scholarly journals Ambedkar and the Buddha's Sangha: A Ground for Buddhist Ethics

2021 ◽  
Vol 2 (2) ◽  
pp. 265-280
Author(s):  
Timothy Loftus

The saṅgha is one of the three jewels of the Buddhist tradition. While undervalued in many other Anglophone iterations of Buddhist modernism, Ambedkar’s approach to Buddhism placed a reconceptualized saṅgha at the center. Where traditional accounts often limit the boundaries of saṅgha to ordained monks and nuns, Ambedkar sought to include all lay Buddhists within its frame. He suggests that the role of the saṅgha is not, as many traditional accounts might suggest, the personal liberation of the monks and nuns who join it, but instead social service directed toward the community at large. Ambedkar’s commitment to the development of a religion that champions egalitarianism naturally lead to his inclusion of women as full participants in his image of the saṅgha, despite the historically patriarchal limits placed on them in many traditional Buddhist settings. This wide-tent approach to the saṅgha, along with its emphasis on service and egalitarian principles, are defining features of Ambedkar’s unique approach the Buddhist tradition.

2015 ◽  
Vol 31 (2) ◽  
pp. 215-240
Author(s):  
Eran Laish

This article focuses on the main contemplative principles of the ‘Heart Essence’ (sNying thig), a Tibetan Buddhist tradition that is characterized by a vision of non-duality and primordial wholeness. Due to this vision, which asserts an original reality that is not divided into perceiving subject and perceived object, the ‘Heart Essence’ advocates a contemplative practice that undermines the usual intuitions of temporality and enclosed selfhood. Hence, unlike the common principles of intentional praxis, such as deliberate concentration and gradual purification, the ‘Heart Essence’ affirms four contemplative principles of non-objectiveness, openness, spontaneity and singleness. As these principles transcend intentionality, temporality, and multiplicity, they are seen to directly disclose the nature of primordial awareness, in which the meanings of knowing and being are radically transformed. Therefore, the article will also consider the role of these non-dual contemplative principles in deeply changing our understanding of being and knowing alike.


Author(s):  
Ruth Gamble

Chapter 2 examines lineages in Tibetan society and the Buddhist tradition and explains how they influenced the development of Tibet’s reincarnation lineages. It begins by explaining the role of family lineages in thirteenth-century Tibet, describing how lineages helped form identities, created links between people, and served as a mechanism for inheritance. It then examines the three main forms of Buddhist lineages—monastic, Mahāyāna, and Tantric—and shows how these lineages were often intermingled with Tibetan family lineages and inheritance practices. The chapter ends by outlining how lineages associated with manifestation, particularly lineages associated with Avalokiteśvara, underpinned claims by Tibetans to be the manifestation of this bodhisattva and other celestial beings. This chapter also explains how the Karmapas’ reincarnation lineage, traditions, and institutions were presented not as a break from other lineages but as an extension of them, and it highlights the close relationship between lineages and specific places.


Following on Felice Perlmutter's work on the managerial role of social workers in social services, this article contributes to the still limited knowledge on the role of social workers in middle-management positions in formulating new policies `on the ground`. The study expands knowledge about policies determined by team managers in local social service departments in Israel. It occurs in the nexus between street-level bureaucracy, professionalism and managerial positions. Semi-structured interviews with 28 team managers revealed that they formulated `new` policies with regard to the provision of psychosocial services and material assistance (who gets what, when and how). This occurs when they resist official policy, when it is vague or non-existent. Most of their policy decisions are not documented and draw upon consultations with colleagues and superiors though not with clients. The team managers perceive these policies as a means for achieving balance between clients' well-being and budgetary constraints. Yet their decisions lack transparency, are decided upon without public discourse and may lead to greater inequity between clients


2017 ◽  
Vol 16 (2) ◽  
pp. 313-333
Author(s):  
Lydia Catedral

Abstract This study investigates the relationship between Russian language use and language planning in the context of newly independent, post-soviet Uzbekistan (1991–1992). It is guided by the question: In what ways does the use of Russian loanwords in Uzbek language newspapers accomplish language planning in newly independent Uzbekistan? The main finding from this analysis is that post-independence use of Russian loanwords from particular semantic classes in particular contexts reinforce overtly stated ideologies about Russian and construct difference between soviet Uzbekistan and independent Uzbekistan. These findings demonstrate the need to reexamine the role of Russian language in post-soviet contexts, and they contribute a unique approach to analyzing links between lexical items and ideology in language planning.


