Forgiveness American-Style: Origins and Status of Forgiveness in North American Buddhism

ABSTRACT

Many Buddhist teachers in North America teach forgiveness: an attitude of non-anger not conditional on wrongdoers repairing their wrongs. Classical Buddhist texts and premodern Buddhist cultures also taught forgiveness: the act of reconciling after wrongdoers repaired wrongs. This article describes traditional Buddhist forgiveness processes, analyses how new processes to forgive arose in North America, and outlines the current state of Buddhist forgiveness teachings there. It shows that the predominant way North American Buddhists now teach forgiveness is new. It developed in the 1970–1990 period and incorporates non-Buddhist discourses. In addition to clarifying what forgiveness has long been in Buddhism and how, in North America, changes to that occurred, the article notes the frequent absence, among academic scholars and Buddhists alike, of awareness concerning (a) the replacement of longstanding Buddhist teachings on forgiveness by new teachings; (b) the predominantly non-Buddhist sources of the new teachings; and (c) the impact on victims, wrongdoers, relationships, and communities of the new teachings. The article contributes to scholarship on Buddhist ethics, forgiveness in Buddhism, and the development and hybridisation of Buddhism in North America.

KEYWORDS:

• North American Buddhism
• Buddhist modernism
• Buddhist ethics
• tradition
• hybridisation
• wrongdoing
• forgiveness
• reconciliation
• purification

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Notes

1. Forgiveness has not been addressed by one long-time scholar of Buddhist ethics, Damien Keown, nor has it appeared in the Journal of Buddhist Ethics. Scholarly examinations of forgiveness in Buddhism include an early effort by Charles Hallisey, who describes Buddhist forgiveness as a combination of compassion and patience (2001, 21–22). Peter Harvey, in his Introduction to Buddhist Ethics, also mentions it, first connecting it to forbearance, then noting that it is generally conditional on acknowledging faults and resolving not to repeat them, with the Mahāyāna adding a requirement for apology (2000, 246–248). More recently, a scholarly series, Philosophy of Forgiveness, includes a chapter on Buddhism in Volume I (2016), and two chapters in Volume III (2019). In Volume I, Christopher Ketcham defines forgiveness in Buddhism as a ‘unilateral letting go of anger’. He differentiates forgiveness according to whether those facing wrongs are enlightened or unenlightened; in his view, only the unenlightened offer forgiveness. It is replaced, in enlightened beings, by unconditional compassion. This is, first, because the enlightened do not get angry, but also because they do not judge right and wrong (2016, 245, 258, 270, 273). In Volume III, Sinkwan Cheng describes forgiveness in Buddhism as ‘giving up of one’s illusory fixation on a past deed … giving up one’s own claim … by giving up the illusions of self, other, and defilement’. He claims Buddhism minimises forgiveness because it presents victim, aggressor, and crime as illusions; with no self, the self can have no claims after a wrong (2019, 158–159, 161–163). John Armstrong analyses the story of Aṅgulimāla with respect to forgiveness; he does not define forgiveness so much as describe its various and sometimes contradictory attributes, eventually equating it with kṣānti (Skt.), a forbearance term. He concludes that the Buddha forgives Aṅgulimāla, presenting forgiveness as not just forbearance but also absolution (2019, 139, 145). Noel Sheth published an article in 2017 on forgiveness in Buddhism, defining ‘forgiveness’ as ‘forbearance’ but noting that reconciliation requires wrongdoers to show contrition and make restitution (2017, 73–78). The present author published an analysis of the Aṅgulimāla story arguing that the main character was not, in fact, forgiven, leading villagers to stone him (Brown 2018). This scholarship, as a whole, reveals contradictory ideas about what constitutes forgiveness in Buddhism.

2. Regarding the field of philosophy, Berel Lang, writing in the early 1990s, states, ‘Moral philosophers have largely ignored the concept of forgiveness’ (1994, 105). Anthony Bash, a frequent writer on forgiveness, notes that forgiveness analyses in philosophy began in 1988 with Murphy and Hampton’s book Forgiveness and Mercy (Bash 2013, 382; Murphy and Hampton 1988). In psychology, the study of forgiveness began in the mid-1980s. In political studies, it began even later.

