2022/04/10

Rosetta Sherwood Hall - Wikipedia

Rosetta Sherwood Hall

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Rosetta Sherwood Hall

Born	September 19, 1865 Liberty, New York
Died	April 5, 1951 Ocean Grove, New Jersey
Occupation	Medical missionary in Korea

Rosetta Sherwood Hall (September 19, 1865 – April 5, 1951) was a medical missionary and educator. She founded the Pyongyang School for the Deaf and Blind. Dr. Hall spent forty-four years in Korea, helping develop educational resources for disabled Koreans and implementing women's medical training.

Early life and education[edit]

Rosetta Sherwood was born in Liberty, New York, the eldest of English immigrants, Phoebe (née Gildersleeve) and Rosevelt Rensler Sherwood. She graduated from Oswego State Normal School in 1883 and worked as a local school teacher. After attending an 1886 visiting-lecture about the need for medical missions in India, she enrolled in the Women's Medical College of Pennsylvania.^[1] She graduated with her medical degree by 1889.^[1]

Career[edit]

While working in lower Manhattan at Madison Street Mission Dispensary, she met her Canadian-born husband Dr. William James Hall.^[1] Dr. William Hall also was working at the same dispensary and was listed to leave on a medical mission to China with the Methodist Episcopal Church of Canada, which inspired her to apply for a similar position.^[1] She was officially called by the Women's Foreign Missionary Society of the Methodist Episcopal Church in 1890. Her future spouse received his call in 1891. They did not marry, however, until they "met in the foreign field" as they were each separately placed by separate mission boards.^[2] They married in June 1892.^[2] She lost her U.S. citizenship when she married a Canadian.^[1]

She founded the Baldwin Dispensary in Seoul (renamed the Lilian Harris Memorial Hospital). In 1894, she initiated the teaching of sight-impaired people in Korea by teaching a blind girl, using a modification of Braille that she had developed. In 1899 she established the Edith Margaret Memorial Wing of the Womens Dispensary (Pyongyang).^[1] In 1909, she established a school for people with hearing impairments. Along with two Korean doctors (Dr. Taik Won Kim and his wife, Dr. Chung-Hee Kil), she founded the Chosun Women's Medical Training Institute in 1928, with the goal of eventually elevating it to a Women's Medical School. After Hall’s retirement, Dr. Taik Won Kim and Dr. Chung-Hee Kil took charge of the Women’s Medical Training Institute from 1933 to 1937. ^[3] This institute became Kyungsung Women's Medical School in 1938 thanks to the financial contribution of Kim Jong Ick. It became co-educational school in 1957. Currently, it has developed into one of the leading medical schools in Korea, Korea University College of Medicine. Hall was also responsible for getting or helping get other institutions of higher learning established. In 1933 she left Korea. She died on April 5, 1951 in Ocean Grove, New Jersey, and was buried with her family at the Yanghwajin Missionary Cemetery in Yanghwajin, Seoul.^[1]

References[edit]

^ Jump up to:^a ^b ^c ^d ^e ^f ^g Phillips, Clifton J. (1980). "Hall, Rosettta Sherwood". In Sicherman, Barbara; Green, Carol Hurd (eds.). Notable American Women: The Modern Period. Cambridge: Belknap Press. pp. 299–301. ISBN 0-674-62732-6.
^ Jump up to:^a ^b The Gospel in All Lands. proprietor. 1901.
^ Lee, Heon-Jeong (June 2018). "Taik-Won Kim, the First Korean Clinical Psychiatrist". Psychiatry Investigation. 15 (6): 551–552. doi:10.30773/pi.2018.06.11. ISSN 1738-3684. PMC 6018142. PMID 29940714.

Bibliography[edit]

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Rosetta Sherwood Hall.

Hall, Rosetta S. (1906) "The Clocke class for blind girls," Korea Mission Field 2 (No.9, July) 175-76.
Hall, Rosetta Sherwood, ed. (1897) Life of Rev. William James Hall: Medical Missionary to the Slums of New York, Pioneer Missionary to Pyong Yang, Korea; Introduction by Willard F. Mallalieu.

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2022/04/08

[김조년의 맑고 낮은 목소리] 나를 알고 또 남을 안다면 < 칼럼 < 오피니언 < 기사본문 - 금강일보

[김조년의 맑고 낮은 목소리] 나를 알고 또 남을 안다면

기자명 금강일보 입력 2022.04.05 13:48 수정 2022.04.05 13:50 댓글 0

SNS 기사보내기SNS 기사보내기이메일(으)로 기사보내기 다른 공유 찾기 기사스크랩하기바로가기 메일보내기 복사하기 본문 글씨 줄이기 본문 글씨 키우기

한남대 명예교수

[금강일보] 우리 누구나 다 아는 말, ‘나를 알고 적을 안다면 백번 싸워서 백번 이긴다’는 말을 나오게 한 더 깊은 말이 있다. 백번 싸워서 백번 이긴들 뭐하겠는가? 이제까지 그런 싸움은 어디에도 없었다. 밀물과 썰물이 일고 쓸 듯이 싸움이라는 것도 이리 밀리고 저리 쓸리면서 역사를 지어왔다. 항상 이기는 싸움도 없었고, 항상 지기만 하는 싸움도 없었다. 무기를 들고 서로 죽이고 부수는 전쟁도 그러했고, 소위 선거전이란 것도 그랬다. 그렇게 지루하게 밀리고 미는 전쟁에서 고통을 당하는 것은 그냥 민초들이었다. 풀들이요, 나무들이요, 짐승들이요, 땅이요, 물이요, ‘혹시나’ 하는 맘을 가지고 그들과 함께 사는 그냥 사람들이었다.

