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The Dalai Lama has represented Buddhism as a religion of non-violence, compassion, and world peace, but this does not reflect how monks learn their vocation. This book shows how monasteries use harsh methods to make monks of men, and how this tradition is changing as modernist reformers—like the Dalai Lama—adopt liberal and democratic ideals, such as natural rights and individual autonomy. In the first in-depth account of disciplinary practices at a Tibetan monastery in India, Michael Lempert looks closely at everyday education rites—from debate to reprimand and corporal punishment. His analysis explores how the idioms of violence inscribed in these socialization rites help produce educated, moral persons but in ways that trouble Tibetans who aspire to modernity. Bringing the study of language and social interaction to our understanding of Buddhism for the first time, Lempert shows and why liberal ideals are being acted out by monks in India, offering a provocative alternative view of liberalism as a globalizing discourse.

Sati is necessarily accompanied by sampajana or immediate understanding: the implicit, pre-reflective and pre-discursive understanding of things as they are. When cultivated, immediate understanding becomes wisdom, the explicit vision of truth. For the preceding account to satisfy many as a description of mindfulness, then, it must be able to make room for these possibilities. This puts the following questions before them. Is the feeling of being tuned-in associated with a kind of implicit understanding? If so, how can this implicit understanding be cultivated into insight? Here, Copelj approaches these questions through a retrospective reflection on the process by the means of which he came to an actual understanding of something. The phenomenon that he will take as an example will be familiar to the reader: it is the phenomenon of narrowing that constituted the first of the attempts above to account for mindfulness. The possibility of being narrowed is intrinsic to projective understanding; a rock, for example, does not offer that possibility. In coming to understand that projective understanding offers this possibility, that it can unfold itself in that way, he came to a deeper understanding of what projective understanding itself is. How did this understanding come about?

This study engages some aspects of the conversations, implicit and explicit, between American(ized) Buddhism in non-heritage/convert communities and religious nationalism in the U.S. Specifically, how does a Buddhist understanding of emptiness and interdependence call into question some of the fundamental assumptions behind conflations of divine and political order, as expressed through ideologies of “God and Country”, or ideas about American providence or exceptionalism? What does belonging to a nation or transnational community mean when all individual and collective formations of identity are understood to be nonessential, contingent and impermanent? Finally, how can some of the discourses within American Buddhism contribute to a more inclusive national identity and a reconfigured understanding of the intersection of spiritual and national belonging? The focus here will be on exploring how an understanding of identity and lineage in Buddhist contexts offers a counter-narrative to the way national and spiritual belonging is expressed through tribalist formations of family genealogy, nationalism and transnational religious affiliation in the dominant Judeo-Christian context, and how this understanding has been, and is being, expressed in non-heritage American(ized) Buddhist communities.

The fifteenth-century Tibetan scholar Gorampa Sonam Senge argues that the conventional truth (kun rdzob bden pa) can exist in multiple ways depending on its relationship to the minds of beings who apprehend it. This view, which I call relational fictionalism, enables Gorampa to reconcile a number of seemingly conflicting views about what it means to see the world correctly.

Comprehending and discussing Koreans’ experiences of inter-religious dialogue requires a precise understanding of their religious hybridity. To this end, this article first delves into South Korea’s multireligious and syncretic landscape. Subsequently, it focuses on the concept of chungch’ŭng-sinang, or multilayered faith, highlighting how Koreans have constructed their own religiously multilayered and open internal structures based on their historical encounters with various religions. Finally, building on this understanding, this article examines how an in-depth understanding of Korean religious hybridity transforms our understanding of their experiences in inter-religious dialogue. Acknowledging their hybridity facilitates an understanding of experiences that go beyond mere acquisition of knowledge about others and a deepening sense of their identities—involving the discovery of internal otherness. While this approach may weaken the logic of religion, it can foster dialogue that is more liberating, formative, and humanizing.

While in many of the Asian philosophico-religious traditions (leaving aside various strands in the Hindu tradition) desire is not viewed as a positive phenomenon, in much Western thought the case is precisely the opposite, and especially among materialist thinkers. Here, Dahanayake sought to elucidate this difference in the understanding of desire, life, suffering, and satisfaction by comparing and contrasting Marx's Hegel-inflected materialist understanding of desire and that of the Buddha. He hopes that in doing this to have shown the Buddhist analysis and understanding of desire to be the deeper, and to show that this depth in fact lies in the illusory foundations and logic of desire itself.