3. Examples include social scientists Roy Baumeister, Julie Exline, and Kristin Sommer who differentiate forgiveness that takes place between people and reconciles them, requiring wrongdoer repair, from forgiveness inside people, which is solitary, unconditional, therapeutic, and does not lead to reconciliation (1998, 85); political scientist Molly Andrews who describes ‘negotiated forgiveness’, which includes repair and leads to reconciliation, and ‘unilateral forgiveness’, which does not (2000, 75–76); philosopher Christopher Bennet who distinguishes between ‘redemptive forgiveness’, coming after repair that clears offenders’ moral record, and ‘personal forgiveness’, which consists of victims unilaterally letting go of anger (2003, 127); and philosophers Edith Wyschogrod, Espen Gamlund, and Martha Nussbaum who each make the same distinction using the terms ‘conditional’ or ‘transactional’ versus ‘unconditional’ (Wyschogrod 2006, 159–160; Gamlund 2010, 540; Nussbaum 2016, 75–77).

4. Because anger and related negative emotions like rage, vengefulness, hostility, enmity, and so on, are discussed frequently in this article, rather than repeating this list of emotions, I use ‘anger’ to represent all of them.

5. Further study might reveal that, in cases of minor wrongs, forbearance often leads to reconciliation: the equivalent of gift forgiveness. I have not found examples of this in Buddhist texts, but one study of forgiveness in present-day Thailand illustrates it. A majority of the individuals studied let go of anger at offenders in order to reconcile with them; a few let go of anger without reconciling. The authors of the study suggest that differences in forgiving between Thai and Western culture, perhaps including a greater concern among Thais for reconciling, may be due in part to Thailand’s ‘collectivist culture heavily influenced by Buddhism’ (Boonyarit et al. 2012, 2, 29–32).

6. Explanations of forbearance (Skt. kṣānti, kṣamā) appear in Śāntideva’s Śikṣā-samuccaya (Goodman 2016, 178), the Princeton Dictionary of Buddhism (Buswell and Lopez 2014, 446), and other sources. Generally, the term refers to enduring without anger. Throughout the article, I use the term ‘forbearance’ rather than alternatives like ‘patience’ or ‘tolerance’.

7. In Chapter III, the author mentions ‘the precepts of the bodhisattvas’ that ‘the prudent’ follow (III.23–24, III.25). In Chapter V, he references keeping ‘a rule of life’, observing vows, and avoiding misdeeds and downfalls (V.1, V.21, V.26). In addition, he writes, ‘Basic practice you should not forsake, confused by talk of sūtras and mantras’ (V.90), a reference to not neglecting rules of ethics (Shantideva 1997, 52, 62, 65, 75, 200). These comments refer to vinaya, bodhisattva vows, and possibly lay precepts. Barbra Clayton underlines that the Bodhicaryāvatāra’s ethics include these systems, even when they are not explicitly stated (Clayton 2006, 26). Hence, the Bodhicaryāvatāra promotes relational forgiveness to resolve wrongs and forbearance only to counter anger.

8. One ostensibly Buddhist story implies that forbearance closes wrongs – but it is spurious. It is found on the internet as ‘The Man Who Spit on Buddha’s Face’. In it, a man spits at the Buddha, who does not get angry. Later the man asks for forgiveness. The Buddha explains that, given impermanence, the man now is no longer the same man who spit; the conclusion drawn by those who quote the story is that Buddhism teaches that neither grudges nor forgiveness are appropriate. One scholar who quotes it is philosopher Court D. Lewis (2018, 108). Lewis’s source is an anonymously-authored blog entitled Buddha Teaches a Lesson on Forgiveness (daniedaniedanie.blogspot.com/2013/05). The blog quotes from another scholarly work, Salman Akhtar and Harold P. Blum’s The Language of Emotions: Development, Psychopathology, and Technique, but also mentions not finding the story in sutric sources (Lewis 2018, 112). Akhtar and Blum give no source (Akhtar and Blum 2005, 118–119, 124). There does not appear to be any source commonly accepted as Buddhist for the story – its circulation is an example of the creation of false evidence by citing and re-citing misleading sources. Bodhipaksa writes in his blog FakeBuddhaQuotes (27 October 2014) that the source of the story is the 2001 non-Buddhist book Intimacy: Trusting Oneself and the Other by Indian spiritual teacher Osho, a.k.a. Rajneesh.

