The time has come for nondualism. As a fundamentally unifying concept, nondualism may seem out of place in an age of rising nationalism and bitter deglobalization, but our current debates over tribalism and universalism all grant nondualism an informative relevance. Nondualism rejects both separation and identity, thereby encouraging unity-in-difference. Yet “nondualism” as a word occupies a large semantic field. Nondual theists advocate the unity of humankind and God, while nondual atheists advocate the inseparability of all persons, without reference to a divinity. Ecological nondualism asserts that we are in nature and nature is in us, while monistic nondualists assert that only God exists and all difference is illusion. Edited by Jon Paul Sydnor and Anthony Watson, and guided by scholars from different religions and specializations, Nondualism: An Interreligious Exploration explores the semantic field that nondualism occupies. The collection elicits the expansive potential of the concept, clarifies agreement and disagreement, and considers current applications. In every case, nondualism is universal in its relevance yet always distinctive in its contribution.

The author of this slender but profound book, a Cistercian monk, discovered as a young man the work of his fellow countryman Ren Gunon, whose writings introduced him to genuine metaphysical doctrine and to possibilities of spiritual realization. This discovery marked him indelibly, and he resolved to follow a monastic path in order to be free for the 'one thing needful'. The word Advaita, which designates Vedantic non-dualism, is Sanskrit for 'non-dual' or 'not two'; but the doctrine itself is by no means exclusively Hindu, being present in Buddhism, Islam, Taoism, and Judaism. In Christianity it has always been more implicit, though explicit with writers such as Dionysius the Areopagite, Eriugena, Eckhart, and even Dante. The great merit of this work by 'a Monk of the West' is that it shows that non-dualism is neither pantheism nor monism, and that there is no incompatibility between orthodox Christian doctrine and the strictest understanding of non-dualism in the Advaita Vedanta. The implication is that non-dualism can again find expression within a Christian ambiance. The cover design helps clarify this. In the background is the Omkara, the sacred monosyllable of Hinduism, considered the most funadamental of affirmations. In the foreground is the Christian symbol of the Chi-Rho, chrismon, or labarum, consisting of the first two letters-chi (X) and rho (P)-of the Greek Christos, XRISTOS. This figure is intrinsically three-dimensional but is usually projected onto a plane surface. The cruciform Greek letter chi (X) is placed horizontally within a circle; it measures the parameters of a given world. The rho intersects the chi at its center and is placed vertically to represent the axis mundi or world tree. The loop at the top of the rho represents the Supernal Sun at the summit of the world tree, from which all possibilities of creation proceed and to which they return. There can be no essential, but only an apparent, incompatibiity between the Universe and any of its constituent parts; all derive from a unique and common Principle. Similarly, there be be no essential conflict between the Chi-Rho representing a given world and the Omkara which represents all worlds, the entire Universe, notwithstanding the differing degrees of universality. Christianity and the Doctrine of Non-Dualism offers one approach to this doctrine and to the greatest possible spiritual / intellectual adventure that is implied.

The region of Bihar is one of the great foci of Indian history. From before the days of Buddha it was a major centre of Indian Political life and the most significant cultural centres, especially in respect of Buddhism. Hitherto the student of Ancient India has been rather badly provided with geographical and topographical studies. Dr. M.S. Pandey has made a very significance contribution to the subject. The author has ransacked a very large range of sources for information and has produced a survey of the subject which may in many respects serve as a model to students working on other regions of India. The chapter helps in understanding the geographical forces behind historical events of the state. The author has dealt very scholarly the Historical outlines; mountain systems; river systems, regions & districts, place-names, communications etc. The book is written with scholarly acumen and clarity and is very evidently the work of a man with a deep affection for his native land.

The words 'me,' 'mine,' 'you,' 'yours,' can mislead us into feeling separate from other people. This book is an exhilarating contribution to the spirituality of non-duality or non-separation. Meister Eckhart, Mother Julian of Norwich and Thomas Traherne are interpreted as 'theopoets' of the body/soul who share a moderate non-dualism. Their work is brought within the ambit of non-dual Hinduism. Specifically, their passion for unitive spiritual experience is linked to construals of both 'the Self' and 'Awakening', as enunciated by Advaita Vedanta. Charlton draws on poetry, theology and philosophy to perceive fresh connections. A commonality of interest is proposed between the three Europeans and Ramana Maharshi. The concept of non-duality is basic to much of Asian religion. On the other hand, Christianity has usually ignored its own non-dual roots. This text contributes to a recovery, in the West, of the vital, unifying power of non-dual awareness and connectedness.

