On the meanings of the terms dhāraṇī and mantra in the Buddhist written tradition

The article comprises an analysis of some of the most important terms in the Buddhist religious tradition – dhāraṇī and mantra. It is based upon research of the Buddhist canonical and post-canonical texts. Among others, the article sets to clarify whether it is possible to identify the terms of dhāraṇī and mantra also as ‘spells’, ‘incantations’ or ‘invocations’. Special attention is paid to the study of the semantic areas of the terms in question. This aims to clarify whether the dhāraṇī and mantra can be considered synonyms. The article also examines the approaches of Russian and foreign scholarly traditions, which interpreted the meaning of these terms. On a parallel basis, it analyzes the meaning of the term dhāraṇī recorded in Buddhist canonical and post-canonical texts. Additionally, the article comprises a research of the technical terms, which are synonymous for dhāraṇī and mantra, however, used in both authentic (Indian) and non-endemic zones and the relevant traditions, where the Buddhist teaching was also popular, i.e. in Tibet, China and Japan. As a result, the author concludes as follows. On the ‘popular level’ of the functioning of Buddhist doctrine (protection from illnesses, robbers, bites of poisonous snakes and insects, etc.) both terms dhāraṇī and mantra can be certainly bear the meaning as ‘spells’, ‘incantations’ or ‘invocations’. On the level of the meditative practice of the consciousness transformation, which aims to the final liberation from affects, both dhāraṇī and mantra function as a ‘mental construct’. On the one hand, they protect the ascetic consciousness they protect the ascetic consciosness (manas-tra) from afflictions, on the other, they provide the mental comprehension ‘grasping’ and firm holding (dhāraṇa) in memory of the aspects of religious doctrine, that, ultimately, leads to the Nirvāṇa obtaining. In both cases, dhāraṇī and mantra function as synonyms, with the only difference that dhāraṇī is a product of Buddhist ideologists who sought to identify a break from the previous religious tradition – Brahmanism.

Embodied Wisdom

This chapter takes up the central theme of early Mahayana Buddhism, the “perfection of wisdom” as a quest to experience the “emptiness” of all things, their impermanence, their contingency, and their lack of essence. This realization of “emptiness” is described as giving rise to a profound sense of fearlessness, and Vimalakirti links this capacity to the openness and selflessness of bodhisattva life. The chapter analyzes the Buddhist teaching of “no-self” as it appears in the sutra and describes what selfless living would be like, a life without interior compulsions, a kind of open receptivity to see the world without self-centered projections.

"Bodhisattva-icchantika": On the problem of the state of bodhisattva in Mahayana

According to Buddhist teaching icchantikas are sentient beings that cut off their roots of merit (abilities to free themselves from three basic vices, greed, hatred and ignorance). In Hinayana doctrine icchantikas are doomed to be in samsara forever, without hope of deliverance. But in Mahayana even those who had cut off their roots of merit can restore them due to the infinite compassion of bodhisattvas and attain nirvana at last. Bodhisattva, knowing the illusoriness of the difference between nirvana and samsara, rises above it and can act in samsara for the salvation of all sentient beings without losing the state of enlightenment. So bodhisattva is similar to icchantikas in that he intentionally refuses to leave samsara, but, unlike them, his motive is not depravity but great compassion (mahakaruna). Paradoxical phrase “bodhisattva-icchan-tika” is a rhetorical method aimed at the activation of hearer's or reader's attention in order to let him to fully comprehend the essence of the teaching and promote him to the attainment of nirvana.

The role of educators in education transformation and development of Buddhist students in the era of covid-19 pandemic

The outbreak of a new coronavirus disease 19 (covid-19) has caused global pandemic that lead to a dramatic changed of education system, including Buddhist education. During the covid-19 pandemic, Buddhist educators are required to made tireless efforts to maintain learning continuity. Besides, the educators also should be able to adapt new pedagogical concepts and modes of delivering their teaching. This research is carried out a literature study to explore the role of educators in the effort of education transformation and the development of Buddhist students in the covid-19 pandemic. It is found that those educators still face various kinds of obstacles that need to be solved, such as (1) lack of skill and knowledge to carry out the teaching and learning process properly in accordance with the situation of covid-19 pandemic situation; (2) the availability of Buddhist teaching-learning sources in Bahasa Indonesia; (3) frequent changes of the curriculum; and (4) low education budgets to conducted online teaching and learning process, particularly in the remote areas. The results of this study contribute practical insights for educators, especially Buddhist educators in maximizing their role to transform and develop Buddhist students in the covid-19 pandemic.