9. Early books by authors of Asian origin that do not mention forgiveness include: Sōen Shaku, Zen for Americans (2007, first published 1906); D. T. Suzuki, An Introduction to Zen Buddhism (1964, first published 1934) and Buddha of Infinite Light: The Teachings of Shin Buddhism, the Japanese Way of Wisdom and Compassion (2002; the work comprises a 1958 lecture by Suzuki later revised by Taitetsu Unno); Walpola Rahula, What The Buddha Taught (1974); Hammalawa Saddhatissa, Buddhist Ethics (1970), Chögyam Trungpa, Meditation in Action (1969), Cutting Through Spiritual Materialism (1973), The Myth of Freedom and the Way of Meditation (2002, first published 1976), and Shambhala: the Sacred Path of the Warrior (Trungpa and Gimian, 2007, first published 1984); Shunryu Suzuki, Zen Mind, Beginner’s Mind (2020, first published 1970); Thich Nhat Hanh, Zen Keys: A Guide to Zen Practice (1973); the Dalai Lama, The Buddhism of Tibet (Gyatso 2002, first published 1975); Lama Yeshe and Thubten Zopa Rinpoche: Wisdom Energy (Yeshe and Zopa, 2012, first published 1976) and Wisdom Energy 2 (Yeshe and Zopa, 1979); Seung Sahn, Dropping Ashes on the Buddha (2007, first published 1976); Tarthang Tulku, Gesture of Balance (1977) and Hidden Mind of Freedom (1981); Mahāsī Sayādaw, Thoughts on the Dhamma (2005, first published 1982); William Hart, The Art of Living: Vipassana Meditation as Taught by S. N. Goenka Compiled and edited by Hart (1987); and S. N. Goenka, Discourse Summaries (1995, first published 1987) and Satipatthana Sutta Discourses (1998).

10. Early books by authors of Western origin that do not mention forgiveness include: Eugène Burnouf, Introduction à l’histoire du Bouddhisme indien (1844); Brian Houghton Hodgson, Essays on the Languages, Literature, and Religion of Nepál and Tibet (1972, first published 1874); Max Müller, Buddhism and Buddhist Pilgrims (1857) and a book Müller co-wrote with Monier Williams, Reginald Stephens, and Robert Childers, Studies in Buddhism (1999, first published 1888); T. W. Rhys Davids, Buddhism: Its History and Literature (1896) and Early Buddhism (1914, first published 1908); R. Spence Hardy, Eastern Monachism: an Account of the Origin, Laws, Discipline, Sacred Writings, Mysterious Rites, Religious Ceremonies, And Present Circumstances of the Order of Mendicants Founded by Gótama Budha (1850); five works by German monk Nyanatiloka Thera: The Word Of The Buddha; An Outline Of The Ethico-Philosophical System Of The Pali Canon Together With Explanatory Notes (1907), Fundamentals of Buddhism: Four Lectures (1998b, first published 1949), Buddhist Dictionary: Manual of Buddhist Terms and Doctrines (1998a, first published 1952), Buddha’s Path to Deliverance: a Systematic Exposition in the Words of the Sutta Pitaka (2009a, first published1952), and Guide through the Abhidhamma-Pitaka (2009b, first published 1938); German monk Nyanaponika Thera, The Heart of Buddhist Meditation: Satipatthna: A Handbook of Mental Training Based on the Buddha’s Way of Mindfulness (1996, first published 1962); Louis de La Vallée Poussin, The Way to Nirvana (1917, first published 1916); Dwight Goddard, A Buddhist Bible (1971, first published 1932); Christmas Humphreys, Buddhism (1951) and Zen Buddhism (1969, first published 1957); Alan Watts, The Way of Zen (1957); three works by Edward Conze: Buddhism: Its Essence and Development (1959, first published 1951), Buddhist Meditation (1969, first published 1956), and Buddhist Thought in India (1962); Philip Kapleau, The Three Pillars of Zen: Teaching, Practice, and Enlightenment (1966); Robert Aitken, Taking the Path of Zen (2015, first published 1982) and The Mind of Clover: Essays in Zen Buddhist Ethics (1982); Thomas Merton, Zen and the Birds of Appetite (1968); Jack Kornfield, Living Buddhist Masters (1977); Peter Harvey, An Introduction to Buddhism: Teachings, History and Practices (2013, first published 1990); Damien Keown, The Nature of Buddhist Ethics (2001, first published 1992); Robert Thurman, Essential Tibetan Buddhism (1995); and John Powers, Introduction to Tibetan Buddhism (1995). I cite later works, into the 1990s, for Tibetan Buddhism, because it arrived in North America later than Zen and Theravāda Buddhism.

