Doctor of Philosophy, The Ohio State University, 2008, History of Art

During the 6th – 8th centuries, the Patola Sahi dynasty ruled the country of Bolor, which is Baltistan and Gilgit, in what is today, Northern Pakistan. Not only does the archaeological and literary evidence indicate that their kingdom was a Buddhist stronghold, but there are also a number of Buddhist artworks that can be attributed through inscriptions to a donation by members of the royal Patola Sahi family. This study focuses on these inscribed works and other extant visual culture of the Patola Sahi dynasty. It analyzes the major iconographic features and interprets them within a Buddhological context. As such, the findings suggest that the Patola Sahis were devout Buddhist practitioners, some of them adherents of early Vajrayana Buddhism. A contextualization of the iconography of the visual record reveals an underlying pattern of the primary benchmarks needed to portray a meditational construct of a sambhogakaya Buddha, in particular, Vairocana Buddha. The epigraphical and compositional components, particularly the frequent representation of the donors, are also examined for their significance to specific Buddhist teachings and practices. As such, it is evident that many of these donors were initiates into and practitioners of the esoteric teachings of the Vairocana Buddha. Specifically, the core elements of the practice of generosity and the three main components of the teaching transmissions in the Mahayana/ Vajrayana traditions – the receiver, the gift, and the giver – are repeated in various ways throughout the imagery. In addition, a contextualization of the patronage of Buddhism, specifically by the Patola Sahi kings, reveals that political aspirations and legitimizing forces were also part of their Buddhist practices. Both the visual and textual record underscore the support of Buddhism as a means for protection of the kingship and state, as well as a claim to both spiritual and secular power through their portrayal as divine dharmarajas, perhaps even inc (open full item for complete abstract)

Committee: John Huntington (Advisor) Subjects: Art History

Bachelor of Arts (BA), Ohio University, 2023, History

Thich Nhat Hanh and Thich Tri Quang were two Vietnamese Buddhist monks who were highly influential during the Vietnam War. Both Hanh and Quang would utilize a new type of Buddhism called “Engaged Buddhism” to combat the problems they faced during the war. The main difference between these two concepts lies within Engaged Buddhism's innate desire to enact change, which is not compatible with Buddhism's non-attachment values. Hanh implemented Engaged Buddhism through social work, literature, and peace activism, while Quang implemented Engaged Buddhism in politics. Though both Hanh and Quang's efforts witnessed varying degrees of success, Engaged Buddhism reached the peak of its influence during the Vietnam War.

Committee: Alec Holcombe (Advisor) Subjects: History

Doctor of Philosophy, The Ohio State University, 2020, Comparative Studies

Using ethnographic data collected in Yushu Tibetan Autonomous Region, Qinghai Province, People's Republic of China and diasporic communities in India and Nepal from 2016 to 2020, this work argues for an understanding of Buddhism based on female lay practice. Examining religious labor of the body, speech and mind as performed by lay women of a small region in Yushu, this work frames Buddhism as an embodied and contextualized practice that is deeply intertwined with political and economic realities. This work specifically examines practices such as circumambulation (Chapter 2), prostration (Chapter 3), mantra recitation and funerary services (Chapter 4) and faith as a transformative tool (Chapter 5), in the contemporary moment and in relation to specific economic, political and social circumstances. This work pushes back against multiple definitions of Buddhism as an intellectual philosophy of the mind, as a non-violent cultural product outside politics and economics and as an institution with vast differences between monastic and lay practice. It argues instead that `lived' and `vernacular' understandings of religious realization are equally important in the analysis of religious definitions and boundaries, that these boundaries should be drawn by engaging with contemporary practitioners and that women are theorists of their own religious practice. Rather than understanding lay women as a unique demographic performing religious work in contrast with monastic practice, the research presented in this work suggests that the divisions drawn between lay and monastic populations are often tactical separations and not reflective of contemporary realities. This work theorizes women's agency in a religious environment in which the idea of the self is ideologically unstable and considers what it means for women to labor, struggle and strive without a foundational belief in the stability of a self. This work argues that women conceive of religious labor as effective because it (open full item for complete abstract)

