RE 3721: Topics in Religion: Asian Religious Traditions: Journal Articles

Abstract:
This article first briefly examines the textual structure of the Sakka Saṃyutta of the Pāli Saṃyutta-nikāya in conjunction with two other versions preserved in Chinese translation in Taishō vol. 2, nos 99 and 100. Then it compares the main teachings contained in the three versions. These three versions of this collection on the subject of Śakra, ruler of the gods, represent three different early Buddhist schools within the Sthavira branch. This comparative study of these three different versions focuses on some shared images of Śakra and on disagreements of some teachings presented in the three versions. It reveals similarities and significant differences in structure and doctrinal content, thus advancing the historical/critical study of early Buddhist doctrine in this area.

Abstract:
This article investigates some influences of Confucianism on Korean Christian family life, mainly based on Martina Deuchler’s highly elaborate sociological research. It examines some characteristics of Choseon society (1392–1910) in contrast to those of Koryeo society (918–1392), thereby enabling us to see more clearly how Confucianism had some influences on Christian family life in Korea, and to determine whether those influences were Confucian, Christian, or Confucian-Christian. In so doing, this article argues that, on the one hand, Korean Christianity has changed and transformed some previous neo-Confucian traditions and customs within family life. On the other hand, however, Korean Christianity might have strengthened, intensified, or at least justified neo-Confucian patrilineal traditions and customs in some areas of family life. Thus now it is time to reexamine the mutual influences and interrelations between Confucianism and Christianity, in order to transmit Christian faith to the next generation in Korea. This task is the more necessary because the Korean church today witnesses a steep decrease of the number of believers and especially of younger believers, and also an increase in the number of so-called “Canaan Believers” in Korea, namely, those who are “believing without belonging,” and because such changes are directly or indirectly related to the younger generation’s strong antipathy towards Korean Christianity’s traces of Confucianism and the patriarchal and hierarchical streams within it.

Abstract:
This paper introduces the concept of nothingness as used in classical Daoist philosophy, building upon contemporary scholarship by offering a uniquely phenomenological reading of the term. It will be argued that the Chinese word wu image bears upon two planes of reality concurrently: as ontological nothingness and as ontic nonbeing. Presenting wu in this dyadic manner is essential if we wish to avoid equating it with Dao itself, as many have been wont to do; rather, wu is the mystery that perpetually veils Dao while serving as the root and counter-balance to being, and yet, Dao also imbues things with wu to the extant that their physical makeup and usefulness, or lack thereof, can be traced back to their source in Dao. This does not only mean that Daoist cosmogony and metaphysics are inherently informed by nothingness/nonbeing instead of being/beings but that it works to unground all moral and epistemological norms in play, a feat no other school of thought in ancient China could accomplish.