Buddhist Philosophy as Philosophy

Is Buddhist philosophy properly thought of as philosophy? The work of Buddhist thinkers such as Vasubandhu, Nāgārjuna, and Dharmakīrti is widely recognized as deploying the same sorts of tools to investigate the same sorts of topics as what one finds in the practices of academic philosophers in the early 21st century. Still there is resistance to incorporating Buddhist philosophical texts into the philosophy canon, and this both from “mainstream” academic philosophers and from Buddhologists (scholars of the Buddhist tradition). Current resistance can be traced to concerns over the soteriological context of Buddhist philosophizing. Those who wish to maintain the present Eurocentric focus of the philosophy canon suspect that the soteriological ends to which philosophical inquiry is put by Buddhists must compromise philosophy’s commitment to rationality and Buddhism’s commitment to its goal of salvation. Resistance from both sides thus presupposes that a spiritual practice necessarily involves commitments that are not rationally assessable. And this presupposition may be incompatible with the core Buddhist teaching of non-self. If this clears the way to including the Buddhist philosophical tradition in the canon, one must ask how this may affect the two parties to the project of fusion. A brief look at some recent missteps reveals that only if there is greater teamwork between philologically trained Buddhologists and scholars trained in (what currently counts as) “mainstream” academic philosophy can there be real progress. But the potential benefits—for both sides—may well justify the effort.

Kertarajasa Buddhist College Inter-religious Learning from the Perspective of Self-Study of Teaching Practice

Using the self-study of teaching practice (S-STP), this research examines the process of inter-religious learning at Kertarajasa Buddhist College. The S-STP applied to this study is a potential alternative to answer many teaching challenges that were left out by other educational research approaches. Due to the Covid-19 Pandemic, the courses of inter-religious learning were offered online. These courses were designed and taught by the first author who is a non-Buddhist teacher-educator works in a Buddhist teaching institution. The courses were delivered using various online learning tools, assisted with scaffold learning, and included guest lectures. In the learning process, students were given opportunity to interact with the instructor and guest lectures. The guest lectures are liyan (the others) and subject-matter experts. The interactions mean to develop students’ awareness of other religious communities and the room for them to experience the religious moderation. This study reveals that the S-STP provides scientific method for the instructor to study own teaching practices. The S-STP as a research approach enables the course instructor to reflect on opportunities and challenges on teaching. The research approach also enables the instructor to self-assess the professional development as a teacher-educator. Moreover, feedback from the critical friend unveiled strengths and weaknesses of the teaching that were possible unseen by the instructor.

Two Incarnations, One Person: The Complexity of Kim Iryŏp’s Life

Kim Iryŏp (Kim Wŏnju, 1896‒1971) was a pioneering feminist and prolific writer who left lay life to become a Buddhist nun. The bifurcation of her life between the secular and religious has generated two separate narratives, with Korean feminist studies focusing on Iryŏp as a revolutionary thinker and Buddhist studies centering on Iryŏp as an influential Buddhist nun. When divided this way, the biography of each career reads more simply. However, by including two significant but unexplored pieces of her history that traverse the two halves of her narrative, Iryŏp emerges as a more complex figure. The first is her forty-five-year relationship with the Buddhist monk Paek Sŏng’uk (1897‒1981). The second is how she extended some of her early feminism into monastic life but said little about the marginalization of nuns in Buddhism’s highly patriarchal system. In both her relationship with Paek and her feminism, Iryŏp drew on the Buddhist teaching of nonself, in which the “big I” is beyond gender. Thus, Iryŏp repositions herself as having attained big I, while Paek remained stuck in “small I.” Yet, while she finds equality with monks through an androgynous big I, none of her writings contest Korean Buddhism’s androcentric institutional structure.

Mathematical proof of the first stage of the law of karma that good deeds lead to happiness and bad deeds lead to suffering. What is buddha-“God” by buddhist religion understanding?

In this paper, we will prove the Buddhist teaching that good deeds/actionlead to happiness and bad deeds lead to suffering has a scientific verification by using an optimal control theory branch of mathematics.TheBuddhist teaching considers thatBuddha is a good mind/soul with information about good deeds or good karma. Here we will prove this view has scientific evidence as a theorem.

Buddhism in the worldview of the characters in Gaito Gazdanov's works

In the historical context of the total disintegration that occurred in Europe between 1920 and 1940, the Russian community abroad was particularly interested in Buddhism and the Buddhist worldview. This is connected with the general pessimistic atmosphere among Russian emigrants. Because of their disillusionment with harsh reality, many of them find consolation in Eastern religion to escape from the whirlwind of earthly existence. Such an unusual phenomenon wasnoticed by the young writer Gaito Gazdanov. The writer described this psychological phenomenon in his fiction. The main purpose of this article is to discover in Gazdanov's characters a psychological mindset closely linked to Buddhism. Accordingly, the aim of the study is to highlight the main characteristics of the Buddhist worldview in Gazdanov's characters, analyse the writer's perception of some Buddhist concepts and examine Gazdanov's attitude to the Buddhist teaching on life and superrealism. The material for the study is the novels An Evening at Clare's and The Return of the Buddha, meaningful in the early and mature periods of the writer's work. The analysis of the «Buddhist text» in Gazdanov's novels reveals a number of psychological traits in the characters that are similar to the category of Buddhism, such as detachment from the major history, deliberate alienation from the real world and dreamlike meditation as the main way of perceiving the world. At the same time, a number of Buddhist concepts, such as metempsychosis and nirvana, become the theme of the writer's work as well. This shows the mystical side of Gazdanov's work. However, the article concludes that the writer also warns of the danger and harm of the nihilism and indifference to life inherent in this Eastern religion, which eventually leads to the disappearance of the personality