Committee: Hugh B Urban PhD (Advisor); Mark Bender PhD (Committee Member); Melissa Curley PhD (Committee Member) Subjects: Asian Studies; Cultural Anthropology; Ethnic Studies; Folklore; Gender; Gender Studies; Minority and Ethnic Groups; Modern History; Regional Studies; Religion; Religious History; Spirituality; Womens Studies

Doctor of Philosophy (PhD), Ohio University, 2018, Communication Studies (Communication)

Public advocacy and activism play an important role in shaping public culture and civil society. In modern Thailand and historical Siam, Buddhism has been a key factor in the social change processes shaping modern civil society, and rhetoric has been a key factor shaping this sphere of public life. This study examined two problems: (1) how contemporary Thai Buddhists justify their advocacy and activism in rhetorical practice--efforts that are under the duress of justification because of the expectation for monastics in particular to operate apolitically and the widespread false assumption that Buddhists are not concerned with social problems or public issues--and (2) how Thai Buddhists use rhetorical practice to influence the way we understand the issues they work on. To examine these problems, I used a combination of inductive approaches to rhetorical criticism and grounded theory methodology. I interviewed nineteen Theravada Buddhists and considered twelve various written but mostly spoken public statements made by the participants in the study. While I identified twenty sources of justification for engaging in social change efforts, I found participants' use of five of these rationales were particularly salient: (a) suffering (dukkha), (b) interdependence (paticcasamuppada), (c) loving-kindness (metta) / compassion (karuna), (d) duty / obligation, and (e) a text from the Mahavagga (1.11.1). Of the five, duty / obligation was the unifying theme of the other four in that each of the other four warranted a duty / obligation. I found that these five sources of justification operated rhetorically in one of three ways or in some combination of the three ways: (a) by producing identification with others, (b) by situating the social actors morally and ethically, or (c) by providing a credible basis from which to perform social action. In terms of the second research problem, I found a number of themes, but for practicality, in this project, I examined only one closely, n (open full item for complete abstract)

Committee: Raymie McKerrow (Advisor); Benjamin Bates (Committee Member); William Rawlins (Committee Member); Risa Whitson (Committee Member) Subjects: Asian Studies; Communication; Religion; Rhetoric; Social Research

MA, University of Cincinnati, 2007, Arts and Sciences : Geography

Tibetan Buddhism has been classified as an ethnic branch of the universalizing Buddhist system. It is inextricably tied to the culture, politics and people of Tibet, where it has been practiced almost exclusively for centuries. It spread beyond this region on a large scale only after the political annexation of Tibet in 1959. As of 2006, there were approximately 608 Tibetan Buddhist practice centers in the contiguous United States. This study seeks to examine whether the motivation for the spread of Tibetan Buddhism in the United States is a result of a continued political agenda on part of Tibetans and their supporters or whether it is a cultural phenomenon related to the increasing popularity of non-traditional religions. An analysis of the current locations of the Tibetan Buddhist practice centers would suggest that its diffusion is a result of American demand rather than the result of any political agenda.

Committee: Dr. Roger Selya (Advisor) Subjects:

Master of Arts, Miami University, 2006, Religion

This thesis explores the relationship between non-Indian Buddhists and the Indian Buddhist site Bodhgaya. Chapter one examines the account of the 7th century Chinese pilgrim Xuanzang, and argues that Bodhgaya functioned as a living relic, providing direct access to the Buddha's presence. In the second chapter, the effects of the decline of Buddhism in India are examined, leading to the conclusion that even before the fall of the Pala Dynasty, Bodhgaya had become a prominent element in the imagination of Buddhists who now relied more often on images and souvenir models of the site's temple rather than making pilgrimages to it. In the final chapter, the phenomenon of the construction of replicas of Bodhgaya's temple outside of India is offered as evidence that foreign Buddhists had both incorporated the presence of the Buddha into their history and inscribed the Indian sacred landscape onto their native lands.

Committee: Peter Williams (Advisor) Subjects:

Master of Arts, Miami University, 2004, Religion

Despite its importance to the legend of the Buddha's enlightenment and numerous Buddhist texts, a longitudinal, diachronic analysis of the symbol of Mara has never been done. This thesis aims to fill that gap by tracing the Evil One's development in three spheres. Chapter one deals with Mara in the Nikaya texts, in which the deity is portrayed as a malign being diametrically opposed to the Buddha and his teachings. Chapter two discusses how that representation changes to ambivalence in certain Mahayana sutras due to increased emphasis on the philosophical concepts of emptiness and non-duality. Finally, chapter three charts the results of a collision between the two differing representations of Mara in Southeast Asia. The concludes that the figure of Mara is malleable and reflects changes in doctrinal and sociological situations.

