The Talmudic exegesis is constructed on special hermeneutic rules which have the logical meaning in fact. On the basis of this circumstance it is possible to speak about a special logical culture of the Talmud and to call the logic used there.

Still appearing on the Publisher's Weekly bestseller lists, this invaluable guide to finding happiness in difficult times is now available in massmarket for the first time. Pema Chodron reveals the vast potential for happiness, wisdom and courage even in the most painful circumstances. Pema Chodron teaches that there is a fundamental opportunity for happiness right within our reach, yet we usually miss it -- ironically, while we are caught up in attempt to escape pain and suffering. This accessible guide to compassionate living shows us how we can use painful emotions to cultivate wisdom, compassion and courage, ways of communication that lead to openness and true intimacy with others, practices for reversing our negative habitual patterns, methods for working with chaotic situations and ways to cultivate compassionate, energetic social action for anyone -- whether they have a spiritual path or not. Her heartfelt advice and wisdom (developed in her 20 years of practice as a Tibetan Buddhist nun as well as her years previously as a normal 'housewife and mother') give her a wide appeal. This advice strikes just the right note, offering us comfort and challenging us to live deeply and contribute to creating a more loving world.

"A warm, profound and cleareyed memoir. . . this wise and sympathetic book's lingering effect is as a reminder that a deeper and more companionable way of life lurks behind our self-serious stories."-Oliver Burkeman, New York Times Book Review A remarkable exploration of the therapeutic relationship, Dr. Mark Epstein reflects on one year's worth of therapy sessions with his patients to observe how his training in Western psychotherapy and his equally long investigation into Buddhism, in tandem, led to greater awareness-for his patients, and for himself For years, Dr. Mark Epstein kept his beliefs as a Buddhist separate from his work as a psychiatrist. Content to use his training in mindfulness as a private resource, he trusted that the Buddhist influence could, and should, remain invisible. But as he became more forthcoming with his patients about his personal spiritual leanings, he was surprised to learn how many were eager to learn more. The divisions between the psychological, emotional, and the spiritual, he soon realized, were not as distinct as one might think. In The Zen of Therapy, Dr. Epstein reflects on a year's worth of selected sessions with his patients and observes how, in the incidental details of a given hour, his Buddhist background influences the way he works. Meditation and psychotherapy each encourage a willingness to face life's difficulties with courage that can be hard to otherwise muster, and in this cross-section of life in his office, he emphasizes how therapy, an element of Western medicine, can in fact be considered a two-person meditation. Mindfulness, too, much like a good therapist, can "hold" our awareness for us-and allow us to come to our senses and find inner peace. Throughout this deeply personal inquiry, one which weaves together the wisdom of two worlds, Dr. Epstein illuminates the therapy relationship as spiritual friendship, and reveals how a therapist can help patients cultivate the sense that there is something magical, something wonderful, and something to trust running through our lives, no matter how fraught they have been or might become. For when we realize how readily we have misinterpreted our selves, when we stop clinging to our falsely conceived constructs, when we touch the ground of being, we come home.

Sociologist Jeffrey Guhin spent a year and a half embedded in four high schools in the New York City area - two of them Sunni Muslim and two Evangelical Christian. At first pass, these communities do not seem to have much in common. But under closer inspection Guhin finds several common threads: each school community holds to a conservative approach to gender and sexuality, a hostility towards the theory of evolution, and a deep suspicion of secularism. All possess a double-sided image of America, on the one hand as a place where their children can excel and prosper, and on the other hand as a land of temptations that could lead their children astray. He shows how these school communities use boundaries of politics, gender, and sexuality to distinguish themselves from the secular world, both in school and online. Guhin develops his study of boundaries in the book's first half to show how the school communities teach their children who they are not; the book's second half shows how the communities use "external authorities" to teach their children who they are. These "external authorities" - such as Science, Scripture, and Prayer - are experienced by community members as real powers with the ability to issue commands and coerce action. By offloading agency to these external authorities, leaders in these schools are able to maintain a commitment to religious freedom while simultaneously reproducing their moral commitments in their students. Drawing on extensive classroom observation, community participation, and 143 formal interviews with students, teachers, and staff, this book makes an original contribution to sociology, religious studies, and education.

People interested in the history of India's partition invariably ask the same question: Why did Pakistan happen? Or, what was the Pakistan idea? Focusing on M. A. Jinnah's political career, this book addresses the issue of whether he had a secular or religious vision for Pakistan, or perhaps something in between? Pakistan as a country has yet to find its proper place in the world. Logically, it is assumed that if we can reach a consensus on Jinnah's thought, then we can also resolve the long-standing question of what kind of state Pakistan was meant to be, and thus how it should develop today. Pakistanis are tired of self-serving politicians, landlordism, nepotism, the rise of religious fundamentalism, corruption, economic instability, and the semi-predictable cycle between incompetent bureaucratic and military regimes. Hence for Pakistanis more than anyone else, the debate over Jinnah is a highly emotive subject, and at its heart is a battle of ideas. Pakistanis are really trying to work out something much bigger than Jinnah's place in history. They are trying to find their own historical identity as well. A well researched and thoroughly-indexed book that has earned its place amongst the leading political commentaries on contemporary Pakistan.

