Buddhist Modernism

Buddhism ◽  
2010 ◽  
Author(s):  
David L. McMahan
Keyword(s):  
Modern Science ◽  
Primary Sources ◽  
Western Modernity ◽  
Social Forms ◽  
Participation Of Women ◽  
Buddhist Modernism ◽  
European Colonization ◽  
Insight Meditation ◽  
The Buddha ◽  
The 19Th Century

Scholars have used a cluster of terms—“Protestant Buddhism,” “modern Buddhism,” and most commonly, “Buddhist modernism”—to refer to forms of Buddhism beginning in the 19th century that combined Buddhist ideas and practices with key discourses of Western modernity. They identify Buddhist modernism as characterized by an emphasis on texts, rationality, meditation, egalitarianism, and increased participation of women and laity, along with a deemphasis on ritual, dogma, clerical hierarchy, “superstition,” traditional cosmology, and icon worship. Buddhist modernism began in the context of European colonization and Christian missionization of peoples in Buddhist countries. It emerged both as a form of resistance to these forces and an appropriation of Western philosophy, religion, social forms, and ways of life, creating a hybrid of Buddhism and modern Western discourses and practices. It was a co-creation of educated, reform-minded Asian Buddhists and Western Orientalists and sympathizers, who presented Buddhism as rational and compatible with modern science, while at the same time drawing from rationalism’s critics, the Romantics and Transcendentalists, with their emphasis on interior exploration, creativity, and an organic, interdependent cosmos. Although novel in many ways, its advocates often claimed it went back to the original, “pure” Buddhism of the Buddha himself, prior to what many considered extraneous cultural accretions that had adhered to it over the centuries. It was more than just a return, however; it was a reformulation of Buddhist concepts in the categories, discourses, and vocabulary of Western modernity. Much of what is considered Buddhism today is inevitably part of, or at least deeply influenced by, these modernist forms that emerged over a century ago. Indeed, many 20th-century scholarly studies of Buddhism followed the modernists, assuming that this was “true Buddhism” and popular Buddhism on the ground was less than relevant. Only in recent decades have scholars begun to fully appreciate the modernity of these articulations of Buddhism against the backdrop of the great diversity of Buddhist traditions across Asia and throughout their long history. Recent iterations of Buddhist modernism include global lay meditation movements such as the Insight Meditation, or vipassanā, movement, modernist forms of Zen, and socially engaged Buddhism, which vigorously addresses political and social realities while liberally borrowing from Western political and social theory and the language of rights. The works below include scholarly analyses of Buddhist modernism and scholarly works that assume certain modernist perspectives (i.e., feminist analyses of Buddhism and socially engaged advocacy scholarship), along with a small sampling of primary sources (i.e., popular or apologetic works) that reveal Buddhist modernism from the inside and in its historical development.

"Marketocentric" Economics Is Obsolete

2004 ◽  
pp. 36-49 ◽  
Author(s):  
A. Buzgalin ◽  
A. Kolganov
Keyword(s):  
Economic Theory ◽  
Middle Ages ◽  
Modern Science ◽  
Economic Systems ◽  
Main Mode ◽  
Post Market ◽  
Market Relations ◽  
Post Industrial ◽  
The 19Th Century ◽  
The Universe

The "marketocentric" economic theory is now dominating in modern science (similar to Ptolemeus geocentric model of the Universe in the Middle Ages). But market economy is only one of different types of economic systems which became the main mode of resources allocation and motivation only in the end of the 19th century. Authors point to the necessity of the analysis of both pre-market and post-market relations. Transition towards the post-industrial neoeconomy requires "Copernical revolution" in economic theory, rejection of marketocentric orientation, which has become now not only less fruitful, but also dogmatically dangerous, leading to the conservation and reproduction of "market fundamentalism".