그래서 나온 더 깊은 말을 생각해본다. ‘남을 아는 것을 지혜[智]라 하고, 자기를 아는 것을 현명[明]하다’고 하고, ‘남을 이기는 것을 힘이 있다[力]고 하고, 자기 자신을 이기는 것을 강건하다[强]’고 한다는 말을 깊이 생각해 본다. 전쟁에서 이긴 사람들 중에서 자기를 이기지 못하여 낭패를 본 사례들은 우리 역사에서, 일상생활에서 무수히 많다. 그렇다면 여기서 말하는 남은 누구이고, 나는 누구일까? 남을 어떻게 알고 나를 어떻게 알 수 있을까? 남이나 나는 다 같은 시대에 사는 사람들이지만, 같은 밥을 먹고, 같은 잠자리를 가지고, 같은 시대를 호흡하지만, 굉장히 다른 것과 같은 것을 동시에 가진다. 그런 남을 어떻게 알고, 그런 나를 나는 또 어떻게 알 수 있을까?

나는 살아오면서 많은 사람들을 경험했지만, 나는 그들을 참으로 모르겠다. 같이 일을 했던 동료들을 모르겠고, 오래도록 학교를 같이 다니고 동무로 살았지만 모르겠고, 한 식구로 오래도록 살았지만 모르겠고, 뜻을 같이 한다고 많은 일들을 함께 했지만 어느 순간 ‘아, 나는 저 사람을 모르겠구나’ 하는 탄식이 나올 때가 있다. 물론 그에게 남이었던 나 역시 마찬가지였을 것이다. 그에게도 내가 누구인지를 알 수 없구나 탄식할 때가 많았을 것이다. 그래서 나는 언젠가부터 남을 알기를 힘쓰지 않기로 했다. 그냥 깊이 알지 말자는 맘이 많이 들었다. 약은 생각이지. 사람을 알고 믿어서 손해 보아 맘고생, 몸고생을 하지 않겠다는 약은 맘이지. 그러나 그것보다 더 깊은 데서 솟아나는 한 맘이 있다. 그 사람을 이해하고 알려고 하지 말고, 그냥 있는 그대로를 받아들이고 보자는 맘이다. 내 맘 같아서는 참말을 하는 이라면 그것을 참으로 받고, 거짓말하는 사람이라면 그렇게 하는 그를 참으로 받아들이는 것. 그러니까 보고 듣고 만나는 그 순간 그를 온통 그 모습으로 받아들이자는 그 맘으로 살고 싶단 말이다. 모든 사람은 다 그 자체로 그 자신을 나타내는 것이기 때문이다. 꾸밈은 꾸밈으로 그의 참모습을 나타내고, 솔직은 솔직으로 그의 참모습을 나타내기 때문이다. 나중에 그것이 참이라거나 거짓이라고 밝혀지더라도, 그 때 그것이 참의 모습이었다는 것을 알면 상심할 것도 없고, 기뻐할 것도 없이 그를 볼 수 있기 때문이다.

문제는 나는 나를 어떻게 알까 하는 점이다. 나는 어디에서 나왔으며, 어떤 음식, 물, 공기를 마시고 살았으며, 어떤 사람들 틈새에서 살았고, 어떤 생각과 사상과 도덕과 윤리와 정치상황을 맛보며 살았고, 어떤 것들을 읽고 듣고 보고 기대하면서 살았을까? 그리고 지금은 어떤 사람들과 동무가 되어 살고, 어떤 생각과 사상을 좋고 나쁘다고 평가하면서 살며, 어떤 사람으로 어떤 사회에서 살기를 희망하는 것일까? 누구들과 어떤 놀이를 하면서 하루하루를 지낼까? 그렇게 사는 나는 정말로 나일까? 겉으로 나타나는 그런 것들을 알면 곧 나 자신을 아는 것이 되는 것일까? 지금 우리가 사는 이 땅 어디를 가나 감시카메라가 있어서 나의 움직임을 다 기록하고 있는데, 그것을 분석하면 나라는 것이 밝혀질까? 그렇게 밝혀진 나는 정말로 나일까? 내가 지금 사는 것은 나를 사는 것인데, 그런 나를 왜 알고 싶어 할까? 그런 나를 관찰하고 탐구할만큼 나는 귀한 존재인가? 그렇게 하여 내가 귀한 존재라고 판명이 되면 기분이 좋고, 그렇지 않다고 밝혀지면 우울한 기분으로 살아야 하는 것일까? 거기에서 내가 존귀하다는 것은 또 무엇이며, 하잘 것 없다는 것은 또 무엇일까? 나를 귀하게 보는 것과 하찮은 것으로 보는 그 실체는 무엇일까?

여기서 실체라는 것, 실재라는 것은 내가 영원히 잃지 말아야 할 것이 아닐까? 내 속에 있는 변하는 것 속에서도 영원히 변하지 않고, 불타는 것 속에서도 타지 않고, 사라지는 것 속에서도 사라지지 않는 것, 그것을 나는 잡고 살고 싶다. 나를 안다는 것, 그것은 바로 이런 겉의 사람인 내 속에 그런 영원을 지향하는, 영원 자체인 보석이 있다는 것을 아는 것, 그렇게 알아서 그것을 따라 귀하게 사는가 아닌가를 아는 것이 나를 아는 것일까? 나를 그렇게 안다면, 남도 그렇다는 것을 아는 것이지 않을까? 그렇다면 고요히 고요히, 이 조금도 가만 두지 않는 소음 속에서 고요히 나를 바라보는 시간을 많이 가질수록 좋겠다. 그렇게 되면 검찰개혁을 마무리한다느니, 집무실을 옮긴다느니 하는 것들의 껍데기를 통과하여 보이는 참의 자리에서 나오는 속소리가 말하는 그 소리를 들을 수 있지 않을까? 그 소리를 듣고 움직일 때, 속사람 나와 겉사람 나는 하나가 되는 것이 아닐까? 이렇게 하나 된 나를 아는 것, 아니 하나 된 나로 살아가도록 나를 추동하는 것을 따라 살겠다고 꿈틀거리는 것을 알아차리는 것이 나를 아는 것일까? 살짝, 나는 정치하는 사람들에게도 그렇게 살아보자고 제안하고 싶다.

