Soaring and Settling: Buddhist Perspectives on Social and Theological Issues

(Paperback)

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Soaring and settling, riding the winds of change, finding ease in impermanence are all images that govern Rita Gross's text. The over-riding concern is with how Eastern wisdom traditions transform our lives and are themselves transformed by contact with the wisdom of the West. In the first part of the text, Gross deals with autobiographical and methodological issues related to being a feminist Buddhist scholar-practitioner in North America. The next part considers major "lifestyle" or social issues, arranged to proceed through the life cycle from conception to death and grieving. Here are such matters as population control, work and family, environmental ethics, and a personal approach to finitude and death. Finally, she turns to properly theological questions such as immanence and transcendence in womens religious experience and expression, the use of goddess images in Buddhism, and several practices from the author's own Tibetan Vajrayana Buddhist tradition.

Reviews

"A treat and a challenge, this book is highly recommended ... a very special contribution to the field." -Library Journal
"Rita Gross must be commended for her 'soaring' and dynamic presentation of the continuing impact of Buddhist tradition on contemporary America. This book is a valuable study for those interested in gender studies and the modern interaction between Indic religions and indigenous American culture." --James Kenneth Powell II, International Journal of Hindu Studies, 1999

Author Bio

Rita M. Gross was Professor of Comparative Studies in Religion at the University of WisconsinEau Claire, USA.