This book is founded on the consensus that most of what passes for liberal studies and general education is so out of touch with today's world that it is simply beside the point. Not only does the curriculum fail to address contemporary reality, but when it does, it does so in such a fragmented form that little useful understanding can be extracted. For example, one of the chief inadequacies brought out by the text is the failure of current disciplines to deal with the inherent messiness and complexity of real world issues such as hunger, conflict, and pollution. As a result of this,...

Within the scope of the English-language literature on Buddhism, the codes of behavior mandated by Buddhist doctrine represent an infrequently discussed topic. The selections here consist of essays on Buddhism by 17 scholars and practitioners, who address the ongoing evolution of Buddhist doctrine as reflected in its cultural, temporal, political, and geographical accommodations from the earliest days, to the present, and into the future. Past precedent is used as a means of clarifying the precise role of the precepts in the modern world as Buddhists face the 21st century and continue to...

Too often Buddhism has been subjected to the Procrustean box of western thought, whereby it is stretched to fit fixed categories or had essential aspects lopped off to accommodate vastly different cultural norms and aims. After several generations of scholarly discussion in English-speaking communities, it is time to move to the next hermeneutical stage. Buddhist philosophy must be liberated from the confines of a quasi-religious stereotype and judged on its own merits. Hence this work will approach Chinese Buddhism as a philosophical tradition in its own right, not as an historical...