Apocalypse Never by Michael Shellenberger - Ebook | Scribd

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Apocalypse Never: Why Environmental Alarmism Hurts Us All

By Michael Shellenberger

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Now a National Bestseller!

Climate change is real but it’s not the end of the world. It is not even our most serious environmental problem.

Michael Shellenberger has been fighting for a greener planet for decades. He helped save the world’s last unprotected redwoods. He co-created the predecessor to today’s Green New Deal. And he led a successful effort by climate scientists and activists to keep nuclear plants operating, preventing a spike of emissions.

But in 2019, as some claimed “billions of people are going to die,” contributing to rising anxiety, including among adolescents, Shellenberger decided that, as a lifelong environmental activist, leading energy expert, and father of a teenage daughter, he needed to speak out to separate science from fiction.

Despite decades of news media attention, many remain ignorant of basic facts. Carbon emissions peaked and have been declining in most developed nations for over a decade. Deaths from extreme weather, even in poor nations, declined 80 percent over the last four decades. And the risk of Earth warming to very high temperatures is increasingly unlikely thanks to slowing population growth and abundant natural gas.

Curiously, the people who are the most alarmist about the problems also tend to oppose the obvious solutions.

What’s really behind the rise of apocalyptic environmentalism? There are powerful financial interests. There are desires for status and power. But most of all there is a desire among supposedly secular people for transcendence. This spiritual impulse can be natural and healthy. But in preaching fear without love, and guilt without redemption, the new religion is failing to satisfy our deepest psychological and existential needs.

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MSMichael Shellenberger

Michael Shellenberger is the nationally bestselling author of Apocalypse Never, a Time magazine “Hero of the Environment,” the winner of the 2008 Green Book Award from the Stevens Institute of Technology’s Center for Science Writings, and an invited expert reviewer of the next Assessment Report for the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC). He has written on energy and the environment for the New York Times, the Washington Post, the Wall Street Journal, Nature Energy, and other publications for two decades. He is the founder and president of Environmental Progress, an independent, nonpartisan research organization based in Berkeley, California.

** Islam: A Concise Introduction: Smith, Huston [Sufism part + biblio] 13 out of 59 pages]

Islam: A Concise Introduction: Smith, Huston: 9780060095574: Amazon.com: Books

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Islam: A Concise Introduction Paperback – December 1, 2001

by Huston Smith (Author)

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The world's premier authority on religious traditions presents a concise and timely guide to the history, teachings, and practice of Islam.

Drawn from his masterful presentation of Islam in the bestselling book The World's Religions (over two million copies sold), Huston Smith offers a revealing look into the heart of a tradition with more than one billion adherents worldwide.

Dispelling narrow and distorted notions about the nature of Islam and featuring a new introduction by the author, this book compellingly conveys the profound appeal of Islam, while addressing such timely issues as the true meaning of jihad, the role of women in Islamic societies, and the remarkable growth of Islam in America.

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Print length

112 pages

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Buddhism: A Concise Introduction

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About the Author

Huston Smith is internationally known and revered as the premier teacher of world religions. He is the focus of a five-part PBS television series with Bill Moyers and has taught at Washington University, the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Syracuse University, and the University of California at Berkeley. The recipient of twelve honorary degrees, Smith's fifteen books include his bestselling The World's Religions, Why Religion Matters, and his autobiography, Tales of Wonder.

Product details

Publisher ‏ : ‎ HarperOne; 1st edition (December 1, 2001)

Language ‏ : ‎ English

Paperback ‏ : ‎ 112 pages

Huston Smith

Huston Cummings Smith (born May 31, 1919) is among the preeminent religious studies scholars in the United States. His work, The Religions of Man (later revised and retitled The World's Religions), is a classic in the field, with over two million copies sold, and it remains a common introduction to comparative religion.

Smith was born in Soochow, China, to Methodist missionaries and spent his first 17 years there. He taught at the Universities of Colorado and Denver from 1944 to 1947, moved to Washington University in St. Louis, Missouri, for the next 10 years, and then served as professor of Philosophy at MIT from 1958 to 1973. While at MIT, he participated in some of the experiments with entheogens that professor Timothy Leary conducted at Harvard University. Smith then moved to Syracuse University, where he was Thomas J. Watson Professor of Religion and Distinguished Adjunct Professor of Philosophy until his retirement in 1983 and current emeritus status. He now lives in the Berkeley, California, area where he is Visiting Professor of Religious Studies at the University of California, Berkeley.

During his career, Smith not only studied but also practiced Vedanta Hinduism, Zen Buddhism (under Goto Zuigan), and Sufism for over 10 years each. He is a notable autodidact.

As a young man, of his own volition after suddenly turning to mysticism, Smith set out to meet with then-famous author Gerald Heard. Heard responded to Smith's letter, invited him to Trabuco College (later donated as the Ramakrishna Monastery) in Southern California, and then sent him off to meet the legendary Aldous Huxley. So began Smith's experimentation with meditation and his association with the Vedanta Society in Saint Louis under the auspices of Swami Satprakashananda of the Ramakrishna order.

