Void and Fullness in the Buddhist, Hindu and Christian Traditions : Sunya - Purna - Pleroma

Contents: Preface. Prologue/Bettina Baumer. 1. Opening address/Raimon Panikkar. 2. Sunya and Purna/Samdhong Rinpoche. 3. Concept of fullness or Purnatva in Indian philosophy/Deba Brata Sen Sharma. 4. The Pleroma of God, Jesus Christ and the Christian/Paddy Meagher. 5. Emptiness: philosophy and spirituality/Ngawang Samten. 6. Concept of fullness (Purnata) in Kashmir Saivism/Makhan Lal Kokiloo. 7. The nothingness of God and its explosive metaphors/Alois M. Haas. 8. The Tantric system in Buddhism/Wangchuk Dorje Negi. 9. Attaining the form of the void: Sunya in Vijnana Bhairava/Bettina Baumer. 10. The themes of light and dark in the Greek fathers/John R. Dupuche. 11. Sunyata in the Sahaja practice of Buddhism/Suniti Kumar Pathak. 12. Sunya Sampadana: a mystical concept of Virasaivism/Rama Ghose. 13. Purna-Sunya-Pleroma as communion of beings/Antony Kalliath. 14. Nietzsche's encounter with Buddhism/Johann Figl. 15. Gopinath Kaviraj on Purna/H.N. Chakravarty (Tr.). 16. The silence and the cry/John R. Dupuche. Concluding session: 1. Speech of his holiness the Dalai Lama. 2. Photographs. 3. Panel discussion. Glossary. General index.

"Interreligious dialogue is one of the important ways for overcoming cultural and religious differences and mis-understandings, and for contributing to world peace. But such a dialogue has to go beyond the social, institutional and purely academic areas: it has to reach the very depths of the spiritual, philosophical and theological insights of the religious traditions. In Buddhism, Hinduism and Christianity such insights are expressed in the apparently opposite, but in reality complementary concepts of Void (sunya) and fullness (purna, in Greek pleroma). These concepts lead to the respective spiritual experiences and their interpretations in scriptures and philosophies.

This volume contains the papers presented at an interreligious seminar at Sarnath, Varanasi, organised by the Abhishiktananda Society, and inspired by the ideas and life of Swami Abhishiktananda (1910-1973). These papers through light on these fundamental concepts from the different traditions, and are an invitation to dialogue. H.H. the Dalai Lama gave the concluding speech on the importance of interreligious dialogue." (jacket)