SOME CHARACTERISTICS OF CONTEMPORARY POLITICAL AND LEGAL DISCOURSE OF ETHNIC AND NATIONAL CONFLICTS IN RUSSIA

2020 ◽  
Vol 10 (4) ◽  
pp. 53-64
Author(s):  
ANDREY KURIUKIN ◽  
Keyword(s):  
Modern Science ◽  
Legal Discourse ◽  
Legal Regulation ◽  
Ethnic Relations ◽  
Soviet Society ◽  
The Russian Federation ◽  
The Russian Empire ◽  
New Research ◽  
The 19Th Century ◽  
Developing System

The issue of ethnic relations and the conflicts generated by them is acutely relevant. Many branches and directions of modern science study it. Political science and jurisprudence are in the foreground of the modern study of ethno-national conflictology. Over a long period of research, they have developed several influential approaches that have become widespread. The growing complexity of the surrounding political and legal reality, the escalation of conflict in society, including ethno-national, require the search and application of new research paradigms. One of these is the analysis of political and legal discourse, which consists in studying the ways of how legal meanings, ideas, opinions and preferences, which are carried by legislators, are technically and meaningfully embodied in the texts of normative acts, subsequently forming a specific political and legal reality. Analyzing the domestic ethno-conflictological political and legal discourse, the author concludes that in the era of the Russian Empire, the legalization of ethno-national relations had little attention from legislators, the documents adopted in the 19th century carried widespread ideas of the legislative theory and existed unchanged until 1917. The basic paradigm of the Soviet political and legal regulation of ethno-national relations was the ideological dogmas of the theorists of Marxism-Leninism, within which, in Soviet society, such a phenomenon as an ethno-national conflict was denied, but, in fact, existed. At the present stage, after the acute events of the second half of the 1980s - 1990s, a serious system of political and legal regulation of ethno-national relations was developed. It bore fruit. Today, the domestic political and legal regulation of ethno-national relations has the character of a developing system designed to adequately respond to changes. The article can be used to improve the state social and legal policy of the Russian Federation. Also, the materials presented can provide the interest of students, graduate students, teachers, researchers and other people who are interested in the current social, political and legal development of Russia.

Promoting astronomy in developing countries: an historical perspective

2006 ◽  
Vol 2 (SPS5) ◽  
pp. 21-24
Author(s):  
Rajesh Kochhar
Keyword(s):  
Geographical Area ◽  
Modern Science ◽  
Deficiency Syndrome ◽  
Multi Stage ◽  
The World ◽  
History Of ◽  
Mind Set ◽  
The 19Th Century ◽  
Astronomical Instrument

AbstractAny international effort to promote astronomy world wide today must necessarily take into account its cultural and historical component. The past few decades have ushered in an age, which we may call the Age of Cultural Copernicanism. In analogy with the cosmological principle that the universe has no preferred location or direction, Cultural Copernicanism would imply that no cultural or geographical area, or ethnic or social group, can be deemed to constitute a superior entity or a benchmark for judging or evaluating others.In this framework, astronomy (as well as science in general) is perceived as a multi-stage civilizational cumulus where each stage builds on the knowledge gained in the previous stages and in turn leads to the next. This framework however is a recent development. The 19th century historiography consciously projected modern science as a characteristic product of the Western civilization decoupled from and superior to its antecedents, with the implication that all material and ideological benefits arising from modern science were reserved for the West.As a reaction to this, the orientalized East has often tended to view modern science as “their” science, distance itself from its intellectual aspects, and seek to defend, protect and reinvent “our” science and the alleged (anti-science) Eastern mode of thought. This defensive mind-set works against the propagation of modern astronomy in most of the non-Western countries. There is thus a need to construct a history of world astronomy that is truly universal and unselfconscious.Similarly, the planetarium programs, for use the world over, should be culturally sensitive. The IAU can help produce cultural-specific modules. Equipped with this paradigmatic background, we can now address the question of actual means to be adopted for the task at hand. Astronomical activity requires a certain minimum level of industrial activity support. Long-term maintenance of astronomical equipment is not a trivial task. There are any number of examples of an expensive facility falling victim to AIDS: Astronomical Instrument Deficiency Syndrome. The facilities planned in different parts of the world should be commensurate with the absorbing power of the acceptor rather than the level of the gifter.

