DOCSLIB.ORG

The Buddhist Perspective

Total Page：16

File Type：pdf, Size：1020Kb

Download full-text PDF Read full-text
The Buddhist Perspective The Human Right to Peace, Security and Prosperity: The Buddhist Perspective By Ananda W.P. Guruge ABSTRACT An important aspect omitted, though implied, when Fundamental Human Rights were dentified for universal acceptance half a century ago is the basic Human Right to Peace, Security and Prosperity. Even as violence gains ground and terrorism ascends to be the most daunting danger facing humanity, the importance of transforming the prevailing culture of armed conflict and multiple forms of violence to a culture of peace, tolerance and understanding becomes patent. This paper commences with a brief overview of mechanisms in force and efforts made in different quarters to ensure peace, security and prosperity to every human being. ft then proceeds to look for inspiration, insights and guidance, which the teachings of the Buddha and twenty-six centuries of Buddhist history can give us. The Buddha's most eloquently and comprehensively expressed views are examined along with his active interventions in conflict prevention and resolution The Buddha's absolute path to peace is undoubtedly his unequivocal soteriological or salvific message of self-cultivation and mental perfection leading to the ultimate goal of peace and happiness in Nibbana - the end of suffering. But the Buddha was also conscious of the need of humanity for peace, security and prosperity here and now in this world. How the traditional Buddhist ideals, wisdom and values continue to apply to this modern age is further illustrated with copious quotes from Grand Master Hsing Yun 's insights on peace and equality. The conclusion of this analysis is that the Buddhist perspective so expressed is not only relevant but also most urgently needed as a corrective to current international and national efforts to ensure peace, security and prosperity through socioeconomic, educational, spiritual, moral and cultural regeneration of humanity. Introduction Peace and security have eluded the human race at all stages of its development. It is indeed a sad commentary on the sheer failure of the humankind to optimize its gifts of intelligence and creativity. What makes the situation ever more disappointing is the increase of violence in intensity and complexity with every stage of human development. Early humans needed and therefore invented weapons and trapping devices for hunting animals for food and for defense against wild predators. But the progressive development of weapons of offence and defense against fellow humans has characterized a major venture of all civilizations. Devoid of nature-given devices like horns, tusks, fangs, claws, sting and venom, humans evolved their weapons of combat in a continuous search for more effective and efficient ways of killing enemies and opponents. Stones, sticks, clubs and axes of the primitive humans were replaced with weapons of hand to hand or close combat like knives, daggers, swords and spears. The bow and arrow allowed killing Hsi Lai Journal of Humanistic Buddhism and maiming from a distance. The catapult and ramming devices were designed as weapons to be used by organized teams. The mechanically enhanced crossbow, when invented, was denounced as the most heinous of weapons of mass destruction. But gunpowder, first used in China for fireworks in celebration, dominated the next phase in weapon making with guns, perfected from flintlock muskets to automatic rifles, machine guns and artillery of ever-increasing magnitude. Explosives followed suit with mines, bombs, torpedoes and hand-grenades. Weapons of mass destruction - nuclear, chemical and biological - mark the current age with intercontinental ballistic missiles as the most dreaded. An estimated half a million scientists of the highest caliber in the world are engaged in further development of weapon systems. The competition is not restricted to richer nations, because strategically located poorer countries, too, aspire to be nuclear powers. Armament accounts for a major portion of all national budgets. The proliferation of weapons of mass destruction is justified on grounds of deterrence against aggression. Aims and objectives of weapon-designers are clearly based on the destruction of human life, for still heard among them is the idea of developing devices which would kill humans (including of course, other life forms) without destroying the buildings and infrastructure, which the winners in a war would use to their advantage! Equally disconcerting is a survey of human efforts in defense against aggression. Fortresses with walls and moats were once optimal. But since wars left the battlefield and encompassed all territories and extended thence to sea and air and now space, defense systems have not only become sophisticated but also irrelevant and meaningless. The recent terrorist operations have left the humankind wondering whether there could be any defense especially against a human being who is determined to die in the process of killings others. War and armed conflict, which had demanded and consumed the greatest part of all resources of