A modern book of destiny and power, using the ancient principles of the Tao Te Ching.
How do we begin to discover and live our destined life? How can we use the ancient, Eastern philosophy to experience more success in our lives?
From Derek Lin, Taoist master and author of "The Tao of Daily Life," comes this practical, systematic approach to the ancient and time-honored spiritual learning process. The Tao of Success navigates the five rings of life, which are common patterns of traditional Tao cultivation, conceptualized by the ancient sages: your spirit, your mind, your relationships, your world, and your destiny. Success is achieved by discovering and experiencing these five concentric rings, from the inside out, and not in the future but in the here and now.
Using the same format that made "The Tao of Daily Life" a breakout Eastern wisdom bestseller, Lin draws on the power of Taoist stories to illustrate important keys, or lessons. He then offers commentary on understanding and applying that story in modern life-all aimed to help readers live out the destiny that lies within themselves.
By integrating the life-altering lessons of this book into their busy lives, readers can begin to cultivate the Tao. In "The Tao of Success," Lin returns with his enlightening approach to understanding, centered on story and illumination of ancient Taoist secrets for the modern beginner and the familiar student alike.

The Mishnah is the foundational document of rabbinic law and, one could say, of rabbinic Judaism itself. It is overwhelmingly technical and focused on matters of practice, custom, and law. The Oxford Annotated Mishnah is the first annotated translation of this work, making the text accessible to all. With explanations of all technical terms and expressions, The Oxford Annotated Mishnah brings together an expert group of translators and annotators to assemble a version of the Mishnah that requires no specialist knowledge.

This book presents the Book of Ecclesiastes as a single coherent work, whose ideas are consistent and collectively form a comprehensive worldview. Moreover, in contrast to the prevailing view in the research literature - it presents the Book of Ecclesiastes as a work with an essentially positive outlook: Kohelet's fault-finding is aimed not at the world itself, or how it functions, but at the people who persist in missing out on the present, on what it has to offer, and of the ability to enjoy all that exists and is available. Contrasting with these are Koheleth's positive perscriptions to make the most of the present. To my mind, his remonstrations are meant to "clear the way" for his positive recommendations - to clear the path, as it were, of the obstacles to accepting reality. These two aspects, the negative and the positive, come together in this investigation into Koheleth's belief, which is founded on an acceptance of all that God has created.

'Human Rights and Reformist Islam' critiques traditional Islamic approaches to the question of compatibility between human rights and Islam, and argues instead for their reconciliation from the perspective of a reformist Islam. The book focuses on six controversial case studies: religious discrimination; gender discrimination; slavery; freedom of religion; punishment of apostasy; and arbitrary or harsh punishments. Explaining the strengths of structural ijtihad, Mohsen Kadivar's draws on the rational classification of Islamic teachings as temporal or permanent on the one hand, and four criteria of being Islamic on the other: reasonableness, justice, morality and efficiency. He rejects all of the problematic verses and Hadith according to these criteria. The result is a powerful, solutions-based argument based on reformist Islam - providing a scholarly bridge between modernity and Islamic tradition in relation to human rights.

Dead Sea: New Discoveries in the Cave of Letters is a multidisciplinary study of the Cave of Letters in the Nahal Hever of the Judean desert, a site reputed for having contained the most important finds evidencing the Bar Kokhba revolt, including the cache of bronzes found buried there and the papers of Babatha, one of the few direct accounts of the context of the Bar Kokhba revolt in the second century CE. Chapters by diverse scholars report on and discuss the ramifications of the 1999-2001 expedition to the site, the first organized archaeological activity there since the expeditions at Nahal Hever by Yigal Yadin in 1960-1961. Using advanced technological methodologies alongside more "traditional" archaeological techniques, the team explored several research hypotheses. The expedition sought to determine whether the material collected in the cave could substantiate the hypothesis that the cave was a place of refuge during both the Bar Kokhba revolt and the earlier Great Revolt against the Roman Empire. The expedition also researched the viability of a relatively long-term occupation of the cave while under siege by Roman forces, questioning whether occupants would have been able to cook, sleep, etc., without severely degrading the cave environment as a viable place for human habitation. The individual chapters represent the result of analysis by scholars and scientists on different aspects of the material culture that the expedition uncovered.