Via the connection with Heard and Huxley, Smith eventually experimented with Timothy Leary and others at the Center for Personality Research, of which Leary was research professor. The experience and history of that era are captured somewhat in Smith's book Cleansing the Doors of Perception. In this period, Smith joined in on the Harvard Project as well, in an attempt to raise spiritual awareness through entheogenic plants.

He has been a friend of the XIVth Dalai Lama for more than 40 years, and has met and talked to some of the great figures of the century, from Eleanor Roosevelt to Thomas Merton.

Smith developed an interest in the Traditionalist School formulated by Rene Guenon and Ananda Coomaraswamy. This interest has become a continuing thread in all his writings.

In 1996 Bill Moyers devoted a five-part PBS special to Smith's life and work: The Wisdom of Faith with Huston Smith. Smith has also produced three series for public television: The Religions of Man, The Search for America, and (with Arthur Compton) Science and Human Responsibility.

His films on Hinduism, Tibetan Buddhism, and Sufism have all won awards at international film festivals. His latest DVD release is The Roots of Fundamentalism—A Conversation with Huston Smith and Phil Cousineau.

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Top reviews from the United States

Cove Reader

3.0 out of 5 stars Who cannot like Huston Smith ... but

Reviewed in the United States on January 28, 2014

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this is a section of one of his books pulled out and slapped a cover around to make it a mini novel. I am always a little annoyed when this happens and feel a bit ripped off. It is barely a chapter and not a particularly long and detailed chapter at that.

He spends a good bit of time telling the Western reader has their perspective of Islam all wrong and while I appreciate him hearing that, I would rather make up my own mind based on the material he presents. I am reading it for a book club and class as part of an array of books so perhaps I will moderate my view after I converse with others.

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Albert L. Smith

5.0 out of 5 stars GREAT BOOK!

Reviewed in the United States on March 14, 2013

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HUSTON SMITH IS ARGUABLY THE GREATEST SCHOLAR ALIVE THAT MILLIONS OF PEOPLE WHO ARE DOUBTERS OF RELIGION OR WHO ARE ATHEISTS SHOULD READ. HIS MIND WILL PERSUADE SECULARISTS AS TO THE TRUTH AND VIRTUES OF RELIGION IN AN AGE OF "SCIENTISTIC" BELIEF.

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Pegasus

4.0 out of 5 stars A good read for a good ovetview

Reviewed in the United States on June 8, 2018

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Concise. A good read for a good overview.

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SailorOon

5.0 out of 5 stars Fantastic Introduction

Reviewed in the United States on January 29, 2017

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Informative, and very concise. Gives a great overview, and you can finish it in a few hours!

One person found this helpful

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Amazon Customer

5.0 out of 5 stars Five Stars

Reviewed in the United States on May 4, 2016

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A fantastic summary, superbly written.

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Iyad T. Alashqar

5.0 out of 5 stars Islam 101: A course in Islamic Studies.

Reviewed in the United States on April 21, 2002

This book, although short in terms of number of pages, is nevertheless extremely rich and amazingly eloquent in its presentation and explanations of Islam, from the life of Muhammad, to the Quran, to Islamic teachings and philosophy, and ending with a brief introduction to Sufism (Mysticism).

This book highly builds on the chapter that was dedicated to Islam in Huston Smith's The World's Religions. But Mr. Smith, after extracting that chapter and making a separate book out of it,

adds to its contents discussions that relate to current world events such as the New York and Washington events in September 2001. He also adds many useful discussions regarding misconceptions about Islamic teachings like the issue of Women, Jihad, Polygamy, and many other issues that should highly interest any reader who seeks basic - but strong - foundations in Islamic Theology and Philosophy.

The bibliography and the "suggestions for further reading" part at the end of book is extremely helpful for anyone who persues an academic background in Islamic Studies.

This book will no doubt start to appear in college courses that cover the issue of Islam as a required reading assignment.

All in all, an excellent and a highly recommended book that is considered a masterpiece in the field of Comparative Religion Scholarship.

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Top reviews from other countries

Athayyil

5.0 out of 5 stars A great book on Islam

Reviewed in India on May 20, 2015

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A great book on Islam. A thought provoking insight in to the major religions and can answer the problems of the current world. Huston Smith has done enough research to prove that it is not religions that provoke hatred rather it is man made stuff which is the cause of all problems.

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Abhishek Ojha

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Sufism

We have been treating Islam as if it were monolithic, which of course it is not. Like every religious tradition it divides. Its main historical

division is between the mainstream Sunnis (“Traditionalists” [from sunnah, tradition] who comprise 87 percent of all Muslims) and the

Shi’ites (literally “partisans” of Ali, Muhammad’s son-in-law, whom Shi’ites believe should have directly succeeded Muhammad but

who was thrice passed over and who, when he was finally appointed leader of the Muslims, was assassinated). Geographically, the

Shi’ites cluster in and around Iraq and Iran, while the Sunnis flank them to the West (the Middle East, Turkey, and Africa) and to the

East (through the Indian subcontinent, which includes Pakistan and Bangladesh, on through Malaysia, and into Indonesia, where alone

there are more Muslims than in the entire Arab world). We shall pass over this historical split, which turns on an in-house dispute, and

take up instead a division that has universal overtones.

It is the vertical division between the mystics of Islam, called Sufis, and the re

maining majority of the faith, who are equally good Muslims but are not mystics.

The root meaning of the word Sufi is wool, suf.

A century or two after Muhammad’s death, those within the Islamic community who bore the inner message of Islam came to be known as Sufis.

Many of them donned coarse woolen garments to protest the silks and

satins of sultans and califs.

Alarmed by the worldliness they saw overtaking Islam, they sought to purify and spiritualize it from within.

They wanted

to recover its liberty and love, and
to restore to it its deeper, mystical tone.

Externals should yield to internals,
matter to meaning,
outward symbol to inner reality.
“Love the pitcher less,” they cried, “and the water more.”