the human race throughout its history, are not the only breaches of Peace and Security. Massive and devastating, as they have been, whenever and wherever they occur, the greater problem is the continuous, on-going violence in society in which weaker segments like women, children and the poor are victims. In sheer numerical terms, the loss of human life through intentional and callously negligent acts of violence, ranging from premeditated murder and terrorism to drunk driving and endangerment of children and seniors is said to exceed that of wars, armed ::ontlict and terrorism. International action taken over the last half century to grapple with the iuestion of violence and insecurity at the global level is as diverse as it is impressive: (I) The United Nations was established in 1945 as a world body to • save succeeding generations from the scourge of war, which twice in our lifetime has brought untold sorrow to mankind, and • reaffirm faith in fundamental human rights, in the dignity and worth of the human person, in the equal rights of men and women and of nations large and small, and • establish conditions under which justice and respect for the obligations arising from treaties and other sources of international law can be maintained, 58 The Human Right to Peace, Security and Prosperity: The Buddhist Perspective • promote social progress and better standards of life in larger freedom, • practice tolerance and live together in peace with one another as good neighbors, • unite our strength to maintain international peace and security, • ensure, by the acceptance of principles and the institution of methods, that armed force shall not be used, save in the common interest, and • employ international machinery for the promotion of the economic and social advancement of all peoples. (Emphasis mine) (2) UNESCO (United Nations Educational, Scientific and cultural Organization) was founded in 1946 on a set of principles which included the following: • That since wars begin in the minds of men, it is in the minds of men that the defenses of peace must be constructed; • That a peace based exclusively upon the political and economic arrangements of governments would not be a peace which could secure the unanimous, lasting and sincere support of the peoples of the world, and that the peace must therefore be founded, if it is not to fail, upon the intellectual and moral solidarity of mankind. (Emphasis mine) (3) The Universal Declaration of Human Rights, adopted by the United Nations in 1948, highlighted the following: • Article 3 Everyone has the right to life, liberty and security of person • Article 5 No on shall be subjected to torture or to cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment. (Emphasis mine) Though no world wa! had taken place since 1945, the world has not been free of armed conflicts both between and within nations. Nor has there been any reduction of violence and insecurity within nations. Violence has continued from domestic abuse to international warfare. It has even been thought that human beings are naturally and genetically programmed to be violent. UNESCO had the issue examined by a representative body of scientists, jurists and theologians whose Seville Statement on Violence of 1986 was conclusive: "Based on rigorous scientific evidence, the Seville Statement refutes the myth that human beings are predisposed to violence through five key propositions. It is scientifically incorrect to say: • that we have inherited a tendency to make war from our animal ancestors; • that war or any other violent behavior is genetically programmed into our nature; 59 Hsi Lai Journal of Humanistic Buddhism • that in the course of human evolution there has been a selection for aggressive behavior more than for other kinds of behavior; • that humans have a violent brain. How we act is shaped by how we have been conditioned and socialized. There is nothing in our neurophysiology that compels us to react violently; • that war is caused by instinct or any single motivation. The corollary to this statement is that violence then is a learned behavior. As a part of UNESCO's Culture of Peace Program, a convention was being negotiated under the direction of the former Director General, Professor Federico Mayor, to declare Peace as a Human Right. Although the convention is yet to be concluded, the importance of its foundational thought cannot be overemphasized. There is so much violence and insecurity in the world; the eradication thereof is a global challenge and an ineluctable obligation of everyone. The recognition of Peace and Security and likewise Prosperity or freedom of poverty as a basic human right is an essential step in mobilizing universal involvement in a comprehensive approach to ensure peace in every dimension. It is with the current world situation and international concerns and efforts as a backdrop that I seek to examine what contribution Buddhist insights and experience can make to rid humanity of its propensity for violence and insecurity. Backdrop to Teachings of the Buddha The Buddha was a scion of a ruling family of a principality in Southern Nepal and, as a Sakya, belonged to the K�atriya or warrior caste.
