This volume discusses contemporary Buddhist responses to religious diversity from Theravadin 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 Theravadin 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.
Buddhist Responses to Religious Diversity: Theravada and Tibetan Perspectives; Douglas Duckworth, Abraham Velez de Cea, and Elizabeth J. Harris (Editors); Equinox Publishing; Paperback; 200 pp; $32.00

Douglas Duckworth (editor) is Associate Professor at Temple University and the Director of Graduate Studies in the Department of Religion.

Abraham Velez de Cea (editor) is professor of Buddhism and World Religions at Eastern Kentucky University.

Elizabeth Harris (editor) is an Honorary Senior Research Fellow within the Cadbury Centre for the Public Understanding of Religion, University of Birmingham.

CONTENTS: Buddhist Responses to Religious Diversity
Acknowledgements			vii
Abbreviations			viii
Introduction Douglas Duckworth, Abraham Velez de Cea, and Elizabeth J. Harris			1
Section One: Buddhist Paths: One or Many?
1.	The Buddha and the Diversity of Spiritual Paths Bhikku Bodhi		5
2.	Was the Buddha an Exclusivist? Abraham Velez de Cea		23
3.	Paths of Liberation? Theravada Buddhist Attitudes to Religious Diversity Perry Schimidt-Leukel		46
4.	Openness towards the Religious Other in Buddhism Carola Roloff		63
Section Two: Buddhist Identity Politics
5.	Buddhism and the Religious Other: Twenty-First Century Dambulla and the Presence of Buddhist Exclusivism Elizabeth J. Harris		97
6.	The Contemporary Tibetan Buddhism Rime Response to Religious Diversity Rachel Pang		115
7.	How Nonsectarian is "Nonsectarian"?: Jorge Ferrer's Pluralist Alternative to Tibetan Buddhist Inclusivism Douglas Duckworth		129
8.	Buddhism and Beyond: The Question of Pluralism Douglas Duckworth		142
Section Three: Constructive Dialogue with Other Religions
9.	The Dalai Lama and Religious Diversity Abraham Velez de Cea		155
10.	Thoughts on Why, How, and What Buddhists Can Learn from Christian Theologians John Makransky		167
11.	Suffering and its Relief: A Buddhist Approach to Religious Pluralism Christopher Ives		187
12.	Religious Diversity and Dialogue: A Buddhist Perspective Asanga Tilakaratne		197
13.	Finding the Right Questions about Religious Diversity: What Buddhists Could Contribute to Discussions of Religious Diversity Rita Gross		212
Index			223