John P. Keenan is Rector of St. Mark's Episcopal Church, Newport, Vermont, and Professor Emeritus of Religion at Middlebury College.
摘要
This book draws upon the Mahayana philosophy developed within Buddhism, employing it as a means to empty our usual alternatives for viewing the world's many religions--whether exclusivism, inclusivism, or pluralism. The aim is to free people from clinging to intellectual positions, enabling them gently but committedly to affirm their vernacular tradition as it is practiced on the ground. It critiques the above three options, and introduces the Mahayana philosophy of emptiness and dependent arising, along with its distinction between ultimate truth and conventional truth. It then applies this philosophy to an urgent question that bedevils modern people: how to practice one's chosen faith in the awareness of many other honored and attractive paths, both elegant and efficacious.
目次
A world of many faiths When faith meets faith 1 Exclusivism: possessing the true picture 6 Inclusivism: possessing the complete picture 8 How do we get beyond inclusivism? 14 Whose revelation? Whose scripture? 17 Pluralism: the picture gallery 21 The trouble with pluralism 27 Toward a workable philosophy of religions If not pluralism, what? 31 Going to ground and learning the vernacular 35 Developing new apologetics 39 The useful philosophies of Mahāyāna Buddhism The distinction between Buddhist doctrine and Mahāyāna philosophy 46 The development of Mahāyāna philosophy 49 THE MIDDLE PATH OF MADHYAMIKA The philosophy of emptiness 52 Emptiness as dependent arising 56 Two truths-ultimate and conventional 62 The truth of faith liberated from the absolute 67 YOGĀCĀRA'S ANALYSIS OF THE MIND OF FAITH Nagging questions about emptiness 72 Practitioners of introspection 74 Becoming conscious of consciousness 78 The mind as the very model of dependent arising 81 Three patterns of thinking 83 Contemplating the truth of scripture and doctrine 87 Grounding our faith in a pluralist world Apologetics from the ground 91 Culturally sensitive hermeneutics 93 Truth and convention 96 The emptiness and dependent arising of traditions 100 Interfaith conversation in a Mahāyāna mode 103 Wrapping up (a non-conclusion) 109 Bibliography 117
