Thesis (D. Min.)--Logos Evangelical Seminary, 1999. / Vita. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 330-349).

For years there has been an ongoing conflict, geographically concerning the southern parts of Thailand. The Malay-Muslim inhabitants of the area state that they do not fully belong to Buddhist Thailand and therefore require independence in various forms. Along with the Muslims, the Buddhist inhabitants of the area also suffer from daily violence and killings. The counteractions over the years seems to have resulted in chaotic conditions where civilians die regularly. After many years of violence, this complex situation has not successfully been ended and is still current. This case study will examine the requisites for peace in southern Thailand. The conflict has been studied through a conflict management perspective, thereof the choice of theory; Svante Karlsson’s conflict management theory. The conflict has been described, discussed and applied to the chosen theory. Results presented in this study shows that it is possible to achieve peace in the southern provinces of Thailand, however cooperation between the parts is necessary. A combination of several conflict management methods by Svante Karlsson can possibly result in peace in southern Thailand.

The purpose of this minor field study, and BA-thesis, is to visualize the situation for Rakhine Buddhists and Rakhine Muslims; both through their stories and through analysing Enemy Imaging within the two researched groups. The research questions posed are “What do the informants emphasise regarding their situation pertaining to the conflict and their everyday life” and “To what extent could the image of The Other be called an Enemy Image”. Methods of Thematic Content Analysis and Framing are used to analyse the material and theories of Enemy Imaging and Othering constitute the theoretical base of the study. The analysed material, ten interviews, five with Buddhists and five with Muslims, all identifying as being Rakhine, show that the informants experience feeling threatened and scared as well as to a large extent feeling misunderstood and unfairly treated. There were very few signs of Enemy Imaging among the Muslim group, but far more in the Buddhist group. This thesis calls for further research both within these two groups and extended to other actors identified in the context.

For centuries Islam and Muslims have been subject to islamophobic attitudes in the west. The purpose with this study was to see into the making of open and closed attitudes against Islam and Muslims from a conflict in southern Thailand, and also to so see if Muslims are portrayed as more violent than the Buddhist groups in the conflict. The aim of the study is also to see if Muslims fall into a violent stereotype. This was studied by looking at five Swedish newspapers coverage of the conflict, during a given time. To be able to look into this, two theories will be used, the first one is the Runnymede Trust theory, which is about open and closed attitudes against Islam and Muslims. The second one is Duncan’s violent stereotype theory, which will be used to see differences between the Muslims and the Buddhists when it comes to the use of violence, and also to see if Muslims are portrayed as a violent stereotyped group. The method was a psychology discourse method with a theory driven analysis with Template Analyze Style. The conclusion of the study was that there was a mix of open and closed attitudes against Islam and Muslims, where the closed attitudes follow a pattern of earlier studies. Another conclusion from the study was that there are only small differences in the portraying of the different groups as more and less violent, where the Muslims tend to be portrayed as a bit more violent but the differences are small. And from that conclusion it is not possible from the material to say that there are any clear stereotypes of Muslims as a violent group.

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This dissertation explores the innovation and creativity behind elite Gelukpa thinking and writing about Buddhist place in Tibet in the long eighteenth century. It argues that writing about place offered Geluk thinkers a way to embed themselves in the land and history of Tibet, giving a rooted support to their expanding influence. More broadly, it demonstrates a growing spatialization of religious thought in Tibet and reveals a continuous and dynamic conversation around Tibetan Buddhist place and the nature of Buddhist space. This conversation went to the heart of matters of history, power, religion, and aesthetics and was tied intimately to the historical context of its production. To contextualize the period of Gelukpa growth, I begin by presenting the history of Tibetan Buddhist place writing across the longue durée. Based on my collection and analysis of over 400 place writing texts, including guidebooks, histories, poetry, and ritual texts, I suggest for the first time a periodization for this history, delineating distinct phases in the development of place writing across time. This periodization reveals that at most points throughout this history, Nyingma writers dominated place writing production. From the twelfth to seventeenth centuries, they set the standard for traditional place writing genres like guidebook literature. Beginning at the end of the seventeenth century, however, Gelukpa authors joined the conversation with great energy, producing both traditional and new styles of place writing in greater numbers than ever seen before. Why did the long eighteenth century see a burgeoning of place writing, both generally and by Gelukpa authors, specifically, and what characterized these new texts? I explore these questions by looking more closely at the work of three Gelukpa writers. First, I show how place writing was part of the Gelukpa rise to political and institutional dominance by an analysis of the Fifth Dalai Lama’s use of the supine demoness narrative in his efforts to unify Tibet under his government. Gelukpa place writing of this period was forced to grapple with earlier Nyingma narratives that in many cases dominated the conversation. Sumpa Khenpo’s Annals of Blue Lake offers an example of the creativity with which writers presented their new visions for Buddhist place in Tibet. Finally, I look at the poetry of Tukwan Lozang Chökyi Nyima as evidenced of the incorporation of new spatial configurations and the cultural exchange happening due to increased interactions with the Qing capital and imperial patronage. These snapshots ultimately show that the Gelukpa used place writing as part of its efforts to cement a growing influence politically, geographically, and culturally in Tibet and across Asia in the long eighteenth century. Just as importantly, however, these examples exhibit the creative power of writers in shaping the Buddhist landscape of Tibet. Through an analysis of an array of place writing texts, this dissertation brings to light one moment in the long history of Tibetan Buddhist place writing and demonstrates that Buddhist place has been a site of dynamic conversation (and often contestation) throughout that history.

