Buddhism and the Political Process

Buddhism and the Political Process PDF Author: Hiroko Kawanami
Publisher: Springer
ISBN: 1137574003
Category : Political Science
Languages : en
Pages : 266

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Book Description
This study examines the impact of Buddhism on the political process of Asian countries in recent times. The intersection between Buddhism and politics; religious authority and political power is explored through the engagement of Buddhist monks and lay activists in the process of nation-building, development, and implementation of democracy.

Buddhism and the Political Process

Buddhism and the Political Process PDF Author: Hiroko Kawanami
Publisher: Springer
ISBN: 1137574003
Category : Political Science
Languages : en
Pages : 266

Get Book

Book Description
This study examines the impact of Buddhism on the political process of Asian countries in recent times. The intersection between Buddhism and politics; religious authority and political power is explored through the engagement of Buddhist monks and lay activists in the process of nation-building, development, and implementation of democracy.

Buddhism and Political Theory

Buddhism and Political Theory PDF Author: Matthew J. Moore
Publisher: Oxford University Press
ISBN: 019063152X
Category : Political Science
Languages : en
Pages :

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Book Description
Despite the recent upsurge of interest in comparative political theory, there has been virtually no serious examination of Buddhism by political philosophers in the past five decades. In part, this is because Buddhism is not typically seen as a school of political thought. However, as Matthew Moore argues, Buddhism simultaneously parallels and challenges many core assumptions and arguments in contemporary Western political theory. In brief, Western thinkers not only have a great deal to learn about Buddhism, they have a great deal to learn from it. To both incite and facilitate the process of Western theorists engaging with this neglected tradition, this book provides a detailed, critical reading of the key primary Buddhist texts, from the earliest recorded teachings of the Buddha through the present day. It also discusses the relevant secondary literature on Buddhism and political theory (nearly all of it from disciplines other than political theory), as well as the literatures on particular issues addressed in the argument. Moore argues that Buddhist political thought rests on three core premises--that there is no self, that politics is of very limited importance in human life, and that normative beliefs and judgments represent practical advice about how to live a certain way, rather than being obligatory commands about how all persons must act. He compares Buddhist political theory to what he sees as Western analogues--Nietzsche's similar but crucially different theory of the self, Western theories of limited citizenship from Epicurus to John Howard Yoder, and to the Western tradition of immanence theories in ethics. This will be the first comprehensive treatment of Buddhism as political theory.

Buddhism, Politics and Political Thought in Myanmar

Buddhism, Politics and Political Thought in Myanmar PDF Author: Matthew J. Walton
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
ISBN: 110715569X
Category : Political Science
Languages : en
Pages : 243

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Book Description
Walton explains political dynamics in Myanmar through Buddhist thought, providing a conceptual framework for understanding Myanmar's ongoing political transition.

Buddhism and the Political

Buddhism and the Political PDF Author: Matthew J. Walton
Publisher:
ISBN: 9781849048385
Category :
Languages : en
Pages :

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Book Description
Popular participation is one of the hallmarks of modern politics. So why have democracy and democratic norms generally failed to take root in the Theravada Buddhist countries of South and Southeast Asia? This book explores traditions of Buddhist political thought in Sri Lanka, Myanmar, Thailand, Laos, and Cambodia. Matthew Walton considers each country's trajectory towards independence, the controversial issue of monastic political engagement, the influence of other political forces, and persistent attempts to restrict participation, even in contemporary democratic states. He also contextualises this landscape within the Theravada Buddhist arguments for and against greater political participation, probing the dualistic understanding of human nature that questions ability to self-govern while valuing moral improvement through free action. Secular rationales in favour of democracy are unlikely to be effective unless they consider the logic of the Theravada moral universe. To move forward, South Asian democracy supporters must not only heed Walton's assessment of the region's politico-religious nexus, but also engage with the fundamental ambivalence he identifies in Buddhist perspectives on the legitimacy of mass participation.

Emptiness and Becoming

Emptiness and Becoming PDF Author: Peter Paul Kakol
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category : Philosophy
Languages : en
Pages : 456

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Book Description


Mindful Politics

Mindful Politics PDF Author: Melvin McLeod
Publisher: Simon and Schuster
ISBN: 0861717120
Category : Political Science
Languages : en
Pages : 322