Committee: Elizabeth Wilson (Advisor) Subjects: Religion, History of

Master of Arts, The Ohio State University, 1962, Graduate School

Committee: Not Provided (Other) Subjects:

Bachelor of Arts, Wittenberg University, 2024, Psychology

This study focuses on the possibility of differing attitudes toward mental health between Buddhists, Muslims, and undergraduate students and how knowledge and framing effects might play a role in these attitudes. Participants were recruited for an online survey containing three distinct measures of mental health literacy, religious coping techniques, and attitudes toward mental health. Four tests found no significant differences in mental health literacy or attitudes between Buddhists and Muslims, and video framing was not found to affect mental health attitudes regardless of the participant's knowledge level, and Muslims tended to incorporate religious coping techniques much more frequently than Buddhists and the undergraduate sample. This study suggests that religious identity and coping preferences may be important to consider for the future of culturally competent therapeutic services.

Committee: Lauren Crane (Advisor); Stephanie Little (Committee Member); Travis Proctor (Committee Member) Subjects: Mental Health; Psychology; Religion

PHD, Kent State University, 2023, College of Arts and Sciences / Department of English

This study expounds the ways in which a contemporary group of writers of the English language have been, and are being, inspired to write and to teach writing through familiarity with a specific form of Zen Buddhist thought and practice developed from the relatively recent familiarization in both eastern and western populations to the prolific writings of Dogen Kigen, a 13th century Japanese Buddhist teacher and philosopher. Broadly speaking, this study is an inquiry into how individuals whose primary language is English come to find value in writing primarily as a personal practice. More specifically this study centers its attention on the writing of individuals whose motivation for writing comes from meaningful contact with Dogen Zenji, a thirteenth century Japanese Zen Master and author, and through that contact found themselves intent on writing from a recognition of a fundamental spirituality perceived in language and writing itself.

Committee: Brian Huot Dr. (Advisor) Subjects: American Studies; Asian American Studies; Asian Studies; Composition; History; Language; Literacy; Philosophy; Religion; Rhetoric

PHD, Kent State University, 2023, College of the Arts / School of Music, Hugh A. Glauser

Part I of the dissertation is comprised of a multi-movement composition featuring the erhu, and string orchestra. "Concerto for Erhu and String Orchestra" is influenced by my interest and continuous study of musics of the world. As a pupil of both ethnomusicology and composition, I seek the confluence of these disciplines as a result of my research, and therefore many of my works are influenced by non-Western music. The concerto follows this path. It takes influence from traditional and contemporary erhu repertoire, merging these influences with my own experience in Western music and creates an intercultural composition. This work not only features music of Chinese origins, but also features musical elements of African, Eastern European, Korean, Indonesian, and Brazilian music, as these are areas that I have focused on during my studies. My music is deeply influenced by my study of music from these different cultures and subtly weaves together references to these musics through my use rhythmic patterns, melodic tendencies, and harmonic relationships. Part II: We live in a globalized time in which there is a high degree of exchange of information and a rapidly increasing sense of collision of cultures, identities, and meanings. One arena where this is visible is new pieces commissioned from Indonesian composers by the Bandung Philharmonic, the first professional orchestra created in Bandung, Indonesia in 2015. The very nature of this project entails a high degree of consciousness on the part of the composers, who are aware of their Indonesian-ness and that they are writing for a historically Western ensemble. To what degree and how do these composers express their Indonesian-ness in their works and to what degree do they assimilate Western music and identity? The purpose of this document is to define a way of conducting intercultural analysis. This approach is sensitive to the emic meanings from each culture, but that eventually offers an etic readin (open full item for complete abstract)

Committee: Adam Roberts (Committee Co-Chair); Gustav Medicus (Committee Member); Jennifer Johnstone (Committee Member); Joshua Albrecht (Committee Co-Chair) Subjects: Asian Studies; Composition; Cultural Anthropology; Ethnic Studies; Multicultural Education; Music; Music Education; Pacific Rim Studies; Performing Arts