Purpose The objective of this research was to investigate the dynamics of identity and power within academic communities in the United States, specifically focusing on international graduate students from Southeast Asia. The study focused on exploring the lived experiences of Southeast Asian international graduate students at a university in the Midwest. The theoretical underpinnings of the research drew upon the poststructuralist understanding of identity and the community of practice framework (Lave & Wenger, 1991). Design/methodology/approach Various methods were employed, including reflective journals, documents and interviews, to gain a comprehensive understanding of the participants’ experiences and perspectives regarding their identity construction and participation in academic communities. Findings The research revealed that identity among Southeast Asian international graduate students is fluid and subject to constant negotiation. Participants reported experiencing multiple layers of identities, including their national identity, cultural identity and academic identity, which were influenced by interactions within the academic community. The study uncovered power dynamics that affect Southeast Asian international graduate students’ experiences. Power relationships were observed within the academic community, where students’ ability to participate, contribute and be recognized was influenced by factors such as language proficiency, cultural background and perceived academic competence. Research limitations/implications The study focused on a specific group of participants – Southeast Asian international graduate students at a university in the Midwest. The limited sample size may restrict the generalizability of the findings to a broader population of international graduate students or academic communities in different regions of the United States or other countries. The research centred on Southeast Asian international graduate students, which may introduce cultural and regional bias in the findings. Different cultural backgrounds and regional contexts of participants from other parts of the world could yield different dynamics of identity and power within academic communities. Practical implications To overcome cultural and regional bias, future researchers and educators should aim to diversify the participant pool. Including international graduate students from various cultural backgrounds and geographical regions will provide a more comprehensive understanding of the dynamics of identity and power within academic communities. Additionally, the insights from this study can offer guidance to educators in higher education institutions by highlighting the challenges faced by international graduate students and providing recommendations for their support. Social implications The research highlights the importance of cultural understanding and empathy within academic communities. Recognizing the diversity of cultural backgrounds and experiences among international students fosters a more inclusive and respectful environment where students from different regions feel valued and understood. Additionally, understanding and navigating cultural differences require intercultural competence. Institutions can develop programmes and initiatives that promote intercultural competence among students, faculty and staff, enhancing their ability to interact effectively in diverse settings. Originality/value While studies on international students in academic communities are common, this research specifically targets a subset of students from Southeast Asia. This specialized focus allows for a deeper exploration of the unique experiences, challenges and dynamics that this particular group of students faces within the academic context. The adoption of a poststructuralist understanding of identity in the research adds theoretical novelty. This framework emphasizes the fluid and complex nature of identities, challenging traditional fixed notions of identity construction. By applying this lens to the experiences of international students, the research offers a fresh perspective on how identity is shaped within academic communities.

Sri Lanka is a small pluralistic state. This is a multi-racial social environment, members of all communities lived in peace and harmony with social integration with one another. Each community practised and its own religious cultural values. This situation has changed aftermath of the government's victory in the war (1983-2009) against the Liberation Tigers Tamil Elam (LTTE). Now there is a series of tense between the Buddhist and Muslim communities in Sri Lanka. The Buddhist Nationalist Groups (BNGs) have been questioned the social and religious features of the Muslims, and their religious obligations were heavily and unduly questioned via provocations from these respective groups. On this background, the study attempts to explore the religious interaction between Muslims and Buddhists in Sri Lanka. The questionnaire survey used as a key tool, and the semi-structured interview conducted among the Buddhists and Muslims in Sri Lanka. The findings of the study show that the relationship between the two communities is generally seen to be in a healthy state. However, the few notable features have exacerbated the tension between the two communities.

This article considers the sociocultural significance of Kūkai's understanding of Mt. Köya as a mandala. Locating the context for his formulation of this understanding in his efforts to found Mt. Köya in the mid-Könin era (809823), it seeks to elucidate its disclosive function. The interpretation is put forward that Kūkai's mandalic understanding of the mountains disclosed the possibility of a disembedded form of Buddhist life, one in which the human agent is understood to exist outside the social world of the Heian court and the divine cosmos on which it was believed to be grounded. Particular attention is paid to the sociopolitical effects of this disclosure, suggesting specifically that it contributed to the differentiation of religious authority from political power in Japan. To elucidate this process, Kūkai's founding of Mt. Köya is situated in a genealogy of monks who founded mountain temples that operated relatively autonomously vis-a-vis the state. Kūkai's erstwhile collaborator, Saichö, is given special consideration.

In this essay, I engage in an exercise of interreligious theology focusing on Muslim and Shin Buddhist perceptions of Jesus. I ask if and how a Christian might take Muslim and Shin Buddhist views as genuine insights that may enrich and correct some Christian views. I further hold that lest getting incoherent such an exploration must keep all three perspectives together. It must combine the insight behind Christians' affirmation of incarnation with, on one hand, the insight behind Muslims' concern about the concept of incarnation as such and, on the other hand, the insight behind the concern of Buddhists about the assertion of merely one single incarnation. By interpreting incarnation as an implication of revelation, I suggest that such a Christology is indeed possible.