11. Early books by authors of Asian origin that mention relational forgiveness, if only in passing, include: Geshe Wangyal, The Door to Liberation (1973) and Thich Nhat Hanh, The Miracle of Mindfulness (1976). As well, Chögyam Trungpa made comments about forgiveness in the 1970s and 1980s which appear in his collected works and which suggest he expected wrongdoers to be accountable before being forgiven (Trungpa 2010, 170–171). Early books by authors of Western origin that mention relational but not other forms of forgiveness, again often only in passing, include: Emil Schlagintweit, Buddhism in Tibet (1863) (Schlagintweit quotes from a paper published in the Journal of the Asiatic Society of Bengal by Csoma de Kőrös concerning lay Buddhists. According to him their duties include ‘to confess one’s sins with contrite heart, to ask forgiveness for them, and to resolve sincerely not to commit the like hereafter’); R. Spence Hardy, A Manual of Budhism [sic], in its Modern Development (1853), The Legends and Theories of the Buddhists: Compared with History and Science with Introductory Notices of the Life and System of Gotama Buddha (1866), and Christianity and Buddhism Compared (1874); E. A. Burtt: The Teachings of the Compassionate Buddha: Early Discourses, the Dhammapada and Later Basic Writings (2000, first published 1955); Sangharakshita: A Survey of Buddhism: Its Doctrines and Methods Through the Ages (2001, first published 1957); Paul Reps and Nyogen Senzaki, Zen Flesh, Zen Bones (1998, first published 1957); Étienne Lamotte, Histoire du Bouddhisme Indien, des Origines a l’ère Saka (1958); and Trevor Ling, The Buddha: Buddhist Civilization in India and Ceylon (1973).

12. McMahan, in The Making of Buddhist Modernism, notes that modernist Buddhist teachings have generally found sources of legitimacy, such as acceptance by communities of practice, other than lineal connections to the past (2008, 254–256).

13. In a 2018 email, Robert Pryor quotes him, stating, ‘It is one of the lovely Buddhist traditions to make an apology to someone with whom we spend some time together in case we do something offensive … especially when we say good-bye … [Here] is a standardized formula (Pācittaya Vinaya-2), which we can find in many incidents in the Pāli text. Accayo māṃ, bhante, accagama yathā-bālaṃ, yathā-mūlhaṃ, yathā-akusalaṃ yāhaṃ evamakasiṃ; tassā me, bhante, ayyo accayaṃ accayato paṭiggaṇhātu āyatiṃ saṃvarāya. Venerable sir, having done such and such a thing I transgressed as far as foolish, as deluded, as unskilled. Sir, please accept my (confession of) transgression for the sake of the future-restraint’.

14. The anecdotes depict relational forgiveness. But the explanations suggest that ‘forgiveness’, to him, is a translation of forbearance terms. Mentions of forgiveness as forbearance are many; for example, in We Must: Notes on Self-Improvement (2013b, 91, 92, 127, 128); A Manual of Self Unfoldment (2001, 117, 178); Ashtavaka Gita: Song of Self-Realization, where he lists some of his translations and writes ‘क्षमा [kṣamā]—forgiveness’ (2014, 6); and The Holy Geeta, where he defines ‘forgiveness’ as ‘(Patience) – capacity to suffer long without being upset’ (2006, 927), a definition that embraces kṣānti and kṣamā, but not ‘forgiveness’ in its usual English usage. As well, in We Must, he describes forgiveness as perseverance in the face of obstacles – a definition of forbearance but not forgiveness (2013b, 91). He also writes, ‘Kshama is one of the names of mother earth. It is said of Lord Rama that in forgiveness he was like Mother Earth’ (2015).