Vijnanabhiksu, the author of Vijnanamrtabhasya, an independent commentary on Badarayana`s Brahmasutras, conceived a system in which both the world and the individual selves also enjoyed the status of reality and which accorded due importance to both knowledge and action as means to liberation. He believed that it is the philosophy of the unreality of the world which was responsible for man`s alienation from his environment and in order to help him overcome the alienation a more meaningful relationship of man with his surroundings and fellow-beings was needed. This is precisely the reason why Vijnanabhiksu took up cudgels against the advocated of Maya and expounded a system in which the world has been accepted as a real transformation of Prakrti, the power of the Absolute, and which thus has no place for Maya in the sense in which it has in the philosophy of Advaita. Vijnanabhiksu`s system is a peculiar blend of knowledge, yoga and bhakti. Probably it was the need of the times and it is for this reason that he combined both the non-dualistic idealism of Samkara and the realistic idealism of Samkhya with the prevailing cult of devotion. It is his zeal for syncretism that he has welded various philosophical trends of Samkhya, Yoga, Vedanta, Puranas, etc. into his system of Integral Non-dualism.

So many of the world's spiritual, religious, and philosophical schools hold the notion that the self is strongly tied to the remaining world or that everything is a part of the same total. Illustrations of this context can be found in Western traditions like Platonism and Christianity as well as in Eastern philosophies like Hinduism, Buddhism, Taoism, and Confucianism. These traditions advocate ideas like Buddha nature, Nirvikalpa samadhi, non-dual consciousness, Henosis, and Theosis. These are supposed to be connected to oneness. Though they are a component of Western culture, concepts of oneness pose a threat to the more prevalent Western ideas of a separate self. According to some schools of Hindu philosophy, the reality is inherently non-dual. These schools of thought, often known as Advaita schools, derived from the Sanskrit term Advaita, which means "not two", perceive the material world as either a component of the supreme reality or as a simple illusion.

This volume presents the first book-length study in English of the concept of Buddha nature as discussed in the Buddha Nature Treatise (Fo Xing Lun), attributed to Vasubandhu and translated into Chinese by Paramartha in the sixth century. The author provides a detailed discussion of one of the most important concepts in East Asian Buddhism, a topic little addressed in Western studies of Buddhism until now, and places the Buddha nature concept in the context of Buddhist intellectual history. King then carefully explains the traditional Buddhist language in the text, and embeds Buddha nature in a family of concepts and values which as a group are foundational to the development of the major indigenous schools of Chinese Buddhism. In addition, she refutes the accusations that the idea of Buddha nature introduces a crypto-Atman into Buddhist thought, and that it represents a form of monism akin to the Brahmanism of the Upanisads. In doing this, King defends Buddha nature in terms of purely Buddhist philosophical principles. Finally, the author engages the Buddha nature concept in dialogue with Western philosophy by asking what it teaches us about what a human being, or person, is.

Too often Buddhism has been subjected to the Procrustean box of western thought, whereby it is stretched to fit fixed categories or had essential aspects lopped off to accommodate vastly different cultural norms and aims. After several generations of scholarly discussion in English-speaking communities, it is time to move to the next hermeneutical stage. Buddhist philosophy must be liberated from the confines of a quasi-religious stereotype and judged on its own merits. Hence this work will approach Chinese Buddhism as a philosophical tradition in its own right, not as an historical after-thought nor as an occasion for comparative discussions that assume the west alone sets the standards for or is the origin of philosophy and its methodologies. Viewed within their own context, Chinese Buddhist philosophers have much to contribute to a wide range of philosophical concerns, including metaphysics, epistemology, ethics, philosophy of language, philosophy of mind, and philosophy of religion, even though Western divisions of philosophy may not exhaust the rich contents of Chinese Buddhist philosophy. .

Spanning the gamut from "Aaron" to "Zwingli," this dictionary includes nearly 3,000 entries written by about sixty authors, all of whom are specialists in their various theological and religious disciplines. The editors have designed the dictionary especially to aid the introductory-level student with instant access to definitions of terms likely to be encountered in, but not to substitute for, classroom presentations or reading assignments. - Publisher.

It is a commonplace that while Asia is nondualistic, the West, because of its uncritical reliance on Greek-derived intellectual standards, is dualistic. Dualism is a deep-seated habit of thinking and acting in all spheres of life through the prism of binary opposites leads to paralyzing practical and theoretical difficulties. Asia can provide no assistance for the foreseeable future because the West finds Asian nondualism, especially that of Mahayana Buddhism, too alien and nihilistic. On the other hand, postmodern thought, which purports to deliver us from the dualisms embedded in modernity, turns out to be merely a pseudo-postmodernism. This book's novel idea is that the West already contains within one of its more marginalized roots, that of ancient Hebrew culture, a pre-philosophical form of nondualism which makes possible a new form of nondualism, one to which the West can subscribe. This new nondualism, inspired by Buddhism but not identical to it, is an epistemological, ontological, metaphysical, and praxical middle way both for the West and also between East and West.