Prior studies have demonstrated important implications related to religiosity and a do-not-resuscitate (DNR) decision. However, the association between patients' religious background and DNR decisions is vague. In particular, the association between the religious background of Buddhism/Daoism and DNR decisions has never been examined. The objective of this study was to examine the association b...

Buddhism is an ancient religion that began in India and spread throughout Asia. It is prevalent in modern Japan. Breastfeeding has been a strong practice for centuries with the custom being to continue until the child is 6 or 7 years of age. The Edo period was very influential in establishing breastfeeding customs that continue today.

One important foundation of Buddhist ethics is a commitment to nonviolence. My aim in this paper is to work out the implications of this commitment with regard to the treatment of offenders. Given that punishment involves the intentional infliction of harm, I argue that the practice of punishment is incompatible with the principle of nonviolence. The core moral teaching of the Buddha is to conq...

On June 13, 2005, I will be having a public dialog with the Dalai Lama in Göteborg, Sweden. This occasion has prompted me to share with the readers of Cognitive Therapy Today some of my thoughts regarding the relation of the theory underlying cognitive therapy to Tibetan Buddhism and some of the newer therapeutic approaches such as Attention Training, Mindfulness Based Cognitive Therapy, and th...

Religious faith and medicine combine harmoniously in Buddhist views, each in its own way helping Buddhists enjoy a more fruitful existence. Health care providers need to understand the spiritual needs of patients in order to provide better care, especially for the terminally ill. Using a recently reported case to guide the reader, this paper examines the issue of medical futility from a Buddhis...

BACKGROUND Low back pain (LBP) is common among office workers. A number of studies have established a relationship between Christianity and physical and mental health outcomes among chronic pain patients. The purpose of this study was to examine the relationship between the religious beliefs and practices of Buddhism and disability and psychological stress in office workers with chronic LBP. ...

137 aspects of Tokugawa society into a coherent narrative centered on the danka system. For example, the author connects the Tokugawa attempt to eradicate Christianity with the flourishing of Buddhist temples, even though Edo never actively declared Buddhism to have any official status in society. Hur also relates the structure of the Japanese household to the danka system through his discussio...

In the present article I offer a sketch of Gandharan Buddhism in the centuries around the turn of the common era by looking at various kinds of evidence which speak to us across the centuries. In doing so I hope to shed a little light on an important stage in the transmission of Buddhism as it spread from India, through Gandhara and Central Asia to China, Korea, and ultimately Japan. In particu...

Huayan (J. Kegon; K. Hwaŏm) Buddhism, whose teachings are based on the Huayan jing, the Avataṃsaka-sūtra or Flower Garland Sūtra, is one of the most important schools of East Asian Buddhism. The Huayan jing has provided inspiration for the creation of numerous artworks, ritual objects, and architectural complexes. We are familiar with the portrayals of Vairocana (Ch. Darirulai 大日如來, or Piluzhen...

There is growing interest in Asian traditions amongst Western-trained philosophers. A major contributing factor has been the publication in the past twenty years of several bold philosophical works that critically engage with positions advanced by Asian philosophical thinkers. The Bodhisattva's Brain [henceforth, BB] contributes to this emergent trend. BB is divided between two main lines of co...