Engaged Buddhism: Buddhist Liberation Movements in Asia (Tradition; 17; Garland Reference) - Softcover

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0791428443 ISBN 13: 9780791428443

Publisher: State University of New York Press, 1996

Synopsis

This is the first comprehensive study of socially and politically engaged Buddhism in the lands of its origin. Nine accounts of contemporary movements in India, Sri Lanka, Thailand, Tibet, Taiwan, Vietnam, and Japan are framed by interpretive essays. The historical development and institutional forms of engaged Buddhism are considered in the light of traditional Buddhist conceptions of morality, interdependence, and liberation; and Western ideas of freedom, human rights, and democracy. Engaged Buddhism presents ordained and lay Buddhist activists like Thich Nhat Hanh of Vietnam, Buddhadasa Bhikkhu and Sulak Sivaraksa of Thailand, A. T. Ariyaratne and the Sarvodaya Shramadana movement of Sri Lanka, Daisaku Ikeda and the Soka Gakkai movement of Japan, followers of the Indian Untouchable leader, Dr. B. R. Ambedkar, and Buddhist women throughout Asia. These leaders have campaigned relentlessly, attracted and organized millions of new converts, faced death threats, landed in jail, founded schools and universities, and produced a massive new Buddhist literature to restore social and economic justice to their societies.

About this title

About the Author

Sallie B. King heads the Department of Philosophy and Religion at James Madison University. She has been the recipient of several honors and awards, including a professional scholarship from the Japan Foundation and a summer stipend from the National Endowment for the Humanities. She has published many articles and is the author of Buddha Nature, also published by SUNY Press.

Edition details

• Publisher: State University of New York Press
• Publication date: 1996
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 0791428443
• ISBN 13: 9780791428443
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 460
• Editor: Queen Christopher S.