Engaged Buddhism as Human Rights Ethos: the Constructivist Quest for Cosmopolitanism

• Published in: Human rights review (Piscataway, N.J.) Vol. 21; no. 1; pp. 1 - 20
• Main Author: Brysk, Alison
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Dordrecht Springer Netherlands 01.03.2020; Springer Nature B.V
• Subjects: Advocacy; Autonomy; Buddhism; Compassion; Cosmopolitanism; Development Aid; Education; Equality and Human Rights; Globalization; Human Rights; Identity; Moral responsibility; Nationalism; Philosophy; Political Philosophy; Power; Social Justice; Social Philosophy; State power; Sympathy; Terrorism and Political Violence; Taiwan; Cosmopolitanism; Human rights; Engaged Buddhism; Taiwan; Burma; Tibet; Thailand
• ISSN: 1524-8879; 1874-6306
• DOI: 10.1007/s12142-019-00575-9

As the fundamental authority of universal rights claims are contested in a declining liberal international order, constructivists seek to transcend the limits of the Western, rationalist rights ethos and explore humanistic spiritual alternatives. This essay will evaluate the promise of a leading non-Western cosmopolitan ethos: engaged Buddhism. Buddhism offers a vision of universal compassion and moral responsibility that has shaped influential global advocacy efforts, with the potential to address a significant sector of the world community. But the Buddhist ethos has functioned as both a source of and a challenge to state power and nationalist identity in an era of globalization. Through examining a range of contemporary movements of engaged Buddhism in Tibet, Burma, Thailand, and Taiwan, we will see how this form of religious cosmopolitanism can play a role in constructing a rights ethos—if and when it maintains critical autonomy and Buddhist spiritual detachment from worldly power.