Master of Arts (MA), Ohio University, 0, Philosophy (Arts and Sciences)

The ethical teachings of Aristotle and the Roman Stoics occupy a prominent role in the history of virtue ethics, and its enduring influence on Western civilization. Both traditions deem the cultivation of a virtuous and disciplined character to be the basis of human flourishing, yet their views concerning the development and purpose of virtue, the proper end of human life, and the value of external goods, demonstrate significant incompatibilities. While Aristotle's teachings on virtue are part of a larger study on political science, whose proper end is collective human flourishing, the Stoics' teachings center on achieving personal tranquility, which involves detaching from matters beyond one's control. Although the Stoics offer a liberating alternative to the conditional happiness envisioned by Aristotle, which is dependent on external goods and admittedly not available to all, their extreme commitment to rational self-sufficiency entails a superficial account of the development of virtue, and a potentially unnatural apathy towards the fortunes of others, which is in conflict with the inherently social nature of human beings. A unique and promising solution to the Stoic doctrine's problematic implications comes from Buddhist philosophy, whose teachings, like those of the Stoics, emphasize the attainment of inner tranquility by overcoming attachments, while simultaneously preserving a benevolent concern for others.

Committee: Scott Carson (Committee Chair); Christoph Hanisch (Advisor); James Petrik (Advisor) Subjects: Philosophy

BA, Oberlin College, 2022, Art

Hair embroideries were an entirely female and Buddhist practice in late Imperial China, and thus operate within the bounds imposed on women by societal structures of economy and labor, and moral expectations of Confucianism and Buddhism. This was not a common practice and mostly limited to a few gentry women already connected to the art world through their husband or father (an already small demographic). Recent scholarship on Chinese Buddhist hair embroidered works by the art historian Li Yuhang analyzes them as objects of religious devotion and ritualized practice that involves repetition and incorporating the body to accumulate karmic merit, a core concept of Mahayana Buddhism. I study them both in the religious context and an added layer analyzing them as art objects to explore to what extent women possessed and exercised artistic agency in Buddhist hair embroideries. I explore the medium, iconography, and technique exhibited in the embroidered works that demonstrate artistic choice and innovation of technology.

Committee: Bonnie Cheng (Advisor); Andrew Macomber (Committee Member); Matthew Francis Rarey (Committee Chair) Subjects: Art History; Asian Studies; Religion

Doctor of Philosophy, The Ohio State University, 2021, East Asian Languages and Literatures

Kundokubun, the linguistic variety that arose from transposing and reciting Sinitic texts in Japanese, is as old as the act of reading itself in Japan. The religious and political classes who learned, copied, and propagated Buddhist sutras during the Heian period (794–1185 CE) used kundokubun when reciting them in Japanese. These sutras are presented as first-hand accounts narrated by someone who witnessed the Buddha addressing and conversing with a host of assembled followers. Although most of these sutras originated in India, they arrived in Japan in their Sinitic renditions. However, in translating these texts into Japanese, the monks had to read between the lines, both figuratively and literally. Figuratively, because Chinese does not express the same range of grammatical categories found in Japanese, such as those we find in the latter's complex agglutinative predicate morphology. To effectively communicate in Japanese, the translators had to add tense, aspect, modality, honorifics, and other markers to predicates and case particles to nouns. Literally, because in order to preserve their translations in writing they used diacritic markings between, and occasionally on, the source text's Chinese characters to denote the appropriate Japanese morphosyntax and occasionally phonology. This dissertation examines morphological marking in Early Heian Japanese renditions of Buddhist texts to explain how tense, aspect, and modality create narrative frames in kundokubun discourse. It utilizes rubrics and techniques of narrative studies and linguistic analysis to show how Japanese monks created inspirational narratives in kundokubun through the act of translation during the early Heian period. In contrast with the acclaimed vividness of more vernacular wabun tales, kundokubun has commonly been defined as a more formalized register of Japanese, due to its abundance of calques, which is a consequence of its Sinitic source texts. Thus, while the narrative functions of (open full item for complete abstract)

Committee: Charles Quinn (Advisor); Naomi Fukumori (Committee Member); Brian Joseph (Committee Member) Subjects: Asian Studies; Language; Linguistics

