This book adopts the format of the editorsÆ previous book, Buddhists Talk about Jesus, Christians Talk about the Buddha. In that book eight scholar-practitioners--four of them Buddhist and four Christian--explored their relationship to the great religious figure of the other tradition. Then the remaining contributors, two from each tradition, addressed themselves, rebuttal fashion, to the views expressed. In the new book the subject is the differences and similarities between Buddhist meditation and Christian prayer. What can a Christian, for example, learn from the mental and physical rigor of Buddhist meditative practice? What can a Buddhist learn from traditional Christian prayer? Can one mix distinct religious identity (Christian) with practice techniques associated with another religion (Buddhist) without compromising the religious specificity of either the identities or the techniques? Christian contributors include Frances S. Adeney, Mary Frohlich, Paul O. Ingram, Ursula King, Terry C. Muck, Yagi Seiichi, and Bardwell Smith. Buddhist contributors include Robert Aitken, Grace Burford, Rita Gross, John Makransky, Ken Tanaka, Robert Thurman, and Taitetsu Unno.

What does Jesus mean to a Buddhist, or the Buddha to a Christian? What is it about the Buddha that is appealing to a Christian, or unappealing? In this volume 12 scholars, six of them Christian and six of them Buddhists, speak simply and from the heart about their personal relationship to the great religious leader from the other tradition. The diversity of views within each tradition could be a shock to the average Buddhist or Christian on the street. Buddhists argue about Buddha's nature, Buddha veneration, and the role the Buddha plays in human liberation. Christians argue about Jesus' human and divine status, his uniqueness, and the role he plays in human salvation. The contributors celebrate the family likeness between Jesus and the Buddha, but they also acknowledge the differences as well, for it is at the points of difference that potentially there is the most opportunity for growth.

This book is intended to encourage the use of comparative theology in contemporary Buddhist-Christian dialogue as a new approach that would truly respect each religious tradition's uniqueness and make dialogue beneficial for all participants interested in a real theological exchange. As a result of the impasse reached by the current theologies of religions (exclusivism, inclusivism, and pluralism) in formulating a constructive approach in dialogue, this volume assesses the thought of the founding fathers of an academic Buddhist-Christian dialogue in search of clues that would encourage a comparativist approach. These founding fathers are considered to be three important representatives of the Kyoto School--Kitaro Nishida, Keiji Nishitani, and Masao Abe--and John Cobb, an American process theologian. The guiding line for assessing their views of dialogue is the concept of human perfection, as it is expressed by the original traditions in Mahayana Buddhism and Orthodox Christianity. Following Abe's methodology in dialogue, an Orthodox contribution to comparative theology proposes a reciprocal enrichment of traditions, not by syncretistic means, but by providing a better understanding and even correction of one's own tradition when considering it in the light of the other, while using internal resources for making the necessary corrections.

The essays in this volume focus on philosophical, theological, and structural aspects of contemporary BuddhistÐChristian dialogue in an effort to assess its potential as a source for the renewal and transformation of both traditions. Writing from differing assumptions, academic disciplines, and religious world views, the nine Christian and two Buddhist contributors are nevertheless agreed that interreligious dialogue can contribute meaningfully to our understanding of some of the profound issues arising out of modern selfÐconsciousness. Believing that the human community and its survival are threatened everywhere by secularism, they seek to show that the dialogue between Buddhists and Christians can provide not only insights but a conceptual framework for authentic living in the present age of religious pluralism. Each writer shares the conclusion that BuddhistÐChristian encounter is vitally important for a larger understanding of contemporary issues of selfÐidentity, evil, communication, and fulfillment.

Once upon a time, on grounds of both religion and common sense, people assumed that the earth was flat and that the sun literally rose and set each day. When newly developing knowledge made those beliefs untenable, giving them up was difficult. Today the belief that only one of the world's various religions is true for all people on earth is equivalent to the belief in a flat earth. Both notions have become untenable, given contemporary knowledge about religion. Even though many people are still troubled by the existence of religious diversity today, that diversity is a fact of life. Religious diversity should be no more troubling to religious people than the fact that the earth is round and circles the sun. This provocative book, based on the author's longtime practice of Buddhism and comparative study of religion, provides tools with which one can truly appreciate religious diversity as a gift and resource rather than as a deficiency or a problem to be overcome. After we accept diversity as inevitable and become comfortable with it, diversity always enriches life--both nature and culture.