This dissertation presents an in-depth examination of Sumiyoshi Gukei’s (住吉 具慶, 1631–1705) masterwork handscrolls Illustrated Legends of the Two Masters (Ryōdaishi engi emaki, 1680), pictorial biographies of the Tendai Buddhist patriarchs Tenkai (天海, 1536–1643) and Ryōgen (良源, 912–985). These scrolls played a crucial role in Gukei’s 1685 appointment to shogunal painter (goyō eshi), distinguishing him as the first artist trained in the native yamato-e style to be hired to the position by the Tokugawa. Illustrated Legends of the Two Masters demonstrates the manner in which Gukei utilized visual tropes steeped in the prestige of an idealized past to devise an entirely new iconography suitable to satisfy the desires of Kan’eiji, the shogunal temple that commissioned these narratives. The yamato-e of the Edo period inherently embodies a tension between lionizing the visual tropes of the historic past and refreshing them with novel interpretations, a balance perfectly struck by Gukei’s expressive, idiosyncratic, and narratively rich take on the mode. From its founding in 1663, the members of Sumiyoshi school had a reputation for working in an orthodox style of yamato-e, resulting from the Tosa school training of the founder Sumiyoshi Jokei (住吉 如慶, 1598–1670), and his thorough experience copying classic paragons of courtly grace; as the second head of the school, Gukei’s interpretation exhibits a noteworthy departure from previous conventions. This deft appropriation of imperial visual culture and adroit repackaging to suit contemporary tastes appealed to the Tokugawa shogunate, itself seeking a visual vocabulary with which to maintain cultural dominion over the realm.

This dissertation examines whether Buddhist beliefs and practices serve to reinforce and/or promote a Korean and/or Canadian cultural prism for next-generation Korean Buddhist practitioners in Toronto, Canada. I define Korean and Canadian cultural prisms based on the cross-cultural psychological framework of Individualism-Relational Collectivism (I-RC) and Analytical-Holistic (A-H) cognition. The aim of my research is to problematize culture in the construction of religious meaning and behaviour for relatively bicultural individuals. My research question can thus be summarized as follows: How is religious meaning and behaviour culturally constructed by next-generation Korean Buddhist practitioners in Canada? What role do individual cultural orientations and the different Buddhist cultural traditions play in this cultural construction and how does Buddhism compare to the other religions (namely Protestantism) practiced by younger-generation Korean-Canadians in this regard? By answering these questions, I ultimately hope to show whether the meaning system of Korean culture is preserved through religion among the younger generation of Korean Buddhist practitioners. I hypothesize that, due to the relatively non-authoritarian nature of Buddhism, the light of Buddhist beliefs and practices will predominantly be refracted through the a priori cultural prism of the individual in question, and the role of Buddhist doctrine and institutions in promoting a particular orientation (individualistic/relationally collectivistic and analytic/holistic) will be minimal and subordinate to the individual. The particular cultural orientation of this prism will, in turn, be dependent upon individual levels of monoculturalism (Korean or Canadian) or biculturalism (Korean and Canadian). In this way, Buddhism may serve to both preserve and undermine the Korean cultural meaning system. By comparison, I hypothesize that the relatively authoritarian nature of (Protestant) Christianity will likely encourage younger-generation Korean Christians to relate to their religion in a predominantly uniform way, regardless of the individual’s cultural orientation.

This dissertation examines whether Buddhist beliefs and practices serve to reinforce and/or promote a Korean and/or Canadian cultural prism for next-generation Korean Buddhist practitioners in Toronto, Canada. I define Korean and Canadian cultural prisms based on the cross-cultural psychological framework of Individualism-Relational Collectivism (I-RC) and Analytical-Holistic (A-H) cognition. The aim of my research is to problematize culture in the construction of religious meaning and behaviour for relatively bicultural individuals. My research question can thus be summarized as follows: How is religious meaning and behaviour culturally constructed by next-generation Korean Buddhist practitioners in Canada? What role do individual cultural orientations and the different Buddhist cultural traditions play in this cultural construction and how does Buddhism compare to the other religions (namely Protestantism) practiced by younger-generation Korean-Canadians in this regard? By answering these questions, I ultimately hope to show whether the meaning system of Korean culture is preserved through religion among the younger generation of Korean Buddhist practitioners. I hypothesize that, due to the relatively non-authoritarian nature of Buddhism, the light of Buddhist beliefs and practices will predominantly be refracted through the a priori cultural prism of the individual in question, and the role of Buddhist doctrine and institutions in promoting a particular orientation (individualistic/relationally collectivistic and analytic/holistic) will be minimal and subordinate to the individual. The particular cultural orientation of this prism will, in turn, be dependent upon individual levels of monoculturalism (Korean or Canadian) or biculturalism (Korean and Canadian). In this way, Buddhism may serve to both preserve and undermine the Korean cultural meaning system. By comparison, I hypothesize that the relatively authoritarian nature of (Protestant) Christianity will likely encourage younger-generation Korean Christians to relate to their religion in a predominantly uniform way, regardless of the individual’s cultural orientation.

In January, 1951, the Lutheran Church of China denounced all relations with the American, German and Scandinavian missions, which for more than half a century had worked in the country. As one of the first, this church made a clear and corporate stand in favour of the New Democracy and the Three-Self Movement, while most of the missions made their political choice, retreated with the Nationalists and finally went to Taiwan. This book presents the Lutheran missions from optimistic new orientations in 1944 to the evacuation and the break down of the cooperation with the Chinese church seven years later. This short .period was dramatic and of great importance for the whole missionary movement, and the study may lead to renewed self-criticism and to a necessary re-evaluation of the Chinese Revolution - one of the most significant events in World History.