The value of a sociological approach can be seen in David Chappell's study. To determine the racial composition of Soka Gakkai International-USA, he sampled 2,500 SGI-USA leaders from nine cities. Although statistical analysis may initially seem far removed from the spirit of religious life, Chappell uses his data to show how SGI-USA's sustained opposition to racism is indeed an expression of Buddhist spirituality and engagement. His findings thereby rebut old stereotypes.

Psychological studies focused on engaged Buddhism might strengthen our understanding of mindfulness, Buddhist-related approaches to healing, the roots of altruism, and comparable topics. For example, Batchelor raises provocative questions about motivation:

What motivates a person to adopt engaged Buddhism? Is it because they feel they have to somehow justify themselves in the light of Western criticism of Buddhism? Or is it a spontaneous and genuine outflow of their Buddhist practice?

The second general mode of engaged Buddhist studies methodology is doctrinal thinking. Most of the characteristic and common issues noted above can be considered doctrinally. In the area of Buddhism and ecology, for example, there have been several rounds of stimulating exchanges. The pioneering 1997 book Buddhism and Ecology: The Interconnection of Dharma and Deeds, edited by Mary Evelyn Tucker and Duncan Williams, presents a number of essays in a doctrinal mode, such as “Is There a Buddhist Philosophy of Nature?” and “The Hermeneutics of Buddhist Ecology in Contemporary Thailand.” Alan Sponberg, addressing “Green Buddhism and the Hierarchy of Compassion,” integrates Western ethical theory, Buddhist spirituality, and an urgent issue:

A Buddhist environmental ethic is hence a “virtue ethic,” one that asks not just which specific actions are necessary to preserve the environment but, more deeply, what are the virtues (that is, the precepts and perfections) we must cultivate in order to be able to act in such a way.(39)

The possible affinities between Buddhism and principles of human rights have generated another spirited discussion. Kenneth Inada sees a basis for a concept of human rights in Buddhist teachings about relational origination, which promote the “mutual respect of fellow beings.”(40) Damien Keown points instead to a sense of human dignity derived from a universally shared potential for enlightenment.(41) However, others are not satisfied that lingering inconsistencies have been resolved. There is little in premodern Buddhism that corresponds to the well-grounded Western idea of rights. As for humans, Buddhism goes to great lengths to deconstruct the usual notions of self. Thus Michel Clasquin, a South African Buddhist, argues, “Buddhists cannot logically use the term ‘human rights’ without involving themselves in a contradiction in terms of their own religio-philosophical system.” For the first time, such questions are receiving book-length treatment, as in the 1998 volume Buddhism and Human Rights.

Some doctrinal ruminations are similar to aspects of modern Western theology. It may already be possible to identify a cluster of foundational tenets as the rudiments of “engaged Buddhist doctrine.” Is there agreement that acceptance of X idea, or access to Y experience, or adherence to Z teacher is an essential element of being an engaged Buddhist? This is also where discussions of applied ethics can be found. Concerned Buddhists are beginning to weigh in on some of the knotty and controversial issues of the day: abortion, euthanasia, biomedical research, genetic engineering, and so on. Rita Gross's agenda is candidly constructivist:

[We] wish to use the wisdom and compassion we have learned from our study and practice of Buddhism to construct religious thought that speaks to contemporary issues and problems.(42)

It will not be long before engaged Buddhist studies will have its own store of texts to evaluate, just as texts play an important role in mainstream Buddhist studies. Among the many possibilities, two candidates are cited by Virginia Cohn Parkum and Anthony Stultz in their essay. The Training Manual for Zen Buddhist Practice, published in loose-leaf form by the National Buddhist Prison Sangha, includes the Heart Sutra, the four bodhisattva vows, and guidelines for meditating in a cell. The magazine Gateway Journal, published by the Engaged Zen Foundation and dedicated exclusively to prison practice, has a circulation of 3,000 and is available over the Internet. Other possibilities include collections of mindfulness verses for daily practice, pledges taken by participants in nonviolent demonstrations, and passages recited in ecologically oriented ceremonies.

It may also be appropriate to apply some of the tools of philology, long favored in Buddhist studies, to the texts of engaged Buddhism. We have already seen how “engagement,” “compassion,” and other pivotal words are being problematized. Is there an emerging core of key terms? What do they mean in theory and in practice? At least three types merit attention: classic terms undergoing reinterpretation, Western-language terms crucial to engaged Buddhist vocabulary, and neologisms.