Load more

Recommended publications
  • Proquest Dissertations
    Daoxuan's vision of Jetavana: Imagining a utopian monastery in early Tang Item Type text; Dissertation-Reproduction (electronic) Authors Tan, Ai-Choo Zhi-Hui Publisher The University of Arizona. Rights Copyright © is held by the author. Digital access to this material is made possible by the University Libraries, University of Arizona. Further transmission, reproduction or presentation (such as public display or performance) of protected items is prohibited except with permission of the author. Download date 25/09/2021 09:09:41 Link to Item http://hdl.handle.net/10150/280212 INFORMATION TO USERS This manuscript has been reproduced from the microfilm master. UMI films the text directly from the original or copy submitted. Thus, some thesis and dissertation copies are In typewriter face, while others may be from any type of connputer printer. The quality of this reproduction is dependent upon the quality of the copy submitted. Broken or indistinct print, colored or poor quality illustrations and photographs, print bleedthrough, substandard margins, and improper alignment can adversely affect reproduction. In the unlikely event that the author did not send UMI a complete manuscript and there are missing pages, these will be noted. Also, if unauthorized copyright material had to be removed, a note will indicate the deletion. Oversize materials (e.g., maps, drawings, charts) are reproduced by sectioning the original, beginning at the upper left-hand comer and continuing from left to right in equal sections with small overiaps. ProQuest Information and Learning 300 North Zeeb Road, Ann Arbor, Ml 48106-1346 USA 800-521-0600 DAOXUAN'S VISION OF JETAVANA: IMAGINING A UTOPIAN MONASTERY IN EARLY TANG by Zhihui Tan Copyright © Zhihui Tan 2002 A Dissertation Submitted to the Faculty of the DEPARTMENT OF EAST ASIAN STUDIES In Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements For the Degree of DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY In the Graduate College THE UNIVERSITY OF ARIZONA 2002 UMI Number: 3073263 Copyright 2002 by Tan, Zhihui Ai-Choo All rights reserved.
    [Show full text]
  • Bridging Worlds: Buddhist Women's Voices Across Generations
    BRIDGING WORLDS Buddhist Women’s Voices Across Generations EDITED BY Karma Lekshe Tsomo First Edition: Yuan Chuan Press 2004 Second Edition: Sakyadhita 2018 Copyright © 2018 Karma Lekshe Tsomo All rights reserved No part of this book may not be reproduced or utilized in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, or by any information storage or retreival system, without the prior written permission from the publisher, except in the case of brief quotations. Cover Illustration, "Woman on Bridge" © 1982 Shig Hiu Wan. All rights reserved. "Buddha" calligraphy ©1978 Il Ta Sunim. All rights reserved. Chapter Illustrations © 2012 Dr. Helen H. Hu. All rights reserved. Book design and layout by Lillian Barnes Bridging Worlds Buddhist Women’s Voices Across Generations EDITED BY Karma Lekshe Tsomo 7th Sakyadhita International Conference on Buddhist Women With a Message from His Holiness the XIVth Dalai Lama SAKYADHITA | HONOLULU, HAWAI‘I iv | Bridging Worlds Contents | v CONTENTS MESSAGE His Holiness the XIVth Dalai Lama xi ACKNOWLEDGMENTS xiii INTRODUCTION 1 Karma Lekshe Tsomo UNDERSTANDING BUDDHIST WOMEN AROUND THE WORLD Thus Have I Heard: The Emerging Female Voice in Buddhism Tenzin Palmo 21 Sakyadhita: Empowering the Daughters of the Buddha Thea Mohr 27 Buddhist Women of Bhutan Tenzin Dadon (Sonam Wangmo) 43 Buddhist Laywomen of Nepal Nivedita Kumari Mishra 45 Himalayan Buddhist Nuns Pacha Lobzang Chhodon 59 Great Women Practitioners of Buddhadharma: Inspiration in Modern Times Sherab Sangmo 63 Buddhist Nuns of Vietnam Thich Nu Dien Van Hue 67 A Survey of the Bhikkhunī Saṅgha in Vietnam Thich Nu Dong Anh (Nguyen Thi Kim Loan) 71 Nuns of the Mendicant Tradition in Vietnam Thich Nu Tri Lien (Nguyen Thi Tuyet) 77 vi | Bridging Worlds UNDERSTANDING BUDDHIST WOMEN OF TAIWAN Buddhist Women in Taiwan Chuandao Shih 85 A Perspective on Buddhist Women in Taiwan Yikong Shi 91 The Inspiration ofVen.
