Buddhism and Islam: Past to Present Encounters and Interfaith Lessons

Numen ◽  
1995 ◽  
Vol 42 (2) ◽  
pp. 141-155 ◽  
Author(s):  
David Scott
Keyword(s):  
Central Asia ◽  
Social Action ◽  
The Other ◽  
The West ◽  
Common Concern ◽  
Se Asia ◽  
Central Asian ◽  
Political Perspective ◽  
Negative Images ◽  
Positive Images

AbstractThe paper deals with the encounter and ensuing responses that can be traced between Buddhism and Islam, during their centuries of contact across Asia (Anatolia, Iran, Central Asia, India), and more recently in the West. Within this panorama of history certain immediate overtly negative images of the other can be perceived in both traditions, manifested in terms of actions and literature. However some more positive images seem to have crystallised in Islam, particularly and significantly within the mystical Sufi streams that emerged in the East Iranian and Central Asian lands. Such historical patterns of confrontation, convergence and mysticism lead into the more modern second part of the study. A geographical-political perspective is first used, as the variations in their relationship in the various countries of SE Asia, and the British situation are noted. This is followed by a review of potential approaches between Islam and Buddhism in the current inter-faith dialogue arena. Whilst some doctrinal areas may be reconcilable (according to Cleary), it is primarily in other areas that more promising avenues of approach may be discerned. One is the area of ethics and social action on issues of common concern, as suggested by figures like Badawi, Gilliat, Askari and Vajiragnana. Another one is in contemplational areas of mysticism, as acknowledged by figures like Idries Shah. In both areas this can be echoed in greater clarity in the Christian-Buddhist dialogue. A further implication may be to bring out the need to view religions in functionalist and transformational terms, rather than culture bound doctrinal norms.

Problems of military-political interaction between the countries of the West and Central Asia at the turn of the XX–XXI centuries

2020 ◽  
pp. 27-33
Author(s):  
Boris G. Koybaev
Keyword(s):  
Central Asia ◽  
The United States ◽  
Military Bases ◽  
Islamic State ◽  
The West ◽  
Regional Environment ◽  
Western Influence ◽  
Central Asian ◽  
Political Interaction ◽  
The Military

Central Asia in recent history is a vast region with five Muslim States-new actors in modern international relations. The countries of Central Asia, having become sovereign States, at the turn of the XX–XXI centuries are trying to peaceful interaction not only with their underdeveloped neighbors, but also with the far-off prosperous West. At the same time, the United States and Western European countries, in their centrosilic ambitions, seek to increase their military and political presence in Central Asia and use the military bases of the region’s States as a springboard for supplying their troops during anti-terrorist and other operations. With the active support of the West, the Central Asian States were accepted as members of the United Nations. For monitoring and exerting diplomatic influence on the regional environment, the administration of the President of the Russian Federation H. W. Bush established U.S. embassies in all Central Asian States. Turkey, a NATO member and secular Islamic state, was used as a lever of indirect Western influence over Central Asian governments, and its model of successful development was presented as an example to follow.

Kazakstan and the Rest of Central Asia: Fifteen Shades of Difference

1998 ◽  
Vol 26 (3) ◽  
pp. 573-579 ◽  
Author(s):  
Michael Rywkin
Keyword(s):  
Central Asia ◽  
Past History ◽  
The Other ◽  
Geographic Position ◽  
Central Asian ◽  
Soviet Central Asia ◽  
Central Asian Republics

Kazakstan is both part of former Soviet Central Asia and yet stands apart in many respects. Its geographic position, past history and present development are unique for the area. It is significant that Soviet-era writings treated Kazakstan distinctly from the other four Central Asian republics. This essay is devoted to these differences.

Intraseasonal Teleconnection between the Summer Eurasian Wave Train and the Indian Monsoon*

2007 ◽  
Vol 20 (15) ◽  
pp. 3751-3767 ◽  
Author(s):  
Qinghua Ding ◽  
Bin Wang
Keyword(s):  
High Pressure ◽  
Central Asia ◽  
Summer Monsoon ◽  
Indian Summer Monsoon ◽  
Wave Train ◽  
Intraseasonal Variability ◽  
The Other ◽  
Vertical Shear ◽  
Central Asian ◽  
Northeastern Atlantic

