First published in 1989. Routledge is an imprint of Taylor & Francis, an informa company.

This book uses gender as a framework to offer unique insights into the socio-cultural foundations of Buddhism. Moving away from dominant discourses that discuss women as a single monolithic, homogenous category-thus rendering them invisible within the broader religious discourse-this monograph examines their sustained role in the larger context of South Asian Buddhism and reaffirms their agency. It highlights the multiple roles played by women as patrons, practitioners, lay and monastic members, etc. within Buddhism. The volume also investigates the individual experiences of the members, and their equations and relationships at different levels-with the Samgha at large, with their own respective Bhiksu or Bhiksuni Sangha, with the laity, and with members of the same gender (both lay and monastic). It rereads, reconfigures and reassesses historical data in order to arrive at a new understanding of Buddhism and the social matrix within which it developed and flourished. Bringing together archaeological, epigraphic, art historical, literary as well as ethnographic data, this volume will be of interest to researchers and scholars of Buddhism, gender studies, ancient Indian history, religion, and South Asian studies.

A Buddhist manual of psychological ethics of the fourth century B.C., being a translation, now made for the first time from the original Pali, of the first book in the Abhidhamma pitaka, entitled, Dhamma-sangani (Compendium of states or phenomena) with introductory essay and notes by Caroline A. F. Rhys Davids. Many of the earliest books, particularly those dating back to the 1900s and before, are now extremely scarce and increasingly expensive. Hesperides Press are republishing these classic works in affordable, high quality, modern editions, using the original text and artwork. Keywords: Buddhist Manual Of Psychological Ethics Caroline A F Rhys Davids Introductory Essay Dhamma 1900s Pali Phenomena Compendium Artwork Translation Abhidhamma Pitaka

First published in 2000. Routledge is an imprint of Taylor & Francis, an informa company.

Studies in Hinduism consists of articles published posthumously, to which has been added Ren Gunon's separate study, Eastern Metaphysics, the text of a lecture delivered at the Sorbonne. In this work Gunon completes his presentation of Hindu metaphysics, which he considered the most primordial and comprehensive body of spiritual teaching possessed by the human race, one capable of throwing light upon and illuminating the essence of every other Tradition. Of special interest are three chapters on various aspects of tantra-a doctrine profoundly misunderstood in the contemporary West-which Hindu authorities consider the spirituality most appropriate to the Kali Yuga, as well as a chapter on the sanatana dharma, the Hindu concept closest to the ancient and medieval Christian idea of the philosophia perennis, which led St Augustine to declare that Christianity has always existed, but only came to be so called after the coming of Christ. Included are extensive reviews of books on Sri Ramakrishna, Sri Ramana Maharshi, Swami Vivekananda, Sri Aurobindo Ghose, Rabindranath Tagore, Mircea Eliade, Paul Brunton, and others, as well as 40 pages of reviews of books and articles by Ananda K. Coomaraswamy. Leading Indian thinkers have called Gunon the most authentic expositor of Hindu metaphysics in any Western language.

It is widely claimed that notions of gods and religious beliefs are irrelevant or inconsequential to early Chinese ("Confucian") moral and political thought. Rejecting the claim that religious practice plays a minimal philosophical role, Kelly James Clark and Justin Winslett offer a textual study that maps the religious terrain of early Chinese texts. They analyze the pantheon of extrahumans, from high gods to ancestor spirits, discussing their various representations, as well as examining conceptions of the afterlife and religious ritual. Demonstrating that religious beliefs in early China are both textually endorsed and ritually embodied, this book goes on to show how gods, ancestors and afterlife are philosophically salient. The summative chapter on the role of religious ritual in moral formation shows how religion forms a complex philosophical system capable of informing moral, social, and political conditions.

In this book, Yaroslav Komarovski argues that the Tibetan Buddhist interpretations of the realization of ultimate reality both contribute to and challenge contemporary interpretations of unmediated mystical experience. The model used by the majority of Tibetan Buddhist thinkers states that the realization of ultimate reality, while unmediated during its actual occurrence, is necessarily filtered and mediated by the conditioning contemplative processes leading to it, and Komarovski argues that therefore, in order to understand this mystical experience, one must focus on these processes, rather than on the experience itself. Komarovski also provides an in-depth comparison of seminal Tibetan Geluk thinker Tsongkhapa and his major Sakya critic Gorampa's accounts of the realization of ultimate reality, demonstrating that the differences between these two interpretations lie primarily in their conflicting descriptions of the compatible conditioning processes that lead to this realization. Komarovski maintains that Tsongkhapa and Gorampa's views are virtually irreconcilable, but demonstrates that the differing processes outlined by these two thinkers are equally effective in terms of actually attaining the realization of ultimate reality. Tibetan Buddhism and Mystical Experience speaks to the plurality of mystical experience, perhaps even suggesting that the diversity of mystical experience is one of its primary features.

