This book presents a multi-sited ethnographic study of the global development of the Taiwanese Buddhist order Fo Guang Shan. It explores the order's modern Buddhist social engagements by examining three globally dispersed field sites: Los Angeles in the United States of America, Bronkhorstspruit in South Africa, and Yixing in the People's Republic of China. The data collected at these field sites is embedded within the context of broader theoretical discussions on Buddhism, modernity, globalization, and the nation-state. By examining how one particular modern Buddhist religiosity that developed in a specific place moves into a global context, the book provides a fresh view of what constitutes both modern and contemporary Buddhism while also exploring the social, cultural, and religious fabrics that underlie the spatial configurations of globalization.

This book explores how to utilize Buddhism in psychotherapy and how Buddhism itself acts as a form of psychotherapy, using Buddhism practices as a lens for universal truth and wisdom rather than as aspects of a religion. Based on the author's over 30 years of study and practice with early Buddhism and his experiences of Buddhism with his patients, the book outlines a new form of psychotherapy incorporating three Buddhist principles: the properties of the body and mind, the principle of world's movement, and living with wisdom. This technique provides a unique perspective on mental health and offers new approaches for clinicians and researchers to effectively addressing mental health and well-being.

’n Stil gemoed verskyn oorspronklik in 1993 in Engels onder die titel Tranquil Mind. Die eerste Afrikaanse uitgawe verskyn in 1997, en die tyd is dus ryp vir ’n heruitgawe. ’n Stil gemoed is ’n eenvoudige inleiding tot die Boeddhisme en meditasie. Die Boeddhisme is wesenlik ’n aantal metodes om met die verstand en gemoed om te gaan. As ons hierdie metodes verstaan en op ons lewens toepas, sal hulle ons inherente vermoe om innerlike vrede, erbarming en wysheid te ervaar laat ontplooi deur die potensiaal van ons gees te ontwikkel. Mediteerders in die Weste ervaar unieke probleme as gevolg van hul kulturele, sosiale en sielkundige agtergrond. Aan die hand van sy uitgebreide akademiese en praktiese ervaring stel die skrywer van hierdie inleiding die onderwerp bekend op ’n manier wat met die invloede rekening hou.

This is a book about the body and its amazing contribution to the moral mind. The author focuses on the important roles the body plays in moral cognition. What happens to us when we observe moral violations, make moral judgments and engage in moral actions? How does the body affect our moral decisions and shape our moral dispositions? Can embodied moral psychology be consistently pursued as a viable alternative to disembodied traditions of moral philosophy? Is there any school of philosophy where the body is discussed as the underlying foundation of moral judgment and action? To answer these questions, the author analyzes Confucian philosophy as an intriguing and insightful example of embodied moral psychology.

Chinese Buddhists have never remained stationary. They have always been on the move. In Monks in Motion, Jack Meng-Tat Chia explores why Buddhist monks migrated from China to Southeast Asia, and how they participated in transregional Buddhist networks across the South China Sea. This book tells the story of three prominent monks Chuk Mor (1913-2002), Yen Pei (1917-1996), and Ashin Jinarakkhita (1923-2002) and examines the connected history of Buddhist communities in China and maritime Southeast Asia in the twentieth century. Monks in Motion is the first book to offer a history of what Chia terms "South China Sea Buddhism," referring to a Buddhism that emerged from a swirl of correspondence networks, forced exiles, voluntary visits, evangelizing missions, institution-building campaigns, and the organizational efforts of countless Chinese and Chinese diasporic Buddhist monks. Drawing on multilingual research conducted in Indonesia, Malaysia, Singapore, China, Hong Kong, and Taiwan, Chia challenges the conventional categories of "Chinese Buddhism" and "Southeast Asian Buddhism" by focusing on the lesser-known-yet no less significant-Chinese Buddhist communities of maritime Southeast Asia. By crossing the artificial spatial frontier between China and Southeast Asia, Monks in Motion breaks new ground, bringing Southeast Asia into the study of Chinese Buddhism and Chinese Buddhism into the study of Southeast Asia.