Relax your spirit and reconnect to your authentic voice. Discover the simple magic and mystery that awaits you when you express yourself within the safe space of a circle. In Creating Personal Mandalas, you'll see how this most basic of shapes can open your heart and always leads you back to your center. In each of the 10 chapters, you'll explore two soul-expressing mandala exercises, facts and history on featured symbols, insights for using the confines of the circle for personal and visual storytelling, as well as inspiring art and reflections from contributing guest artists. * 20 exploratory step-by-step mandala exercises--each an opportunity for new self-exploration, beginning with tips on establishing the right mindset * Interesting facts about symbols and sacred geometry, including suggestions for using them in your mandala projects * Practical art-making direction on the elements of design, watercolor tips, composition prompts, seeing color as a storytelling element and more Use Creating Personal Mandalas to start expressing your life stories with the infinite possibilities of the circle.

Target exam success with My Revision Notes. Our updated approach to revision will help students learn, practise and apply their skills and understanding. Coverage of key content is combined with practical study tips and effective revision strategies to create a revision guide students can rely on to build both knowledge and confidence. My Revision Notes: A-level Religious Studies Islam will help students to: - Plan and manage a successful revision programme using the topic-by-topic planner - Consolidate your knowledge by working through clear and focused content coverage - Test understanding and identify areas for improvement with regular tasks and answers - Improve exam technique through practice questions, expert tips and examples of typical mistakes to avoid

Jalal ad-Din Muhammad Rumi (1207-73) was a 13th-century Persian poet, Islamic scholar, theologian, and Sufi mystic originally from Greater Khorasan in Iran. This Chinese-bound volume offers a selection of his many poems with a variety of themes, including love, marriage, life and death, passion and mysticism, as well as his religious collection, Rubaiyat, and his long poem, Masnavi, one of the most influential works of Sufism, an Islamic form of mysticism. Rumi's reach transcends national borders and ethnic divisions: his poetry has influenced not only Persian literature, but also the literary traditions of the Ottoman Turkish, Chagatai, Urdu, Bengali and Pashto languages.

The writer has logically and in a beautiful manner proved that Quran Majeed is a balanced book, it is a miracle and proof of its being a book of God. In this book, Shah Al-Abidi has given common knowledge examples-of Urdu and Persian couplets, Bhagat Kabeers dohas, Mian Muhammed Bakhsh's and Hazrat Shah Sultan Bahoos philosophical poems and references from Maulana Roam, and put them in relevant manner thus enhancing the beauty, interest and value. I believe that lovers of Quran Kareem will find this book as a beautiful and invaluable presentation. This represents an aspect of Quran Majeed and the readers will find aiding strength to their faith. I hope, this book will become known and ever lasting. I pray to Almighty God that the writer, Mr. Akhter Moeed Shah Al-Abidi, had ongoing service to Quran Majeed, its readers and humanity. Abdul Khaliq Aawan Retired Director General, Pakistan Broadcasting Corporation

Scholars have long been intrigued by the Buddha's defining action (karma) as intention. This book explores systematically how intention and agency were interpreted in all genres of early Theravada thought. It offers a philosophical exploration of intention and motivation as they are investigated in Buddhist moral psychology. At stake is how we understand karma, the nature of moral experience, and the possibilities for freedom. In contrast to many studies that assimilate Buddhist moral thinking to Western theories of ethics, the book attends to distinctively Buddhist ways of systematizing and theorizing their own categories. Arguing that meaning is a product of the explanatory systems used to explore it, the book pays particular attention to genre and to the 5th-century commentator Buddhaghosa's guidance on how to read Buddhist texts. The book treats all branches of the Pali canon (the Tipitaka, that is, the Suttas, the Abhidhamma, and the Vinaya), as well as narrative sources (the Dhammapada and the Jataka commentaries). In this sense it offers a comprehensive treatment of intention in the canonical Theravada sources. But the book goes further than this by focusing explicitly on the body of commentarial thought represented by Buddhaghosa. His work is at the center of the book's investigations, both insofar as he offers interpretative strategies for reading canonical texts, but also as he advances particular understandings of agency and moral psychology. The book offers the first book-length study devoted to Buddhaghosa's thought on ethics

Intricately weaving Quranic verse, psychology, and the hip-hop soundtrack of their childhood, Sanah's poems reach for divinity in the body; an archive that refuses erasure.

These poems traverse unruly emotional and physical landscapes, Whiteness, islamophobia, homophobia, intergenerational suffering, and the politics of therapeutic processes. In these pages, belief and unbelief, goodness and badness, the material and spiritual are intertwined, reclaiming queer love and desire as holy.

How are we incarcerated by others' gazes? Who gets to be good in a society built upon hierarchy? How might we embrace each other's madnesses? Sanah Ahsan asks questions that travel to the heart of our humanness, bending the lines between psychologist and client to show us the sacred nature of our wounds. These poems kneel to the messiness of being alive, building altars to complication and presence.

Refusing binaries of gender or religious doctrine, I cannot be good until you say it finds what is to be revered in the grey spaces of morality, advancing imagination and self-compassion as sites of communion.

This debut collection is a call to prayer, fearlessly complicating what is good, and what is god.