The Buddha and Religious Diversity

The Buddha and Religious Diversity PDF

Author: J. Abraham Velez de Cea

Publisher: Routledge

Published: 2017-05-31

Total Pages: 264

ISBN-13: 9781138108080

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Providing a rigorous analysis of Buddhist ways of understanding religious diversity, this book develops a new foundation for cross-cultural understanding of religious diversity in our time. Examining the complexity and uniqueness of Buddha�s approach to religious pluralism using four main categories � namely exclusivism, inclusivism, pluralistic-inclusivism and pluralism � the book proposes a cross-cultural and interreligious interpretation of each category, thus avoiding the accusation of intellectual colonialism. The key argument is that, unlike the Buddha, most Buddhist traditions today, including Therav�da Buddhism and even the Dalai Lama, consider liberation and the highest stages of spiritual development exclusive to Buddhism. The book suggests that the Buddha rejects many doctrines and practices found in other traditions, and that, for him, there are nonnegotiable ethical and doctrinal standards that correspond to the Dharma. This argument is controversial and likely to ignite a debate among Buddhists from different traditions, especially between conservative and progressive Buddhists. The book fruitfully contributes to the literature on inter-religious dialogue, and is of use to students and scholars of Asian Studies, World Religion and Eastern Philosophy.

The Buddha and Religious Diversity

The Buddha and Religious Diversity PDF

Author: J. Abraham Vélez de Cea

Publisher: Routledge

Published: 2013

Total Pages: 266

ISBN-13: 0415639727

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Providing a rigorous analysis of Buddhist ways of understanding religious diversity, this book develops a new foundation for cross-cultural understanding of religious diversity in our time. Examining the complexity and uniqueness of Buddha’s approach to religious pluralism using four main categories – namely exclusivism, inclusivism, pluralistic-inclusivism and pluralism – the book proposes a cross-cultural and interreligious interpretation of each category, thus avoiding the accusation of intellectual colonialism. The key argument is that, unlike the Buddha, most Buddhist traditions today, including Theravda Buddhism and even the Dalai Lama, consider liberation and the highest stages of spiritual development exclusive to Buddhism. The book suggests that the Buddha rejects many doctrines and practices found in other traditions, and that, for him, there are nonnegotiable ethical and doctrinal standards that correspond to the Dharma. This argument is controversial and likely to ignite a debate among Buddhists from different traditions, especially between conservative and progressive Buddhists. The book fruitfully contributes to the literature on inter-religious dialogue, and is of use to students and scholars of Asian Studies, World Religion and Eastern Philosophy.

Religious Diversity--What's the Problem?

Religious Diversity--What's the Problem? PDF

Author: Rita M. Gross

Publisher: Wipf and Stock Publishers

Published: 2014-04-24

Total Pages: 377

ISBN-13: 1620324091

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Once upon a time, on grounds of both religion and common sense, people assumed that the earth was flat and that the sun literally rose and set each day. When newly developing knowledge made those beliefs untenable, giving them up was difficult. Today the belief that only one of the world's various religions is true for all people on earth is equivalent to the belief in a flat earth. Both notions have become untenable, given contemporary knowledge about religion. Even though many people are still troubled by the existence of religious diversity today, that diversity is a fact of life. Religious diversity should be no more troubling to religious people than the fact that the earth is round and circles the sun. This provocative book, based on the author's longtime practice of Buddhism and comparative study of religion, provides tools with which one can truly appreciate religious diversity as a gift and resource rather than as a deficiency or a problem to be overcome. After we accept diversity as inevitable and become comfortable with it, diversity always enriches life--both nature and culture.

Buddhism and Religious Diversity: Christianity

Buddhism and Religious Diversity: Christianity PDF

Author: Perry Schmidt-Leukel

Publisher:

Published: 2012

Total Pages: 330

ISBN-13: 9780415535670

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In today 's globalized world, religious diversity has become one of the strongest challenges to the self-understanding of any major religious tradition, provoking two interdependent questions. How does it see itself in the light of others? And, how does it see others in the light of its own teachings? While the Abrahamic religions are often accused of a predominantly intolerant and exclusivistic attitude to the religious other, Eastern religions and Buddhism in particular enjoy the reputation of being naturally tolerant, absorbing, and even pluralistic towards competing faiths. Some thinkers (from David Hume to Jan Assmann) understood religious intolerance as an inevitable property of monotheism, supposedly absent in the case of non-theistic or polytheistic religions. More recent research, however, has suggested that this impression, part of a whole cluster of Western clich s, is false. Buddhism is and has been as much convinced of its own superiority as any other faith, and has also been involved in various inter-religious tensions and violent conflicts. The ways, however, in which Buddhists have thought about the religious other, and practically dealt with it, display peculiar features, which do indeed differ profoundly from what we find in the Abrahamic faiths. Yet today, Buddhism must address the question whether it can arrive at a genuine appreciation of religious diversity, and recognize other religions as different but nevertheless equally valid. This new four-volume collection from Routledge 's acclaimed Critical Concepts in Religious Studies series enables users to make sense of this and other dizzying questions. It brings together the best thinking on Buddhism 's relationship with other faiths and provides a one-stop collection of classic and contemporary contributions to facilitate ready access to the most influential and important scholarship. Fully indexed and with a general and volume introductions, newly written by the editor, which carefully locate the collected materials in their historical and intellectual context, Buddhism and Religious Diversity is an essential work of reference. It is destined to be valued by specialists and scholars working in related areas as a vital research tool.

