Download or read book The Tale of Prince Vessantara written by Ashin Sumanacara and published by Subhashita Books. This book was released on 2024-06-11 with total page 280 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Discover the Timeless Tale of Prince Vessantara Immerse yourself in "The Tale of Prince Vessantara," a Jataka story that has captivated generations across Southeast Asia. This vivid novelization, enriched with 13 stunning illustrations, brings to life the world's oldest and most celebrated Jataka tale. Follow the remarkable journey of Prince Vessantara, whose unwavering generosity and selflessness will inspire you to reflect on the true meaning of compassion and love. Born into a life of luxury and abundance in the royal family of the Kingdom of Sivi, Prince Vessantara's world is turned upside down when he gifts his prized white elephant to a neighboring kingdom suffering from drought, leading to his banishment. Accompanied by his devoted wife and children, he embarks on a harrowing adventure that will test the limits of his strength and selflessness. As the story unfolds, you'll be gripped by the intriguing twists and turns that challenge Vessantara in unimaginable ways. Will he have the courage to endure when a cunning Brahmin Jujaka demands his children as slaves? Can he maintain his unwavering compassion and generous heart when a god, disguised as Jujaka, shockingly requests his wife? This timeless tale of love, sacrifice, and selflessness will captivate you from the very first page. Prepare to be transported to a world of heart-warming kindness and profound revelations as Vessantara's extraordinary journey unfolds before your eyes. Experience the power of this ancient story and discover why "The Tale of Prince Vessantara" is a must-read for any lover of compelling literature.
Download or read book Readings of the Vessantara J taka written by Steven Collins and published by Columbia University Press. This book was released on 2016-03-29 with total page 293 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The Vessantara Jataka tells the story of Prince Vessantara, who attained the Perfection of Generosity by giving away his fortune, his children, and his wife. Vessantara was the penultimate rebirth as a human of the future Gotama Buddha, and his extreme charity has been represented and reinterpreted in texts, sermons, rituals, and art throughout South and Southeast Asia and beyond. This anthology features well-respected anthropologists, textual scholars in religious and Buddhist studies, and art historians, who engage in sophisticated readings of the text and its ethics of giving, understanding of attachment and nonattachment, depiction of the trickster, and unique performative qualities. They reveal the story to be as brilliantly layered as a Homeric epic or Shakespearean play, with aspects of tragedy, comedy, melodrama, and utopian fantasy intertwined to problematize and scrutinize Theravada Buddhism's cherished virtues.
Download or read book Thailand s Theory of Monarchy written by Patrick Jory and published by State University of New York Press. This book was released on 2016-05-09 with total page 304 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: 2016 CHOICE Outstanding Academic Title Since the 2006 coup d'état, Thailand has been riven by two opposing political visions: one which aspires to a modern democracy and the rule of law, and another which holds to the traditional conception of a kingdom ruled by an exemplary Buddhist monarch. Thailand has one of the world's largest populations of observant Buddhists and one of its last politically active monarchies. This book examines the Theravada Buddhist foundations of Thailand's longstanding institution of monarchy. Patrick Jory states that the storehouse of monarchical ideology is to be found in the popular literary genre known as the Jātakas, tales of the Buddha's past lives. The best-known of these, the Vessantara Jātaka, disseminated an ideal of an infinitely generous prince as a bodhisatta or future Buddha—an ideal which remains influential in Thailand today. Using primary and secondary source materials largely unknown in Western scholarship, Jory traces the history of the Vessantara Jātaka and its political-cultural importance from the ancient to the modern period. Although pressures from European colonial powers and Buddhist reformers led eventually to a revised political conception of the monarchy, the older Buddhist ideal of kingship has yet endured.
Download or read book The J taka written by Edward Byles Cowell and published by . This book was released on 1907 with total page 334 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:
Download or read book The Journey of One Buddhist Nun written by Sid Brown and published by SUNY Press. This book was released on 2001-09-27 with total page 196 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Recounts the struggles of a young Thai woman to become a Buddhist nun and the challenges and rewards of that life.
Download or read book Studies on the History and Culture Along the Continental Silk Road written by Xiao Li and published by Springer Nature. This book was released on 2020-09-10 with total page 210 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This book presents outstanding articles addressing various aspects related to the ancient Silk Road, in particular the cultural, political, and economic interactions that took place among the civilizations and cultures on the Eurasian continent. In addition, the articles help to reveal the hallmark features of cultural communication in Inner Asia in different historical periods. The book develops a new approach to studying the civilizations of the Silk Road, promotes interdisciplinary and multi-dimensional research, sets a new direction for Chinese ancient classics and western sinology, and presents the latest discoveries, including both archaeological finds and historical documents.
