Your hands-on guide to this widely practiced and ancient religion Buddhism, one of the world's most widely practiced religions, is a fascinating yet complex eastern religion that is rapidly spreading throughout western civilization. What does it mean to be a Buddhist? What are the fundamental beliefs and history behind this religion? Buddhism For Dummies explores these questions and more in this updated guide to Buddhist culture. You'll gain an understanding of the origins of this ancient practice and how they're currently applied to everyday life. Whether you're a searcher of truth, a student of religions, or just curious about what makes Buddhism such a widely practiced religion, this guide is for you. In plain English, it defines the important terms, explains the key concepts, and explores in-depth a wide range of fascinating topics. New and expanded coverage on all the schools of Buddhism, including Theravada, Tibetan, and Mahayana The continuing relevance of the Dalai Lama Updated coverage on daily observances, celebrations, styles, practices, meditation, and more Continuing the Dummies tradition of making the world's religions engaging and accessible to everyone, Buddhism For Dummies is your essential guide to this fascinating religion. P.S. If you think this book seems familiar, you re probably right. The Dummies team updated the cover and design to give the book a fresh feel, but the content is the same as the previous release of Buddhism For Dummies (9781118023792). The book you see here shouldn t be considered a new or updated product. But if you re in the mood to learn something new, check out some of our other books. We re always writing about new topics!

Your hands-on guide to this widely practiced and ancient religion

Buddhism, one of the world's most widely practiced religions, is a fascinating yet complex eastern religion that is rapidly spreading throughout western civilization. What does it mean to be a Buddhist? What are the fundamental beliefs and history behind this religion? "Buddhism For Dummies" explores these questions and more in this updated guide to Buddhist culture. You'll gain an understanding of the origins of this ancient practice and how they're currently applied to everyday life.

Whether you're a searcher of truth, a student of religions, or just curious about what makes Buddhism such a widely practiced religion, this guide is for you. In plain English, it defines the important terms, explains the key concepts, and explores in-depth a wide range of fascinating topics.New and expanded coverage on all the schools of Buddhism, including Theravada, Tibetan, and MahayanaThe continuing relevance of the Dalai LamaUpdated coverage on daily observances, celebrations, styles, practices, meditation, and more

Continuing the Dummies tradition of making the world's religions engaging and accessible to everyone, "Buddhism For Dummies" is your essential guide to this fascinating religion.

This book describes, analyses and reproduce line drawings from two manuscripts and a related section from a third manuscript. These are:1. Manuscript M.82.169.2, preserved in the Los Angeles County Museum of Art (circa late 19th century)2. Manuscript 82.242-1-24, preserved in the Newark Museum (from the later part of the 20th century) and3. A section from manuscript 440 in the private collection of Ian Alsop, Santa Fe, New Mexico (early 20th century).The line drawings depict Hindu/Saiva and Buddhist deities and themes, but the Buddhist material is predominant, as one would expect in artists' sketchbooks from Patan. The sketchbooks are important for several reasons. They provide drawings of a large number of deities, including some groups rarely depicted elsewhere. Among them are the EIght Great Bodhisattvas, the Eight Siddhas, the Nine Serpents and - corresponding to the months of the year - twelve forms of Narayana and Lokesvara, and (associated with the ekadasi days of the months) twelve forms of Mahadeva. Many of the deities and legends are relevant to contemporary Newar Buddhism. The two narratives are of special interest. They deal with the life story of Sakyamuni Buddha and the legend of Sarvajnamitra(pada). The illustrated life story of the Buddha follows the Newar tradition, which incorporates the episodes of the sufferings of Yasodhara after Sarvarthasiddha's departure and of the Buddha's (return) journey to Lumbini (lumniniyatra). The book also contains a longer section on Srstikarta Lokesvara, a form of Avalokitesvara who emanates Brahmanical divinities from his body.

This book is divided into three sections. The first section introduces one specific tradition of Siddhas transmitted by artists from Nepal. This artistic legacy, which is related to a corpus of texts that go back through *Srisena and Bu ston, includes two paintings and an incomplete set of line drawings. One of the paintings is an early-sixteenth-century "paubha" of Vajradhara surrounded by the eighty-four Siddhas (now preserved in the National Art Gallery, Bhaktapur). The set of line drawings of originally all eighty-four Siddhas (now in the Los Angeles County Museum of Art) goes back to the seventeenth century. On the basis of a comparison of the portraits of the eighty-four Siddhas in the painting from Bhaktapur (which provides the Siddhas' names) and the line drawing (which also label the Siddhas) it is suggested that the eighty-two Siddhas surrounding the Siddha Virupa in the other Nepalese painting, from the second quarter of the thirteenth century, which is now part of the Kronos Collections of S.M. Kossak, New York, are part of the same tradition. The Siddhas in this well-known and frequently reproduced painting have so far remained unidentified since their names are not inscribed in the painting. The second section of the book focuses on lesser known manifestations of (Cakra)samvara, a form of Heruka, and includes a discussion and reproduction of images of two groups of Samvaras. The first document is a painted scroll showing the group of sixty-four Samvaras with their consorts; the second one is a set of line drawings of what appears to be another group of Samvaras (thirty-six in number) with their consorts. The last section presents a set of line drawings which is based on a section of the "parikramavidhi" found in chapter 6 of Kuladatta's Kriyasamgraha(panjika). This text is an important Tantric manual which has been particularly influential in Nepal and whose author may even have been of Nepalese origin. The set of line drawings, which dates from approximately the eighteenth century, illustrates the ritual of walking around the site of a mandala. The line drawings are of great interest for the study of Buddhist ritual, since they illustrate a large number of stances, sitting postures and hand gestures described in the Kriyasamgraha(panjika) but whose names are nor recorded in standard reference works on iconography.