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This book highlights what Buddhism has to offer for "living well" here and now-for individuals, society as a whole, all sentient beings and the planet itself.
From the perspectives of a variety of Buddhist thinkers, the book evaluates what a good life is like, what is desirable for human society, and ways in which we should live in and with the natural world. By examining this-worldly Buddhist philosophy and movements in India, Sri Lanka, Bhutan, the Tibetan diaspora, Korea, Taiwan, Japan and the United States, the book assesses what Buddhists offer for the building of a good society. It explores the proposals and programs made by progressive and widely influential lay and monastic thinkers and activists, as well as the works of movement leaders such as Thich Nhat Hanh and Dr. B. R. Ambedkar, for the social, economic, political and environmental systems in their various countries.
Demonstrating that Buddhism is not solely a path for the realization of nirvana but also a way of living well here and now, this book will be of interest to researchers working on contemporary and modern Buddhism, Buddhism and society, Asian religion and Engaged Buddhism.
List of contents
Introduction Part I The Ancient Buddhist World 1. A Map of the Good Life: The Thirty-Eight Blessings of the Mangala Sutta 2. Compassion Blesses the Compassionate: The Basis of Human Flourishing in Buddhist Thought and Practice Part II The Contemporary Buddhist World 3. Ambedkar's Buddhist Vision: A Social Democratic Republic 4. The Good Life as Envisioned by A.T. Ariyaratne and the Sarvodaya Movement 5. The Development of Wellbeing: Gross National Happiness and Bhutan's Vision for the Ideal Society 6. The Good Life: A Tibetan Understanding 7. Venerable Pomnyun's Jungto Society: A Buddhist Activist Movement in South Korea 8. Thich Nhat Hanh and the Nonviolent Society 9. Tzu Chi: Buddhist Compassion Relief and the Bodhisattva Path to a Good Society 10. Japan's Soka Gakkai: Transforming the Human Spirit to Save Humanity from Itself 11. Gary Snyder's Vision 12. Mutual Morality: Joanna Macy's Vision of the Great Turning
About the author
Sallie B. King is Professor Emerita of Philosophy and Religion at James Madison University, USA and Affiliated Faculty at the Department of Theology and Religious Studies at Georgetown University, USA.
Summary
This book analyzes what Buddhism has to offer in envisioning the possibilities of "living well" here and now for individuals, society as a whole, all sentient beings and the planet itself.
Report
"This volume is a timely addition to the growing literature on Buddhist ethics, Buddhist modernism, and contemporary Buddhist social movements. Jenkins's lived-religion approach, and his theoretical push to think critically about the privileging of texts in Buddhist moral thought in particular, offer a new frame for thinking about questions of the Buddhist good life and Buddhist engagement as presented in part two of the volume. This volume will be of interest to scholars working in the field of contemporary Buddhist studies and is appropriate for assignment in graduate courses and upper-level undergraduate seminars." - Timothy Loftus, Journal of Buddhist Ethics