Download or read book Nirvana for Sale written by Rachelle M. Scott and published by SUNY Press. This book was released on 2009-09-17 with total page 260 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Explores the relationship between material prosperity and spirituality in contemporary Thai Buddhism.
Download or read book The Oxford Handbook of Buddhist Practice written by Kevin Trainor and published by Oxford University Press. This book was released on 2022 with total page 689 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: "This Handbook provides a state-of-the-art exploration of several key dynamics in current studies of the Buddhist tradition with a focus on practice. Embodiment, materiality, emotion, and gender shape the way most Buddhists engage with their traditions, in contrast to popular representations of Buddhism as spiritual, disembodied, and largely devoid of ritual. This volume highlights how practice often represents a fluid, dynamic, and strategic means of defining identity and negotiating the challenges of everyday life. Essays explore the transformational aims of practices that require practitioners to move, gesture, and emote in prescribed ways, including the ways that scholars' own embodied practices are integral to their research methodology. The chapters are written by acknowledged experts in their respective subject areas and taken together offer an overview of current thinking in the field. The volume is of particular value to scholars who seek an orientation to current perspectives on important conceptual, theoretical, and methodological concerns that are shaping the field in areas outside their primary expertise. The inclusion of substantial, up-to-date bibliographies also makes the volume an important guide to current scholarship"--
Download or read book Along the Path 3rd Edition written by Kory Goldberg and published by Pariyatti. This book was released on 2022-12-20 with total page 528 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Along the Path (3rd Edition) is full of practical and inspiring information for meditators who plan to visit the sacred sites where the Buddha and his disciples lived and taught in India and Nepal. In this unique guidebook, readers will discover a rich anthology of stories relating to each of the sites, as well as helpful maps, creative artwork, and spiritual narratives from experienced travelers. Each site entry includes insider information and tips with detailed descriptions of transportation, accommodation, and local cuisine; suggested excursions and activities in the vicinity; and highlights of established Vipassana meditation centers best suited to accommodate visiting meditators. This third edition has been updated and revised to feature "off the beaten path" pilgrimage sites throughout India, newly constructed Vipassana centres, and additional stories from the Pali canon. Contents include: - Detailed descriptions of each of the sites, including insider information on what to see and tips on transportation, accommodation and local cuisine. - Suggested excursions and activities in the vicinity of both ancient and modern sites. - Highlights established Vipassana meditation centers that are best suited to accommodate visiting meditators. - Includes an in-depth travel section to help meditators prepare for a safe launch from home and cultivate cultural sensibilities. - The essential companion for every meditator visiting India and Nepal.
Download or read book Along the Path written by Kory Goldberg and published by Pariyatti. This book was released on 2013-12-03 with total page 453 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Now revised and updated, this unique guidebook provides practical and inspiring information for meditators who plan to visit India and Nepal and the sacred sites where the Buddha lived and taught. The book offers a rich anthology of deeply inspiring stories relating to each of the pilgrimage sites connected to the Buddha's life and teaching. Also includes helpful maps, creative artwork and spirited narratives from experienced travelers. Contents include: • Detailed descriptions of each of the sites, including insider information on what to see and tips on transportation, accommodation and local cuisine. • Suggested excursions and activities in the vicinity of both ancient and modern sites. • Highlights established Vipassana meditation centers that are best suited to accommodate visiting meditators. • Includes an in-depth travel section to help meditators prepare for a safe launch from home and cultivate cultural sensibilities.
Download or read book Buddhisms written by John S. Strong and published by Simon and Schuster. This book was released on 2015-07-02 with total page 639 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Buddhism or Buddhisms? By the time they move on to Buddhism in Japan, many students who have studied its origins in India ask whether this is in fact the same religion, so different can they appear. In Buddhisms: An Introduction, Professor John S. Strong provides an overview of the Buddhist tradition in all its different forms around the world. Beginning at the modern day temples of Lumbini, where the Buddha was born, Strong takes us through the life of the Buddha and a study of Buddhist Doctrine, revealing how Buddhism has changed just as it has stayed the same. Finally, Strong examines the nature of Buddhist community life and its development today in the very different environments of Thailand, Japan, and Tibet. Enriched by the author’s own insights gathered over forty years, Buddhisms never loses sight of the personal experience amidst the wide-scope of its subject. Clear in its explanations, replete with tables and suggestions for further reading, this is an essential new work that makes original contributions to the study of this 2,500 year-old religion.
