Author: James Stewart
Publisher: Routledge
ISBN: 1317623983
Category : Social Science
Languages : en
Pages : 225
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Book Description
Buddhism is widely known to advocate a stance of total pacifism towards all sentient beings, and because of this, it is often thought that Buddhist doctrine would stipulate that non-violent food practices, such as vegetarianism, be mandatory. However, the Pāli source materials do not encourage vegetarianism and most Buddhists do not practice it. Using research based on ethnographic evidence and interviews, this book discusses this issue by presenting an investigation of vegetarianism and animal ethics within a Buddhist cultural domain. Focusing on Sri Lanka, a place of great historical significance to Buddhism, the book looks at how lay Buddhists and the clergy came to understand the role of vegetarianism and animal ethics in Buddhism. It analyses whether the Buddha preached a view that encouraged vegetarianism, and how this squares with his pacifism towards animals. The book goes on to question how Buddhist food practices intersect with other secular activities such as traditional medicine, as well as discussing the wider implications of Buddhist animal pacifism including vegetarian political movements and animal rights groups. Shedding light on a subject that, until now, has only been tangentially treated by scholars, this interdisciplinary study will be of interest to those working in the fields of Buddhist Studies, Religion and Philosophy, as well as South Asian Studies.
Author:
Publisher:
ISBN: 9781317623960
Category :
Languages : en
Pages : 214
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Book Description
Author: Shabkar Tsogdruk Rangdrol
Publisher: Shambhala Publications
ISBN: 1590301161
Category : Religion
Languages : en
Pages : 159
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Book Description
Based on the teachings of the Buddha, this book offers the most compelling and impassioned indictment of meat-eating to be found in Tibetan literature and is pertinent to anyone interested in vegetarianism as a moral or spiritual issue. The Buddha's teachings show how destructive habits can be examined and transformed gradually from within. The aim is not to repress one's desire for meat and animal products by force of will, but to develop heartfelt compassion and sensitivity to the suffering of animals, so that the desire to exploit and feed on them naturally dissolves. There are two texts presented here. One is an excerpt from Shabkar's Book of Marvels, consisting of quotations from the Buddhist scriptures and the teachings of masters of Tibetan Buddhism that argue against the consumption of meat, with Shabkar's commentary. The second, the Nectar of Immortality , is Shabkar's discourse on the importance of developing compassion for animals.
Author: Damien Keown
Publisher:
ISBN: 0198850050
Category : Philosophy
Languages : en
Pages : 177
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Book Description
Damien Keown offers an introduction to Buddhist moral teachings, and considers the application of Buddhist ethical principles to pressing issues today, including violence and terrorism; environment; treatment of animals; and views on sexuality and gender; abortion; suicide and euthanasia; and technological developments such as AI.
Author: Martin Kovan
Publisher: Springer Nature
ISBN: 9811924414
Category : Philosophy
Languages : en
Pages : 266
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Book Description
This book provides a philosophical account of the normative status of killing in Buddhism. Its argument theorises on relevant Buddhist philosophical grounds the metaphysical, phenomenological and ethical dimensions of the distinct intentional classes of killing, in dialogue with some elements of Western philosophical thought. In doing so, it aims to provide a descriptive account of the causal bases of intentional killing, a global justification and elucidation of Buddhist norms regarding killing, and an intellectual response to and critique of alternative conceptions of such norms presented in recent Buddhist Studies scholarship. It examines early and classical Buddhist accounts of the evaluation of killing, systematising and rationally assessing these claims on both Buddhist and contemporary Western philosophical grounds. The book provides the conceptual foundation for the discussion, engaging original reconstructive philosophical analyses to both bolster and critique classical Indian Buddhist positions on killing and its evaluation, as well as contemporary Buddhist Studies scholarship concerning these positions. In doing so, it provides a systematic and critical account of the subject hitherto absent in the field. Engaging Buddhist philosophy from scholastic dogmatics to epistemology and metaphysics, this book is relevant to advanced students and scholars in philosophy and religious studies.
Author: Raymond Wacks
Publisher: Taylor & Francis
ISBN: 1003852017
Category : Political Science
Languages : en
Pages : 195
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Book Description
Animal Lives Matter provides a comprehensive analysis of the legal, philosophical, and ethical aspects of animal rights. It argues that the subject extends beyond the matter of our obligations towards animals, to include our wider responsibilities for protecting the environment. Drawing on numerous moral, political, legal, religious, and philosophical theories including utilitarianism, deontology, rights theory, social contractarianism, and the capabilities approach, the author meticulously examines the questions of sentience, speciesism, personhood, and human exceptionalism. Lucid, nuanced, and academically rigorous, this important book will be an essential resource for scholars of law, politics, philosophy, ethics, as well as policy makers and the general reader.