Sufis saw

this distinction between the inner and the outer,
the pitcher and what it contains,

as deriving from the Koran itself, where Allah presents himself as

both “the Outward [al-zahir] and the Inward [al-batin]” (57:3).

Exoteric Muslims—we shall call them such because they were satisfied with the explicit meanings of the Koran’s teachings—passed over this distinction,

but the Sufis (esoteric Muslims) found it important.

Contemplation of God occupies a significant place in every Muslim’s life, but for most it must compete, pretty much on a par, with life’s other demands. When we add to this that life is demanding—people tend to be busy—it stands to reason that not many Muslims will have the time, if the inclination, to do more than keep up with the Divine Law that orders their lives.

Their fidelity is not in vain; in the end their reward will be as great as the Sufis’. But the Sufis were impatient for their reward, if we may put the matter

thus.

They wanted to encounter God directly in this very lifetime. Now.

This called for special methods, and to develop and practice them the Sufis gathered around spiritual masters (shaikhs), forming circles that, from the twelfth century onward, crystallized into Sufi orders (tariqahs).

The word for the members of these orders is fakir—pronounced fakir; literally poor, but with the connotation of one who is “poor in spirit.” [?]

In some ways, however, they constituted a spiritual elite, aspiring higher than other Muslims, and willing to assume the heavier disciplines their extravagant goals required.

We can liken their tariqahs to the contemplative orders of Roman Catholicism, with the difference that Sufis generally marry and are not cloistered.

They engage in normal occupations and repair to their gathering places (zawiyahs, Arabic; khanaqahs, Persian) to sing, dance, pray, recite their rosaries in concert, and listen to the discourses of their Master, all to the end of reaching God directly. Someone who was ignorant of fire, they observe, could come to know it by degrees: first by hearing of it, then by seeing it, and finally by being

burned by its heat.

The Sufis wanted to be “burned” by God.

This required drawing close to him, and they developed three overlapping but distinguishable routes. We can call these

the mysticisms

of love,
of ecstasy, and
of intuition.

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With over 520 million followers, Buddhism is now the world's fourth largest religion. Over the last seventy years or so there has been a growing interest in Buddhism, and it continues to capture the imagination of many in the West, who see it as either an alternative or a supplement to their own religious beliefs.

For complex cultural and historical reasons, ethics has not received as much attention in traditional Buddhist thought as it has in the West. In this Very Short Introduction, Damien Keown explores how Buddhism approaches a range of moral issues of our age, including our relationship with our environment, our treatment of animals, and our stance on abortion, on sexuality and gender, on violence and war. This new edition also includes a discussion of the ethical challenges posed by cutting-edge developments in science and biomedical technologies, including neuroscience, artificial intelligence, transhumanism, and gene editing.

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Damien Keown

Damien Keown is Emeritus Professor of Buddhist Ethics at Goldsmiths College, University of London. His research interests centre on the study of contemporary moral problems from a Buddhist perspective. He is co-founder of The Journal of Buddhist Ethics and the author of the best-selling 'Buddhism: A Very Short Introduction' and 'Buddhist Ethics: A Very Short Introduction', both from Oxford University Press.

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The latter half of the twentieth century witnessed a growing interest in Buddhism, and it continues to capture the imagination of many in the West who see it as either an alternative or a supplement to their own religious beliefs. For complex cultural and historical reasons, ethics has not received as much attention in traditional Buddhist thought as it has in the West, and publications on the subject are few and far between. Here, Damien Keown, author of Buddhism: A Very Short Introduction, illustrates how Buddhism might approach a range of fascinating moral issues ranging from abortion and suicide to cloning.
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From the Publisher
Damien Keown is Reader in Buddhism at Goldsmiths College, University of London. His entire academic career has been devoted to research in Buddhist ethics, and he has been teaching the subject for over 20 years. He is also Editor of The Journal of Buddhist Ethics and Coeditor of The Curzon Critical Studies in Buddhism series.
About the Author
Damien Keown is Reader in Buddhism at Goldsmiths College, University of London. His entire academic career has been devoted to research in Buddhist ethics, and he has been teaching the subject for over 20 years. He is also Editor of The Journal of Buddhist Ethics and Coeditor of The Curzon Critical Studies in Buddhism series.

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ASIN ‏ : ‎ 019280457X
Publisher ‏ : ‎ Oxford University Press UK; 1st edition (1 October 2005)
Language ‏ : ‎ English
Paperback ‏ : ‎ 168 pages
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Rev Gherkin
5.0 out of 5 stars Best book on subject by authoritative scholarReviewed in the United Kingdom on 12 October 2008
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Keown is without doubt a leading scholar in this area and makes the topic accessible to his readers. He makes very difficult subject matter understandable and interesting. I highly recommend this book and this author.

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Michael Schröder
4.0 out of 5 stars Gelungene EinführungReviewed in Germany on 10 October 2018
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Das Buch ist meiner Ansicht nach eine sehr gelungene Einführung in das Thema "Buddhistische Ethik". In einem so kleinen Buch sind naturgemäß nicht alle Themen umfassend darstellbar. Die zentralen Grundannahmen, von denen eine buddhistische Ethik ausgehen kann sowie einige aktuelle Anwendungsthemen werden gut beschrieben und analysiert.
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Buddhist Ethics: A Very Short Introduction

by Damien Keown

3.59 · Rating details · 264 ratings · 33 reviews

The latter half of the twentieth century witnessed a growing interest in Buddhism, and it continues to capture the imagination of many in the West who see it as either an alternative or a supplement to their own religious beliefs. Numerous introductory books have appeared in recent years to cater for this growing interest, but almost none devotes attention to the specifically ethical dimension of the tradition. For complex cultural and historical reasons, ethics has not received as much attention in traditional Buddhist thought as it has in the West, and publications on the subject are few and far between. Here, Damien Keown, author of Buddhism: A Very Short Introduction , illustrates how Buddhism might approach a range of fascinating moral issues ranging from abortion and suicide to cloning. Readership: Students and general readers with an interest in Buddhism, ethics, or comparative religion. Anyone seeking a clear and straightforward answer to the question 'What is the Buddhist view on X?', or who read and enjoyed Keown's VSI to Buddhism. (less)