This book critically examines the term 'religion' (shukyo) as a social category within the sociological context of contemporary Japan. Whereas the nineteenth-century construction of shukyo has been critically studied by many, the same critical approach has not been extended to the contemporary context of the Japanese-language discourse on shukyo and Temple Buddhism. This work aims to unveil the norms and imperatives which govern the utilization of the term shukyo in the specific context of modern day Japan, with a particular focus upon Temple Buddhism. The author draws on a number of popular publications in Japanese, many of which have been written by Buddhist priests. In addition, the book offers rich interview material from conversations with Buddhist priests. Readers will gain insights into the critical deconstruction, the historicization, and the study of social classification system of 'religion', in terms of its cross-cultural application to the contemporary Japanese context. The book will be of interest to students and scholars across a range of disciplines including Japanese Studies, Buddhology, Religious Studies, Social Anthropology, and Sociology.

The "Zhongyong" - translated here as "Focusing the Familiar" has been regarded as a document of enormous wisdom for more than two millennia and is one of Confucianism's most sacred and seminal texts. It achieved truly canonical preeminence when it became one of the Four Books compiled and annotated by the Southern Song dynasty philosopher Zhu Xi (1130-1200). Within the compass of world literature, the influence of these books (Analects of Confucius, Great Learning, Zhongyong, and Mencius) on the Sinitic world of East Asia has been no less than the Bible and the Qu'ran on Western civilization. With this translation David Hall and Roger Ames seek to provide a distinctly philosophical interpretation of the Zhongyong, remaining attentive to the semantic and conceptual nuances of the text to account for its central place within classical Chinese literature. They present the text in such a way as to provide Western philosophers and other intellectuals access to a set of interpretations and arguments that offer insights into issues and concerns common to both Chinese and Western thinkers.

The Record of Linji stands as one of the great classics of the Zen tradition, and modern Zen master and reformer Hisamatsu Shin'ichi offers a lively and penetrating exploration of the religious essence of the text. The Record is a compilation of the sayings of Linji, the Chinese founder of Rinzai Zen. Several decades ago, Hisamatsu gave the twenty-two talks translated here. This book features a preface by renowned Zen philosopher ABE Masao and an introduction by Yanagida Seizan, the foremost scholar of classical Zen texts. The translators have added annotation for technical terms and textual references.

This is the first book to systematically describe the formation and historical changes of the Monpa people's area (Monyul) through its nature, society, culture, religion, agriculture and historically deep ties with Bhutan, Tibet and the Tibetan Buddhist faith. The state of Arunachal Pradesh is located in the northeastern part of India, surrounded by the borders of Assam, Bhutan, and Tibet (China). There has been a long history of conflict over the sovereignty of this area between India and China. Foreigners were prohibited from entering the state until the 1990s and the area has been veiled in secrecy until recently. Thus, there are not many academically researched works on the region. This book serves as an essential guide for anyone who would like to learn about a unique geographical area of Monpa.

En esta obra los Seres de Luz intentaran lograr que un Alma que vive un 95% del tiempo en su Reino de Oscuridad, logre reintegrar todas las formas de su Alma en los 7 Niveles de Conciencia, para que de esta manera alcance la iluminacion, ya que si esta Alma logra alcanzar la iluminacion, La Conciencia de la Humanidad se expandira mas rapidamente. Hoy, aproximadamente el 5% de todas las Almas ya estan viviendo en la 4ta Dimension, el otro 95% continua viviendo en su mente tridimensional.

Eshinni (1182-1268?), a Buddhist nun and the wife of Shinran (1173-1262), the celebrated founder of the True Pure Land, or Shin, school of Buddhism, was largely unknown until the discovery of a collection of her letters in 1921. In this study, James C. Dobbins, a leading scholar of Pure Land Buddhism, has made creative use of these letters to shed new light on life and religion in medieval Japan. He provides a complete translation of the letters and an explication of them that reveals the character and flavor of early Shin Buddhism. Readers will come away with a new perspective on Pure Land scholarship and a vivid image of Eshinni and the world in which she lived. After situating the ideas and practices of Pure Land Buddhism in the context of the actual living conditions of thirteenth-century Japan, Dobbins examines the portrayal of women in Pure Land Buddhism, the great range of lifestyles found among medieval women and nuns, and how they constructed a meaningful religious life amid negative stereotypes. He goes on to analyze aspects of medieval religion that have been omitted in our modern-day account of Pure Land and tries to reconstruct the religious assumptions of Eshinni and Shinran in their own day. A prevailing theme that runs throughout the book is the need to look beyond idealized images of Buddhism found in doctrine to discover the religion as it was lived and practiced. Scholars and students of Buddhism, Japanese history, women's studies, and religious studies will find much in this engaging work that is thought-provoking and insightful.