Buddhism arose around 500 B.C.E. as a practical response to the trouble and suffering that characterize the human condition. Uniquely among traditions concerned with those issues, Buddhism has never offered a final description of ultimate reality; it also has not proposed a universal fixed solution to the persistent and concrete problems of solely human trouble and suffering. Instead, Buddhism has developed a general yet systematic strategy for generating truly sustainable resolutions of the trouble and suffering that afflict all sentient beings in their specific contexts.

Significant common ground with the traditions of science and technology, particularly as they have developed in the West, is suggested by Buddhism's commitments to developing insight into patterns of causal relationship; challenging both common sense and other, more sophisticated forms of presupposition and authority; construing knowledge as a cumulative and consensual process; and devising concrete interventions to redirect patterns of human activity. However, Buddhism traditionally also has avoided any form of reductionism (materialist or otherwise), countering claims of both privileged subjectivity and absolute objectivity, inverting the presumed priority of facts over values, identifying the limits of (especially instrumental) rationality, and cultivating limitless capacities for emotionally inflected relational transformation. These commonalities and differences suggest that Buddhism is well positioned to complement but also critically evaluate science and technology as epistemic (knowledge-centered) and practical enterprises.



Historical Background

Originally promulgated in what is now northern India by Siddhartha Gautama (likely 563¨C483 B.C.E.), who became known as the Buddha, or "Enlightened One," the teachings of Buddhism quickly spread across the subcontinent and, over the next half millennium, throughout central, eastern, and southeastern Asia. Its emphasis on the need for context-specific responses and resolutions tailored to each new linguistic and cultural environment resulted in a distinctive pattern of accommodation and advocacy through which Buddhism steadily diversified, resulting over time in a complex "ecology of enlightenment."

Traditionally, Buddhist teachings and practices have been classified into three broad evolutionary streams: the Hinayana ("Small Vehicle") stream, which is prevalent today in southeastern Asia and more commonly is called the Theravada, or "way of the elders"; the Mahayana ("Great Vehicle") stream, which is most prevalent in eastern Asia; and the Vajrayana ("Diamond Vehicle") stream, which is associated primarily with Tibet and the societies and cultures of north-central Asia. None of these strea.....

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. A sub-provincial . This article concerns places that serve as centers of government and politics. For alternative meanings see capital (disambiguation) . Encyclopedia of Modern Asia© on Xi¡¯an . Wade-Giles ( . A province, . The Chinese phrase Four Great Ancient Capitals of China (Traditional Chinese: ÖЇøËÄ´ó¹Å¶¼; Simplified Chinese: ÖйúËÄ´ó¹Å¶¼; pinyin: Zh¨­nggu¨® S¨¬ D¨¤ G¨³d¨±) traditionally refers to Beijing, Nanjing, Luoyang, and Xi¡¯an. . Zhou Dynasty . Early career . Western and Eastern Zhou . Xi??an West Peak (Xi Feng) . Qin Dynasty . Oppression During Zheng¡¯s Rule . Qin Shi Huang . Xianyang

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