Peter Harvey is Emeritus Professor of Buddhist Studies at the University of Sunderland. He co-founded, with Ian Harris, the UK Association for Buddhist Studies, has acted as its Secretary and President, and now edits its journal, Buddhist Studies Review. His books include An Introduction to Buddhism: Teachings, History and Practices (Cambridge, 2nd edition, 2012), An Introduction to Buddhist Ethics: Foundations, Values and Issues (Cambridge, 2000), and The Selfless Mind: Personality, Consciousness and Nirvana in Early Buddhism (1995), and he has published many papers on early Buddhist thought and practice and on Buddhist ethics. Most recently, he edited an extensive integrated anthology of Buddhist texts, Common Buddhist Text: Guidance and Insight from the Buddha (2017).
摘要
Buddhism is a religion lacking the idea of a unique creator God. It is a kind of trans-polytheism that accepts many long-lived gods, but sees ultimate reality, Nirvana, as beyond these. It does, though, see Dhamma/Dharma as a Basic Pattern encompassing everything, with karma as a law-like principle ensuring that good and bad actions have appropriate natural results. This Element explores these ideas, along with overlaps in Buddhist and monotheist ideas and practices, the development of more theist-like ideas in Mahāyāna Buddhism, Buddhist critiques of the idea of a creator God, and some contemporary Buddhist views and appreciations of monotheisms.
目次
1. The Indian religious context of the arising and development of Buddhism 2. The different traditions of Buddhism 3. The historical Buddha, and past Buddhas 4. Rebirth 5. Karma 6. Suffering, its causes and its transcending 7. Pessimistic? 8. Buddhist ethics 9. Buddhist practices 10. Buddhist meditation and Christian contemplation 11. The cosmos at large 12. The realms of rebirth 13. Māra, the Satan-like deadly one 14. How Buddhists see and relate to the Gods 15. Comparisons to monotheistic views on the Heavens 16. The Buddhist 'creation' and 'fall' story 17. Buddhism on the supposed Creator-God Great Brahmā 18. The lovingkindness and compassion Of Great Brahmā 19. The Dhamma as the basic pattern structuring the world 20. Dhamma … and God 21. A person as a flowing dance of conditioned, impermanent, self-less processes 22. God as 'I am who I am' 23. Nirvana … and God 24. The nature of the Buddha in the Theravāda 25. Faith and prayer in Theravāda Buddhism 26. Bodhisattvas in the Mahāyāna 27. Buddhas in the Mahāyāna 28. The Mahāyāna Pantheon 29. The three-body doctrine 30. Amitābha Buddha 31. Key Bodhisattvas: the all-compassionate Avalokiteśvara and the wisdom-embodying Mañjuśrī 32. Revelation, faith and prayer in the Mahāyāna 33. The Ādibuddha – a God-like figure? 34. The Buddha-nature and the problem of evil 35. Critical reflections on the idea of a God as creating living beings and the Universe 36. Buddhist general attitudes to other religions 37. Conclusion