It is possible to be a Christian Buddhist in the context of a universal belief that sits fairly lightly on both traditions. Ross Thompson takes especially seriously the aspects of each faith that seem incompatible with the other, no God and no soul in Buddhism, for example, and the need for grace and the historical atonement on the cross in Christianity. Buddhist Christianity can be no bland blend of the tamer aspects of both faiths, but must result from a wrestling of the seeming incompatibles, allowing each faith to shake the other to its very foundations. The author traces his personal journey through which his need for both faiths became painfully apparent. He explores the Buddha and Jesus through their teachings and the varied communities that flow from them, investigating their different understandings of suffering and wrong, self and liberation, meditation and prayer, cosmology and God or not? He concludes with a bold commitment to both faiths.

Buddhism and Christianity are ancient, rich, and multivalent wisdom spirituality traditions that often have insightful similarities as well as distinct perspectives from entirely different starting points. Fragrant Rivers of Wisdom explores some of these paths and encourages readers to gain, as far as is possible, a participant's appreciation of another faith. This book aims to help readers celebrate and enjoy the rich wisdom legacies of a teacher revealing a pure lotus blossoming from mud and the legacies of a peasant Jewish carpenter from Galilee revealing love on a cross. Both teachers share the power of love, the joys of healing encouragement, and the creative resources of spirit-filled living. Their ancient words and their modern communities still following these paths are dynamically relevant for our modern context of confusion and challenge.

In our postmodern, experience-oriented culture, people are longing for greater authenticity, integrity, and depth in their pastors and leaders. Board directors, church members, and staff alike are all eagerly seeking leaders who effectively integrate their spirituality and leadership. Pastors and executives, however, often struggle with knowing how to integrate their spiritual values and practices into their leadership and management roles. Designed for pastors, executives, administrators, managers, coordinators, and all who see themselves as leaders and who want to fulfill their God-given purpose, The Spirit-Led Leader addresses the critical fusion of spiritual life and leadership for those who not only want to see results, but who also desire to care just as deeply about who they are and how they lead as they do about what they produce and accomplish. Geoffrion creates a new vision for spiritual leadership as partly an art, partly a result of careful planning, and always a working of the grace of God

"This is a detailed exploration of Buddhist Christian dual belonging, engaging - from both Buddhist and Christian perspectives - the questions that arise, and drawing on extensive interviews with well-known individuals in the vanguard of this important and growing phenomenon. The issue is pressing insofar the last century has witnessed a gradual but profound transformation of the West's religious landscape. In today's context of diversity, people are often influenced by more than one religion. Multireligious identities are consequently on the rise. At one end of the spectrum are those who identify themselves as fully belonging to more than one tradition. One of the most prevalent combinations is Christianity and Buddhism This book addresses central and fundamental questions. How is it possible to be authentically Buddhist and authentically Christian when, for example, God is central to Christianity yet absent from Buddhism; when Christians have faith in Jesus Christ while Buddhists take refuge in the Buddha; when Christians hope for heaven and Buddhists hope for nirvana; and when Buddhists and Christians engage in different practices? Are those who identify themselves as belonging to both traditions profoundly irrational, religiously schizophrenic, or perhaps just spiritually superficial? Or is it possible somehow to reconcile the thought and practice of Buddhism and Christianity in such a way that one can be deeply committed to both? And if it is possible, will the influence of Buddhist Christians on each of these traditions be something to be regretted or celebrated?"--

"This Handbook provides a state-of-the-art exploration of several key dynamics in current studies of the Buddhist tradition with a focus on practice. Embodiment, materiality, emotion, and gender shape the way most Buddhists engage with their traditions, in contrast to popular representations of Buddhism as spiritual, disembodied, and largely devoid of ritual. This volume highlights how practice often represents a fluid, dynamic, and strategic means of defining identity and negotiating the challenges of everyday life. Essays explore the transformational aims of practices that require practitioners to move, gesture, and emote in prescribed ways, including the ways that scholars' own embodied practices are integral to their research methodology. The chapters are written by acknowledged experts in their respective subject areas and taken together offer an overview of current thinking in the field. The volume is of particular value to scholars who seek an orientation to current perspectives on important conceptual, theoretical, and methodological concerns that are shaping the field in areas outside their primary expertise. The inclusion of substantial, up-to-date bibliographies also makes the volume an important guide to current scholarship"--