%{search_type} search results

Collection of select papers presented at a conference held in Kandy on 26-27 June 2014 on the theme of "25 Years in Retrospect: Buddhism, Ethnic Conflicts, and Religious Harmony in South and Southeast Asia."

Study of a part of an anonymous commentary on Buddhaghosa's Visuddhimagga, philosophical classic of Theravada Buddhism.

• Part 1 Zen and society: two types of unity and religious pluralism
• the meaning of life in Buddhism
• ethics and social responsibility in Buddhism
• faith and self-awakening
• religion and science in the global age. Part 2 Nishida's view of reality and Zen philosophy: Nishida's philosophy of "place"
• philosophy, religion, and aesthetics in Nishida and Whitehead
• the problem of "inverse correspondence" in the philosophy of Nishida, comparing Nishida with Tanabe. Part 3 A contemporary approach to Zen self-awakening: evil, sin, falsity and the dynamics of faith
• toward the establishment of a cosmology of awakening.
• (source: Nielsen Book Data)

Written by one of Japan's foremost contemporary thinkers and scholars, Zen and Modern Society is the third in a series of essay collections on Zen Buddhism as seen in the context of Western thought. Throughout his career, Masao Abe has articulated the meaning of Zen thought in a uniquely compelling way - at once, true to the original tradition and appropriately relevant to a variety of comparative standpoints, ranging from Biblical Judeo-Christianity to modern existentialism, phenomenology, and postmodernism. As a leading representative of the Kyoto School, which has sought a critical, comparative linking of Eastern and Western thought, Abe has based his approach on constructive, mutually respectful yet critical intellectual interaction and dialogue with some of the leading figures in the West (including Paul Tillich, Hans Kung, and Eugene Borowitz) as well as dozens of colleagues, students, and disciples. Together with the previous volumes, this work examines and exemplifies some key features of Kyoto School thought. While the essays presented here should be read in light of the socio-political criticism that has since been lodged against the Kyoto School and, more particularly, its founder Nishida Kitaro, most of them were written prior to the recent discussions and focus on issues of comparative philosophy and religious thought outside the contours of the debate. This should not, however, limit their approach to the earlier historical context.
(source: Nielsen Book Data)

• Acknowledgments xi Interaction of Kukai with the Nara Clergy xvIllustrations xixIntroduction 11. Kukai and (Very) Early Heian Society: A Prolegomenon - 19 Buddhism and the Ritsuryo State - 24 Kukai and His Alliance with the Nara Clergy - 41Part I Origins, Traces, Nonorigin - 67 2. Kukai's Dissent: Of Mendicancy and Fiction - 69 Kukai's Youth: Confucian Learning vis-a-vis Buddhist Practice - 71 The State, Ubasoku, and Popular Buddhism - 76 Lacuna of Esotericism: The Sangho shikki as a Self-Portrait - 83 Apologetics or Apologia: The Fictivity of the Roko shikki - 96 The Dilemma of Kukai's Fiction and Mikkyo - 1053. Journey to China: Outside Ritsuryo Discourse - 113 Foreign Language Studies and Esoteric Buddhism - 114 Master Hui-kuo and the Study of Esoteric Rituals - 120 Mantra and Abhiseka, the Genealogical Technologies - 127 Abhiseka as a General Theory of Enlightenment - 1414. (No) Traces of Esoteric Buddhism: Dharani and the Nara Buddhist Literature - 151 The Zomitsu/Junmitsu Scheme and Its Limitations - 152 (In)visibility of Esotericism in the Nara Buddhist Culture - 154 Dharani Exoteric and Esoteric Functions - 159 Esoteric Dharani in the Nara Ritual Space - 176 Discourse, Taxonomy and Kukai's Bibliography - 176Part II Cartography -185 5. Category and History: Constructing the Esoteric - 187 "Shinghon School" as an Ambivalence in Kukai's Writings - 189 Tokuitsu and Kukai: The Delineation of Mikkyo, the Esoteric - 204 Proof of Dharma Kaya's Preaching of the Dharma - 213 Troping the Lineage: The Construction of the Esoteric Nagarjuna - 2206. The Discourse of Complementarity Constructing the Esoteric II - 237 On the Ritual of the Golden Light Sutra - 238 The Exoteric and the Esoteric Reading of Prajna Patamita - 247 From Dharani to Mantra: A Paradigm Shift - 260Part III Writing and Polity - 275 7. Semiology of the Dharma
• or the Somaticity of the Text - 275 Of Voice, Letter, and Reality - 278 Syntax of the World-Text - 281 On the Science of Writing - 288 Mantra as Textile Production - 293 Letters, Life Breath and the Cosmic Palace - 3008. Of Mantra and Palace: Textualizing the Emperor, Calamity and the Cosmos - 305 Rectification of Names: The Ritsuryo State - 310 Ritsuryo Buddhism and the Discourse of Calamities - 315 Refiguration of the Emperor: A Reinterpretation of Kukai's 10 Abiding Stages - 323 Mantra and the New Science of Calamities - 334 The Mishuho and the Ritual Reconstruction of the Imperial Palace - 3449. Genealogy of Mantra and Kukai's Legacy - 359 The Emperor's Coronation Abhiseka (sokui kanjo) - 367 Groth of Extra-ritsuryo Esoteric Monastaries - 371 Landscape of the Mediaeval Shinghon School - 376 Institution of the Dharma Emperor - 379 Conclusion: Kukai and Writing - Toward the Kukai of Extra-Sectarian History - 385Post-Script - 399 Problems of the Category of Heian Buddhism - 399 Kukai and the Limitation of Kuroda's Kenmitsu Theory - 416 Glossary - 429 Abbreviations - 449 Notes - 451 Selected Bibliography - 541 Index - 579.
• (source: Nielsen Book Data)