Participation of Women in Panchayati Raj: A Historical Perspective

2021 ◽  
Vol 8 (4) ◽  
pp. 61-69
Author(s):  
T Sudalai Moni
Keyword(s):  
Constitutional Amendment ◽  
State Governments ◽  
Women's Participation ◽  
Participation Of Women ◽  
The Status ◽  
National Perspective ◽  
The 19Th Century ◽  
Panchayati Raj ◽  
Women In India ◽  
Status Of Women

Panchayati Raj plays a formidable role in enhancing the status of women in India during post-Independent times. In the colonial regime, women were not given adequate opportunity to involve and participate in the affairs of local bodies. However, in the 19th century, women gradually participated in the Panchayati Raj bodies when they were formally included in the electoral roll. During post-independent Era, due to the implementation of the Ashok Mehta Committee (1978) recommendation, National Perspective Plan, and 30 percent reservations seats for women in panchayats, there has been a substantial increase in women’s participation at all the levels of the Panchayati Raj bodies. Subsequently, the 72nd Amendment Bill and the 73rd amendment introduced in our parliament recommended 33 percent quotas for women. Encouraged by this, women have come forward in an ever-increasing number to join hands with the activities of Panchayat Raj Institution.Consequently, Central and State Governments encouraged women by implementing the 73rd constitutional amendment in 1993 (adding Article 243D and 243T), which also extended the privilege of seat reservation for SC/ST women in the local bodies. Due to this positive impetus, there has been a perceptible improvement in women’s participation in the last two decades. Due to unrestrained encouragement, the participation of women in Panchayati Raj is highly effective; thus, across India, more than 26 lakhs of women representatives got elected in PRI. This paper attempts to delineate the gradual growth of women’s participation in the Panchayati Raj Institution in various states in India.

Samuel Ajayi Crowther, 1806–1891

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Oluwatoyin Oduntan
Keyword(s):  
West Africa ◽  
Sierra Leone ◽  
19Th Century ◽  
Slave Trade ◽  
The Other ◽  
Modern State ◽  
European Colonization ◽  
History Of ◽  
Christian Missionary ◽  
The 19Th Century

The case for narrating the history of slavery and emancipation through the biography of enslaved Africans is strongly supported by the life and experiences of Samuel Ajayi Crowther. Kidnapped into slavery in 1821, recaptured and settled in Sierra Leone in 1822, he became a missionary in 1845, founder of the Niger mission in 1857, and Bishop of the Niger Mission in 1864. His life and career covered the span of the 19th century during which revolutionary forces like jihadist revolutions, the abolition of the slave trade, the rise of a new Westernized elite, and European colonization created the roots of the modern state system in West Africa. He was intricately tied to the Christian Missionary Society (CMS), Britain’s antislavery evangelical movement, resulting in Ajayi becoming the poster face of slavery, its acclaimed product of abolitionism, the preeminent advocate of evangelical emancipation, and the organizer of practical emancipation in West Africa. The leader of a very small group of Africans who worked diligently against the slave trade and domestic slavery, Ajayi also became a victim of the use of that agenda by imperialists. Thus, the contrasts of his life (i.e., slavery/freedom, nationalist/hybrid, preacher/investor, leader/weakling, linguist/literalist, etc.) were celebrated by himself, his patrons, and his evangelical followers on one hand, and denounced by his critics on the other. They underline the disagreements over his legacy, and indeed over the understanding of the institution of slavery, abolition, and emancipation in West Africa.

Tobolsk Bishop's house in the 19th century.

