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Author: William Skudlarek
Publisher: Liturgical Press
ISBN: 0814639976
Category : Religion
Languages : en
Pages : 140
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Book Description
When St. Benedict compiled his Rule for Monasteries in the early decades of the sixth century, the Buddhist monastic code had already been in existence for about nine hundred years. Since monastic life is shaped by spiritual practices that are very similar across different religious traditions, it should not be too much of a stretch to suggest that Christians can learn from the accumulated wisdom of Buddhist monasticism. For Buddhists, celibacy, accompanied by skillful reflection on their personal reactions to it, is a means of letting go of attachment to sensory pleasure. Buddhist monks do not marry; they strive to relinquish the desire for sexual pleasure because this form of gratification obstructs the one-pointed stillness that leads to insight. For Christians, celibacy—like marriage—is ultimately about love: responding to God's love for us and expressing selfless love for others. In light of the Christian understanding of marriage as an authentic—indeed, the ordinary—path to holiness, Skudlarek proposes a demythologized view of celibacy, presenting it as an alternate and equally valid spiritual practice for those who choose not to accept the demands of a committed sexual relationship. Drawing on the monastic interreligious dialogue, Skudlarek considers the Buddhist view of celibacy, which is not mythologized as a response to a divine call or as a superhuman way of life. He examines their regard for it as simply—and profoundly—a path to freedom, peace, and happiness. As Christians become aware of the benefits of celibacy for monks who observe it without reference to the Gospel, they may be able to appreciate all the more its importance and value for those who wish to follow Christ as celibates, and in this way come to share in the freedom of the children of God.
Author: William Skudlarek
Publisher: Liturgical Press
ISBN: 0814639976
Category : Religion
Languages : en
Pages : 140
Get Book Here
Book Description
When St. Benedict compiled his Rule for Monasteries in the early decades of the sixth century, the Buddhist monastic code had already been in existence for about nine hundred years. Since monastic life is shaped by spiritual practices that are very similar across different religious traditions, it should not be too much of a stretch to suggest that Christians can learn from the accumulated wisdom of Buddhist monasticism. For Buddhists, celibacy, accompanied by skillful reflection on their personal reactions to it, is a means of letting go of attachment to sensory pleasure. Buddhist monks do not marry; they strive to relinquish the desire for sexual pleasure because this form of gratification obstructs the one-pointed stillness that leads to insight. For Christians, celibacy—like marriage—is ultimately about love: responding to God's love for us and expressing selfless love for others. In light of the Christian understanding of marriage as an authentic—indeed, the ordinary—path to holiness, Skudlarek proposes a demythologized view of celibacy, presenting it as an alternate and equally valid spiritual practice for those who choose not to accept the demands of a committed sexual relationship. Drawing on the monastic interreligious dialogue, Skudlarek considers the Buddhist view of celibacy, which is not mythologized as a response to a divine call or as a superhuman way of life. He examines their regard for it as simply—and profoundly—a path to freedom, peace, and happiness. As Christians become aware of the benefits of celibacy for monks who observe it without reference to the Gospel, they may be able to appreciate all the more its importance and value for those who wish to follow Christ as celibates, and in this way come to share in the freedom of the children of God.
Author: Donald Mitchell
Publisher: Bloomsbury Publishing USA
ISBN: 1441174451
Category : Religion
Languages : en
Pages : 331
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Book Description
25 presentations on the spiritual life, with four major talks by H.H. the Dalai Lama.
Author: William M. Johnston
Publisher: Routledge
ISBN: 1136787151
Category : Religion
Languages : en
Pages : 866
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Book Description
The two-volume Encyclopedia of Monasticism describes the monastic traditions of both Christianity and Buddhism with more than 600 entries on important monastic figures of all periods and places, surveys of countries and localities, and topical essays covering a wide range of issues (e.g., art, behavior, economics, liturgy, politics, theology, and scholarship). Coverage encompasses not only geography and history worldwide but also the contemporary dilemmas of monastic life. Recent upheavals in certain countries are highlighted (Korea, Russia, Sri Lanka, etc.). Topical essays subtitled Christian Perspectives and Buddhist Perspectives explore in imaginative fashion comparisons and contrasts between Christian and Buddhist monasticism. Encyclopedia of Monasticism also includes more than 500 color and black and white illustrations covering all aspects of monastic life, art, and architecture.
