Offering a feminist analysis of foundational Buddhist texts, along with a Buddhist approach to social issues in a globalized world, Hsiao-Lan Hu revitalizes Buddhist social ethics for contemporary times. Hus feminist exegesis references the Nikaya-s from the Discourse Basket of the Pali Canon. These texts, among the earliest in the Buddhist canon, are considered to contain the sayings of the Buddha and his disciples and are recognized by all Buddhist schools. At the heart of the ethics that emerges is the Buddhist notion of interdependent co-arising, which addresses the sexism, classism, and frequent overemphasis on individual liberation, as opposed to communal well-being, for which Buddhism has been criticized. Hu notes the Buddhas challenge to social hierarchies during his life and compares the notion of non-Self to the poststructuralist feminist rejection of the autonomous subject, maintaining that neither dissolves moral responsibility or agency. Notions of kamma, nibbana, and dukkha (suffering) are discussed within the communal context offered by insights from interdependent co-arising and the Noble Eightfold Path. This work uniquely bridges the worlds of Buddhism, feminism, social ethics, and activism and will be of interest to scholars, students, and readers in all of these areas.
This Worldly Nibbana: A Buddhist-Feminist Social Ethic for Peacemaking in the Global Community, Hsiao-Lan Hu, SUNY Press, Hardcover, 250 pages, $75.00
Hsiao-Lan Hu is Assistant Professor of Religious Studies and of Women's and Gender Studies at the University of Detroit Mercy.
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CONTENTS: This Worldly Nibbana
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Acknowledgments
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ix
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1.
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Introduction
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Foundational Texts and Basic Teachings:
Nikaya-s in the Pali Canon
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8
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Dhammic Exegesis: Interdependent Co-Arising and the Cessation of Dukkha
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17
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Constructing Non-Adversarial Engaged Feminist-Buddhist Social Ethics
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24
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2.
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Socio-Ethical Dimensions of Early Buddhism
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31
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The Liberative Is Ethical: This-Worldly Wholesomeness
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32
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Good Friends: The Entire Holy Life
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42
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Four Assemblies of the
Sangha: De-Essentializing Social Hierarchies
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47
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Renunciates and Laity
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48
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Class and Gender
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55
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3.
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A Feminist Exegesis of Non-Self: Constitution of Personhood and Identity
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63
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Five Aggregates: The Constitution of Individual "Self"
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64
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Seeing "Non-Self" in the Making of Gender Identity
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72
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Subject Formation and Cultural Delimitation
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82
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4.
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Person-in-
Kammic-Network: Moral Agency and Social Responsibility
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91
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Kamma as Taught by the Buddha: Volitional Actions Here and Now
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93
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Global Co-Arising of
Dukkha
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110
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5.
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Buddhist Self-Reconditioning and Community-Building
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127
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The Three Learnings: Socially Conscionable Self-Reconditioning
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129
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Person-in-Community: Buddhist Community-Building Ideals
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144
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6.
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Conclusion: This-Worldly
Nibbana and Participatory Peacemaking
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159
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Boundary-Crossing Interconnections
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162
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Peace at Every Step
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170
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Notes
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179
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Bibliography
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215
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Index
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233
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