2020 ◽  
Vol 12 (6) ◽  
pp. 72-80
Author(s):  
Natakia S. Kharina ◽  
Keyword(s):  
19Th Century ◽  
18Th Century ◽  
Modern Science ◽  
Political Influence ◽  
Church History ◽  
Cultural Development ◽  
The State ◽  
Record Keeping ◽  
Study Approach ◽  
The 19Th Century

The study of various aspects of the Russian Orthodox Church history continues to be significant and relevant in modern science. From the second half of 15th – beginning of 16th centuries, we can speak about the emergence of two issues that will become the major touch points of Church and State. The strengthening of the absolute monarchy in the 18th century leads to the emergence of a new bureaucratic system in the state administration. These changes will inevitably affect the Tobolsk Bishop's house, and the conditions which it was placed in after 1764 led to changes in the principles of its organization and a significant restructuring. Therefore, the research objective is to redesign the process of socio-economic, political and cultural development of the Tobolsk Bishop's house in the 19th century. Various types of sources were used for the study: legislative and regulatory acts, published and archived materials introduced into scientific circulation for the first time. Documents of management and record keeping of the Tobolsk Bishop's house occupy a special place, in particular the materials of the General paperwork management of Church institutions: ordinances, regulations, correspondence materials of local ecclesial authorities, reports of Siberian metropolitans to the Synod, etc. The study approach and methodological tools made it possible to achieve the goal and solve the research problems. The study shows that after the reform of 1764, the Tobolsk Bishop's house lost its former land holdings for a certain period, and like other diocesan departments, it was transferred to the state allowance. Diocese abolition to the episcopate, which deprived the former political influence, certainly had negative features. However, in the 19th century, there can be seen a gradual way out of the situation and the former possessions and property return, which to some extent allows to return to the former position of a large feudal lord of Western Siberia.

The Presence of Coloniality in Central American-American Fictions

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Oriel María Siu
Keyword(s):  
The United States ◽  
Caste System ◽  
Colonial Period ◽  
Central American ◽  
Social Body ◽  
Social Classification ◽  
Social Domination ◽  
European Colonization ◽  
And Migration ◽  
The 19Th Century

The Spanish invasion of 1492 was the first marker and constitutive element of coloniality. The presence of coloniality is critical for the explication and reflection on racialized and subalternized relations of dominance/subordination in the Americas and all other places affected by European colonization. In 1992, Peruvian sociologist Aníbal Quijano introduced the category of coloniality of power, further developed in 2000 by Walter Mignolo in his work Local Histories/Global Designs. Coloniality not only constituted a pattern of continual production of racialized identities, and an unequal hierarchy whereby European identities and knowledge were considered superior to all others in what amounted to a caste system; it also generated mechanisms of social domination that preserved this social classification into the present. Coloniality is not limited to the colonial period, which ended for most of Latin America in the first quarter of the 19th century. Despite political independences from Spain and Portugal, the pattern articulated by Quijano continues to our day, structuring processes of racialization, subalternization, and knowledge production. This is the reason Mignolo labels coloniality a “matrix of power.” The literature examined in this article concerns itself with revealing the markers of coloniality on the Central American social body in diaspora. This article contends that diasporic Central American literatures produced within the United States represent not only the experience of exile and migration, but also an experience of continued war and perpetual violence, as Central American bodies discover in this US diasporic landscape, the racialization of their bodies, and how they in turn become disposable as a result of their status.

Women in Angola

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Mariana P. Candido
Keyword(s):  
20Th Century ◽  
Primary Sources ◽  
Gender Inequalities ◽  
Family Separation ◽  
15Th Century ◽  
History Of ◽  
New Ideas ◽  
New Policies ◽  
Internal Pressures ◽  
The 19Th Century

