Buddhist roles in peacemaking : how Buddhism can contribute to sustainable peace

This volume is the fifth in a series about socially engaged Buddhism published by Blue Pine Books. The publisher adheres to high academic standards, requiring strict documentation of sources and coherence of ideas. Readers will find in these articles some of the best resources available for understanding socially engaged Buddhism and peacemaking. We live in a world of conflict. Even though theorists had believed scientific and technological advancement would end suffering, the applications of these developments had just as often perpetuated the problem. In contrast, Buddhism is widely thought of as a way of peace and tranquilly for individual practitioners. Drawing from Theravada and Mahayana traditions, this volume is a resource for thinking about and acting upon peacemaking from vital positions

Xuanzang’s Manual for Conferring the Bodhisattva Precepts

This is a translation of the Manual on the Procedures for Conferring the Bodhisattva Precepts (T.24.1499.1104c19- 1106b27) by Xuanzang (602-664) and the preface to it written by the monk Jingmai (T.24.1499.1106c3-29). Xuanzang was a Chinese monk and a translator of Buddhist scriptures. Although it is recorded that Xuanzang translated this manual in 649, he may have written it himself based on the Yoga-ca-- s rabhu-mi-s´astra in 100 fascicles. After travel through Central Asia and India from 629 (or 627?) to 645, he translated 75 Buddhist scriptures in 1,335 fascicles into Chinese, including a number of major Yoga-ca-ra Buddhist texts. He is said to have translated this manual in 649 at Dacien-si Temple in Chang’ an. Chinese Buddhists in particular and East Asian Buddhists in general adopted two major versions of Bodhisattva precepts, the version of the Chinese apocryphal Brahma- Net Su-tra’s Bodhisattva precepts containing ten major and forty-eight minor precepts and the version of Yoga-ca-ra Bodhisattva precepts from Indian Buddhism. Two major versions of the Yoga-ca-ra Bodhisattva precepts, Dharmaks, ema’s (385-433) version (T.24.1500.1107a2-1110a24) and Xuanzang’s version, are available. East Asian Buddhists generally adopted the Brahma- Net Su-tra’s Bodhisattva Precepts, ordained laypersons and monastics with these precepts and recited the precepts during two confession days per month. While Dharmaks.ema included just a list of Bodhisattva precepts in one text, Xuanzang made two texts, one explaining the procedures and another listing the precepts. Even though there are several English translations of the Brahma- Net Su-tra (T.24.1484.997b9-1010c23), there has been no English translation of Xuanzang’s manual or his precept list. Of the two Chinese versions of Yogaca- ra Bodhisattva precepts, made based primarily upon the fifteenth Chapter on Bodhisattva Precepts of the Section of Bodhisattva Stages of the Division of Original Stages of the Yoga-ca-rabhu-mi-s ´astra (T.30.1579.510c7-523a12), although the earlier version by Dharmaks, ema has been translated into English, the later version by Xuanzang has not been translated into English until now. The Xuanzang’s manual has the appearance of being the first fascicle of a longer document. The translators feel that Xuanzang might have included his list of four major and the forty-five minor Bodhisattva precepts (T.24.1501.1110b2-1115c22) as a second fascicle. More research is needed to discover when and why the two fascicles were divided in the Taisho- canon. Also, because the preface should logically come before the manual it introduces, for the current translation, the order of these has been switched from that found in the Taisho- edition. Again, more research is needed to discover when and why the preface section was placed after the manual section

Buddhist Exploration of Peace and Justice

Contains five speeches and twenty-three articles presented in the Fifth International Seminar on Buddhism and Leadership for Peace on the theme Exploration of Ways to Put Buddhist Thought into Social Practice for Peace and Justice. The seminar was held under the joint auspice of Dae Won Sa Buddhist Temple of Hawaii and the Korean Buddhist Research Institute of Dongguk University, 1991

The Korean Buddhist Nun Chiyul (Jiyul) and Ecofeminism: Hunger Strikes, the Lawsuit for Salamanders, and Walking Protests

Chiyul (b. 1957), a nun of the Chogye Order of Korean Buddhism, led protests against government construction of a KTX (Korea Train eXpress) tunnel passing through Mt. Ch’ŏnsŏng between 2002 and 2006 and participated in protests against the government’s nationwide four major rivers restoration project between 2008 and 2012, focusing on the Nakdong River. She has made serious efforts to protect environment as a nun in the culturally and institutionally sexist South Korean Buddhist order in particular and in the culturally, not institutionally, sexist South Korean society in general. She, when on hunger strikes five times totaling more than 341 days, filed along with environmental activists a lawsuit on behalf of salamanders living on the mountain and against the tunnel construction, and petitioned the government to take a proper environmental impact assessment. Although the courts would have accepted an unreasonable assessment of the environmental impact construction of the tunnel on the mountain and ruled in favor of the government\u27s project, Chiyul and environmental activists made Koreans pay attention to the importance of these and related issues through legal procedures. In her later protests against the government’s restoration project, she adopted more moderate walking protests than hunger strikes and lawsuits, possibly due to the failure to stop the government though her earlier radical protests

Buddhism, Uncertainty and Modernity in A Hometown in Heart

A Hometown in Heart (Maeumui gohyang, 1949), written by Ham Sedeok (1915-1950) and directed by Yun Yonggyu (b.1913), is said to be the first Korean Buddhist film. It depicts Buddhism in a remote mountain region without even electricity. The main character of the film, an orphaned child monk, must decide what to do with his life. This paper argues that the central aspect of the Buddhism-related symbols represent Korean tradition and that the supporting characters represent socio-political forces in post-liberation Korean society just after liberation, pulling the young generation of Koreans in various directions. In particular, the film centers on feelings of uncertainty, anxiety, and avoidance pressing challenges of a rapidly changing world. The authors explore what the film tells us about the filmmakers’ view of these anxieties and the role Buddhism plays in solving them. To this end, the article examines shared motifs found in Korean cinematic history. These motifs include the orphan, nostalgia, modernity, and karma. The article finds that while the film advocates breaking away from tradition to engage the modern industrialized world, it does so by supporting the notion that we all carry the most important aspects of Buddhism within our hearts. This is symbolized in the film by the Heart Sutra and the Red Lotus iconography of Mahayana Buddhism. The article concludes with a comparison of the period-specific elements in A Hometown in Heart and those in its 2002 remake, A Little Monk, directed by Ju Gyeongjung (b. 1959)

Xuanzang’s Text of Bodhisattva Precepts

A translation from the Chinese with annotations