The Mahabharata, one of the major epics of India, is a sourcebook complete by itself as well as an open text constantly under construction. This volume looks at transactions between its modern discourses and ancient vocabulary. Located amid conversations between these two conceptual worlds, the volume grapples with the epic's problematisation of dharma or righteousness, and consequently, of the ideal person and the good life through a cluster of issues surrounding the concept of agency and action. Drawing on several interdisciplinary approaches, the essays reflect on a range of issues in the Mahabharata, including those of duty, motivation, freedom, selfhood, choice, autonomy, and justice, both in the context of philosophical debates and their ethical and political ramifications for contemporary times. This book will be of interest to scholars and researchers engaged with philosophy, literature, religion, history, politics, culture, gender, South Asian studies, and Indology. It will also appeal to the general reader interested in South Asian epics and the Mahabharata.

The environmental crisis has prompted religious leaders and lay people to look to their traditions for resources to respond to environmental degradation. In this book, Mari Joerstad contributes to this effort by examining an ignored feature of the Hebrew Bible: its attribution of activity and affect to trees, fields, soil, and mountains. The Bible presents a social cosmos, in which humans are one kind of person among many. Using a combination of the tools of biblical studies and anthropological writings on animism, Joerstad traces the activity of non-animal nature through the canon. She shows how biblical writers go beyond sustainable development, asking us to be good neighbors to mountains and trees, and to be generous to our fields and vineyards. They envision human communities that are sources of joy to plants and animals. The Biblical writers' attention to inhabited spaces is particularly salient for contemporary environmental ethics in their insistence that our cities, suburbs, and villages contribute to flourishing landscapes.

The influence of Buddhism on the Chinese language, on Chinese literature and on Chinese culture in general cannot be overstated, and the language of most Chinese Buddhist texts differs considerably from both Classical and Modern Chinese. This reader aims to help students develop familiarity with features of Buddhist texts in Chinese, including patterns of organization, grammatical features and specialized vocabulary. It also aims to familiarize students with the use of a range of resources necessary for becoming independent readers of such texts. Chinese Buddhist Texts is suitable for students who have completed the equivalent of at least one year's college level study of Modern Chinese and are familiar with roughly one thousand of the commonest Chinese characters. Previous study of Classical Chinese would be an advantage, but is not assumed. It is an ideal textbook for students taking relevant courses in Chinese studies programs and in Buddhist studies programs. However, it is also possible for a student to work through the reader on his or her own. Further online resources are available at: lockgraham.com

The influence of Buddhism on the Chinese language, on Chinese literature and on Chinese culture in general cannot be overstated, and the language of most Chinese Buddhist texts differs considerably from both Classical and Modern Chinese. This reader aims to help students develop familiarity with features of Buddhist texts in Chinese, including patterns of organization, grammatical features and specialized vocabulary. It also aims to familiarize students with the use of a range of resources necessary for becoming independent readers of such texts. Chinese Buddhist Texts is suitable for students who have completed the equivalent of at least one year's college level study of Modern Chinese and are familiar with roughly one thousand of the commonest Chinese characters. Previous study of Classical Chinese would be an advantage, but is not assumed. It is an ideal textbook for students taking relevant courses in Chinese studies programs and in Buddhist studies programs. However, it is also possible for a student to work through the reader on his or her own. Further online resources are available at: lockgraham.com

In the last few decades, yoga has helped millions of people to improve their concepts of themselves. Yoga realises that man is not only the mind, he is body as well. Yoga has been designed in a such a way that it can complete the process of evolution of the personality in every possible direction. Kundalini yoga is a part of the tantric tradition. Even though you may have already been introduced to yoga, it is necessary to know something about tantra also. Since the dawn of creation, the tantrics and yogis have realised that in this physical body there is a potential force. It is not psychological or transcendental; it is a dynamic potential force in the material body, and it is called Kundalini. This Kundalini is the greatest discovery of tantra and yoga. Scientists have begun to look into this, and a summary of the latest scientific experiments is included in this book.

This is the first critical edition in transcription with facing English translation of a medieval Sanskrit text that is known in most parts of India, especially in Bengal. The Krsnakarnamrta ("Nectar to the Ears of Krishna") is a devotional anthology of stanzas in praise of the youthful Krishna, "the dark blue boy," "Lord of Life," lover of the milkmaids in Indian legend, and an incarnation of the great God Vishnu. Of its importance there can be no doubt: for many devout Indians it is a Book of Common Prayer, whose short and ardent hymns to the Lord Krishna come frequently and familiarly to mind. Frances Wilson here provides a masterly English translation of this moving expression of religious adoration. Collating over seventy manuscripts, she has established an authoritative Sanskrit text, including its literary and critical history. In the full introduction, she discusses the legends that have arisen about its author, the mysterious L&#299lasuka Bilvamangala. Medieval Sanskrit studies have in the past been much neglected by European scholars. In breaking free of the classical traditions of Sanskrit philology, Wilson has produced a work that is of profound relevance to the study of Indian civilization today.

