Announcements

“Beyond Technical Fixes: Sufism, Contemplation, and Climate Change as Human Predicament” by Muhammad U. Faruque is a part of Special Issue #03: Contemplative Ecology. Abstract: Building on the works of the Sufi philosopher Seyyed Hossein Nasr and the German sociologist Hartmut Rosa, this article argues that the climate crisis signals a deeper spiritual and existential crisis…

“Love’s Deepest Abyss: A Contemplative Ecology of Darkness” by Douglas E. Christie is a part of Special Issue #03: Contemplative Ecology. Abstract: “Love’s deepest abyss is her most beautiful form,” so claims Hadewijch of Antwerp, the great medieval Flemish mystic. This strange and alluring idea, shared by many of the apophatic tradition, reflects the sense that…

“The Contemplative Mood of Nan Shepherd’s The Living Mountain: Toward an Embodied Ecocentric Epistemology” by Jared R. Lindahl is a part of Special Issue #03: Contemplative Ecology. Abstract: Nan Shepherd (1893–1981) was a Scottish novelist, poet, educator, and mountaineer. Her primary work of nonfiction, The Living Mountain, concerns the Cairngorm mountains of Scotland. More than a work of natural…

After a century and a half of focus on Buddhist doctrine, academic attention is increasingly being paid to practice. What remains undertheorized, however, is the relation between the two. An example of this is the idea that tantric practice is simply a ritual technology, separate and autonomous from doctrinal formulation. This is a persisting academic trope, one that conceptualizes doctrine and practice dichotomously.

After a century and a half of focus on Buddhist doctrine, academic attention is increasingly being paid to practice. What remains undertheorized, however, is the relation between the two. An example of this is the idea that tantric practice is simply a ritual technology, separate and autonomous from doctrinal formulation. This is a persisting academic trope, one that conceptualizes doctrine and practice dichotomously.