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Book Description
"I've studied politics my entire life. It's been because of my time working on this book that I've finally learned what's really important in politics." So says Melvin McLeod, editor of Mindful Politics, a book that transcends Right and Left, progressive and conservative, to get to the heart of what matters: how we can all make a positive difference in our complex political world. This is not your typical political book. It's not written at a fever pitch, it doesn't use a good/bad binary, and it doesn't tout partisan policies. Instead, this timely collection addresses the less-discussed but more important questions about politics: What insight does religion have to offer politics? How can we as concerned citizens move beyond the particulars of legislation and party affiliation, and take direct action? How, amid divisive and challenging times, can personal growth and effective advocacy take place together? In short, Mindful Politics offers the perspectives of 34 important authors and thinkers on how each of us, right now, can make the world a better place. McLeod includes essays and insights from some of the brightest, and most controversial, lights of Buddhism - and beyond. Included are: Thich Nhat Hanh Sam Harris (author of The End of Faith) The Dalai Lama Jerry Brown Pema Chodron Trungpa Rinpoche bell hooks Ezra Bayda Meg Wheatley ...and many more

Buddhism and Politics in Thailand

Buddhism and Politics in Thailand PDF Author: Arnaud Dubus
Publisher:
ISBN: 9786167571324
Category :
Languages : en
Pages : 92

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Book Description


Buddhist Monks and the Politics of Lanka's Civil War

Buddhist Monks and the Politics of Lanka's Civil War PDF Author: Suren Raghavan
Publisher: Oxford Centre for Buddhist Studies Monographs
ISBN: 9781781795743
Category :
Languages : en
Pages : 294

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Book Description
The war in Sri Lanka was violent and costly in human and material terms. This was one of the longest wars in modern South Asia. Often referred to as an 'ethnic' conflict between the majority Sinhalas and the minority Tamils, the war had a profound religious dimension. The majority of Sinhala Buddhist monks (the Sangha) not only opposed any meaningful powersharing but latterly advocated an all-out military solution. Such a nexus between Buddhism and violence is paradoxical; nevertheless it has a historical continuity. In 2009 when the war ended amid serious questions of war crimes and crimes against humanity, monks defended the military and its Buddhist leadership. Taking the lives of three key Sangha activists as the modern framework of a Sinhala Buddhist worldview, this book examines the limitations of Western theories of peacebuilding and such solutions as federalism and multinationalism. It analyzes Sinhala Buddhist ethnoreligious nationalism and argues for the urgent need to engage Buddhist politics - in Lanka and elsewhere - with approaches and mechanisms that accommodate the Sangha as key actors in political reform. Sinhala Buddhism is often studied from a sociological or anthropological standpoint. This book fills a gap by examining the faith and practice of the Sinhala Sangha and their followers from a political science perspective.

The Politics of Thai Buddhism under the NCPO Junta

The Politics of Thai Buddhism under the NCPO Junta PDF Author: Katewadee Kulabkaew
Publisher: ISEAS-Yusof Ishak Institute
ISBN: 9814843733
Category : Political Science
Languages : en
Pages : 28

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Book Description
The past two decades have been a time of turmoil in Thailand’s religious affairs. Disputes, debates and controversies concerning the administration of Buddhism, Thailand’s national religion by tradition, have erupted more and more frequently. This chronic and unresolvable conflict originates from Thai Buddhists’ inability to achieve a broad consensus on religious reform. Under the governance of the National Council for Peace and Order (NCPO) junta that came to power in 2014, the fierce struggle concerning Buddhist reform seemed to subside. Upholding and protecting Buddhism might be a duty of traditional Thai rulers who desire for a source of political legitimacy, but the NCPO’s decisive actions concerning Buddhist institutional reform were not merely reflected respect for this tradition, but were closely intertwined with the dynamic of contending forces in Thailand’s long-troubled religious politics. Conflicts between the influential religious nationalists and the Thai Sangha convinced the military government of the need to act, for the sake of national security and political stability.

An End to Suffering

An End to Suffering PDF Author: Pankaj Mishra
Publisher: Farrar, Straus and Giroux
ISBN: 1429933631
Category : Religion
Languages : en
Pages : 432

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Book Description
An End to Suffering is a deeply original and provocative book about the Buddha's life and his influence throughout history, told in the form of the author's search to understand the Buddha's relevance in a world where class oppression and religious violence are rife, and where poverty and terrorism cast a long, constant shadow. Mishra describes his restless journeys into India, Pakistan, and Afghanistan, among Islamists and the emerging Hindu middle class, looking for this most enigmatic of religious figures, exploring the myths and places of the Buddha's life, and discussing Western explorers' "discovery" of Buddhism in the nineteenth century. He also considers the impact of Buddhist ideas on such modern politicians as Gandhi and Nelson Mandela. As he reflects on his travels and on his own past, Mishra shows how the Buddha wrestled with problems of personal identity, alienation, and suffering in his own, no less bewildering, times. In the process Mishra discovers the living meaning of the Buddha's teaching, in the world and for himself. The result is the most three-dimensional, convincing book on the Buddha that we have.