15. Although forgiveness does not appear in Be Here Now (1971), forgiving others and oneself appear in his 1985 book How Can I Help?: Stories and Reflections on Service (2005, 78, 186, 240, 241). At Naropa in 1974, he told the story about letting go of anger towards his fellow students; he connected letting go of anger to ‘being love’ (Dass 2017, 0:48–1:50). Forgiveness stories echo through his books and recordings.

16. Although this is one Protestant view, it did not, at the time, reflect mainstream Christian teaching on forgiveness, which required repentance; nevertheless Ram Dass could have been exposed to it. He appears to have been far more influenced by Christianity than by Judaism even though he came from a Jewish family, referring to Jesus and to Christian (not Jewish) teachings in Be Here Now (1971). He claimed to have learned little Judaism while growing up (Rifkin 1992).

17. Munindra remained mainly in India after 1985. There, he taught Westerners in the Antioch Buddhist Studies programme, extending his influence (Pryor 2010, ix, xvi–xvii).

18. Relational forgiveness appears in some of the Dalai Lama’s books (e.g. Gyatso and Chan 2004, 51, 79, 109; Gyatso and Chodron 2014, 255). Ghosananda offered unconditional love to all, but forgiveness to those ‘who repented and renounced violence’, saying, ‘In Buddhism, when people know their crimes and they ask for pardon, then the Buddha pardons them’ (Santi 2007).

19. Levine’s A Gradual Awakening features a preface by Ram Dass, and discusses his influence (1979, xiv, 89, 108–109). Ram Dass wrote the introduction to Goldstein’s first book as well, and Goldstein acknowledges Ram Dass’s encouragement while writing it (1976, ix). Salzberg’s first book, published in 1995, also acknowledges help from Ram Dass (2002b, xi) as does her memoir, which refers to him as one of her ‘closest friends’ and ‘a close confidant’ (2002a, 38, 82). Kornfield’s first book has a forward by Ram Dass and acknowledges his assistance (1977, ix), and his A Path with Heart contains an enthusiastic endorsement from Ram Dass (1993, i).

20. Kornfield has said that a focus on love was key to what he learned from Ram Dass (Sounds True 2018, 8:00–9:35). Forgiveness was an aspect of Ram Dass’s teaching on love.

21. Sujata’s book, which Stephen Levine edited, was Beginning to See (1973). It contains a lovingkindness meditation, but does not mention forgiveness. It presents lovingkindness as the opposite of ‘hatred, anger, and resentment’ (Sujata 1973, 16). Sujata was not a source for Stephen Levine’s forgiveness teachings or meditations.

22. In his memoir, Levine downplays his role in creating forgiveness meditations. After describing his experiences during the 1973 retreat, he writes, ‘One day, beginning the forgiveness meditation, often practiced by Buddhists as part of the cultivation of loving-kindness … ’ (Levine 2002, 91). This is Levine the author interjecting decades later – the memoir was published in 2002. It is true that by 2002 forgiveness meditation was ‘often practiced by Buddhists’, but it was not true in 1973. Notably, this comment on the origins of forgiveness meditation does not cite any Asian source.

23. Fronsdal does not mention Goldstein’s placing of a forgiveness prayer, similar to Goenka’s dedication-pardon, before a lovingkindness meditation in his 1976 book. He appears to be correct in not viewing Goldstein’s words as a forgiveness meditation.

24. Kornfield, Salzberg, and others who published forgiveness teachings after 1990 may have also drawn on non-Buddhist writings on individual forgiveness that appeared beginning in the mid-1980s, and on other Buddhist sources that arose in the 1990s.