    [Show full text]
  • The Mission Accomplished
    TheThe MissionMission AccomplishedAccomplished Ven. Pategama Gnanarama Ph.D. HAN DD ET U 'S B B O RY eOK LIBRA E-mail: [email protected] Web site: www.buddhanet.net Buddha Dharma Education Association Inc. The Mission Accomplished A historical analysis of the Mahaparinibbana Sutta of the Digha Nikaya of the Pali Canon. by Ven. Pategama Gnanarama Ph. D. The Mission Accomplished is undoubtedly an eye opening contribution to Bud- dhist analytical Pali studies. In this analytical and critical work Ven. Dr. Pate- gama Gnanarama enlightens us in many areas of subjects hitherto unexplored by scholars. His views on the beginnings of the Bhikkhuni Order are interesting and refreshing. They might even be provocative to traditional readers, yet be challenging to the feminists to adopt a most positive attitude to the problem. Prof. Chandima Wijebandara University of Sri Jayawardhanapura Sri Lanka. A masterly treatment of a cluster of Buddhist themes in print Senarat Wijayasundara Buddhist and Pali College Singapore Published by Ti-Sarana Buddhist Association 90, Duku Road. Singapore 429254 Tel: 345 6741 First published in Singapore, 1997 Published by Ti-Sarana Buddhist Association ISBN: 981–00–9087–0 © Pategama Gnanarama 1997 All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or by any information storage and retrieval systems or technologies now known or later developed, without per- mission in writing from the publisher. Cover: Mahaparinibbana; an ancient stone carving from Gandhara — Loriyan Tangai. Photograph reproduced by Mr K. C. Wong. Contents Introductory . 8 Chapter 1: The Mahaparinibbana Sutta & its Different Versions .
    [Show full text]
  • A RECORD of BUDDHISTIC KINGDOMS (C. 400 CE; Pub. 1886) Translated and Annotated by James Leggee
    A RECORD OF BUDDHISTIC KINGDOMS (c. 400 CE; pub. 1886) Translated and annotated by James Leggee Being an Account by the Chinese Monk Fa-Hien of his Travels in India and Ceylon in Search of the Buddhist Books of Discipline PREFACE Several times during my long residence in Hong Kong I endeavoured to read through the “Narrative of Fa-hien;” but though interested with the graphic details of much of the work, its columns bristled so constantly--now with his phonetic representations of Sanskrit words, and now with his substitution for them of their meanings in Chinese characters, and I was, moreover, so much occupied with my own special labours on the Confucian Classics, that my success was far from satisfactory. When Dr. Eitel’s “Handbook for the Student of Chinese Buddhism” appeared in 1870, the difficulty occasioned by the Sanskrit words and names was removed, but the other difficulty remained; and I was not able to look into the book again for several years. Nor had I much inducement to do so in the two copies of it which I had been able to procure, on poor paper, and printed from blocks badly cut at first, and so worn with use as to yield books the reverse of attractive in their appearance to the student. In the meantime I kept studying the subject of Buddhism from various sources; and in 1878 began to lecture, here in Oxford, on the Travels with my Davis Chinese scholar, who was at the same time Boden Sanskrit scholar. As we went on, I wrote out a translation in English for my own satisfaction of nearly half the narrative.
    [Show full text]
  • Hinduism and Buddhism, Vol I
    Hinduism and Buddhism, Vol I. Charles Eliot Hinduism and Buddhism, Vol I. Table of Contents Hinduism and Buddhism, Vol I.........................................................................................................................1 Charles Eliot............................................................................................................................................1 PREFACE................................................................................................................................................2 LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS. The following are the principal abbreviations used:..............................3 INTRODUCTION................................................................................................................................................3 BOOK II. EARLY INDIAN RELIGION. A GENERAL VIEW.......................................................................47 CHAPTER I. RELIGIONS OP INDIA AND EASTERN ASIA..........................................................47 CHAPTER II. HISTORICAL................................................................................................................52 CHAPTER III. GENERAL CHARACTERISTICS OF INDIAN RELIGION.....................................60 CHAPTER IV. VEDIC DEITIES AND SACRIFICES........................................................................68 CHAPTER V. ASCETICISM AND KNOWLEDGE...........................................................................78 CHAPTER VI. RELIGIOUS LIFE IN PRE−BUDDHIST INDIA.......................................................84
    [Show full text]
  • Boa 28.07.Pdf
    1 2 Impressum Projektleitung, Konzept, Organisation Prof. Dr. Bärbel Beinhauer-Köhler Prof. Dr. Edith Franke Hannah E. Drissen, M.A. FG Religionsgeschichte FG Religionswissenschaft FG Religionswissenschaft Lahntor 3 Landgraf-Philipp-Str. 4 Landgraf-Philipp-Str. 4 35032 Marburg 35032 Marburg 35032 Marburg Tel. 06421 – 28 22423 Tel. 06421 – 28 22480 Tel. 06421 – 28 24036 Email: [email protected] Inhalt Veranstaltungen im Plenum 13.09. – 16.09.2017 ............................................................................................. 9 Zeitplan DVRW-Tagung 13.09. – 16.09.2017 ................................................................................................... 10 Arbeitskreis-Treffen: Übersicht ....................................................................................................................... 11 Panelplan: Übersicht ....................................................................................................................................... 12 Raumplan: Hörsaalgebäude EG ....................................................................................................................... 18 Raumplan: Hörsaalgebäude 1. OG .................................................................................................................. 19 Raumplan: Hörsaalgebäude 2. OG .................................................................................................................. 20 Panelplan: Detail .............................................................................................................................................