Author: Lora Stone
Publisher: Bloomsbury Publishing USA
ISBN:
Category : Religion
Languages : en
Pages : 207
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Book Description
A foundational resource for readers investigating religiously motivated environmentalism, this book provides both a global overview of the subject and a detailed discussion of key figures, concepts, organizations, events, and documents. Beginning in the late 1960s, a growing number of activists, scholars, and scientists asserted that traditional religions had been major contributors to the environmental crisis. In response, theologians, religious organizations, and religiously motivated activists became increasingly involved in environmental issues. At the same time, emerging nature-based belief systems emphasized values and lifestyles based in environmentalism. More recently, religiously motivated environmentalism has become a powerful force in shaping environmental policy and human action globally and has joined with secular environmentalism to address related issues. This book explores the background and current state of religious environmentalism. The book begins with an overview essay examining the history and context of religious environmentalism and its significance today. A chronology then profiles the most important events related to religious environmentalism. A section of more than 50 alphabetically arranged reference entries follows, with each entry providing objective information about people, places, events, movements, works, and other topics. The entries include cross-references and suggestions for further reading, and the book closes with a selected, annotated bibliography of major works.
Author: Daniel Capper
Publisher: Cornell University Press
ISBN: 1501759590
Category : Religion
Languages : en
Pages : 252
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Book Description
By exploring lived ecological experiences across seven Buddhist worlds from ancient India to the contemporary West, Roaming Free Like a Deer provides a comprehensive, critical, and innovative examination of the theories, practices, and real-world results of Buddhist environmental ethics. Daniel Capper clarifies crucial contours of Buddhist vegetarianism or meat eating, nature mysticism, and cultural speculations about spirituality in nonhuman animals. Buddhist environmental ethics often are touted as useful weapons in the fight against climate change. However, two formidable but often overlooked problems with this perspective exist. First, much of the literature on Buddhist environmental ethics uncritically embraces Buddhist ideals without examining the real-world impacts of those ideals, thereby sometimes ignoring difficulties in terms of practical applications. Moreover, for some understandable but still troublesome reasons, Buddhists from different schools follow their own environmental ideals without conversing with other Buddhists, thereby minimizing the abilities of Buddhists to act in concert on issues such as climate change that demand coordinated large-scale human responses. With its accessible style and personhood ethics orientation, Roaming Free Like a Deer should appeal to anyone who is concerned with how human beings interact with the nonhuman environment.
Author: Holly Gayley
Publisher: Shambhala Publications
ISBN: 0834843501
Category : Religion
Languages : en
Pages : 321
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Book Description
A collection of new voices from Tibet--at celebrated Larung Gar--with innovative reflections on how Buddhism can meet the challenges of our times. Voices from Larung Gar is the first collection of talks and writings by the leading voices of Larung Gar, the largest Buddhist institution on the Tibetan plateau. The book offers a compelling vision for Buddhism in the twenty-first century by some of the most erudite, creative, and influential Tibetan Buddhist luminaries today. In everyday language, these leaders delve into an array of contemporary issues, including science, ethics, gender equity, and animal welfare. This collection features contributions from a range of prominent figures who are forging dynamic, modern paths forward for an ancient tradition. Included are the internationally renowned Khenpo Jigme Phuntsok, founder of Larung Gar, his distinguished successors Khenpos Sodargye and Tsultrim Lodro, and erudite nuns holding the scholarly title Khenmo, who are becoming known for their impressive publishing projects. Larung Gar is thus one of Tibetan Buddhism's most vital communities, actively balancing cultural preservation and innovation.
Author: Wilson J. Warren
Publisher: University of Iowa Press
ISBN: 160938556X
Category : Social Science
Languages : en
Pages : 265
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Book Description
From large-scale cattle farming to water pollution, meat— more than any other food—has had an enormous impact on our environment. Historically, Americans have been among the most avid meat-eaters in the world, but long before that meat was not even considered a key ingredient in most civilizations’ diets. Labor historian Wilson Warren, who has studied the meat industry for more than a decade, provides this global history of meat to help us understand how it entered the daily diet, and at what costs and benefits to society. Spanning from the nineteenth century to current and future trends, Warren walks us through the economic theory of food, the discovery of protein, the Japanese eugenics debate around meat, and the environmental impact of livestock, among other topics. Through his comprehensive, multifaceted research, he provides readers with the political, economic, social, and cultural factors behind meat consumption over the last two centuries. With a special focus on East Asia, Meat Makes People Powerful reveals how national governments regulated and oversaw meat production, helping transform virtually vegetarian cultures into major meat consumers at record speed. As more and more Americans pay attention to the sources of the meat they consume, Warren’s compelling study will help them not only better understand the industry, but also make more informed personal choices. Providing an international perspective that will appeal to scholars and nutritionists alike, this timely examination will forever change the way you see the food on your plate.