Buddhist and Christian?

Buddhist and Christian? PDF

Author: Rose Drew

Publisher: Routledge

Published: 2013-07-03

Total Pages: 289

ISBN-13: 113667327X

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"This is a detailed exploration of Buddhist Christian dual belonging, engaging - from both Buddhist and Christian perspectives - the questions that arise, and drawing on extensive interviews with well-known individuals in the vanguard of this important and growing phenomenon. The issue is pressing insofar the last century has witnessed a gradual but profound transformation of the West's religious landscape. In today's context of diversity, people are often influenced by more than one religion. Multireligious identities are consequently on the rise. At one end of the spectrum are those who identify themselves as fully belonging to more than one tradition. One of the most prevalent combinations is Christianity and Buddhism This book addresses central and fundamental questions. How is it possible to be authentically Buddhist and authentically Christian when, for example, God is central to Christianity yet absent from Buddhism; when Christians have faith in Jesus Christ while Buddhists take refuge in the Buddha; when Christians hope for heaven and Buddhists hope for nirvana; and when Buddhists and Christians engage in different practices? Are those who identify themselves as belonging to both traditions profoundly irrational, religiously schizophrenic, or perhaps just spiritually superficial? Or is it possible somehow to reconcile the thought and practice of Buddhism and Christianity in such a way that one can be deeply committed to both? And if it is possible, will the influence of Buddhist Christians on each of these traditions be something to be regretted or celebrated?"--

Buddhist Responses to Religious Diversity

Buddhist Responses to Religious Diversity PDF

Author: Douglas S. Duckworth

Publisher: Equinox Publishing (UK)

Published: 2020

Total Pages:

ISBN-13: 9781781799062

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Is it true that Buddhists are tolerant of other religions?To what extent are Buddhists tolerant?Is nirvana held to be attainable through Buddhism alone?If so, through which Buddhist tradition?Buddhist Responses to Religious Diversity approaches these questions and others from perspectives representing Therav?din and Tibetan traditions of Buddhism.Buddhist attitudes toward other religious traditions (and its own) are unquestionably diverse, and have undergone changes throughout historical eras and geographic spaces, as Buddhists, and traditions Buddhists have encountered, continue to change (after all, all conditioned things are impermanent). The present time is a particularly dynamic moment to take stock of Buddhist attitudes toward religious others, as Buddhist identities are being renegotiated in unprecedented ways in our increasingly globalized age.This volume brings together a spectrum of views that are not often found side-by-side or in a meaningful dialogue with each other. It breaks new ground to further understanding and constructive encounters across Buddhist traditions and between other religious traditions and Buddhists.

Buddhist Responses to Religious Diversity

Buddhist Responses to Religious Diversity PDF

Author: Douglas S. Duckworth

Publisher: Equinox Publishing (Indonesia)

Published: 2020

Total Pages: 200

ISBN-13: 9781781799048

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This volume discusses contemporary Buddhist responses to religious diversity from Theravādin and Tibetan Buddhist perspectives. Buddhist attitudes toward other religious traditions (and its own) are unquestionably diverse, and have undergone changes throughout historical eras and geographic spaces, as Buddhists, and traditions Buddhists have encountered, continue to change (after all, all conditioned things are impermanent). The present time is a particularly dynamic moment to take stock of Buddhist attitudes toward religious others, as Buddhist identities are being renegotiated in unprecedented ways in our increasingly globalized age. Is it true that Buddhists are tolerant of other religions? To what extent are Buddhists tolerant? Is nirvana held to be attainable through Buddhism alone? If so, through which Buddhist tradition? This volume approaches these questions and others from perspectives representing Theravādin and Tibetan traditions of Buddhism. The chapters herein bring together a spectrum of views that are not often found side-by-side in a single volume or in a meaningful dialogue with each other, needless to mention with other religions. This volume seeks to remedy this situation, and break new ground to enable further dialogue, understanding, and constructive encounters across Buddhist traditions and between other religious traditions and Buddhists.

Religious Diversity in Chinese Thought

Religious Diversity in Chinese Thought PDF

Author: P. Schmidt-Leukel

Publisher: Springer

Published: 2013-09-04

Total Pages: 486

ISBN-13: 1137318503

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This collection of essays by major scholars analyze the religious diversity in Chinese religion, bringing together topics from traditional and contemporary contexts and Chinese religions' encounters with Western religion.

Buddhism and Religious Diversity

Buddhism and Religious Diversity PDF

Author: Perry Schmidt-Leukel

Publisher:

Published: 2012

Total Pages: 0

ISBN-13: 9780415525343

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'A major publishing event, not only in Buddhist studies but also for those working in the area of interfaith encounter and theology of religions.' Japanese Journal of Religious Studies This new four-volume collection from Routledge's acclaimed Critical Concepts in Religious Studies series enables users to make sense of this and other dizzying questions. It brings together the best thinking on Buddhism's relationship with other faiths and provides a one-stop collection of classic and contemporary contributions to facilitate ready access to the most influential and important scholarship.