Abstract This study investigated the most recurrent coupled pattern of intraseasonal variability between midlatitude circulation and the Indian summer monsoon (ISM). The leading singular vector decomposition (SVD) pattern reveals a significant, coupled intraseasonal variation between a Rossby wave train across the Eurasian continent and the summer monsoon convection in northwestern India and Pakistan (hereafter referred to as NISM). The wave train associated with an active phase of NISM rainfall displays two high pressure anomalies, one located over central Asia and the other over northeastern Asia. They are accompanied by increased rainfall over the western Siberia plain and northern China and decreased rainfall over the eastern Mediterranean Sea and southern Japan. The circulation of the wave train shows a barotropic structure everywhere except the anomalous central Asian high, located to the northwest of India, where a heat-induced baroclinic circulation structure dominates. The time-lagged SVD analysis shows that the midlatitude wave train originates from the northeastern Atlantic and traverses Europe to central Asia. The wave train enhances the upper-level high pressure and reinforces the convection over the NISM region; meanwhile, it propagates farther toward East Asia along the waveguide provided by the westerly jet. After an outbreak of NISM convection, the anomalous central Asian high retreats westward. Composite analysis suggests a coupling between the central Asian high and the convective fluctuation in the NISM. The significance of the midlatitude–ISM interaction is also revealed by the close resemblance between the individual empirical orthogonal functions and the coupled (SVD) modes of the midlatitude circulation and the ISM. It is hypothesized that the eastward and southward propagation of the wave train originating from the northeastern Atlantic contributes to the intraseasonal variability in the NISM by changing the intensity of the monsoonal easterly vertical shear and its associated moist dynamic instability. On the other hand, the rainfall variations over the NISM reinforce the variations of the central Asian high through the “monsoon–desert” mechanism, thus reenergizing the downstream propagation of the wave train. The coupling between the Eurasian wave train and NISM may be instrumental for understanding their interaction and can provide a way to predict the intraseasonal variations of the Indian summer monsoon and East Asian summer monsoon.

Nomad Migration in Central Asia

2007 ◽  
Author(s):  
KAZIM ABDULLAEV
Keyword(s):  
Central Asia ◽  
Second Century ◽  
The Other ◽  
Cultural Identities ◽  
Migration Routes ◽  
Central Asian ◽  
History Of ◽  
And Migration

This chapter examines the ethnic and cultural identities and migration routes of nomadic tribes in Central Asia. It explains that the migration of Central Asian nomads, particularly into Transoxiana, can be divided into two categories. One is the long trans-regional route ascribable to the migration of the Yuezhi tribe from the valley of Gansu to the territory north of the Oxus River, and the other is the local migration attributed to the tribes such as the Dahae, Sakaraules, and Appasiakes. The chapter suggests that the events which determined nomad migration are connected with the history of the northern and western borders of Han China in the second century BC.

Central Asia: West and East

2007 ◽  
Author(s):  
JOHN BOARDMAN
Keyword(s):  
Nineteenth Century ◽  
Central Asia ◽  
British India ◽  
Asian Studies ◽  
The West ◽  
Central Asian ◽  
History Of

This chapter discusses the interest of the west in the history of Central Asia. It explains that central Asia has been studied by many western scholars and explorers, including British archaeologist Aurel Stein and traveller Sir John de Maundeville. Central Asia figured prominently in the days of political concerns about the safety of British India in the nineteenth century and this generated the interest of scholars. Today, the boom in Central Asian studies is further encouraged by the presence in Britain of those who have worked in this field and the source of many new publications on both prehistoric and historic periods.

scholarly journals Tajikistan’s Perspective on Eurasia

2019 ◽  
Vol 75 (1) ◽  
pp. 100-107
Author(s):  
Jovid Ikromov
Keyword(s):  
South Asia ◽  
Central Asia ◽  
World Economy ◽  
Asian Countries ◽  
The West ◽  
Eurasian Continent ◽  
Central Asian ◽  
The World ◽  
Central Asian Countries

In this article, the place of Central Asia, particularly of Tajikistan, in the Eurasian continent has been examined. The slow and confident transfer of engine of the world economy from the West to the East and South increasing the role of the countries located between them. Located between Europe, Russia and South Asia, five Central Asian countries are interested in the development and participation in broader transcontinental trade and transit corridors connecting in all directions. Tajikistan has a unique opportunity to become a hub of trade and transit as it is located at the crossroads of growing ties between South and Central Asia.