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Ahmad Sharabiani

Jun 05, 2016Ahmad Sharabiani added it

Shelves: religion, buddhism, theology, culture, china, india, 21th-century, non-fiction

Buddhist Ethics: A Very Short Introduction (Very Short Introductions #130), Damien Keown

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Lauren

Oct 23, 2016Lauren rated it liked it

Shelves: buddhism, philosophy

What does Buddhism say about animal welfare? suicide? homosexuality?

As it turns out, it's pretty complicated - of course it is, it's ethics!- and not universal across Buddhist traditions. From some previous readings, I knew some basics of Buddhist views on sexuality, marriage, celibacy, and feminism, but this book gets a bit deeper (although one criticism - likely due to the "very short" nature in the title - is that so many examples seem cherry-picked to prove the thesis, where I am certain that there is much more to the story).

The chapter that stood out for me was the one on suicide and euthanasia. The indelible 1960s image of the Vietnamese monks on fire leads the chapter, framing this self-immolation as an ancient practice. While several modern Buddhist countries have ritual suicide or 'voluntary death' traditions, e.g. seppuku in Japan, the book argues that this practice came into regional Buddhism through indigenous culture. Euthanasia is also a complicated issue, as monks and nuns were traditionally caretakers for the dying, and there are several accounts of euthanasia using the central precept of compassion.

3/5 stars - some interesting things covered, even though it did seem "cherry-picked" to fit in as much as it could in less than 200 pages.

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Istvan Zoltan

Jun 11, 2021Istvan Zoltan rated it liked it

Shelves: philosophy, ethics-moral-philosophy, history-of-philosophy

A very handy, easy to read and clear introduction to Buddhist ethics.

My students found it helpful as an assigned reading, before delving into more complex texts on Buddhist ethics. It doesn't presuppose any knowledge of Buddhist philosophy in general. (less)

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Nick Imrie

Feb 21, 2018Nick Imrie rated it really liked it

Shelves: religion-buddhism, non-fiction, philosophy-ethics

The biggest fact I've taken away from Damien Keown is that Buddhism is a lot more conservative than we realise in the West. Because Buddhism came to us via 60s hippies, it has a reputation as being an anything-goes, left-wing religion, which isn't really the case.

For example, Buddhist attitudes about sex are pretty much the same as Christian (which gets villified for being an prudish, sex-negative religion). In both religions, celibacy is the best state of being, and if you can't stay celibate then you should marry. Sex acts that aren't reproductive are pretty much verboten, so Buddhism has similar attitudes to homosexuality as Christianity.

With regards to abortion, Buddhism is, if anything, stricter than Christianity. Christianity, at least, doesn't say much specifically about when or how the soul enters the body. But Buddhist texts are quite explicit that the soul enters the body at the moment of conception, so there can't really be any doubt that abortion is murder. The enforcement and application of that kind of rule isn't so clear though. Most monks seem to be happy to leave it as a matter for secular authorities, and there's a fierce dispute in Japan, about the appropriateness of religious services for the souls of the aborted, which is a new practise adapted from services for miscarriage.

As in his previous VSI book about Buddhism, Keown is writing for the Western audience and trying to highlight how our instictive patterns of thinking about rights, ethics, and religion don't really map onto Eastern ways of thinking. He makes some interesting speculations about whether the difference is caused by the difference in origin. Western philosophy arose in turbulent Greek democracies, while Buddhist ethics arose in strict monarchies.

The chapters focusing on individual ethical conundrums was a good way to do it in a very short introduction, I can only imagine that an attempt at a comprehensive comparison of how Buddhist ethics are reasoned out, and all the subjects they touch on, would be massive. I wasn't sure about the topic of cloning though. Most religions have very little to say about cloning, because it couldn't even be imagined by early man, and the things that people say about it are often daft. But the chapter on suicide, including the protest suicides in Vietnam, or the Japanese ritual seppuku, was very interesting and demonstrate neatly how different strands of Buddhism are influenced by local traditions and religions. Keown does a good job of making clear that there is no one Buddhism. It's a vast collect of different philosophies all springly from the same source. While at the same time he shows how there are general trends that bring all these Buddhisms together. Skillfully, he does this with constantly interrupting himself to remind you #notallbuddhists. (less)

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Teo 2050

Oct 14, 2020Teo 2050 rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: technology, by_philosopher, rated-4, y20, _nonfiction, buddhism, _audio, pain-or-suffering, _contents, enhancement

2020.10.14–2020.10.14

Contents

Keown D (2020) (03:46) Buddhist Ethics - A Very Short Introduction (2e)

Acknowledgements

Preface

List of illustrations

• 1. Map of Buddhism in Asia

• 2. The Bodhisattva Avalokiteśvara, the embodiment of compassion

• 3. Buddha head in tree roots, Wat Mahathat, Ayutthaya, Thailand

• 4. The wheel of life

• 5. Mipham

• 6. Jizō Bosatsu

• 7. Mizuko Jizō memorial at Raikoji (Kamakura, Japan)

• 8. Suicide of Buddhist monk Thich Quang Duc in Saigon, 1963

• 9. A robot modelled after the bodhisattva Kannon (Avalokiteśvara) gives its first teachings at the Kodaiji temple in Kyoto on 23 February 2019

• 10. Ray Kurzweil believes the Singularity is close at hand

Note on citations and pronunciation

Language and pronunciation

1. Buddhist morality

• Dharma and karma

• Box 1 The Four Noble Truths

• Box 2 The Eightfold Path and its Three Divisions

• Precepts

• Box 3 The Five Precepts (pañcaśīla)

• Vinaya

• Virtues

• Mahāyāna morality

• Box 4 The Six Perfections (pāramitā)

2. Ethics East and West

• Three ethical theories

• Particularism

• Perfectionism

• The absence of ‘ethics’

• Box 5 Stoicism

• Engaged Buddhism

• Rights

3. Animals and the environment

• The moral status of animals

• Plant life and wilderness

• Equality or hierarchy?

