Buddhist Responses to Religious Diversity: Theravāda and Tibetan Perspectives - Paperback

by Douglas Duckworth (Editor), Abraham Vélez de Cea (Editor), Elizabeth J. Harris (Editor)

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?

Buddhist Responses to Religious Diversity approaches these questions and others from perspectives representing Theravādin and Tibetan traditions of Buddhism.

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.

This volume brings together a spectrum of views that are not often found side-by-side or in a meaningful dialogue with each other. It breaks new ground to further understanding and constructive encounters across Buddhist traditions and between other religious traditions and Buddhists.

Author Biography

Douglas Duckworth is Associate Professor at Temple University and the Director of Graduate Studies in the Department of Religion. Abraham Velez de Cea is professor of Buddhism and World Religions at Eastern Kentucky University. Elizabeth Harris is an Honorary Senior Research Fellow within the Cadbury Centre for the Public Understanding of Religion, University of Birmingham.