Western Buddhism: Tradition and Modernity

The idea of a fragmented, de-traditionalized society has been much discussed over recent years. While Anthony Giddens has suggested that the issues surrounding postmodernism and postmodernity do not constitute the end of modernism and modernity, there has been a significant disjunction in the modernist narrative. Indeed, the project of modernity has been instrumental in the perceived de-traditionalization of society through an intensification of globalization where local contexts are invaded by abstract systems. In this paper, using the existence of Buddhism in the West as an example, I argue that this does not signify the end of tradition as such. Introducing certain aspects of Theravada Buddhist philosophy as a means of comparison, I further argue that it is possible to reclaim a place for religion by suggesting that traditions may exist in their own cultural niches which appear throughout society; as well as at various times during the life of an individual. This I call a de-universalized society in which religious tradition persists, albeit not in an inclusive form.     

在传统与现代之间——凡特胡拉·古莱恩苏非主义思想简论

凡特胡拉·古莱恩是土耳其当代著名的学者和宗教活动家,其苏非主义思想既继承了新苏非主义的部分主张,又进行了适度变革,使苏非主义在内容、组织形式等方面具有一些新的特点.中间主义是古莱恩苏非思想的核心之所在,为穆斯林正确认识传统与现代以及二者的关系提供了新的视角.     

试析日本传统文化中蕴含的现代化因素--兼谈中日传统社会的差异

日本社会在短时期内迅速取得现代化的成功 ,其原因是多方面的。首先 ,日本封建社会类似于欧洲封建社会 ,始终没有真正建立起皇权至上的专制集权制度 ,政治呈多元化格局。其次 ,日本超家族的社会集团比较发达。还有 ,日本民族的自卑心理和实用主义价值观在吸收外来文化时起了特殊的作用。本文通过日本与欧洲、中国社会的比较分析 ,阐述了日本传统文化中蕴含的促进现代化发展的有利条件     

Meditation: The Forgotten Western Tradition

In this article we discuss aspects of the history of the demise of meditation in the West and its recent re-emergence as an Eastern system. Reasons for this phenomenon will be explored. The differences between Eastern and Western meditation, the psychology of meditation, research in the field, as well as applications of meditation to counseling will be discussed.     

藏族传统聚落形态与藏传佛教的世界观

藏族传统的聚落形态由于偏僻和远离现代生活要素,所以目前远未充分被主流文化所关注,但它对西部藏族来说却是世代相传的生存方式。本文认为聚落形态是被自然环境决定的,而宗教信仰则是维持这种形态的传统保障,体现的是藏族人民对恶劣的自然地理条件进行的主动适应。在未来社会中,藏族社区可望通过延续传统的聚落方式,来保护本民族的多样性,通过文化和生态的多样性与货币进行交换来参与现代化,形成在城市和农村两种社区形态之外的第三社区。     

Confucianism between Tradition and Modernity, Religion, and Secularization: Questions to Tu Weiming

The article discusses central assumptions of Tu Weiming’s program of overcoming the “enlightenment mentality” and throws a critical light on his conceptions of religious or spiritual Confucianism, of a Confucian modernity, and of the “multiple modernities” theory in general. It defends a unitary rather than multiple concept of modernity in terms of the realization of a morally controlled “principle of free subjectivity” and tries to show how Confucianism, understood as a secular ethics, could contribute to this goal.     

The Enlightenment of Fu Manchu: Buddhism and Western Detective Fiction

The Yellow Peril! … The peace of the world is at stake.     

Mental balance and well-being: building bridges between Buddhism and Western psychology

Clinical psychology has focused primarily on the diagnosis and treatment of mental disease, and only recently has scientific attention turned to understanding and cultivating positive mental health. The Buddhist tradition, on the other hand, has focused for over 2,500 years on cultivating exceptional states of mental well-being as well as identifying and treating psychological problems. This article attempts to draw on centuries of Buddhist experiential and theoretical inquiry as well as current Western experimental research to highlight specific themes that are particularly relevant to exploring the nature of mental health. Specifically, the authors discuss the nature of mental well-being and then present an innovative model of how to attain such well-being through the cultivation of four types of mental balance: conative, attentional, cognitive, and affective.     

Building more solid bridges between Buddhism and Western psychology

Introducing the ways of cultivating mental balance, B. A. Wallace and S. L. Shapiro attempted to build bridges between Buddhism and psychology. Their systematic categorization of Buddhist teachings and extensive review of empirical support from Western psychology are valuable for future study. However, it remains a matter of concern that some more profound parts of Buddhist philosophy can be disregarded by focusing only on practical aspects of Buddhism within the context of mental health. In this comment, the authors briefly address four substantial themes to be considered: reality, identity, causality, and logicality. They suggest that the way to interpret Buddhism as techniques for well-being would certainly be viable in encouraging the study of Buddhist teachings in psychology. Yet, such attempts should not result in superficial imports and applications of Buddhist practices but give due weight to the deeper philosophical issues to build more solid bridges between Buddhism and psychology.     

西方保守主义思想的传统观

本文旨在系统梳理西方主流保守主义思想家的传统观.保守主义者把传统作为体现历史延续性的道德和政治观念,传统是既定的、古老的和弥足珍贵的,传统所蕴含的社会知识乃是前人的洞察力和经验,维护传统方能维护客观道德秩序的真理.保守主义理论更深层的含义是关注社会变迁,保守主义者赞同缓慢的和渐进的变革,反对激进的全盘的变革.     

Islamization as a Strategy for Reconciliation between Modernity and Tradition: Examples from contemporary Arab Gulf states

The article analyses how Islam, traditions and modernity are socially negotiated and reconstructed in the Arab Gulf states under the influence of globalization and new communication technologies. Although these concepts are subjected to 'reifications', they are important in the official rhetoric for the legitimization of political power. The author bases her study on conventional anthropological fieldwork, as well as 'e-fieldwork' on the Internet/e-mails. The article presents the results of an e-survey on Gulf youths' attitudes towards modernization and Westernization, analyses 'freedom of speech in cyberspace' from discussions held on the Internet on politics and gender relations and finally gives examples from newspapers revealing the ambiguous attitude towards Islam, tradition and modernity in the public discourse. The conclusion is that Islamization is a strategy that incorporates both resistance to and accommodation of modernity, and could be viewed as the culturally accepted form of modernization in Muslim contexts. Islamization serves in the Gulf as a third alternative resolving the paradoxes between tradition and modernity as it creates a discourse of coalition between the traditional and modern discourses.     

Rethinking Ecology in the Western Philosophical Tradition: Heidegger and/on Aristotle

This paper offers a reading of Heidegger's 1931 lectures on Aristotle's Metaphysics, Theta 1-3 that relates that discussion to Heidegger's later work on The Question Concerning Technology and then, more briefly, to contemporary philosophical discussions of ecological issues. This reading is intended to open the possibility of using Heidegger's re-interpretation of Aristotle as a source within the Western European tradition for understanding our relationship to the natural world in a way that could provide the philosophical tools for addressing ecological problems more adequately and effectively.