Author: Patrick Henry
Publisher: Bloomsbury Publishing
ISBN: 144110500X
Category : Religion
Languages : en
Pages : 240
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Book Description
St Benedict's Rule is a set of guidelines that has governed Christian monastic life since the 6th century. Those who live according to the Rule regard it as the bedrock of their lives and feel great affection for its author. In this book four prominent Buddhist scholars turn their attention to the Rule. Through personal anecdotes, lively debate and thoughtful comparison, they reveal how the wisdom of each tradition can revitalise the other and how their own spiritual practices have been enriched through familiarity with the Rule. Their insights are written not only for Buddhists and Christians but for anyone interested in the ancient discipline of monasticism and what it might offer a materially glutted and spiritually famished culture. This book also includes a new translation of the Rule by the former Abbot of Ampleforth, Patrick Barry.
Author: Benedicta Ward
Publisher: Penguin UK
ISBN: 0141907002
Category : Religion
Languages : en
Pages : 261
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Book Description
The Desert Fathers were the first Christian monks, living in solitude in the deserts of Egypt, Palestine, and Syria. In contrast to the formalised and official theology of the "founding fathers" of the church, the Desert Fathers were ordinary Christians who chose to renounce the world and live lives of celibacy, fasting, vigil, prayer and poverty in direct and simple response to the gospel. Their sayings were first recorded in the 4th century and consist of spiritual advice, anecdotes and parables. The Desert Fathers' teachings and lives have inspired poetry, opera and art, as well as providing spiritual nourishment and a template for monastic life.
Author: Anne M. Blackburn
Publisher: Princeton University Press
ISBN: 069107044X
Category : Religion
Languages : en
Pages : 255
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Book Description
Blackburn supports this view with fresh readings of Buddhist texts and their links to social life beyond the monastery."--BOOK JACKET.
Author: Patrick Henry
Publisher: Augsburg Fortress Publishing
ISBN:
Category : Religion
Languages : en
Pages : 262
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Book Description
Authors discuss the similarities between Buddhism and Christianity.
Author: Berthe Jansen
Publisher: University of California Press
ISBN: 0520297008
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 298
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Book Description
At publication date, a free ebook version of this title will be available through Luminos, University of California Press’s Open Access publishing program. Visit www.luminosoa.org to learn more. The Monastery Rules discusses the position of the monasteries in pre-1950s Tibetan Buddhist societies and how that position was informed by the far-reaching relationship of monastic Buddhism with Tibetan society, economy, law, and culture. Jansen focuses her study on monastic guidelines, or bca’ yig. The first study of its kind to examine the genre in detail, the book contains an exploration of its parallels in other Buddhist cultures, its connection to the Vinaya, and its value as socio-historical source-material. The guidelines are witness to certain socio-economic changes, while also containing rules that aim to change the monastery in order to preserve it. Jansen argues that the monastic institutions’ influence on society was maintained not merely due to prevailing power-relations, but also because of certain deep-rooted Buddhist beliefs.
Author: Jonathan A. Silk
Publisher: Oxford University Press
ISBN: 0195326849
Category : Religion
Languages : en
Pages : 358
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Book Description
The paradigmatic Buddhist is the monk. It is well known that ideally Buddhist monks are expected to meditate and study -- to engage in religious practice. The institutional structure which makes this concentration on spiritual cultivation possible is the monastery. But as a bureaucratic institution, the monastery requires administrators to organize and manage its functions, to prepare quiet spots for meditation, to arrange audiences for sermons, or simply to make sure food, rooms, and bedding are provided. The valuations placed on such organizational roles were, however, a subject of considerable controversy among Indian Buddhist writers, with some considering them significantly less praiseworthy than meditative concentration or teaching and study, while others more highly appreciated their importance. Managing Monks, as the first major study of the administrative offices of Indian Buddhist monasticism and of those who hold them, explores literary sources, inscriptions and other materials in Sanskrit, Pali, Tibetan, and Chinese in order to explore this tension and paint a picture of the internal workings of the Buddhist monastic institution in India, highlighting the ambivalent and sometimes contradictory attitudes toward administrators revealed in various sources.
Author: Sŭng-hye Kim
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category : Language Arts & Disciplines
Languages : en
Pages : 212
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Book Description
When the history of Christian monasticism is written for the twentieth century, it will include one surprising and revolutionary development that nothing in its previous history could have prepared it for: the living dialogue with Buddhism. Over the past thirty years, while Christian theologians were eagerly discussing their doctrinal traditions with their Buddhist counterparts and rethinking their characterization of the "non-Christian" world, men and women monastics East and West were sharing methods of meditation and experiencing life in one another's communities. All of this, in turn, was part of a larger pursuit among religious-minded people across the world for a revitalized spirituality, one open to the inheritance of traditions previously considered false or at least irretrievably foreign. As the essays gathered together in the book will show, with Buddhist and Christian populations almost evenly distributed and the preservation of community-based monasticism still living in both traditions, Korea is in a unique position to reflect on the ideals of a life of "self-renunciation" as they have been conceptualized and embodied in these two world religions, and to ask what meaning the monastic experience still has for society at large.