Formalized by the tenth century, the expansive Bhagavata Purana resists easy categorization. While the narrative holds together as a coherent literary work, its language and expression compete with the best of Sanskrit poetry. The text's theological message focuses on devotion to Krishna or Vishnu, and its philosophical outlook is grounded in the classical traditions of Vedanta and Samkhya. No other Purana has inspired so much commentary, imitation, and derivation. The work has grown in vibrancy through centuries of performance, interpretation, worship, and debate and has guided the actions and meditations of elite intellectuals and everyday worshippers alike. This annotated translation and detailed analysis shows how one text can have such enduring appeal. Key selections from the Bhagavata Purana are faithfully translated, while all remaining sections of the Purana are concisely summarized, providing the reader with a continuous and comprehensive narrative. Detailed endnotes explain unfamiliar concepts and several essays elucidate the rich philosophical and religious debates found in the Sanskrit commentaries. Together with the multidisciplinary readings contained in the companion volume The Bhagavata Purana: Sacred Text and Living Tradition (Columbia, 2013), this book makes a central Hindu masterpiece more accessible to English-speaking audiences and more meaningful to scholars of Hindu literature, philosophy, and religion.

This is the fourth volume of a translation of India's most beloved and influential epic tale--the Ramayana of Valmiki. As befits its position at the center of the work, Volume IV presents the hero Rama at the turning point of his fortunes. Having previously lost first his kingship and then his wife, he now forms an alliance with the monkey prince, Sugriva. Rama needs the monkeys to help him find his abducted wife, Sita, and they do finally discover where her abductor has taken her. But first Rama must agree to secure for his new ally the throne of the monkey kingdom by eliminating the reigning king, Sugriva's detested elder brother, Valin. The tragic rivalry between the two monkey brothers is in sharp contrast to Rama's affectionate relationship with his own brothers and forms a self-contained episode within the larger story of Rama's adventures. This volume continues the translation of the critical edition of the Valmiki Ramayana, a version considerably reduced from the vulgate on which all previous translations were based. It is accompanied by extensive notes on the original Sanskrit text and on several untranslated early Sanskrit commentaries.

The Koren Talmud Bavli is a groundbreaking edition of the Talmud that fuses the innovative design of Koren Publishers Jerusalem with the incomparable scholarship of Rabbi Adin Steinsaltz. The Koren Talmud Bavli Standard Edition is a full-size, full-color edition that presents an enhanced Vilna page, a side-by-side English translation, photographs and illustrations, a brilliant commentary, and a multitude of learning aids to help the beginning and advanced student alike actively participate in the dynamic process of Talmud study.

New Horizons in Qur'anic Linguistics provides a panoramic insight into the Qur'anic landscape fenced by innate syntactic, semantic and stylistic landmarks where context and meaning have closed ranks to impact morphological form in order to achieve variegated illocutionary forces. It provides a comprehensive account of the recurrent syntactic, stylistic, morphological, lexical, cultural, and phonological voids that are an iceberg looming in the horizon of Qur'anic genre. It is an invaluable resource for contrastive linguistics, translation studies, and corpus linguistics. Among the linguistic topics are: syntactic structures, ellipsis, synonymy, polysemy, semantic redundancy, incongruity, and contrastiveness, selection restriction rule, componential features, collocation, cyclical modification, foregrounding, backgrounding, pragmatic functions and categories of shift, pragmatic distinction between verbal and nominal sentences, morpho-semantic features of lexical items, context-sensitive word and phrase order, vowel points and phonetic variation. The value of European theoretical linguistics to the analysis of the Qur'anic text at a macro level has been overlooked in the academic literature to date and this book addresses this research gap, providing a key resource for students and scholars of linguistics and specifically working in Arabic or Qur'anic Studies.

The Talmud is the repository of thousands of years of Jewish wisdom. It is a conglomerate of law, legend, and philosophy, a blend of unique logic and shrewd pragmatism, of history and science, of anecdotes and humor. Unfortunately, its sometimes complex subject matter often seems irrelevant in today's world. In this edited volume, sixteen eminent North American and Israeli scholars from several schools of Jewish thought grapple with the text and tradition of Talmud, talking personally about their own reasons for studying it. Each of these scholars and teachers believes that Talmud is indispensible to any serious study of modern Judaism and so each essay challenges the reader to engage in his or her own individual journey of discovery. The diverse feminist, rabbinic, educational, and philosophical approaches in this collection are as varied as the contributors' experiences. Their essays are accessible, personal accounts of their individual discovery of the Talmud, reflecting the vitality and profundity of modern religious thought and experience.