Suchergebnisse

"Space is dynamic, political and a cause of conflict. It bears the weight of human dreams and fears. Conflict is caused not only by spatial exclusivism but also by an inclusivism that seeks harmony through subordinating the particularity of the Other to the world view of the majority.This book uses the lens of space to examine inter-religious and inter-communal conflict in colonial and post-colonial Sri Lanka, demonstrating that the colonial can shed light on the post-colonial, particularly on post-war developments, post-May 2009, when Buddhist symbolism was controversially developed in the former, largely non-Buddhist, war zones. Using the concepts of exclusivism and inclusivist subordination, the book analyses the different imaginaries or world views that were present in colonial and post-1948 Sri Lanka, with particular reference to the ethnic or religious Other, and how these were expressed in space, influenced one another and engendered conflict. The book's use of insights from human geography, peace studies and secular iterations of the theology of religions breaks new ground, as does its narrative technique, which prioritizes voices from the nineteenth and twentieth centuries, and the author's fieldwork and personal observation in the twenty first. Through utilizing past and contemporary reflections on lived experience, informed by diverse religious world views, the book offers new insights into Sri Lanka's past and present. It will be of interest to an interdisciplinary audience in the fields of colonial and postcolonial studies; war and peace studies; security studies; religious studies; the study of religion; Buddhist Studies, mission studies, South Asian and Sri Lankan studies."--Provided by publisher.

In the middle of the twentieth century, a group of Sri Lankan Christians, from a diversity of churches, sought rapprochement with Buddhism, in the context of long-standing Buddhist mistrust of Christianity, conditioned by memory of the colonial period. They included Yohan Devananda, Vijaya Vidyasagara, Michael Rodrigo omi, and Aloysius Pieris sj. One face of this wish for rapprochement found expression in the performative. Devananda devised a 'New World Liturgy' for his Christian ashram that included Buddhist readings. Vidyasagara, through the Christian Workers Fellowship (CWF), helped create a Workers' Mass that used Buddhist terminology to highlight elements within Christianity. Rodrigo, who was murdered in 1987 whilst he was living in an entirely Buddhist village, expressed what he had learned from the Buddhists of this village in poetry and participated in Buddhist rituals and festivals. Pieris, at his research and dialogue centre, Tulana, invited Buddhist artists to interpret Christian themes through art. This article examines these examples against the backdrop of Buddhist mistrust of Christianity stemming from Sri Lanka's colonial past and explores the extent to which the expression of respect by Christians through the performative has transformed memory of the colonial period.

Valerie J. Roebuck (ed. and trans.), The Dhammapada. London and New York: Penguin, 2010. lxxiv + 246pp. ISBN: 978-0-140-44941-9 (pbk). £9.99/$15.

Buddhism, Conflict and Violence in Modern Sri Lanka, by Mahinda Deegalle (ed.). Abingdon: Oxon and New York: Routledge, 2006. xv + 277 pp., £75.00 (hb), ISBN10: 0-415-35920-1.

"This volume discusses contemporary Buddhist responses to religious diversity from Theravādin and Tibetan Buddhist perspectives. Buddhist attitudes toward other religious traditions (and its own) are unquestionably diverse, and have undergone changes throughout historical eras and geographic spaces, as Buddhists, and traditions Buddhists have encountered, continue to change (after all, all conditioned things are impermanent). The present time is a particularly dynamic moment to take stock of Buddhist attitudes toward religious others, as Buddhist identities are being renegotiated in unprecedented ways in our increasingly globalized age. Is it true that Buddhists are tolerant of other religions? To what extent are Buddhists tolerant? Is nirvana held to be attainable through Buddhism alone? If so, through which Buddhist tradition? This volume approaches these questions and others from perspectives representing Theravādin and Tibetan traditions of Buddhism. The chapters herein bring together a spectrum of views that are not often found side-by-side in a single volume or in a meaningful dialogue with each other, needless to mention with other religions. This volume seeks to remedy this situation, and break new ground to enable further dialogue, understanding, and constructive encounters across Buddhist traditions and between other religious traditions and Buddhists"--