25. Love is Letting Go of Fear by Gerald G. Jampolsky, first published in 1979, and the New Age teachings called A Course in Miracles (ACIM) both taught individual forgiveness. Jampolsky’s book had a chapter on the value of forgiveness for peace of mind, defining it as ‘correcting our misperception that the other person harmed us’ (Jampolsky 1981, 70). This was a reframing of forgiveness as a mental act done in solitude, and it drew on his experience as a teacher of ACIM. ACIM appeared in the 1970s, although it grew popular mainly in the 1990s after appearing in 1985 in a one-volume form and being promoted by Oprah Winfrey (Miller 2008, 64–65, 209). ACIM teaches that forgiveness is internal to the person who ‘imagined’ having been wronged (A Course n.d.). In his history of ACIM, D. Patrick Miller writes that over two million copies of it are in print (Miller 2008, 2).

26. Christian books teaching interpersonal forgiveness increased in number after 1970. These were precursors to the influential book by Lewis B. Smedes. Most of these early books retained longstanding Christian ideas, emphasising prayer, repairs from wrongdoers, and reconciliation. Joan Mueller identifies key Christian pastoral works that laid a foundation for Smedes’ book (Mueller 1998, 60–61).

27. The estimate is from Christianity Today (Kellner 2002). The cover of the 1996 edition of the book states ‘over 400,000 copies sold’. In his autobiography, Smedes asserts that ‘close to a million people’ read the book (Smedes 2003, 158).

28. Forgiveness scholar Everett L. Worthington Jr. confirmed this in an email in 2016; the fact is also supported by comments in his books citing the year 1984 as the beginning of contemporary forgiveness studies (Worthington 1998, 1; Worthington and Sandage 2016, 11). Prakash Gangdev also confirms the role of Smedes’ book (2009, 1), as does Jones (1995, 48). Worthington published his first paper on forgiveness in 1990. Another early forgiveness scholar, Robert D. Enright, published on the topic beginning in 1989 (Enright 2019).

29. Examples include the International Forgiveness Institute, established in 1994 in Wisconsin by Enright, according to its website, and Stanford Forgiveness Projects, established by Dr Fred Luskin, who runs workshops and research efforts, as discussed on its website. Other American institutes that study or fund studies of forgiveness include The Fetzer Institute in Michigan, whose website shows the motto ‘love; forgiveness; compassion’ and which funds forgiveness research, and The John Templeton Foundation, which funds research into spiritually oriented issues from a scientific perspective. The latter awarded approximately $10 million in grants for forgiveness research between 1997 and 2005. The resulting projects together engaged approximately 360 people in forgiveness research, many of whom continued to work in the same field after the period of funding ended. Much of the research attracted media attention, furthering popular discourse about forgiveness (Worthington 2019, 184–186). Worthington and Sandage attribute ‘a huge … jump upward’ in psychological research on forgiveness to this funding (2016, 11).

30. Non-religious books on individual forgiveness that formed part of this initial wave included Sidney B. Simon and Suzanne Simon’s Forgiveness: How to Make Peace with Your Past and Get on with Your Life (1990), social worker Beverly Flanigan’s Forgiving the Unforgivable: Overcoming the Bitter Legacy of Intimate Wounds (1992), and psychologist Jeanne Safer’s Forgiving & Not Forgiving: A New Approach to Resolving Intimate Betrayal (1999). Social scientists Worthington, Enright, and Luskin all published popular books on forgiveness in 2001 and 2002 (Worthington 2001; Enright 2001; Luskin 2002).

