Studies in Buddhism ...

Special entry ... Liturgy for Japan and All Beings Touched by the Earthquake

From the Blue Mountain Lotus Society, Harrisburg,Pennsylvania - a liturgy in remembrance of the people who endured the 2011 earthquake-tsunami in Japan. It is a sensitive and graphic presentation of the scope of their suffering. We should all keep them in mind, as well as those who suffer similarly in other places – Chile, China, New Zealand, etc. The author is Rev. Virginia Parkum.

by DR. ALFRED BLOOM ...

Streams of Tradition: Buddhism, East to West (pdf file)
"Streams of Tradition" is a summary account of the development of Buddhism from India through its arising in East Asia and Tibet. It provides some background for the appearance of Shin Buddhism in Japan and hopefully will be helpful to those seeking an orientation to Buddhism and its teachings.

Also of interest:

Introduction: Religion in China (pdf file)
Introduction: Religion in Japan (pdf file)
Scanned chapters offer a background for Buddhism in East Asia, along with information on the meaning and significance of the religious faiths of China and Japan. SOURCE: "Religion and Man; India and Far Eastern Religious Traditions," by Alfred Bloom (NY: Harper & Row, 1971) pp. 139-282.

Engaged Shin Buddhism (pdf file)-- a series of essays about Engaged Shin Buddism

Engaged Shin Buddhism: Quotations on Buddhist Social awareness (pdf file)-- This gathering of quotations from various sources in Theravada and Mahayana Buddhism concerning Buddhist Social Awareness is not exhaustive but hopefully will give some suggestion of the Buddhist perspective. If readers know of other quotations that would apply, please send them to me and I will enter them. Thank you for your assistance. -- Rev. Dr. Al Bloom.

Shin Buddhism in Modern Culture course
Explores Shin Buddhism -- also known as Jodo Shinshu -- historically and in modern context.

Essays  ...

Topical

Understanding Buddhist Diversity
Understanding Buddhist Activism
Social and Religious Meaning of Nichiren
Understanding Nembutsu
Amida Buddha and the Ideal of Universal Salvation
The Buddhist Perspective on Human Fulfillment: The Pure Land
Understanding Karma and Transmigration in Buddhism
The Central Concept of Buddhism
Sudhana’s Quest: Learning and Buddhism
Kannon and the Ideal of Compassion
Buddhism and Healing
The Cosmic Faith of the Japanese
 

Comparison

Where Do I Go When I Die?: Christian and Buddhist Views
Salvation Christian and Buddhist
Amazing Grace: Christian and Buddhist
The Meaning of Faith in Buddhism and Christianity
Buddhism and Christianity: Interpreting A New Testament Passage
Buddhism and Atheism
 

by GALEN AMSTUTZ, PH.D. ...

Kiyozawa in Concord: A Historian Looks Again at Shin Buddhism in America (pdf file) -- This article appeared in The Eastern Buddhist (New Series, Volume 41-No. 1-2010 pp. 101-150). We are grateful to the Eastern Buddhist Society and the author for permission to post the article which will be very helpful in viewing issues concerning Shin Buddhism in the West.  

Galen Amstutz, Ph.D., grew up in an Asian-American neighborhood in Sacramento, California. He became interested in Buddhism after teaching English in Japan in the 1970s, studied at the Institute of Buddhist Studies in Berkeley, California, and qualified as a minister in the Nishi Honganji organization. Later, having continued his academic study with a Ph.D. in Asian Religions from Princeton, he worked for Florida State University, the Reischauer Institute of Japanese Studies at Harvard, and (in 2004-09) at Ryukoku University in Japan. He is currently active as an independent scholar in Boston while teaching online for the Institute of Buddhist Studies in Berkeley. He is particularly interested in the communication (or cross-cultural hermeneutical) problem posed by Shin Buddhism in the English-speaking world and has published a book on the issue ("Interpreting Amida: History and Orientalism in the Study of Pure Land Buddhism," SUNY 1997). He has published various articles on facets of Pure Land Buddhism. A new piece concerning a theory of what occurred historically in Shin, as well as references to some of his previous writing, will be forthcoming in the IBS journal Pacific World under the title "World Macrohistory and Shinran’s Literacy."

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