    [Show full text]
  • Mantra Mahabrahma Vihara Vajra Bhumi Sriwijaya 四面佛(大梵天王) Mantra Mahabrahma
    Mantra Mahabrahma Vihara Vajra Bhumi Sriwijaya 四面佛(大梵天王) Mantra Mahabrahma 满 一 足 切 成 衆 就 生 佛 無 陀 上 智 福 慧 田 Page 1 www.shenlun.org Mantra Mahabrahma Vihara Vajra Bhumi Sriwijaya Maha Mula Acarya Lian Sheng Maha Guru Lian Sheng (Lu Sheng-Yen) adalah perintis Zhen Fo Zong (True Buddha School) yang dilahirkan pada tahun 1945 (Imlek tanggal 18 bulan 5) di Chiayi, Taiwan. Beliau juga di kenal sebagai Maha guru mula/mulacarya/ grandmaster dan juga guru silsilah oleh umat Zhen Fo Zong. Maha guru lian sheng memiliki 4 silsilah guru yaitu: Biksu Liao Ming.- sekte Nyingmapa, sakya Zheng Kong Lama - sekte Sakyapa, Maha Ratna Dharma Raja Karmapa ke-16 - sekte Kargyupa, Tuten Dhargay Rinpoche - sekte Gelugpa. Zhen Fo Zong ( 真 佛 宗 ) adalah sekte yang berkembang paling cepat di seluruh dunia dalam dua dekade terakhir ini, dewasa ini terdapat 5 juta lebih murid diseluruh dunia yang bersarana dgn beliau, lebih dari dari 400 lokasi cetiya cabang dan pusat pembabaran Dharma terbesar merata di setiap pelosok dunia, telah berdiri lebih dari 30 Maha Vihara. Semua ini dijalankan oleh murid sendiri secara sukarela, dan juga telah banyak Rinpoche lain yang berguru pada beliau seperti: mantan ketua parlemen Tibet, Kasur Jigme L.Rinpoche, Tuten Gyatso Rinpoche, Tsampa Rinpoche, dan lain-lain. Sejak tahun 1989, beliau selalu membabarkan Dharma dan menolong para insan di berbagai pelosok dunia. Maha guru lian sheng juga telah menulis lebih dari 200 buku ( tercatat di tahun 2009). Buku-buku yang di tulis beliau mencakup topic tentang agama budha tantra, Budha Zen, Tao dan Feng Sui.
