(Post-) Buddhism without Rebirth
Traditional Buddhists tend to believe that rebirth and karma are essential parts of the Buddhist worldview and that one, therefore, cannot be a Buddhist without accepting those. For example, the 14th Dalai Lama has written that βas long as you are a Buddhist, it is necessary to accept past and future rebirthβ, which means that you canβt be a Buddhist without believing in rebirth. Many Buddhist modernists, on the other hand, consider the doctrine of rebirth and karma unimportant, or radically reinterpret it in an attempt to bring it in line with a more or less Western, βmaterialistβ worldview, or...
Universal Liberation
Taixu ε€ͺθ was one of the most influential thinkers of modern East-Asian Buddhism. In 1904, at the age of 14, he became a monk at XiΗo JiΗhuΓ‘ temple ε°δΉθ―ε―Ί in Suzhou, China. Soon after, he developed an interest in modern science, left-wing politics, and Buddhist reform. A decade later (partially due to changing political circumstances) he had himself sealed in a cell in a monastery to study Buddhist scripture and philosophy. After he left his cell in 1917, he revived a Maitreya Pure Land cult, but also continued working for the modernization and revival of Buddhism in China under the...