Engaged Buddhism: Contemporary Buddhist Social Activism

27. Mai 2014

Eine Veranstaltung des Numata Zentrum für Buddhismuskunde und der  Akademie der Weltreligionen an der Universität Hamburg in Kooperation mit dem Tibetischen Zentrum e.V.

Buddhism is often seen as a religion of meditation and withdrawal from society. This is not an accurate image. Buddhists today are very active in society. One part of this engagement is a movement called “Engaged Buddhism.” Some of its leaders are very famous, such as the Dalai Lama and Thich Nhat Hanh. This movement, which is found all over the Buddhist world, engages with problems such as war, poverty and environmental destruction, on the basis of Buddhist ideals such as nonviolence and compassion for all.
This lecture will be an introduction to Engaged Buddhism. We will look at several of the actions of the Engaged Buddhists, focusing especially upon what is different about Buddhist ways of engaging with society’s problems.

Sallie B. King is Professor of Philosophy and Religion at James Madison University in the USA. She is best known for her research on Socially Engaged Buddhism which she considers the most important effort in today's world to put principled nonviolence into practice in confronting situations of war, invasion and tyranny. Her other scholarly interests focus upon Buddhism more broadly. She has a long-standing interest in the Buddhist concept of “Buddha Nature,” the Mahayana belief in the innate Buddhahood of all beings and another in translating the autobiographical stories of Buddhist women. An interest that pervades all of her work is in bringing the Buddhist world and the Western world of philosophy and religion into conversation with each other and in making each intelligible to the other.
She has served as President of the Society for Buddhist-Christian Studies and is active in the Peace Council, an international, interfaith peacemaking organization. She is the author of Buddha Nature (1991), Journey in Search of the Way: The Spiritual Autobiography of Satomi Myodo (1993), Being Benevolence: The Social Ethics of Engaged Buddhism (2005), Socially Engaged Buddhism (2009), and co-editor of Engaged Buddhism: Buddhist Liberation Movements in Asia (1996) and The Sound of Liberating Truth: Buddhist-Christian Dialogues in Honor of Frederick J. Streng (1999).

Zeit: Dienstag, 27 Mai, 2014, 18.15 Uhr
Veranstaltungsort: Uni Hamburg, Asien-Afrika-Institut, Edmund-Siemers-Allee 1, Ostflügel, Raum 221