaces. However, they do not yet possess the means to use them to influence the social direction of Chinese society at large. This is due to (1) political restrictions against the circulation of religious-themed materials outside of approved religious activity sites; (2) economic obstacles faced by the practitioners who seek to spread anti-materialistic messages; (3) a lack of organizational cohesiveness among the practitioners; and (4) the influence on practitioners of doctrines within Buddhism that caution against proselytizing to those who do not already possess a pre-fated bond with the Buddha and his teachings. As a result, lay Buddhists do not as yet constitute a social movement in the way the term is conventionally used by sociologists.佛教居士组成的草根社会团体在毛时代之后的几十年快速发展。通过书写、交流与讨论与佛教主题相关的文献，他们促进形成了一套批判当前中国社会拜金主义倾向的道德话语。这套话语在合法且相对自由的佛教寺院中传播，鼓励了经济窘迫的信徒，帮助他们获得新的生活目的。这一道德话语也借由信徒进一步传播给其他的寺院。但是因为以下原因，这些草根团体无力影响中国社会的整体方向：1)宗教政策限制了宗教思想在寺庙以外的传播；2)信徒的经济地位较低，难以宣传反对拜金主义的话语；3)信徒中间缺乏组织凝聚力；4)反对向那些与佛陀无缘的人宣传佛家思想的信条。因此到目前为止，佛教居士团体还没有形成社会学意义上的社会运动。

Rethinking the Buddha

2014 ◽  
Author(s):  
Eviatar Shulman
Keyword(s):  
The Buddha

A Modified Chair Geometry for Whole Body Counting

1976 ◽  
Vol 15 (05) ◽  
pp. 246-247
Author(s):  
S. C. Jain ◽  
G. C. Bhola ◽  
A. Nagaratnam ◽  
M. M. Gupta
Keyword(s):  
Marked Improvement ◽  
Point Of View ◽  
Whole Body ◽  
Spatial Response ◽  
Body Counting ◽  
The Subject ◽  
Whole Body Counting ◽  
The Buddha

SummaryIn the Marinelli chair, a geometry widely used in whole body counting, the lower part of the leg is seen quite inefficiently by the detector. The present paper describes an attempt to modify the standard chair geometry to minimise this limitation. The subject sits crossed-legged in the “Buddha Posture” in the standard chair. Studies with humanoid phantoms and a volunteer sitting in the Buddha posture show that this modification brings marked improvement over the Marinelli chair both from the point of view of sensitivity and uniformity of spatial response.

Thai Buddhist Meditation Practice Tradition and a Case Study

2020 ◽  
pp. 12-15
Author(s):  
Somboon Watana, Ph.D.
Keyword(s):  
Present Article ◽  
Practice Research ◽  
Meditation Practice ◽  
Master Teachers ◽  
Buddhist Meditation ◽  
Good Deed ◽  
University Level ◽  
The University ◽  
The Buddha

Thai Buddhist meditation practice tradition has its long history since the Sukhothai Kingdom about 18th B.E., until the present day at 26th B.E. in the Kingdom of Thailand. In history there were many well-known Buddhist meditation master teachers, i.e., SomdejPhraBhudhajaraya (To Bhramarangsi), Phraajarn Mun Puritatto, Luang Phor Sodh Chantasalo, PhramahaChodok Yanasitthi, and Buddhadasabhikkhu, etc. Buddhist meditation practice is generally regarded by Thai Buddhists to be a higher state of doing a good deed than doing a good deed by offering things to Buddhist monks even to the Buddha. Thai Buddhists believe that practicing Buddhist meditation can help them to have mindfulness, peacefulness in their own lives and to finally obtain Nibbana that is the ultimate goal of Buddhism. The present article aims to briefly review history, and movement of Thai Buddhist Meditation Practice Tradition and to take a case study of students’ Buddhist meditation practice research at the university level as an example of the movement of Buddhist meditation practice tradition in Thailand in the present.

Reflections on Eviatar Shulman’s Rethinking the Buddha: Early Buddhist Philosophy as Meditative Perception

2018 ◽  
Vol 35 (1-2) ◽  
pp. 293-300
Author(s):  
Peter Harvey
Keyword(s):  
Buddhist Philosophy ◽  
The Buddha

Reflections on Eviatar Shulman’s Rethinking the Buddha: Early Buddhist Philosophy as Meditative Perception

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