PROCESS THOUGHT, PERFECT BEING THEISM, AND BUDDHISM

Main Article Content

Frank J. Hoffman
Venerable Somphong Khunakaro
Soraj Hongladarom

Abstract

In both Process Thought and in Buddhism’s anicca and anatta, all things flow, including in Process Thought a developing God co-creative with humans. This contrasts with an internally contradictory concept of Perfect Being God said to be both omniscient and immutable.  In Buddhism the four brahmaviharas (“divine abidings”) namely loving kindness, sympathetic joy, compassion, and even-mindedness are processes of happiness allowing application to daily life. Applied to daily life, Process Thought means opportunity for transcending dualistic opposites of true and false.  Transcending binary opposites such as true or false, one experiences life as Process, considering rebirth in a causal nexus, one experiences things as flowing and changing in kamma Process.  The process of perception includes mind as one of the six senses with corresponding six fields, and in Process Relational Philosophy changing interconnectedness is a key element of all life. 

Article Details

Section
Articles

References

Cobb, John B. Jr. and Griffin, David J., Process Theology: An Introductory Exposition.

Philadelphia: The Westminster Press, 1976.

_____ Beyond Dialogue – Toward a Mutual Transformation of Christianity and

Buddhism. Wipf & Stock Publishers, 1998.

Dahlke, Paul. Buddhism & Science, Macmillan and Co., Limited. St. Martin’s Street,

London. 1913.

Garfield, Jay L. (trans.) Fundamental Wisdom of the Middle Way: Nāgārjuna's

Mūlamadhyamakakārikā, Oxford University Press, 1995. 1st Edition.

Hoffman, Frank J. Introduction to Early Buddhism: Philosophical Texts, Concepts, and

Questions. Ayutthaya: MCU Press, 2020.

______ “Environment, Nonattachment, and Enlightenment.” In The

Cultural and Philosophical Uniqueness of Tran Nhan Tong and True Lam

Buddhist Sect. Hanoi: Vietnam National University Press, 2019.

Hongladarom, Soraj, Joaquin, JJ Jeramiah, and Hoffman, Frank J. (eds.), Philosophies

of Appropriated Religions: Perspectives from Southeast Asia. Springer and

Barnes & Noble, 2023.

Hume, David. “Of Personal Identity” in A Treatise on Human Nature. Oxford: Oxford

University Press, 1978.

________. “Of Personal Identity” in A Treatise on Human Nature. Oxford: Oxford

University Press, 1978.

Mesle, C. Robert, Process Relational Philosophy. West Conshohocken, PA: Templeton

Foundation Press, 2008.

Mesle, Robert C. Process Relational Philosophy: An Introduction to the Philosophy of

Alfred North Whitehead. West Conshohocken, PA: Templeton Foundation Press,

, 2008.

McHenry, Leemon B., The Event Universe: The Revisionary Metaphysics of Alfred

North Whitehead. (Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press, 2015).

Rhees, Rush, Without Answers, “Natural Theology” chapter 11. Oxford: Routledge

Kegan Paul Press, 1969, 2014.

Wang, Zhihe. Process Pluralism: Chinese Thought on the Harmony of Diversity (Ontos

Verlag Process Thought Series edited by Nicholas Rescher, Johanna Seibt, and Michel Weber. Frankfurt: Ontos Verlag, 2012.

Whitehead, Alfred North. Process and Reality. New York: Free Press, Macmillan,

Edited by David Ray Griffin and Donald W. Sherborne.