    [Show full text]
  • Buddhist Perspectives and World Peace
    BUDDHIST PERSPECTIVES AND WORLD PEACE Suddipong Srivichai Mahachulalongkornrajavidyalaya University, Thailand. Received May 15, 2017; Revised May 18, 2017; Accepted June 28, 2017 Abstract Malala Yousafzai’s saying “if you want to end war, then instead of sending gens, send books. Instead of sending tanks, send pens. Instead of sending soldiers, send teachers.” Is still in human beings’ souls nowadays. In Thailand, Veerachart Nimanong said that mere reconciliation is not enough for solving the conflict in the world especially in the Deep South of Thailand between Thai Buddhists and Thai Muslims, because reconciliation aims at doing a compromise, which has its limitation only on some particular purposes, whereas the harmony has more scope than the reconciliation. Non-attachment is the essential condition of harmony in Buddhism, which justice based on forgivingness is in Islam. Non-attachment and forgiveness as the essence of sustainable harmony can be conducted through the method of interreligious dialogue of life, action, religious doctrine, and religious experience. According to Buddhist perspectives, all things depend on cause and effect, because of conflict made the war and because of Buddha’s teaching made the peace too. This article aims at showing the origins or causes of war and how to solve the problem of war into the perfect peace following the Buddhist perspectives. Introduction There should be known about definition of Buddhism, War and World Peace; Buddhism is a religion and dharma that encompasses a variety of traditions, beliefs and spiritual practices largely based on teachings attributed to Gautama Buddha, commonly known as the Buddha ("the awakened one"). According to Buddhist tradition, the Buddha lived and taught in the northern part of the Indian subcontinent, sometime between the 6th and 4th centuries BCE in the ancient Magadha kingdom.
    [Show full text]
  • Engaged Buddhism
    CHINA HEUTE XXV (2006), NR. 3 (145) 105 keit des dortigen Buddhismuskonzeptes an einen engaged Buddhism, dessen Entstehung und Relevanz heute geogra- ENGAGED BUDDHISM IN TAIWAN? phisch übergreifend von Asien bis nach Amerika und Eu- ropa reflektiert wird. ZUM PROFIL EINES GESELLSCHAFTLICH Neben einem Einblick in die gegenwärtige Situation ENGAGIERTEN GEGENWARTSBUDDHISMUS des taiwanesischen Buddhismus soll dieser Frage daher nachgegangen werden. Hierzu möchte dieser Beitrag zu- ESTHER-MARIA GUGGENMOS nächst den englischen Terminus und den sich damit ver- bindenden Neuaufbruch vorstellen und in einem zweiten Schritt durch einen Überblick über den taiwanesischen Buddhismus internationale Anknüpfungsmöglichkeiten auf- zeigen. Der historische Hintergrund der taiwanesischen Taiwanesischer Buddhismus – das verbindet sich in jüng- Entwicklung verweist dann auf die Eigenart des „gesell- ster Gegenwart z.B. mit dem entschlossen karitativ-sozia- schaftlich engagierten Buddhismus“ in Taiwan und wird len Engagement einer starken, von Laien getragenen bud- durch eine begriffliche Reflexion der indigenen Bezeich- dhistischen Bewegung, mit Großklöstern, die einen hu- nungen abgeschlossen. manistic Buddhism oder die Verwirklichung des „Reinen Landes“ auf Erden propagieren, mit einer Nonne, die 1) Begriffliche Grundlegung – engaged Buddhism sich vehement für die Aufhebung der Unterordnung der Nonnen unter die Mönche einsetzt, oder mit intensiven Publikationen, die sich mit dem Begriff eines engaged Bud- innerbuddhistischen Diskussionen über den Begriff
    [Show full text]
  • The Future of Religious Leadership' Is Both Timely and Befitting the Hifa Venue
    s er d ea ip s L h ou s stitute gi ith In eli r rfa d R e te f Worl d In of the Elijah Board o ea h ing s L ja et ou li e ture of Religi E M e Fu e h h h t T T r u o F Table of Contents 2 Program & Schedule 4 Messages of Welcome 8 Bhai Sahib Mohinder Singh 9 Swami Atmapriyananda 10 Rabbi Richard A. Marker 12 Chief Rabbi Shear-Yashuv Cohen 13 Dr. Alon Goshen-Gottstein 14 The Elijah Interfaith Institute Steering Committee of the EBWRL 18 Paris Declaration 19 The Elijah Board of World Religious Leaders 20 Buddhist Leaders 21 Christian Leaders 23 Leaders of Religions of India 26 Jewish Leaders 28 Muslim Leaders 31 Additional Participants 34 Past Participants 38 Think Tank Participants 41 Elijah International Offices 44 3 Program & Schedule 4 Sunday, October 18 Monday, October 19 Pre-meeting study travel day Theme for the day: Leadership as an instrument in realizing Visits to institutions training for religious leadership the goal of religion 09:30 Visits to Religious Institutions: 08:40 Travel to Domus Galilaeae Neo-Catacumenal Seminary (Christian) Al-Qasemi Seminary (Muslim) 09:00 Introduction of day with Morning Prayer Yeshivat Ma’aleh Gilboa (Jewish) 09:30 Small Groups 17:00 Opening Ceremony on Lake Kinnereth Cruise, with very Discussion of the purpose and goals (telos) of religions brief personal introductions and the role of leadership understood in its light 19:00 Lakeside Dinner (Decks Restaurant, Lido Beach, 10:45 Break Tiberias) 11:15 Plenary on theme of leadership and purpose of religion 13:00 Discussion over lunch between leaders