• Vegetarianism

• Towards a Buddhist ecology

• Box 6 Climate change

4. Sexuality and gender

• The dangers of sexual desire

• Marriage

• The third precept

• Box 7 Ways in which the third precept can be broken, according to the ancient commentators

• Box 8 Sex abuse scandals

• Homosexuality

• Box 9 Transgenderism

5. War, violence, and terrorism

• Classical sources on war

• Buddhism at war

• Box 10 From the Dhammapada (trans. Norman)

• The just war

• Terrorism

6. Abortion

• Buddhist embryology

• Abortion and the precepts

• Box 11 The third pārājika, the monastic precept against taking human life

• Personhood

• Box 12 The five aggregates (skandhas)

• Abortion in Buddhist countries

• Table 1. Legality of abortion in selected Asian countries (2017)

• Thailand

• Japan

• Box 13 A hymn to Jizō often used in the mizuko kuyō liturgy

• Box 14 Verse from a popular song about the mizuko kuyō ceremony

7. Suicide and euthanasia

• Box 15 Thich Nhat Hanh, Vietnam: The Lotus in a Sea of Fire (1967)

• Self-immolation

• Box 16 The Brahmajāla Sūtra (Fan Wang Ching)

• Suicide in Indian Buddhism

• Box 17 The third pārājika, the monastic rule prohibiting taking human life

• Euthanasia

• Must life be preserved at all costs?

8. Clones, cyborgs, and singularities

• Cloning and genetics

• Gene editing

• Cryonics

• Transhumanism

• Neurodharma

• Concerns

Glossary

References

Further reading

Index (less)

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Xinefan Phy

Nov 16, 2021Xinefan Phy rated it really liked it

The author's understanding of Buddhism is at times incomplete and his access to sources seems deficient. For example, there are many instances in ancient texts about the Buddha's past lives where he sacrificed his life for the sake of other beings (even animal beings), which the author should've taken as reference for arguments in the "Suicide" or "Animal" chapters.

There're also many stories in which Buddhist followers and even the Buddha himself used their compassionate power to tame and calm ...more

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John Eliade

Aug 22, 2015John Eliade rated it liked it

Shelves: buddhism

Read most of Damien Keown's second VSI Buddhist book while I was in Bhutan researching "Buddhist Social Theory" at the Royal Thimphu College. Keown's work is very interesting and enlightening. Like the VSI series as a whole, it presents great launching points to begin to seek out answers for other parts of an incredibly complicated subject. This book loses two stars primarily because Keown, though he does an awesome job presenting eastern textual sources, still tries to fit an eastern peg into a western hole, which is an incredibly hard thing to do (and it should at least be commended that he did so in a balanced, interesting, and fair way).

It's mostly his discussion on metaethics that can get confusing, hence the problem. Metaethics is a purely western subject which can confuse eastern-based readers. In Buddhist Social Theory, this chapter was extremely difficult for my Bhutanese classmates to wrap their heads around, and even for me it was difficult to truly understand the point of a discussion on metaethics and how it applies to Buddhism which has little to no distinction or history of a difference between "morality" and "ethics." (Indeed, here in Korea they teach a class that students have interpreted as both "Morals" and "Ethics" when I consult the dictionary. I gather this is a similar thing across Asia, and Keown makes this known in his short book). My suggestion would have been for Keown to put that chapter at the end and discuss the difficulty of applying western conceptions of ethics onto a complex philosophical network of systems like Buddhism. That said, good read. Make sure you read his first VSI on Buddhism, or perhaps Walpola Rahula's "What the Buddha Taught" first. (less)

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Nick

Dec 27, 2013Nick rated it it was ok

Shelves: india, philosophy, 2000s, language, china, buddhism, korea

Its a weirdly specific book to have a very short introduction. Ethics in the western conception didn't really exist in premodern Buddhism. A lot of this book is the product of Buddhists taking influence from Western ethics, or of Westerners interpreting Buddhism through the lens of enlightenment values, and Christian/humanist altruism. The whole notion that altruism, compassion, detachment, etc. are good because they lead to enlightenment is absent from much of this. Also tantra is mentioned, but not examined. Since classical Buddhism doesn't comment on very many specific moral issues, abstract and somewhat empty signifiers like "compassion" have to be interpreted, and then applied to moral problems.

Anyway, here is a funny quote from the chapter on cloning:

"...The belief in karma introduces many conundrums and complexities of this kind, since both karma and DNA may be thought to account for how people come to be born with specific physical and mental characteristics. Which is correct: Buddhism or science? Other puzzling questions also arise, such as ‘Is it possible to clone a Buddha?’, and ‘Is there a Buddha gene?’. For the remainder of the chapter, I will explore some of these intriguing questions.