The great Buddhist priest Kukai (774-835) is credited with the introduction and establishment of tantric -or esoteric -Buddhism in early ninth-century Japan. In Ryuichi Abe examines this important religious figure -neglected in modern academic literature -and his profound influence on Japanese culture. Offering a radically new approach to the study of early religious history -combining historical research, discourse analysis, literary criticism, and semiology -Abe contends that the importance of Kukai-s transmission of esoteric Buddhism to Japan lay not in the foundation of a new sect but in his creation of a general theory of language grounded in the ritual speech of mantra. embeds Kukai within the fabric of political and social life in ninth-century Japan and explains how esoteric Buddhism played a crucial role in many societal changes in Japan -from the growth of monasteries into major feudal powers to the formation of the native phonetic alphabet, kana. As Abe illustrates, Kukai-s writings and the new type of discourse they spawned also marked Japan-s transition from the ancient order to the medieval world, replacing Confucianism as the ideology of the state. Abe begins by placing Kukai-s life in the historical context of medieval Japan and the Ritsuryo state, then explores his interaction with the Nara Buddhist intelligentsia, which was seminal to the introduction of esoteric Buddhism. The author discusses Kukai-s magnum opus, () and introduces a number of Japanese and Chinese primary-source texts previously unknown by Western-language scholars. Instead of tracing Kukai-s thought through literal readings, explores the rhetorical strategies Kukai employed in his works, shedding valuable light on what his texts meant to his readers and what his goals were in creating a discourse that ultimately transformed Japanese culture. --.
(source: Nielsen Book Data)

Offering a modern translation of "The Legends of the Eighty-four Mahasiddhas, " a 12th-century Tibetan text, translator Keith Dowman shares stories of the spiritual adventurers, rebellious saints, and enlightened tantric masters of ancient India known as "siddhas." He shows how the mahasiddhas arose from the grassroots of society and represented an entire spectrum of human experience. Counted among the greatest of the siddhas are a washerman, a cowboy, a thief, a conman, a gambler, and a whore, all extraordinary men and women who attained the goal of their meditations, as well as enlightenment and magical powers, by disregarding convention and penetrating to the core of life. Recounting the magical and "crazy" deeds of the mahasiddhas, such as walking through walls, flying, talking with birds, and turning people to stone, Dowman reveals the human qualities of the tantric masters and the vital elements of the siddhas' philosophy of nonduality and emptiness. Richly illustrated with paintings of the tantric saints by artist Robert Beer, these stories of the mahasiddhas show us a way through human suffering into a spontaneous and free state of oneness with the divine.
(source: Nielsen Book Data)

• Songs and legends of the Eighty-four Mahāsiddhas.

• Acknowledgments Note on Transliteration and Terms Introduction
• 1. Dust and Obscuration in a New Economy
• 2. A History of Enlightenment in Mongolia
• 3. Buddhism, Purification, and the Nation
• 4. Ignorance and Blur
• 5. Networks and Visibility
• 6. Karma and Purification
• 7. Removing Blockages, Increasing Energy
• 8. Temple Critiques
• 9. White Foods, Purification, and Enlightenment Conclusion: Stillness and Movement Glossary Notes References Index.
• (source: Nielsen Book Data)

With air pollution now intimately affecting every resident of Ulaanbaatar, the capital of Mongolia, Saskia Abrahms-Kavunenko seeks to understand how, as a physical constant throughout the winter months, the murky and obscuring nature of air pollution has become an active part of Mongolian religious and ritual life. Enlightenment and the Gasping City identifies air pollution as a boundary between the physical and the immaterial, showing how air pollution impresses itself on the urban environment as stagnation and blur. She explores how air pollution and related phenomena exist in dynamic tension with Buddhist ideas and practices concerning purification, revitalisation and enlightenment. By focusing on light, its intersections and its oppositions, she illuminates Buddhist practices and beliefs as they interact with the pressing urban issues of air pollution, post-socialist economic vacillations, urban development, nationalism, and climate change.
(source: Nielsen Book Data)

• Acknowledgments Note on Transliteration and Terms Introduction
• 1. Dust and Obscuration in a New Economy
• 2. A History of Enlightenment in Mongolia
• 3. Buddhism, Purification, and the Nation
• 4. Ignorance and Blur
• 5. Networks and Visibility
• 6. Karma and Purification
• 7. Removing Blockages, Increasing Energy
• 8. Temple Critiques
• 9. White Foods, Purification, and Enlightenment Conclusion: Stillness and Movement Glossary Notes References Index.
• (source: Nielsen Book Data)

With air pollution now intimately affecting every resident of Ulaanbaatar, the capital of Mongolia, Saskia Abrahms-Kavunenko seeks to understand how, as a physical constant throughout the winter months, the murky and obscuring nature of air pollution has become an active part of Mongolian religious and ritual life. Enlightenment and the Gasping City identifies air pollution as a boundary between the physical and the immaterial, showing how air pollution impresses itself on the urban environment as stagnation and blur. She explores how air pollution and related phenomena exist in dynamic tension with Buddhist ideas and practices concerning purification, revitalisation and enlightenment. By focusing on light, its intersections and its oppositions, she illuminates Buddhist practices and beliefs as they interact with the pressing urban issues of air pollution, post-socialist economic vacillations, urban development, nationalism, and climate change.
(source: Nielsen Book Data)