While recognizing the force of such criticisms in relation to the traditional understanding of Zen Buddhism, I argued that the work of Masao Abe provides a new interpretive framework in which to reevaluate certain key Buddhist concepts in order to overcome the traditional criticisms and provide the basis for constructive social critique and reform on the part of Buddhists. In particular, I delineated three hermeneutic strategies adopted by Abe in order to uncover the positive social implications of Zen doctrine. These strategies involve a focus on the notion of interdependence central to the notion of śūnyatā an emphasis on nirvana and śūnyatā as the ground and not the end of Buddhist life, and a distinction between the horizontal and vertical levels of experience. Such interpretive strategies, I believe, can provide the theoretical basis for a distinctively Buddhist approach to the questions of social justice that have become central to contemporary discourse in the West. In this way a truly Western Buddhism might be developed; that is a Buddhism that takes cognizance of and addresses those areas of concern that are of particular importance to those who are attempting to work for creative transformation in the West. While there is still much work to be done in explicating the ways in which Abe's interpretation of Zen Buddhism might be adapted in relation to specific social ills, I think I have demonstrated the theoretical plausibility of such projects.

Footnotes 1 John Cobb, Jr., "On the Deepening of Buddhism," in The Emptying God: A Buddhist-Jewish-Christian Conversation, ed. J. Cobb and C. Ives (Maryknoll, NY: Orbis Books, 1990), 92.

 2 Abe is not alone in adopting this hermeneutic strategy in the face of the new global context. See for instance Buddhist Ethics and Modern Society: An International Symposium, ed. C. Fu and S. Wawrytko (New York: Greenwood Press, 1991).

 3 James Whitehill, "Is there a Zen Ethic?," The Eastern Buddhist 20 (1987): 12.

 4 Christopher Ives, Zen Awakening and Society (Honolulu: University of Hawaī Press, 1992), 103-4.

 5 Masao Abe, "The Problem of Evil in Christianity and Buddhism," in Buddhist-Christian Dialogue: Mutual Renewal and Transformation, ed. P. Ingram and F. Streng (Honolulu: University of Hawaī Press, 1986), 153.

 6 Winston King, "Self-World Theory and Buddhist Ethics," The Eastern Buddhist 22 (1989): 24.

 7 For a historical survey of engaged Buddhism see Christopher Ives Zen Awakening and Society, particularly chapter 3.

8 Lee Stauffer, "Is an Ethical Theory Possible Within Zen Buddhism?," Southwest Philosophical Studies 11 (1989): 80-84.

9 Masao Abe, "Kenotic God and Dynamic Sunyata," in The Emptying God, 38.

10 Padmasiri De Silva, "Buddhist Ethics," in A Companion to Ethics, ed. P. Singer (Oxford: Blackwell, 1991), 61.

11 DṬ. Suzuki, Essays in Zen Buddhism, Second Series (London: Rider and Company, 1970), 270.

12 Nyogen Senzaki and Ruth McCandless, Buddhism and Zen (San Francisc North Point Press, 1987), 13.

13 Winston King, "Engaged Buddhism: Past, Present, Future," The Eastern Buddhist 27 (1994), 21.

14 Winston King, "Self-World Theory and Buddhist Ethics," 23.

15 Ibid., 16.

16 Ibid.

17 Masao Abe, "God, Emptiness, and the True Self," in The Buddha Eye: An Anthology of the Kyoto School, ed. F. Franck (New York: Crossroad, 1991), 65.

18 Christopher Ives, Zen Awakening, 17.

19 Masao Abe, "Suffering in the Light of Our Time, Our Time in the Light of Suffering," in The Buddha Eye: An Anthology of the Kyoto School, 2-3.

20 Masao Abe, "Kenotic God and Dynamic Sunyata," 27.

21 Christopher Ives, Zen Awakening, 2.

22 Masao Abe, "The Problem of Evil in Christianity and Buddhism," 145.

23 Lee Stauffer, "Is an Ethical Theory Possible Within Zen Buddhism," 81.

24 Masao Abe, "The Problem of Evil in Christianity and Buddhism," 146.

25 Masao Abe, "A Rejoinder," in The Emptying God, 173.

26 Masao Abe, "Kenotic God and Dynamic Sunyata," 39.

27 Ibid., 40.

28 Ibid., 41.

29 Masao Abe, "God, Emptiness, and the True Self," 65.

30 Ibid., 33.

31 Masao Abe, "Suffering in the Light of Our Time, Our Time in the Light of Suffering," 3.

32 Masao Abe, "Kenotic God and Dynamic Sunyata," 52.

33 Ibid., 29.

34 Ibid., 58.

35 Masao Abe, "A Rejoinder," 174.

36 Masao Abe, "Kenotic God and Dynamic Sunyata," 174.

37 Ibid., 176.