When considering the possibility of cloning a Buddha, the starting point of our speculations must be whether or not the Buddha had a normal physical human body or whether in some way he transcended the conventional laws of nature, including those of genetics..." (less)

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Bojan Tunguz

Apr 07, 2011Bojan Tunguz rated it it was amazing

This is a very useful introductory book for anyone who is interested in Buddhist ethics, its principles and sources, and the answers it gives to some of the most pressing ethical questions of today. The first couple of chapters are dedicated to the historical origins and basic principles of Buddhist ethics. The bulk of the book, however, is aimed at someone who is already familiar with Western ethical traditions, and tries to show how the Buddhist teachings relate to those. In particular, the questions of animal and environmental rights, sexuality, war and terrorism, suicide and euthanasia, and cloning each get a separate chapter. In these chapters the naive impression of Buddhism as a very laid-back and permissive ethical tradition is challenged, and the author shows that the basic answers to those ethical dilemmas in Buddhism are not that far away from similar answers given in theJudeo-Christian ethics.

Overall, this is a very enlightening and informative reading. I highly recommend it. (less)

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Frank Spencer

Aug 09, 2011Frank Spencer rated it really liked it

Shelves: ethics, very-short-introductions

Worth reading, as all very short introductions are. Tells as much about general ethics as it does about Buddhist ethics. chapters about animals/environment, cloning, sexuality, war/terrorism, suicide/euthanasia, and abortion

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Michael

May 03, 2018Michael rated it it was amazing

Shelves: nonfiction, life-lessons, buddhism

I enjoy the A Very Short Introduction series. I've read a bunch of them. I got this one for free somehow on line and read it today. I admit that I skimmed a little bit in parts that didn't interest me.

Buddhism is both simple and profound. You can learn the basics in 15 minutes, then spend the rest of your life trying to apply them to your life. I would not characterize Buddhism as being a religion per se, although there are certainly Buddhists who do worship Buddha as a god. Pretty much, Buddhism is about your mind. Learn to live with your mind, understand your mind, train your mind, and everything else will be better. It's hard to argue with. No gods, no supernatural. Just you and...you.

In the overwhelming majority of examples, Buddhism is a belief system, or a philosophy, that teaches compassion, self-discipline, non-violence, and generosity. There are four Noble truths, eight paths toward reaching a higher state of being, and three ways to do it. So that's like 15 things to know. Maybe 19. You can write it on an index card, then use the next 40 years of your life trying to make it all work.

So, Buddhist ethics? Care. Pay attention. Help. Control yourself. Go do that tomorrow for 24 hours then report back to me how you did. (less)

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Scott Goddard

Apr 14, 2020Scott Goddard rated it liked it

Okay, that's done. Buddhist ethics - not something I previously knew too much about, I will concede. At first, the author gives an overview of Buddhist philosophy, focusing on the main, fundamental values and beliefs.

Next, it was time to get into the nitty gritty - the more dense subject of ethics per se, which was presented in a typology of three types.

Now, with a knowledge of Buddhist values and the basics of ethics ascertained, the author proceeds to contextualise both aspects in relation to contemporary issues. Suicide; cloning; the environment; war and terrorism - to give a few examples.

Maybe it was just from my perception, but I couldn't help but feel a particular bias from the author, against Buddhism. Overall, it a semi-decent read, and one that has enabled me to learn a new thing or two! (less)

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Duncan Reed

Jul 08, 2019Duncan Reed rated it really liked it

Shelves: 2019, spirituality

A good over view of the Buddhist perspective on different ethical considerations. The topics included are: animals and the environment; sexuality; war and terrorism; abortion; suicide and euthanasia; cloning. The author compares Theravada and Mahayana perspectives, and also compares Buddhist perspectives to Western Judeo-Christian perspectives.

I read this book after the books in the series on 'Buddha', 'Buddhism' and 'Tibetan Buddhism', in that order. The 4 books gave a very good broad summary of Buddhism. I think this series of books is generally very well written, and now has hundreds of titles, covering all sorts of subjects, in 100-130 pages. (less)

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MOL

Aug 03, 2019MOL rated it really liked it

Concise and to the point. The book was perfect for its aim - to present Buddist ethics in under 150 pages. Beforehand I had only passing knowledge of Buddha’s teachings and the book presented interestinng thought experiment on how his teachings reconcile present day issues such as homosexuality, cloning and euthanasia. I was surprised to learn that while christianity and buddism approaches such issues from completely different sides, more often than not the conclusion reached is glaringly similar. (less)

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Ariyajyoti Bhikkhu

Apr 02, 2020Ariyajyoti Bhikkhu rated it it was amazing

Buddhist Ethics: A Short Introduction has written concisely and precisely for those who wants to know Buddhism in particular and ethics in general. The Author encapsulated the Buddhist literature from various angles in relation to philosophy of Ethical theory. The writing is very provocative. I do recommend for those who wants to read for interest or even for research purpose.

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Bethany

Jan 28, 2020Bethany rated it it was ok

A good overview and gives you almost a ‘sneak peak’ into what Buddhism is really about. Slow at times, but then sometimes non-fiction is. Nevertheless, a very factual, educational and intriguing book for anyone studying Buddhism or Eastern Philosophy/ Ethics!

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Stephanie

Dec 11, 2020Stephanie rated it liked it

(Audiobook) this was an enjoyable listen! Short introduction (as the title states) to multiple topics (animal cruelty, karma, abortion, suicide, to name a few). It helps to have a basic understanding of Buddhism but not necessary. Little nuggets of information.

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Barrett Evans

Feb 27, 2021Barrett Evans rated it really liked it

An interesting primer on Buddhist ethical perspectives pertaining to such matters as animals, sexuality, abortion, war, suicide, and cloning. I found the presentation of the conservative nature of traditional Buddhist ethics particularly striking.

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Camie

Dec 29, 2018Camie rated it really liked it

This is a very good introduction.

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