Item Details

Buddhism and Beyond: The Question of Pluralism

Issue: Vol 4 No. 1 (2020) Buddhist Responses to Religious Diversity (Special Issue)

Journal: Interreligious Studies and Intercultural Theology

Subject Areas:

Abstract:

This article discusses Buddhist responses to religious diversity. I use the logical form of the tetralemma made famous by Nāgārjuna to clarify the ways that Buddhists can be seen to relate to other religions. With four alternatives, I discuss Buddhist claims to truth in terms of their being singularly absolute, one among many, both, and neither. As is evident in the presence of the third and fourth alternatives of the tetralemma, rigid dichotomies (like one and many, exclusivism and pluralism) are often false, for both (and neither) are live options. A key difference rests on the interpretation of ultimate truth, and in particular, whether the ultimate truth of emptiness is interpreted as a claim to the indeterminate nature of reality or its undetermined nature. The undetermined involves a participatory attitude of openness, and a healthy suspicion of preconceptions that determine and delimit the ultimate truth. Thus, the undetermined refers not so much to a descriptive truth, but rather to how one comports oneself in the world – with humility and openness. In parallel with this distinction between openness and certainty, I also spell out differences between claims and attitudes in an example from Tibetan traditions, with reference to the so-called “nonsectarian” (ris med) movement in particular. I argue that the difference between claims and attitudes can help clarify what it means to be “nonsectarian,” and thereby bridge the difference between maintaining an exclusively Buddhist claim and having an attitude that reaches beyond Buddhism.

Author: Douglas S. Duckworth

View Original Web Page

References :

Cabezón, José. 1992. A Dose of Emptiness. Albany, NY: State University of New York Press.

Clooney, Francis. 2010. Comparative Theology: Deep Learning Across Theological Borders. West Sussex, UK: Wiley-Blackwell. https://doi.org/10.1002/9781444318951

Dalai Lama. 2005. The Universe in a Single Atom: The Convergence of Science and Spirituality. New York: Morgan Road.

Dolgyal Shugden Research Society. 2014. Dolgyal Shugden: A History. New York: Tibet House.

Duckworth, Douglas. 2014. “How Nonsectarian is ‘Nonsectarian’?: Jorge
Ferrer’s Pluralist Alternative to Tibetan Buddhist Inclusivism.” Sophia 53(3): 339–348. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11841-013-0398-5

———. 2008. Mipam on Buddha-Nature. Albany, NY: State University of New York Press.

Ferrer, Jorge N. 2008. “Spiritual Knowing as Participatory Enaction.” In The
Participatory Turn: Spirituality, Mysticism, Religious studies, edited by Jorge N. Ferrer and Jacob Sherman, 135–169. Albany, NY: State University of New York Press.

Hopkins, Jeffrey. 2008. Tsong-kha-pa’s Final Exposition of Wisdom. Ithaca, NY: Snow Lion.

Kiblinger, Kristin Beise. 2005. Buddhist Inclusivism: Attitudes Towards Religious Others. Farnham: Ashgate.

Klein, Anne and Tenzin Wangyal. 2006. Unbounded Wholeness: Dzogchen, Bon, and the Logic of the Nonconceptual. Oxford: Oxford University Press. https://doi.org/10.1093/0195178491.001.0001

Longchenpa. 1996. White Lotus: Autocommentary of the Precious Wish-Fulfilling Treasury (theg pa chen po’i man ngag gi bstan bcos yid bzhin rin po che’imdzod kyi ’grel pa padma dkar po). In Seven Treasuries (mdzod bdun), Volume 7, 139–1544. (Tarthang Tulku ed.). Sichuan, China.

Lopez, Donald, ed. 2015. Norton’s Anthology of Buddhism. New York: W. W. Norton.

Makransky, John. 2008. “Buddhist Inclusivism: Reflections Toward a Contemporary Theology of Religions.” In Buddhist Attitudes Toward Other Religions, edited by Perry Schmidt-Leukel, 47–68. Germany: EOS.

Mipam. 1987a. Concise Summary of the Philosophical Systems in the Precious Wish-Fulfilling Treasury (yid bzhin mdzod kyi grub mtha’ bsdus pa). In Collected Works (Dilgo Khyentsé’s expanded redaction of sde dge edition), Volume 21, 439–500.

———. 1987b. Intelligent Presence (gnyug sems ’od gsal ba’i don la dpyad pa rdzogs pa chen po gzhi lam ’gras bu’i shan ’byed blo gros snang ba). Mipam’s Collected Works (Dilgo Khyentsé’s expanded redaction of sde dge edition), Volume 24, 411–566.

Sen, Amartya. 2006. Identity and Violence: The Illusion of Destiny. New York: W. W. Norton.

Thupten Jinpa. 2002. Self, Reality, and Reason in Tibetan Philosophy. London: RoutledgeCurzon.

Tsongkhapa. 2005. Middling Stages of the Path (lam rim ’bring). Bylakuppe, India: Sera Je Library.

Vélez de Cea, Abraham. 2013. The Buddha and Religious Diversity. Abingdon: Routledge. https://doi.org/10.4324/9780203072639