    [Show full text]
  • Smithsonian Miscellaneous Collections
    SMITHSONIAN MISCELLANEOUS COLLECTIONS VOLUME 80. NUMBER 6 YAKSAS (With 23 Plates) BY ANANDA K. GOOMARASWAMY Keeper of Indian, Persian, and Muhammadan Art Museum of Fine Arts, Boston (Publication 2926) CITY OF WASHINGTON PUBLISHED BY THE SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION MAY 8, 1928 ZU Boxi) (^afttmore (preee BALTIMORE, MD., C. S. A. YAKSAS By ANANDA K. COOMARASWAMY (With Twenty-three Pi.ates) I. INTRODUCTION In centuries preceding the Christian era, when the fusion of races in India had already far advanced, the religion of India passed through its greatest crises and underwent the most profound changes. Vedic ritual, indeed, has survived in part up to the present day ; but the religious outlook of medieval and modern India is so profoundly different from that of the Vedic period, as known to us from the extant literature, that we cannot apply to both a common designation ; medieval and modern Hinduism is one thing, Vedic Brahmanism another. The change is twofold, at once inward and spiritual, and outward and formal. No doubt we are sufificiently aware of the spiritual revolution indi- cated in the Upanisads and Buddhism, whereby the emphasis was shifted from the outer world to the inner life, salvation became the highest goal, and knowledge the means of attainment. But while this philosophic development and spiritual coming of age have gradually perfumed (to use a characteristically Indian phrase) the whole of Indian civilization, there are here a background and ultimate signifi- cance given to the social order, rather than the means of its actual integration ; the philosophy of the Upanisads, the psychology of Buddhism, indeed, were originally means only for those who had left behind them the life of a householder, and thus in their immediate application anti-social.
    [Show full text]
  • The Ultimate Mahayana Treatise on the Changeless Continuity of the True Nature
    1 "The Ultimate Mahayana Treatise on The Changeless Continuity of the True Nature" The Changeless Nature (the mahayanottaratantrasastra) by Arya Maitreya and Acarya Asanga translated from the Tibetan under the guidance of Khenchen the IXth Trangu Rinpoche and Khempo Tsultrim Gyamtso Rinpoche by Kenneth Holmes and Katia Holmes M.A., M.Sc with the kind assistance of Dharmacarya Tenpa Negi KARMA DRUBGYUD DARJAY LING 2 The Changeless Nature Introduction In Sanskrit the MahayanottaratantraSastra, In Tibetan the thek.pa.chen.po'.rgyud.bla.ma'.bsten.bchos, In English the "Ultimate Mahayana Treatise on the Changeless Continuity" Homage to all the buddhas and bodhisattvas. 1 The entire body of this treatise can be condensed into the following seven vajra points: buddha, dharma, sangha, buddha-nature, enlightenment, qualities and activity. 2 These are in a natural order and one should know the first three as deriving from the introductory and the latter four from the 'Wise and Victors' Qualities' chapters of the dharanisvararajasutra 3 From the buddha, the dharma, from the dharma, the realised sangha, from the sangha, the presence of the jnana-nature - the essence; when this jnana is ultimately made manifest there is supreme enlightenment, powers and so on, endowed with every ability to accomplish the good of each and everyone. 3 Part One: The Goal to be Achieved The Three Jewels A. The First Vajra Point: The Buddha 4 I bow down to the beginningless, to the centreless and infinite, to peace, to buddhahood, fully self-awakened and self-blossomed which, once purified and made manifest, shows the fearless, permanent path which will bring realisation to those with no realisation and which, wielding the supreme sword and vajra of knowledge and compassionate love hews down the seedlings of sufferings and destroys the walls of doubt surrounded by dense mistaken views.
    [Show full text]