Read the story of two worlds that converge: one of Hindu immigrants in America who want to preserve their traditions and pass them on to their children in a new and foreign land, and one of American spiritual seekers who find that the traditions of India fulfil their most deeply held aspirations. Learn about the theoretical approaches to Hinduism in America, the question of orientalism, and "the invention of Hinduism." The book discusses: * the history of Hinduism and its journey to America * how concepts like karma, rebirth, meditation and yoga have infiltrated and influenced the American consciousness * Hindu temples in North America * the influence of Hinduism on vegetarianism and religious pluralism * the emergence of an increasingly assertive socially and politically active American Hinduism. Hinduism in America contains 30 images, chapter summaries, a glossary, study questions, and suggestions for further reading.

"The purpose of a reclusive monk such as myself audaciously presenting a volume like this is to transmit the True Dharma and the Great Compassion of Buddha. In doing this, I wish to highlight the fact that the "Heart Sutra" is an outstanding guidebook for the path to liberation and for the practice of the Buddha Way. This sutra describes the Ultimate Path in a most straightforward manner. I would like you to know that by exerting yourself daily in the way it describes the time will come without a doubt when the results of your effort will manifest."

-Master Kido Inoue

To fully understand the meaning of the "Heart Sutra," one cannot simply follow, or have faith in what it is says, without detailed analysis. "The Heart Sutra" cannot be fully grasped with pure intellect alone. Practicing the True Way requires you to throw away all things and to forget the ego.

When the words are approached with both the mind and the heart, its full understanding will naturally be revealed through practice. Because of this, the guidance of a real Dharma Master (or Roshi)-such as Master Kido Inoue-is required. Here, he shares his teachings in a straightforward and honest fashion.

The centrality of death rituals has rarely been documented in anthropologically informed studies of Buddhism. Bringing together a range of perspectives including ethnographic, textual, historical and theoretically informed accounts, this edited volume presents the diversity of the Buddhist funeral cultures of mainland Southeast Asia and China. While the contributions show that the ideas and ritual practices related to death are continuously transformed in local contexts through political and social changes, they also highlight the continuities of funeral cultures. The studies are based on long-term fieldwork and covering material from Theravada Buddhism in Burma, Laos, Thailand, Cambodia and various regions of Chinese Buddhism, both on the mainland and in the Southeast Asian diasporas. Topics such as bad death, the feeding of ghosts, pollution through death, and the ritual regeneration of life show how Buddhist cultures deal with death as a universal phenomenon of human culture.

This book examines the use of Buddhist ideas, particularly mindfulness, to manage a broad spectrum of emotions and to address social and economic issues impacting the world, such as climate change. Beginning with a brief history of emotion studies, it highlights how recent developments in neuroscience and cognitive science have paved the way for exploring the utility of Buddhist concepts in addressing various psychological and social problems in the world. It profiles a wide range of emotions from Western and Buddhist perspectives including anger, sadness, depression, pride, and compassion, and analyses the integration of Buddhist ideas into modern clinical practice. Finally, the author demonstrates the utility of mindfulness in the regulation of emotions in various settings, including psychiatric clinics, schools, and businesses. Anchored in the Buddhist tradition this book this book provides a unique resource for students and scholars of counselling, psychotherapy, clinical psychology and philosophy.

China now attracts global attention in direct proportion to its increasing economic and geopolitical power. But for millennia, the philosophy which has shaped the soul of China is not modern Communism, or even new forms of capitalism, but rather Confucianism. And one of the most striking phenomena relating to China's ascendancy on the world stage is a burgeoning interest, throughout Asia and beyond, in the humanistic culture and values that underlie Chinese politics and finance: particularly the thought of Confucius passed on in the Analects. In this stimulating conversation, two leading thinkers from the Confucian and Buddhist traditions discuss the timely relevance of a rejuvenated Confucian ethics to some of the most urgent issues in the modern world: Sino/Japanese/US relations; the transformation of society through education and dialogue; and the role of world religions in promoting human flourishing. Exploring correspondences between the Confucian and Buddhist world-views, the interlocutors commit themselves to a view of spirituality and religion that, without blurring cultural difference, is focused above all on the 'universal heart': on harmony between people and nature that leads to peace and to a hopeful future for all humanity.