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This study will propose that Thich Nhat Hanh's (TNH) teaching possesses a powerful capability to propose a viable wisdom path/spirituality to people in today's secularized world, particularly, those who self-identify as SBNR (Spiritual but not Religious), 'Dones' (given up on religion), or 'Nones' (no religious affiliation). This capability stems principally from TNH's stated commitment to renew and refresh Buddhism by making it simple and practical in daily life while disavowing inordinate attachment to any doctrine, ideology, or teaching, an attitude that TNH considered idolatrous. TNH's way seems to be compatible with the widespread contemporary Western disillusionment with institutional religion that is ironically accompanied by a renewed quest for a meaningful spirituality. KEYWORDS: Thich Nhat Hanh, spirituality, secular, spiritual but not religious, religion of life, Don Cupitt, Roger Walsh, transconventional religion, religion as practice, INTRODUCTION: THICH NHAT HANH 'S WAY AS A VIABLE SPIRITUAL PATH FOR A SECULAR AGE The main point of this paper, simply put, is the following: Thich Nhat Hanh's (henceforward, [...]

What can Buddhism offer contemporary religious understandings of King Lear? Shakespeare's great wisdom play has been viewed, more often than not, as pessimistic, even nihilistic, in its tragic rendering of the human condition. A Buddhist perspective challenges the premises of such a bleak reading by offering profound insight into how suffering gives rise to compassion, empathy and wisdom, rather than despair. Focusing particularly on the enigmatic spirituality and moral function of Edgar, this article illuminates his character through the revered teachings of a classic Indian text of Mahayana Buddhism, Shantideva's Way of the Bodhisattva. Edgar appears in the heroic light of a bodhisattva, an enlightened being who seeks to alleviate the suffering of others. His journey exemplifies the human potential for moral transformation, selflessness and universal love in his responsiveness to the suffering of others who wander in a samsaric world of ignorance, attachment and aversion. Keywords: bodhisattva, Buddhism, compassion, Edgar, emptiness, King Lear, nothing, Shakespeare, Shantideva, Gloucester: Now, good sir, what are you? Edgar: A most poor man, made tame to fortune's blows, Who by the art of known and feeling sorrows Am pregnant to good [...]

This article focuses on women's place/space in Hong Kong with both deliberate attention to women's absence/presence in history and an aspiration to reinstall women's contribution to the place it deserves. Inspired by Derrida's dialectic between presence and absence, the author traces women's 'presence' through their deeds and voices from 'behind' and 'underneath' their historical 'absence.' As explained by Turner's liminality of religion as an 'in-between' space, the woman subject stretches her spatial map beyond the boundary of 'home.' Through their religious devotion, women cross from their 'designated' domestic confinement to the social and the private spheres, to the public sphere. The author draws on four women's cases, each from a religious tradition in Hong Kong--Christianity, Buddhism, Daoism, and Islam--to illustrate the various forms of negotiation they exercised in everyday life to find a subject in multiplicity. The gendered subject is never a monolithic essence but ever becoming. Keywords: Buddhist women, Chinese Muslim women, Daoist women, gender and religion, negotiated subject, Feminism starts with the women's place and asks why women have been comparatively unrecognized in history and society despite their vast contribution. Simone de Beauvoir addressed the question up-front through [...]

The categories of myth and history do not fit easily within Shinran's 'true essence of the Pure Land way.' Mythopoetic narratives in Shin Buddhism are circumscribed within the broader themes of teaching, practice, shinjin, and realization, which comprise that path. Pure Land narratives do not play the type of cosmogonic or etiological role accorded generally to myth. Some religious concerns associated with myth and history are addressed in Shinran's understanding of the dynamics of upaya. The retrieval of mythos in Shin Buddhism may yield a surplus of meaning in the realization of shinjin at the coalescence of myth and history. KEYWORDS: Amida Buddha, Dharmakara, History, Karma, Mahayana, Myth, Shinjin, Shinran, Shin Buddhism, upaya, INTRODUCTION Myth and history represent central categories of thought, faith, and life whether in seamless continuity or polar tension in many religious traditions throughout the world. I will suggest here [...]

In the field of interreligious dialogue, it is sometimes easier to find points of contact between the practical aspects of the major faith traditions, rather than focus on matters of philosophy or theology. This essay explores the possible commonality between monastic/religious life in Christianity and Buddhism as described in the foundation documents of the Franciscan and Theravada traditions. The particular focus will be the virtue (or vice, depending on one's perspective) of obedience. In Christian monastic tradition a common summary of the commitments made by a 'religious,' that is, a monk or nun, brother or sister, is the triple vow of poverty, chastity, and obedience (Latin: paupertas, castitas, and obedientia). These values are strongly represented in all Christian monastic rules. They were explicitly cited in the Rules of Saint Francis of Assisi (1182-1226). The question explored here is whether the practice of obedience as delineated in the Later Rule (the Regula Bullata, 1223) of St. Francis has any parallel in the Buddhist monastic code, known in the Theravada scriptural language of Pali as the Vinaya, and in the Dialogues of the Buddha, known as the Suttas. Areas to be explored include obedience to the teaching of the founders and their monastic rules, the process of reception into the monastic community, and the roles of preceptors, ministers, and spiritual guides. KEYWORDS: Obedience, friendship, vows, rule, vinaya, Theravada, Franciscan, friar, monk, bhikkhu, mendicant, preceptor, minister, INTRODUCTION Since the [Buddhist] monk, in essence, is a homeless, ascetic mendicant, the core of the higher ordination ceremony consists in taking the monastic vows of poverty, chastity, and homelessness. [...]