Madison Scholar awarded

The 2002- '03 James Madison Scholar Award was presented to professor of religion Sallie King Tuesday night in the Anthony-Seeger Auditorium. After receiving the award, King took the podium where she presented her Madison Scholar Lecture entitled "Justice for All? Buddhist Activists' Avoidance of Justice Language."

According to Bill Hawk, department head of philosophy and religion, every year each department 's faculty nominates a peer to be the recipient of the James Madison Scholar Award. This year King became the third consecutive Madison Scholar award recipient within the department of philosophy and religion.

King will receive many honors according to Richard Whitman, dean of the College Arts and Letters, including a plaque with King's name on it in the office of the dean, as well as a Madison Scholar replica with the university's crest on it.

King said her lecture was a culmination of her recent work and research in order to determine an answer to her thesis.

She said, "I admire the Buddhists and I know a lot of them personally." She said her thesis revolved around the idea of how engaged Buddhists, who are contemporary Buddhists who have been highly educated in Western studies, were practicing without the need for the Western language of justice.

She said these Engaged Buddhists are a remarkable generation of non-violent leaders, and they provide suggestions to the global community in order to solve global crises.

Engaged Buddhists instead rely on the fundamental principles of karma, said King. In its most basic terms, karma is the law of cause and effect. "Whatever one does that has an outcome that will come back to you," King said.

The engaged Buddhists that King studied believe in karma as the natural justice. She said justice is seen as being impartial and objective, and impartiality is a high virtue of Buddhism

In her studies King said she applied the Buddhist ideals and beliefs to areas touched by social conflict including those in Jerusalem, as well as conflicts between the Chinese and the Tibetan people.

King examined the Buddhist reactions to these situations across the world. She discovered that engaged Buddhists view conflicts between the Jews and the Palestinians as one-sided arguments.

Each side justifies their argument as correct, and by process of elimination, the other side is wrong for thinking they are right. She said King said that without first seeking justice, peace never could be achieved.

King stressed that the Buddhists believe in the idea of right and wrong, but to the extent that neither right nor wrong could be justified in hurting others. Compassion and mercy are nonnegotiable, she added.

King said, "I enjoyed looking at new ideas as well as looking and comparing the western and Buddhist cultures."

Students, faculty members and administrators were in attendance. Many students said they were interested by the new notions and ideas that King had to offer.

"I like Buddhist beliefs and the whole idea of non-violence," freshman Corey Suter said. "It encouraged me to look outside of the boundaries of justice from another perspective. "