Master of Arts, The Ohio State University, 2021, East Asian Studies

The nature of religious violence in premodern Japan is a complicated topic. There has not been enough scholarly attention given to the intellectual contributions of Buddhism during the late sixteenth and early seventeenth centuries as the relative power of Buddhism in Japan declined. The relationship between warriors and Buddhism underwent a tremendous shift during the Sengoku-Tokugawa transition from intense violent warfare to an enforced peace based on a rigid sociopolitical hierarchy established by the warrior government. In a society where violence had been prevalent, how was violence conceptualized during this shift towards peace? A certain Rinzai Zen Buddhist priest, Takuan Soho (1573–1645), whose ideas were later interpreted in the early twentieth century as justifying violence, stood at the nexus of this shift. His works laden with violent and non-violent metaphors, need to be revisited and reanalyzed. This thesis examines the development of the relationship between Buddhism and violence, taking up Takuan's metaphors as a case study. It focuses on two works, both of which have been interpreted as tracts to justifying the use of violence: “The Mysterious Record of Immovable Wisdom” (Fudochi shimyoroku 不動智神妙録) and “The Annals of [the Sword] Taia” (Taiaki 太阿記). Theories of metaphorical conceptualization and extension will be applied to analyze these metaphors to arrive at a more accurate interpretation. Takuan used metaphors to explain how his concept of the `non-stopping mind' (止まぬ心), a mind free from attachments, functioned, but also to analogize swordsmanship to Buddhist practice, and liken warriors to bodhisattvas; in his view, swordsmanship practiced with the non-stopping mind could act as a beginning point for warriors to begin a path towards enlightenment. While Takuan's language sometimes appears violent, a careful analysis of his use of Buddhist metaphorical entailments reveal that in actuality it is not violent.

Committee: Melissa Curley (Committee Chair); Charles Quinn (Committee Member); Shelley Quinn (Committee Member) Subjects: Asian Studies; Religious History

BA, Oberlin College, 2021, East Asian Studies

This thesis examines two Japanese board games, both called sugoroku 双六, from a religious studies perspective. Although bearing the same name, ban-sugoroku 盤双六 and e-sugoroku 絵双六 have long been studied separately because of their different origins, eras, layouts and rules. However, an examination of visual and textual evidence such as illustrated handscrolls and encyclopedic sources demonstrates that the two games are strikingly similar: both games carry cosmological meanings, and their religious functions are closely tied to the process of playing. I propose that the inextricable nature of ritual and play exhibited in both games enabled them to serve for laypersons as accessible alternatives to mandalas and other contemporaneous religious objects that were often used by Buddhist priests. I argue that the games served as portable liminal space that enabled exchanges between the supernatural realm and the ordinary world, therefore making highly specialized religious knowledge and practices tangible to the laypeople. Although scholars have begun to recognize important similarities between ritual and play, few have studied specific games through the lens of religious rituals. Challenging the widely held misconception that play is for children and rituals are for adults, my thesis on sugoroku redefines the boundaries between ritual and play and the sacred and the secular. 盤双六も絵双六も日本の盤上遊戯である。どちらも「双六」と呼ばれているにもかかわらず、両者を分けて研究される傾向がある。盤双六と絵双六は、起源をはじめ、小道具や材料、ルール、流行していた時代など、異なる点が多いということは異論を挟む余地がない。ただし、絵巻、古記録、古辞典などの史料によると、盤双六と絵双六は宇宙論的な意味を持っており、それらの宗教的な役割は遊ぶことと密接に関連している点で共通している。本稿では、両方のゲームで示された儀礼と遊びの不可分な性質により、同時期の儀礼で僧侶によってよく使用された物の代用として在家の者が使われたと指摘する。両方とも境界的(liminal)な空間として異界とのコミュニケーションを可能にさせ、仏教儀礼の専門知識を在家の者に使用できるようになったと推測している。先行研究では、儀礼と遊びは近似していることが明らかになっている。しかし、具体的な宗教の儀礼と特定の遊戯を比べた研究はほとんどない。本稿では、遊びは子供向けであり、儀礼は大人向けだという広く受け入れられている考え方に疑問を投げかけ、儀礼と遊ぶこと、また宗教と世俗の境界を再定義する。