31. Regarding Kabat-Zinn’s sources, in a 2011 reflection on the development of MBSR, he does not mention forgiveness, only mindfulness, leaving the impression that, in his eyes, mindfulness meditation automatically includes forgiveness. The appearance of forgiveness in Full Catastrophe Living suggests that Kabat-Zinn probably taught it at his clinic (launched in 1979) during the 1980s, following Stephen Levine and Goldstein. In the 2011 reflection, Kabat-Zinn mentions as one influence Goldstein’s book The Experience of Insight (1976) (Kabat-Zinn 2011, 289). It is likely he was also familiar with Levine’s A Gradual Awakening (1979), which presents a forgiveness meditation, as well as Goldstein and Kornfield’s Seeking the Heart of Wisdom (1987), which alludes to forgiveness but without a meditation on it; both are referenced in Full Catastrophe Living (Kabat-Zinn 1990, 450). (Other Buddhist books cited there do not mention forgiveness.) Full Catastrophe Living has no footnotes or bibliography, and Kabat-Zinn makes no mention in the book or elsewhere of forgiveness sources other than vipassana teachers. Yet his ideas do not all match theirs. He developed MBSR at his clinic. There, he was exposed to public, psychological, and medical interest in forgiveness. Kabat-Zinn surely drew forgiveness meditation from Stephen Levine (or from him via Goldstein), but the differences between his understanding of forgiveness and theirs (in the 1980s) suggest that he shaped his ideas about forgiveness based on other sources.

32. Relational forgiveness did not disappear from Buddhist teachings in English, but it is less commonly taught than individual forgiveness. Examples of works that mention forgiveness in relational ways include Nhat Hanh (1991, 99, 255, 300, 313, 398), Seung Sahn (1997, 241, 345), Sogyal Rinpoche (1994, 208, 271, 383), the Dalai Lama (Gyatso 1999, 96, 104, 140, 168), and a video by Brad Warner (2019).

33. Ṭhānissaro, for example, in 2018 suggested resolving wrongs with individual forgiveness, but in a 2004 teaching favoured relational forgiveness (2004, 2018).

34. The Dalai Lama and Thubten Chodron write: ‘When someone harms us and then, realizing his error, sincerely apologizes, it is crucial that we forgive him’. This epitomises relational forgiveness. This book does not mention a forgiving attitude to counter anger, but teaches ‘fortitude’ (a translation of bzod pa (Tib.), a forbearance term) to oppose anger (Gyatso and Chodron 2014, 253–255). On one’s own wrongs, it states, ‘If we feel remorse for acting harmfully, we confess and purify’ (Gyatso and Chodron 2014, 36, 79, 114). Self-forgiveness is not mentioned. Bhikkhu Bodhi’s book contains translations of Pāli texts and commentary. An example in it of relational forgiveness is the story ‘Sāriputta’s Lion’s Roar’, in which a monk slanders Sāriputta. The monk then confesses and asks the Buddha to accept the transgression as a transgression ‘for the sake of future restraint’. The Buddha asks Sāriputta to forgive the monk; Sāriputta responds that he will forgive when the monk asks him for forgiveness. This scenario includes confession of wrongdoing, commitment to not transgress again, and requests for forgiveness – it is an example of relational forgiveness (2016, 65–67). Other teachings in the book also point to the need to confess and make amends after wrongdoing, and for wrongdoers and victims to reconcile based on these actions. There is no discussion of forgiveness as a way to counter anger; forbearance and other longstanding methods are described. One’s own wrongs are dealt with via confession to others and future restraint. The process is described in the comment ‘the party at fault acknowledges his transgression as such, and the accuser accepts his apology and pardons him’ (2016, 34, 51–68, 143–144).

35. There is a related contemporary modernist teaching, which does not use the term ‘forgiveness’. It implies that wrongs are to be resolved, not merely handled without anger, by forbearance, without forbearance being relabelled ‘forgiveness’. Examples include Brad Warner’s Hardcore Zen (2003) and Sit Down and Shut Up (2007). Warner teaches countering anger with longstanding antidotes: recalling non-self and karma, and attaining non-conceptual states. He also applies these antidotes to wrongs, suggesting they bring closure. As well, he opposes rules about right and wrong behaviour as well as judging, hinting that wrongs are to be resolved only by letting go of anger (2003, 68–69, 111–126, 178, 2007, 74–90). However, he recounts a story, in his Zen Wrapped in Karma Dipped in Chocolate, that shows his Japanese forbears using relational forgiveness, not individual forgiveness or forbearance, to resolve wrongs (2009, 170–171).

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Donna Lynn Brown

Donna Lynn Brown, MA, MDiv (Buddhist studies) is a Ph.D. candidate in Religious studies at the University of Manitoba, Canada. Her areas of research include contemporary Tibetan Buddhism, engaged Buddhism, and Buddhist ethics.