Contemporary Issues in Eastern Religions

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Contemporary Issues in Eastern Religions

For starters, ask yourself, are there really any "issues" between the modern world and Buddhism? What could they be? Perhaps there are "perceived" issues, but it may be best to focus on the interactions, which is based on information. To give you some ideas of what to write about, take a look at the article by Jay Garfield entitled, "Buddhism and Modernity."
This can be found here: www.smith.edu/philosophy/documents/BuddhismandModernity.pdf

Review Dr. Victor Gunasekara's highlights that reference Buddhism with Theistic Religions (God), Materialism, Science, and more:
http://www.buddhismtoday.com/english/buddha/Teachings/basicteaching11.htm

Other Resources to probe:

- How Buddhism Can Respond In the Modern World
http://thebuddhistcentre.com/birmingham/how-buddhism-can-respond-modern-world

- Robert H. N. Ho Family Foundation Center for Buddhist Studies at Stanford University (HCBSS)
http://hcbss.stanford.edu/content/stanford-resources-asian-studies

- Institute of Buddhist Studies
http://www.shin-ibs.edu/news-events/?p=469

What issue(s) or interactions would you choose to write about? The interactions between the modern world and Buddhism are many. For example, you could focus on science, which is what Donald Lopez did in an article published by the University of Chicago Press, that asks, "How do we compare Buddhism and science?" It goes to say:

"Perhaps the two simply rule over separate domains: the internal and external world respectively. This was the Dalai Lama's position in his early writings. More true to Tibetan Buddhism is the distinction between the ultimate truth of liberation, and conventional truths concerning the mundane world. But the line between Buddhism and science is not so easy to draw: Buddhism is ...