Four Places Where Buddhism Will Influence Western Culture (And Where Buddhism Will Be Influenced By It)

Date - 03/10/2017 | 16:00 - 18:00

The Jagiellonian University, the Institute for the Study of Religions Studies
ul.Grodzka 52  31-044


 

Speaker: Rev. Heng Sure Ph.D. – City of Ten Thousand Buddhas/ Dharma Realm Buddhist University, Ukiah , California

 

Historically, wherever Buddhism traveled it changed each new culture it encountered and was in turn changed by each culture. Western culture, with its emphasis on science, psychology, democracy and anthropocentrism will likely follow the pattern and feel the influence of Buddhism’s teachings. Here are four areas where that influence will perhaps first appear.

1) Science: Buddhism is the most science-friendly of the world’s great religions. The historical Buddha’s own search for liberation from suffering was conducted in an empirical method and a scientific approach characterizes many aspects of Buddhist cultivation.

2) Psychology: The historical Buddha, 2500 years ago, investigated the depths of his mind and left a paper trail of his explorations. His instructions and insights inspire contemporary neural researchers and psychotherapists alike.

3) Equality: “Every living being has the Buddha-nature and all can become Buddhas”; reported as the Buddha’s first words upon enlightenment, this teaching typifies Buddhism’s non-anthropogenic perspective. Instead of focusing on humans, or male-gender humans as the primary species, Buddhism’s radical view of equality takes all living beings as its axis.

4) Re-animating Nature: The Buddhist perspective of radical equality stitches humanity back into the web of life and heals the split between the individual and the environment. It reveals a view of nature as a community to be stewarded wisely, not a commodity to be plundered ruthlessly.

Event is free of charge