Committee: Andrew Macomber (Advisor); Hsiu-Chuang Deppman (Committee Member); Bonnie Cheng (Committee Member); Sheila Miyoshi Jager (Committee Chair) Subjects: Asian Studies

MA, Kent State University, 1976, Graduate College / Department of English

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Committee: Arthur M. Wheeler Ph.D. (Advisor); James Dickoff Ph.D. (Other); Robert E. Powell Ph.D. (Other) Subjects: Religion; Spirituality

Master of Arts, The Ohio State University, 2020, Women's, Gender and Sexuality Studies

In Spring 2018, popular North American Buddhist teacher, Noah Levine, was accused of sexual misconduct. In the short time between the surfacing of these allegations and findings from the Against the Stream ethics board, several Buddhist teachers responded in Levine's defense through a neutral posturing of “waiting to find out” the truth. This paper examines these teacher responses, asking the questions: “Which Buddhist concepts are mobilized in responding to sexual violence?” and “Which sexist beliefs influence Buddhist teacher responses to sexual violence in American Buddhist communities?” Grounded in black and Indigenous feminist scholarship, I analyze dharma talks, blogs, and statements of support from Levine and adjacent Buddhist teachers. I focus on specific use of Buddhist doctrines to reinforce white patriarchal power, particularly the concepts not-knowing mind, non-duality, and equanimity. I find these teachers ask their communities to “wait and see” whether these allegations are true, with the unspoken assumption they are not. I assert these responses use Buddhist teachings to uphold white men's innocence by using racialized logics and sexist tropes to downplay and delegitimize the experiences of women survivors. I argue that these responses uphold white men's supremacy within Buddhist communities, and conclude that a feminist response to allegations of misconduct requires centering survivors of sexual assault.

Committee: Shannon Winnubst (Advisor) Subjects: Gender Studies; Religion; Womens Studies

Master of Arts (MA), Bowling Green State University, 2018, Psychology/Clinical

Tantra is a religious tradition that holds sex as nourishing to the spiritual life. Within popular culture and scholarly works alike, there are reports claiming that tantric sex results in deepening intimacy, increasing sexual passion, and increasing relational and sexual satisfaction. To date, there is a complete absence of empirical research concerning the purported effects of tantric sex. Given the reported benefits associated with tantric sex, there is a basis for empirical inquiry. This study examined tantra empirically by developing, testing, and validating a brief measure of tantric sexual practice. Additionally, this work demonstrates how this measure of tantric sex might predict relevant outcomes such as relationship and sexual satisfaction. An exploratory factor analysis approach was used with a goal of reducing a large item bank (81 items) to a briefer, 25-item scale. Three subscales emerged: Sexual-mindfulness, Spiritual Purpose, and Genital/orgasm Overlook. Further hypothesis testing was conducted using both correlation and regression analyses. Sexual-mindfulness was associated with Relationship and Sexual Satisfaction in correlational and regression analysis. Spiritual Purpose was negatively associated with Relationship Satisfaction in correlational and regression analysis. Genital/orgasm Overlook was positively associated with Relationship Satisfaction in correlational and regression analysis. Implications of the results are discussed exploring possible implications for romantic relationships.

Committee: Joshua Grubbs PhD (Advisor); Anne Gordon PhD (Committee Member); Kenneth Pargament PhD (Committee Member) Subjects: Asian Studies; Counseling Psychology; Families and Family Life; Psychology; Religion

Master of Arts, Miami University, 2018, English

-structuralist and post-colonial theory through a reading of T.S. Eliot's poetry and criticism. The reading of Eliot will draw upon the Buddhist and Hegelian description of metaphysics and establish the possibility of “universal metaphysics.” Within this universal understanding of metaphysics “theory” will be critiqued. The thesis argues that theory (post-structuralist and post-colonial in particular) posits divisions that in actuality do not exist. As a result theory fails to grasp the immanence in the ephemeral, patterns in chaos. The thesis argues that the post-structuralist metaphysics (its critique of the “Sovereign Subject” and “Self-Presence”) is in the service of the metaphysical logic of capitalism, and urges a return to “universality.”

Committee: Andrew Hebard Dr. (Committee Chair) Subjects: Literature