Peasant Resistance in Ethiopia: the Case of Weyane

1984 ◽  
Vol 25 (1) ◽  
pp. 77-92 ◽  
Author(s):  
Gebru Tareke
Keyword(s):  
Social Action ◽  
Social Groups ◽  
The Other ◽  
The West ◽  
Political Autonomy ◽  
Social Basis ◽  
The Social ◽  
Pastoral Communities ◽  
The Government ◽  
Peasant Resistance

Weyane was a spontaneous, localized peasant uprising with limited objectives. It occurred in 1943 because several disaffected social groups in the eastern part of Tigrai believed that they could defeat or at least extract substantial concessions from a weak transitional government. The multiplicity of objectives roughly correspond to the divergent interests of the participants: the sectarian nobility wanted a greater share in the regional reallocation of power, the semi-pastoral communities of the lowlands were interested in pre-empting feudal incorporation, and the highland cultivators wanted to terminate the excessive demands of officialdom and militia. The convergence of these forces made Weyane possible; the disorganization of the ruling strata and the subsequent defection of a segment of the territorial nobility enormously enhanced the peasants' capacity for collective action. But this very heterogeneity comprised the peasants' objectives. The revolt lacked a coherent set of goals, nor did it have a specific program for social action. The rebels attacked neither the legitimacy of the monarchy nor the ideological basis of the Ethiopian aristocracy. In the end, Weyane buttressed the feudal order, and was probably instrumental in strengthening Ethiopia's neo-colonial link with the West. In the aftermath of rebellion, the Tigrai nobility did get its rights and prerogatives recognized, to the same extent that the nobility in the other northern provinces did. The government undercut the nobility's political autonomy, but paid the price of reinforcing their social position. On the other hand, in reaction to Weyane, the state destroyed the social basis of clan authority and autonomy, and reduced the Raya and Azebo to landless peasants. Weyane marked the end of conflict between centrifugal and centralizing forces, but did not eliminate the social roots of popular protest.

The “Imperial Minority”: An Interpretative Framework of the Russians in Kazakhstan in the 1990s

2008 ◽  
Vol 36 (1) ◽  
pp. 105-123 ◽  
Author(s):  
Sébastien Peyrouse
Keyword(s):  
Economic Growth ◽  
Political Parties ◽  
Central Asia ◽  
The Other ◽  
The Political ◽  
Central Asian ◽  
Near Abroad ◽  
Political Scene ◽  
Central Asian Republics ◽  
Interpretative Framework

This paper is devoted to the Russian minorities living in Central Asia (nearly 10 million people in 1989, about 5.5 million today), and more specifically to the Russians living in Kazakhstan, who constitute the main Russian minority in the near abroad, apart from Ukraine. Unlike the Russians living in the other Central Asian republics, Russians in Kazakhstan created political parties. Kazakhstan even experienced some significant secessionist trends in the mid-1990s. Today, the political, social and economic situation of the Russian minority is rather different. Since about 2 million Russians have left the country, those who remain have tried to find their niche within the economic growth that Kazakhstan has experienced since the 2000s. The political parties and associations that represented the interests of the Russian minority have largely disappeared from the political scene. The “Russian question” no longer threatens to destabilize the territorial integrity of the country.

Identity-building in Kazakhstan

2020 ◽  
Vol 65 (2) ◽  
pp. 327-358
Author(s):  
Alin Roman
Keyword(s):  
National Identity ◽  
Soviet Union ◽  
Central Asia ◽  
The Other ◽  
Internal Factors ◽  
The Soviet Union ◽  
Central Asian ◽  
The Republic ◽  
Central Asian Republics ◽  
Gradual Transformation

"As a young nation that came into existence following the collapse of the Soviet Union, the Republic of Kazakhstan undergoes a gradual transformation within its demographics. The issue of national identity within what was once an important and well-integrated part of the USSR continues to draw the involvement of its administrative apparatus that has to find the equilibrium between, on one hand, maintaining national integrity through various mechanisms and, on the other, managing the level of external and internal factors that may lead to the fate of its fellow Central-Asian republics. Keywords: nationalism, populism, Central Asia, statehood, post-Soviet identity"

Rock Carvings of Chariots in Transcaucasia, Central Asia and Outer Mongolia

1977 ◽  
Vol 43 ◽  
pp. 243-262 ◽  
Author(s):  
Mary Aiken Littauer
Keyword(s):  
Central Asia ◽  
The West ◽  
Full Publication ◽  
Central Asian ◽  
Central Asian Republics

Petroglyphs of light, spoked-wheeled chariots have recently been discovered in Armenia, in the Central Asian republics of Kazakhstan and Tadzhikistan and in the western Gobi. These will have to be considered in any future general surveys of chariotry. Although some have not yet received full publication, and although not all publications have been accessible to the author, the carvings seem too important to wait longer before being brought to the attention of the West. Lacking archaeological contexts, most of them have been dated only roughly by their publishers on the basis of typology. We shall not attempt here to appraise these datings, but by pointing to differences or similarities between these chariots and ones east or west, in both manner of rendering and in what is known of the actual construction of extant vehicles, we may provide greater means for doing so.

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