Author(s):  
John P. Ronnau ◽  
Christine R. Marlow

The role of family preservation services in preventing out-of-home placement of children is a hot topic in the social service arena. Family preservation has much to offer as an organizing framework for practice in that one of its core values is to emphasize strengths and diversity. The authors define family preservation and describe its application to at-risk families in poverty.


Author(s):  
Phramaha Pornchai Sripakdee

<p><em>In reality, man cannot live without communication; at least, he communicates something with himself, thoughts, for instance. In order to successfully communicate something as such, ethics concerning any kinds of communication should be taken into a critical examination; what kind of speech one should speak out, what kind of speech one should not speak out. In this article, an attempt was purposely made to discuss the role of Buddhist ethics and communication in the contemporary world crisis. In this, it is argued by Buddhist ethics that the communication should be subject to ethics because of man’s ideal life, without it, such communication will pose the danger to the chance in obtaining the goal, ideal life. </em></p>


2021 ◽  
Vol ahead-of-print (ahead-of-print) ◽  
Author(s):  
Ashish Pandey

Purpose This study aims to examine some of the commonly proposed deviants associated with the banking industry in the context of the capital structure puzzle. The paper considers the role of guarantees, information asymmetry and other frictional factors in the context of modern financial markets and examines whether these factors deserve special consideration in solving the capital structure puzzle for banks. Design/methodology/approach The authors adopt the argumentation theory model proposed by Toulmin (1958) as the methodological approach in this paper. Findings The findings from this paper demonstrate that any solution to the capital structure puzzle, whenever available, will also solve the capital structure puzzle for banks without additional efforts. The focus of future research should be on solving the generic capital structure puzzle for a universal set of firms rather than focusing on the banking industry as a subset with unique features. Originality/value The paper adopts a novel methodological approach offered by argumentation theory to pursue the enquiry. To the best of the knowledge, this paper is the first paper in the finance literature that uses argumentation theory to develop a theoretical construct. The finding from this study offers guidance for the proliferation of research paradigms in the capital structure puzzle.


Author(s):  
Martin Kämpchen

The focus of this chapter is on a comparison of the two educational systems—one, Odenwaldschule–Ecole d’Humanité, and second, Rabindranath Tagore’s school in Santiniketan. For both, the most important underlying principle was freedom of the students to express and develop themselves. The similarities between the two systems are obvious: emphasis on a natural life, the role of religion, of asceticism, of music and singing, of co-education, of the ritualizing of daily life, and the reverence of the child’s personality. The idea of seva (social service) distinguished Tagore’s school. The importance of manual work and of the crafts has an important place in Geheeb’s school, but not so much in Santiniketan.


2020 ◽  
Vol 12 (23) ◽  
pp. 9902
Author(s):  
WeiChung Huang ◽  
LiChung Jen

Place branding has become a fast-growing area of research in recent years due to the proliferation of technology and services facilitating travel. However, place-branding research has primarily focused on place promotion and image orchestration. The main purpose of this paper is to address the lack of place–product combination research and introduce a novel approach to extract and commercialize distinctive place elements such as colors. We examine the extent to which place atmospheric colors influence consumer decisions through priming. In addition, we look into the moderating role of a consumer characteristic, productivity orientation (PO), on atmospheric color to consumer decisions. Four studies are conducted in Luoyang, China, with 408 samples in pretest, 83 samples in Study 2, and 2361 samples in Study 3 and 4, to examine our hypotheses. The results support the hypothesis of atmospheric color priming: people are more likely to favor products that display colors similar to their surrounding environment. We also find that PO consumers are more likely to favor products that display color patterns similar to the surrounding environment than consumers under social influence. Drawing from a dynamic view of place branding, we provide a unique approach for scholars and practitioners to grasp the concepts of place marketing.


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