225 Notes FOREWORD 1. This is a major theme, of course, of Wilfred Cantwell Smith’s manifesto for the comparative study of religions: “Comparative Religion: Whither—and Why?,” in The History of Religions: Essays in Methodology, ed. Mircea Eliade and Joseph M. Kitagawa (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1959), 31–58. Smith’s essay was published a half-century ago but its challenges are still fresh, and most of its lesson still to be learned. 2. Scholarship, of course, is one only example of “the activity of understanding ,” which is one of the overt themes of this collection, albeit Carter thematizes it here as an activity in religiousness itself (see his opening statement in Introductory Note: This is “a collection of a series of reflections that attempts to explore two fundamental dimensions of human religiousness: faith and the activity of understanding.”) In this foreword, however, I direct our attention to the activity of understanding in scholarship and especially to friendship as part of the activity of scholarly understanding. 3. For some of many calls to turn scholarly self-consciousness to larger questions of the “moral formation” of the scholar, see the provocative, as well as very different works by Wilfred Cantwell Smith, “Methodology and the Study of Religion: Some Misgivings,” in Methodological Issues in Religious Studies, ed. Robert D. Baird (Chico, CA: New Horizons Press, 1975), 1–30; Edward Said, Humanism and Democratic Criticism (New York: Columbia University Press, 2004); and Paul J. Griffiths, The Vice of Curiosity: An Essay on Intellectual Appetite (The 2005 J. J. Thiessen Lectures ) (Winnipeg, Manitoba: CMU Press, 2005). 4. Paul Ricoeur, The Symbolism of Evil (Boston: Beacon Press, 1967), 348. 5. It is worthwhile to consider the suggestive choice of the preposition into here, as opposed to something such as “In conversation about our common future.” 6. Page XXX. 7. Page XXX. 8. Page XXX. 9. John Ross Carter, On Understanding Buddhists: Essays on the Therāvada Tradition in Sri Lanka (Albany: State University of New York Press, 1993), ix. 226 I n t he C om p a ny of Fr ie nd s 10. Specifying the appearance of this relationship should not be taken lightly, of course. See Suttasangahaṭṭhakathā, ed. Baddegama Piyaratana (Simon Hewavitarne Bequest, Vol 25) (Colombo: Tripitaka Publication Press, 1985), 19: “‘Ananda, there is a person because of a person.’ That is to say, it is because of, or on account of, one person who is a teacher, that there is another person who is a student. ‘I say that requital is not easy.’” Translation by Maria Heim. 11. Page XXX. 12. See Wilfred Cantwell Smith, What is Scripture?, 35. 13. Page XXX; emphasis added. 14. Carter, On Understanding Buddhists, ix. 15. Page XXX. 16. Page XXX. 17. Page XXX. 18. David Burrell, C.S., Friendship and Ways to Truth (South Bend: University of Notre Dame Press, 2000), 2. 19. Wilfred Cantwell Smith, “Methodology and the Study of Religion,” 23. ACKNOWLEDGMENTS 1. Two companion volumes that give evidence to the significance of a religious heritage for providing orientation in one’s attempt to live life well are now available. They arose from study tours conducted by Colgate undergraduates in Japan and on three occasions in Sri Lanka. They are John Ross Carter, ed., The Religious Heritage of Japan: Foundations for cross-cultural understanding in a religiously plural world (Portland, OR: Book East, 1999), and John Ross Carter, ed., On Living Life Well: Echoes of the Words of the Buddha from the Theravāda Tradition (Onalaska, WA: Pariyatti Press, 2010). INTRODUCTORY NOTE 1. One wishing to gain an overview of the Buddhist tradition in Asia, generally, and through its historical development, would want to consult Joseph M. Kitagawa and Mark D. Cummings, eds., Buddhism and Asian History: Religion, History, and Culture —Readings from the Encyclopedia of Religion, Mircea Eliade, ed. in chief (New York: MacMillan, 1989). A good place to start in a study of the tradition in South Asia, with a primary focus on Theravāda, would be Rupert Gethin, The Foundations of Buddhism (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1998). For a firm foundation regarding Shinran and his significant life and thought, one would want to read Yoshifumi Ueda and Dennis Hirota, Shinran: An Introduction to His Thought—With Selections from the Shin Buddhism Translation Series (Kyoto: Hongwanji International Center, 1989). 2. So the Revised Standard Version of the Bible (RSV). I follow the Hebrew text of Biblia Hebraica, ed. Rud. Kittel (Stuttgart: Württenbergische Bibelanstalt for the American Bible...