Download or read book The Buddhist World of Southeast Asia written by Donald K. Swearer and published by State University of New York Press. This book was released on 2012-02-01 with total page 322 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: An unparalleled portrait, Donald K. Swearer's Buddhist World of Southeast Asia has been a key source for all those interested in the Theravada homelands since the work's publication in 1995. Expanded and updated, the second edition offers this wide ranging account for readers at the beginning of the twenty-first century. Swearer shows Theravada Buddhism in Southeast Asia to be a dynamic, complex system of thought and practice embedded in the cultures, societies, and histories of Thailand, Myanmar (Burma), Laos, Cambodia, and Sri Lanka. The work focuses on three distinct yet interrelated aspects of this milieu. The first is the popular tradition of life models personified in myths and legends, rites of passage, festival celebrations, and ritual occasions. The second deals with Buddhism and the state, illustrating how King Asoka serves as the paradigmatic Buddhist monarch, discussing the relationship of cosmology and kingship, and detailing the rise of charismatic Buddhist political leaders in the postcolonial period. The third is the modern transformation of Buddhism: the changing roles of monks and laity, modern reform movements, the role of women, and Buddhism in the West.
Download or read book Philanthropy in the World s Traditions written by Warren Frederick Ilchman and published by Indiana University Press. This book was released on 1998-09-22 with total page 406 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Though voluntary association for the public good is often thought of as a peculiarly Western, even Christian concept, this book demonstrates that there are rich traditions of philanthropy in cultures throughout the world. Essays study philanthropy in Buddhist, Islamic, Hindu, Jewish, and Native American religious traditions, as well as many other cultures.
Download or read book Thailand written by Charles F Keyes and published by Routledge. This book was released on 2019-07-09 with total page 245 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Thailand is exceptional among modern states in Asia in that it has built and retained a national culture around a traditional monarchical institution. Moreover, this culture has also been based on a dominant religious tradition, that of Theravada Buddhism. The process of creating the modern nation-state of Thailand out of the traditional Buddhist kingdom of Siam began in the nineteenth century when the rulers of Siam, confronted with increasing pressure from the colonial powers of Britain and France, were able to preserve their country's independence by instituting revolutionary changes that established the authority of a centralized bureaucracy throughout the country. The new state asserted its authority not only over Siamese who lived in the core area of the old kingdom but also over large numbers of Lao, Yuan or Northern Thai, Khmer, Malays, tribal peoples, and other groups, all of which had previously enjoyed relative autonomy, and over the sizable immigrant Chinese population, which was assuming an increasingly significant role in the economy. Because the rulers of the Siamese state strove to incorporate these diverse peoples into a Thai national community, how this community should be defined and what type of state structure should be linked with it have been dominant questions in modern Thai history. Significant tensions have arisen from the efforts by members of the Thai elite to make the monarchical traditions of the Bangkok dynasty, Buddhism, and the central Thai language basic to Thai national culture. Other tensions have arisen as monarchy, military, bureaucracy, the Buddhist sangha, business interests, and elected political representatives assert or maintain an authoritative position in the state structure. This book examines these tensions with reference to the major changes that have taken place in Thai society, economy, polity, and culture in the twentieth century, especially since World War II.
Download or read book Studies in Southeast Asian Art written by Nora A. Taylor and published by Cornell University Press. This book was released on 2018-08-06 with total page 253 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This wide-ranging collection of essays examines the arts of Southeast Asia in context. Contributors study the creation, use, and local significance of works of art, illuminating the many complex links between an object's aesthetic qualities and its origins in a community.
Download or read book Constitutional Bricolage written by Eugénie Mérieau and published by Bloomsbury Publishing. This book was released on 2021-12-02 with total page 352 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This book analyses the unique constitutional system in operation in Thailand as a continuous process of bricolage between various Western constitutional models and Buddhist doctrines of Kingship. Reflecting on the category of 'constitutional monarchy' and its relationship with notions of the rule of law, it investigates the hybridised semi-authoritarian, semi-liberal monarchy that exists in Thailand. By studying constitutional texts and political practices in light of local legal doctrine, the book shows that the monarch's affirmation of extraordinary prerogative powers strongly rests on wider doctrinal claims about constitutionalism and the rule of law. This finding challenges commonly accepted assertions about Thailand, arguing that the King's political role is not the remnant of the 'unfinished' borrowing of Western constitutionalism, general disregard for the law, or cultural preference for 'charismatic authority', as generally thought. Drawing on materials and sources not previously available in English, this important work provides a comprehensive and critical account of the Thai 'mixed constitutional monarchy' from the late 19th century to the present day.
Download or read book The J taka written by Edward Byles Cowell and published by . This book was released on 1895 with total page 362 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:
