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Books > Religion & Spirituality > Aspects of religions (non-Christian) > Religious life & practice
Each one of us is responsible for all of humankind, and for the
environment in which we live. . . . We must seek to lessen the
suffering of others. Rather than working solely to acquire wealth,
we need to do something meaningful, something seriously directed
toward the welfare of humanity as a whole. To do this, you need to
recognize that the whole world is part of you. --from "How to Be
Compassionate"
The surest path to true happiness lies in being intimately
concerned with the welfare of others. Or, as His Holiness the Dalai
Lama would say, in "compassion."
In "How to Be Compassionate, "His Holiness reveals basic mistakes
of attitude that lead us to inner turmoil, and how we can correct
them to achieve a better tomorrow. He demonstrates precisely how
opening our hearts and minds to other people is the best way to
overcome the misguided ideas that are at the root of all our
problems. He shows us how compassion can be a continuous wellspring
of happiness in our own lives and how our newfound happiness can
extend outward from us in ever wider and wider circles.
As we become more compassionate human beings, our friends, family,
neighbors, loved ones--and even our enemies--will find themselves
less frequently in the thrall of destructive emotions like anger,
jealousy, and fear, prompting them to become more warmhearted,
kind, and harmonious forces within their own circles. With simple
language and startling clarity, His Holiness makes evident as never
before that the path to global harmony begins in the hearts of
individual women and men. Enlivened by personal anecdotes and
intimate accounts of the Dalai Lama's experiences as a student,
thinker, political leader, and Nobel Peace Prize Laureate, "How to
Be Compassionate "gives seekers of all faiths the keys to
overcoming anger, hatred, and selfishness-- the primary obstacles
to happiness--and to becoming agents of positive transformation in
our communities and the world at large.
Al-Minhaj al-Sawi is a milestone work, the first work of its kind
for many centuries. It is a compendium of Prophetic Hadiths,
categorised under a number of headings and compiled with clear
relevance to the lives and situation of Muslims in the modern age.
The work is authenticated by a rigorous and detailed process of
Takhreej - referencing each hadith to its sources - from a study of
over 300 authentic works of hadith. This work will be useful for
academics in many relevant fields, whether researching the basis of
orthodox Sunni belief and practice, or examining the contemporary
Muslim response to religious extremism. It is split into 2 volumes:
Prophetic Virtues and Miracles and Righteous Character and Social
Interactions. The second part Righteous Character and Social
Interactions presents sayings and actions of the Prophet Muhammad
concerning interactions with non-Muslims and non-Muslim
communities, his method of prayer and spiritual devotion, his
status and characteristics, and provides clarification of other
important issues of the age, such as Jihad, Khawarijism, and
Tassawuf.
Monday Night Class began as an experimental college course taught
by Stephen Gaskin, and by 1970 had grown into a popular attraction
with 2,000 people attending weekly. Here Stephen explores the laws
that govern the spiritual plane, drawing on sources as varied as
the Bible, Zen Buddhism, and the daily newspaper, interpreting the
visions of the 60s generation with humor and affection. This new
edition is a collection of the original transcripts from these
historic meetings, with new commentary by Stephen from today's
perspective.
Nirmala S. Salgado offers a groundbreaking study of the politics of
representation of Buddhist nuns. Challenging assumptions about
writing on gender and Buddhism, Salgado raises important
theoretical questions about the applicability of liberal feminist
concepts and language to the practices of Buddhist nuns. Based on
extensive research in Sri Lanka as well as on interviews with
Theravada and Tibetan nuns from around the world, Salgado's study
invites a reconsideration of female renunciation. How do scholarly
narratives continue to be complicit in reinscribing colonialist and
patriarchal stories about Buddhist women? In what ways have recent
debates contributed to the construction of the subject of the
Theravada bhikkhuni? How do key Buddhist concepts such as dukkha,
samsara, and sila ground female renunciant practices? Salgado's
provocative analysis of modern discourses about the supposed
empowerment of nuns challenges interpretations of female
renunciation articulated in terms of secular notions such as
''freedom'' in renunciation, and questions the idea that the higher
ordination of nuns constitutes a movement in which female
renunciants act as agents seeking to assert their autonomy in a
struggle against patriarchal norms. Salgado argues that the concept
of a global sisterhood of nuns-an idea grounded in a notion of
equality as a universal ideal-promotes a discourse of dominance
about the lives of non-Western women and calls for more nuanced
readings of the everyday renunciant practices and lives of Buddhist
nuns. Buddhist Nuns and Gendered Practice is essential reading for
anyone interested in the connections between religion and power,
subjectivity and gender, and feminism and postcolonialism.
In The Magnificent Defeat, Frederick Buechner examines what it means to follow Christ, the lessons of Christmas and Easter, the miracles of grace, and "the magnificent defeat" of the human soul of God.
While religion and queerness often are viewed as disparate,
scholars in both fields of study share concerns and questions about
how the modern subject, with its attachments to institutions and
communities, is formed. This special issue of GLQ brings together
queer studies and political theology in order to explore the
relationship between the self and politics, theism, and queerness.
Going beyond previous work in queer political theology that has
focused primarily on Christianity, contributors to this issue
consider how queer sexualities appear in other theological
contexts, including articles on astrological, Blackpentecostal,
Thirunangai, hijra, and sarimbavy ways of life, recentering
marginalized and underrepresented minorities, beliefs, and
practices. Contributors Ashon Crawley, Seth Palmer, Vaibhav Saria,
David K. Seitz, Liza Tom, Ricky Varghese, Alexa Winstanley-Smith,
Fan Wu
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