European colonial powers established the contemporary boundaries of Angola during the Conference of Berlin (1884–1885). However, colonialism dates to the 15th century, when Portuguese merchants first contacted the Kingdom of Kongo along the Congo River and established early settlements in Luanda (1575) and Benguela (1617). Parts of the territories that became known as Angola in the early 20th century have a long history of interaction with the outside world, and as a result European primary sources provide much of the information available to historians. The reports, official correspondence, and diaries were produced by European men and are therefore problematic. However, by reading against the grain scholars can begin to understand how women lived in Angola before the 20th century. Some, such as Queen Njinga, had access to political power, and others, such as Dona Ana Joaquina dos Santos e Silva, enjoyed great wealth. Kimpa Vita was a prophet who led a movement of political and religious renewal and was killed as a result. Most women never appeared in historical documents but were fundamental to the economic and social existence of their communities as farmers, traders, artisans, mediums, and enslaved individuals. The end of the slave trade in the 1850s led to the expansion of the so-called legitimate trade and plantation economies, which privileged male labor while relying on women’s domestic contributions. The arrival of a larger number of missionaries, colonial troops, and Portuguese settlers by the end of the 19th century resulted in new policies that stimulated migration and family separation. It also introduced new ideas about morality, sexuality, and motherhood. Women resisted and joined anticolonial movements. After independence, decades of civil war increased forced displacement, gender imbalance, and sexual violence. The greater stability at the end of the armed conflict may favor the expansion of women’s organizations and internal pressures to address gender inequalities.

scholarly journals The African slave population of Portuguese India

2010 ◽  
Vol 25 (1) ◽  
pp. 95-119 ◽  
Author(s):  
Hugo C. Cardoso
Keyword(s):  
East Africa ◽  
19Th Century ◽  
Slave Trade ◽  
African Population ◽  
Primary Sources ◽  
African Slave ◽  
Population Displacement ◽  
Social Scale ◽  
The 19Th Century ◽  
Slave Population

This article is primarily concerned with quantifying the African(-born) population in the early Portuguese settlements in India and defining its linguistic profile, as a means to understand the extent and limitations of its impact on the emerging Indo-Portuguese creoles. Apart from long-established commercial links (including the slave trade) between East Africa and India, which could have facilitated linguistic interchange between the two regions, Smith (1984) and Clements (2000) also consider that the long African sojourn of all those travelling the Cape Route may have transported an African-developed pidgin to Asia. In this article, I concentrate on population displacement brought about by the slave trade. Published sources and data uncovered during archival research permit a characterisation of the African population in terms of (a) their numbers (relative to the overall population), (b) their origin, and (c) their position within the colonial social scale. The scenario that emerges for most territories of Portuguese India is that of a significant slave population distributed over the colonial households in small numbers, in what is best described as a ‘homestead society’ (Chaudenson 1992, 2001). It is also made evident that there was a steady influx of slave imports well into the 19th century, and that the Bantu-speaking regions of modern-day Mozambique were the primary sources of slaves for the trade with Portuguese India.

scholarly journals The Story of Vsevolod Ivanov’s “Return of the Buddha”: Symbolism of the Title

2020 ◽  
Vol 15 (2) ◽  
pp. 63-71
Author(s):  
Ranjana Banerjee
Keyword(s):  
Eastern Philosophy ◽  
Spiritual Journey ◽  
Spiritual Values ◽  
Spiritual Power ◽  
The West ◽  
Turbulent Times ◽  
First Millennium ◽  
The Subject ◽  
The Buddha ◽  
The 19Th Century

Since the 19th century, many writers and poets have shown interest in the spiritual values of the East, including India. Buddhism, the religious and philosophical teachings of Gautam Buddha, emerged in India in the First Millennium BC as a reaction against dogmas. It attracted the special attention of many Russian writers, from Leo Tolstoy to the most popular contemporary postmodernist writer, Victor Pelevin; often has been the subject of their creative work. The eminent writer from Siberia, Vsevolod Ivanov, holds a special place among these writers. Throughout his life, he engaged himself in the study of India and Indian spiritual teachings, including Buddhism. His admiration for Eastern philosophy (especially Buddhism) in all probability stemmed from the unique location of his Eurasian native land, which was the merging point of European and Asian culture. In the troubled years of early twentieth century, Vsevolod Ivanov was looking for a solution to the problems of the West (Russia) in Eastern philosophy, and some of his works were woven around this topic. The story “The Return of the Buddha” is one of them. The story deals with the physical and spiritual journey of a few during the turbulent times of the Civil war in Russia. The statue of Buddha is perceived in different ways by the characters accompanying it. For some, the statue signifies the supreme spiritual power, and for others, it is just one of the objects of the material world.

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