This volume seeks to answer the question of how the Buddhist monks in today's Sri Lanka—given Buddhism's traditionally nonviolent philosophy—are able to participate in the fierce political violence of the Sinhalese against the Tamils.

This volume seeks to answer the question of how the Buddhist monks in today's Sri Lanka—given Buddhism's traditionally nonviolent philosophy—are able to participate in the fierce political violence of the Sinhalese against the Tamils.

American Buddhism has been shaken by sex scandals and inappropriate relationships between teachers and students for years. This book addresses the pitfalls that occur in spiritual relationships: the idealization of the teacher, the way students give away their power and how priests betray the trust and good will of the vulnerable. "A brilliant and deeply important book. Schoen is consistently insightful and often revelatory, and her clear, fluid writing is a pleasure to read. Anyone who has--or wants--a spiritual teacher needs to read Buddha Betrayed and take it to heart." Scott Edelstein, author of "Sex and the Spiritual Teacher" Praise for "Buddha Betrayed": "American Buddhism is a relatively young transplant from Asia. It has a lot of growing up to do and recently several major scandals have become widely public, revealing for all to see the growing pains. Everyone who has associated with a Buddhist teacher hopes they have done the personal work necessary to transcend our primitive primal selfish nature that is always seeking to have enough and then some more, but this is not always the case. Some adepts have done sufficient work to open their minds fully to the multi-dimensional universe we are all seamlessly a part, but have not done the inner psychological work to master their base instincts, needs and desires. If these adepts are raised prematurely to teacher status, fed admiration, power and nearly unconditional deference and respect, with little peer review or supervision, this can be a dangerous combination leading to abuse of power and position. Gerti Schoen in her book: "Buddha Betrayed - When Spiritual Relationships Go Awry" has done a great job examining the fallout and investigating the process that has led to such abuses. It is particularly a must read for anyone who has experienced this kind of situation first hand. Schoen provides the analysis and cautions needed for American Buddhism to take its next steps towards a truly mature American practice." Genjo Marinello, head teacher, Chobo-ji, Seattle

In this study a social and cultural anthropologist and a specialist in the study of religion pool their talents to examine recent changes in popular religion in Sri Lanka. As the Sinhalas themselves perceive it, Buddhism proper has always shared the religious arena with a spirit religion. While Buddhism concerns salvation, the spirit religion focuses on worldly welfare. Buddhism Transformed describes and analyzes the changes that have profoundly altered the character of Sinhala religion in both areas.

Can you come sit at the table? Tammy Letherer’s husband of twelve years spoke these words on a Tuesday night, just before Christmas, after he had put their three children in bed. He had a piece of paper and two fingers of scotch in front of him. As he read from the list in his hand, his next words would shatter her world and destroy every assumption she'd ever made about love, friendship, and faithfulness. In The Buddha at My Table, Letherer describes―in honest, sometimes painful detail―the dismantling of a marriage that encompasses the ordinary and the surreal, including the night she finds a silent, smiling Thai monk sitting at the same dining room table. It’s this unexpected visitation, this personification of peace, that sticks with her as she listens to her husband reveal hurtful, shocking things―that he never loved her, he doesn’t believe in monogamy, and he wants to “wrap things up” with her in four weeks―and allows her to find the blessing in her husband’s betrayal. Ultimately, it’s when she realizes that she is participating in her life, not at its mercy, that she discovers the path to freedom.

"In seeking to explore the interrelationships between, and mutual influence of, varieties of sexual stereotypes and religious views of the Mahayana Buddhist tradition, Women in Buddhism succeeds in drawing our attention to matters of philosophical importance. Paul examines the 'image' of women which arise in a number of Buddhist texts associated with Mahayana and finds that, while ideally the tradition purports to be egalitarian, in actual practice it often betrayed a strong misogynist prejudice. Sanskrit and Chinese texts are organized by theme and type, progressing from those which treat the traditionally orthodox and negative to those which set forth a positive consideration of soteriological paths for women. . . . In Women in Buddhism, Diana Paul may be forcing our consideration of the problem of female enlightenment. Thus the main purport and accomplishment of her scholarship is revolutionary."—Philosophy East and West

This book is a critique of Buddhism by a philosopher with about 20 years' experience of practising Buddhism. It attempts to judge Buddhism by the standards of its own key insight of the Middle Way. This book argues that Buddhism has often abandoned the Middle Way and allowed dogmatic metaphysical assumptions to take its place. The Buddha criticised appeals to metaphysics, yet many of the trappings of traditional Buddhism are built on it - whether these are karma and rebirth, the revelations of the enlightened and their scriptures, dependent origination, the interpretation of the Four Noble Truths, alienated idealisations of love, or rituals that celebrate metaphysics rather than insight. This is not a purely negative book, but an attempt at a balanced appraisal of Buddhism with praise as well as criticism. In the West we have an opportunity to evaluate Buddhism anew and reform it so that it best applies its own insights.