I sometimes describe myself as a comparative philosopher with “seven league boots.” These are, however, not the magical footwear of world folklore. It would not have taken me twenty-five years to complete this book if they were. Rather, experts in Asian studies have provided me with sturdy boots that have assisted me in at least two ways: (1) they are sufficiently waterproof (accurate) that I can wade safely in the historical, philosophical, and theological waters of many cultures; and (2) they are high enough so they can descend into the sometimes murky depths of cultural complexities and subtleties. Sometimes, however, when I fail to wade cautiously and move into unplumbed waters, water starts pouring over the top of my boots. I am of course fully responsible for the errors that occur when I have gone off the deep end. To the charge that this reliance on so many scholars makes my work “derivative,” I plead guilty, but I would rather say that generalists such as I, standing on the shoulder of giants and making connections that specialists may have missed, have made significant contributions to understanding how all human beings relate and should treat each other.
The following scholars have allowed me to put on their boots of expertise. For Chinese religion and culture I have benefited from the advice and/or writings of Philip J. Ivanhoe, Thomas H. Reilly, Jonathan D. Spence, and Vincent Y. C. Shih. With regard to Japanese religion and culture I am grateful to Brian D. Victoria, Christopher Ives, James A. Ketelaar, John S. Harding, Christina Naylor, and contributors to the superb volume Rude Awakenings: Zen, the Kyoto School, and the Question of Nationalism. For their expertise in Burma studies I thank Thant Mint-U, Michael Aung-Twin, William J. Koenig, Michael W. Charney, Peter Popham, Michael Fredholm, Martin Smith, and Donald E. Smith. With regard to my new knowledge of Sri Lanka I relied heavily on Peter Shalk, H. L. Seneviratne, Gananath Obeyesekere, and John C. Holt. The experts on Bhutan’s history and culture whom I consulted were Michael Aris, Nagendra Singh, and Rahul Ram. With regard to Tibetan Buddhism I am grateful for the aid of Hugh E. Richardson, Jacob P. Dalton, Thomas Laird, Tsepon Shakabpa, Matthew T. Kapstein, Norman Alexander, Glenn H. Mullin, Christopher I. Beckwith, and Lee Feigon. Finally, I want to thank Achin Vanaik, Chetan Bhatt, William R. Pinch, David Gordon White, Hermann Kulke, Stewart Gordon, and Richard M. Eaton for their enlightenment on the relative religious harmony of medieval India and making sense of Hindu fundamentalism.
At the University of Idaho I would like to thank the administration for awarding me two sabbaticals (1992 and 1999), a leave of absence (2005), and travel grants to pursue research for this book in India, China, and Japan. I am heavily indebted to the late Boyd A. Martin for encouragement and moral support for my work on three books on Asian philosophy and religion. Martin was the founder of the Martin Institute for Peace Studies and Conflict Resolution, where I had the pleasure and privilege of serving as a Senior Fellow from 1990 to 2000. I want to thank my colleagues at the Pacific Northwest Division of the American Academy of Religion, where I presented early versions of each chapter of this book. I will cherish their good will and collegiality for the rest of my life.
My experience with the two editors at Lexington Books has been the best of my publishing career. My thanks go to Eric Wrona and Alissa Parra for their encouragement and expert advice.
Finally, I want to thank my partner Cheryl Miller-Arndt, good friend and confidant to Boyd Martin, for her careful proofreading of the manuscript. She went far beyond grammar and spelling and offered substantial proposals for changes. She also did the bibliography and the index. I will be forever grateful for her love, support, and encouragement. For my Gandhi book I acknowledged the healing power of my cat Ellora, named after the fabulous cave temples near Aurangabad. I now have to add the soothing śakti power of Penumbra and Aphrodite, Cheryl’s beautiful felines.