Download or read book Surviving Nirvana written by Sonya S. Lee and published by Hong Kong University Press. This book was released on 2010-03-01 with total page 374 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The Buddha's nirvana marks the end of the life of a great spiritual figure and the beginning of Buddhism as a world religion. Surviving Nirvana is the first book in the English language to examine how this historic moment was represented and received in the visual culture of China, of which the nirvana image has been a part for over 1,500 years. --Mining a selection of well-documented and well-preserved examples from the sixth to twelfth centuries, Sonya Lee offers a reassessment of medieval Chinese Buddhism by focusing on practices of devotion and image-making that were inspired by the Buddha's "complete extinction." The nirvana image, comprised of a reclining Buddha and a mourning audience, was central to defining the local meanings of the nirvana moment in different times and places. The motif's many guises, whether on a stone-carved stele, inside a pagoda crypt, or as a painted mural in a cave temple, were the product of social interactions, religious institutions, and artistic practices prevalent in a given historical context. They were also cogent responses to the fundamental anxiety about the absence of the Buddha and the prospect of one's salvation. By reinventing the nirvana image to address its own needs, each community of patrons, makers, and viewers sought to recast the Buddha's "death" into an allegory of survival that was charged with local pride and contemporary relevance.- -Thoroughly researched, this study engages methods and debates from the fields of art history, religion, archaeology, architecture, and East Asian history that are relevant to scholars and students alike. The many examples analyzed in the book offer well-defined local contexts to discuss broader historical and theoretical issues concerning representation, patronage, religion and politics, family values, and vision.--Sonya S. Lee is assistant professor of art history and East Asian languages and cultures at University of Southern California.-- -
Download or read book Wanting Enlightenment Is a Big Mistake written by Zen Master Seung Sahn and published by Shambhala Publications. This book was released on 2006-08-08 with total page 225 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: A major figure in the transmission of Zen to the West, Zen Master Seung Sahn was known for his powerful teaching style, which was direct, surprising, and often humorous. He taught that Zen is not about achieving a goal, but about acting spontaneously from “don’t-know mind.” It is from this “before-thinking” nature, he taught, that true compassion and the desire to serve others naturally arises. This collection of teaching stories, talks, and spontaneous dialogues with students offers readers a fresh and immediate encounter with one of the great Zen masters of the twentieth century.
Download or read book Buddhism A Very Short Introduction written by Damien Keown and published by Oxford Paperbacks. This book was released on 1996-10-03 with total page 180 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This Very Short Introduction introduces the reader to the teachings of the Buddha and to the integration of Buddhism into daily life. What are the distinctive features of Buddhism? Who was the Buddha, and what are his teachings? How has Buddhist thought developed over the centuries, and how can contemporary dilemmas be faced from a Buddhist perspective? Words such as 'karma' and 'nirvana' have entered our vocabulary, but what do they mean? Damien Keown's book provides a lively, informative response to these frequently asked questions about Buddhism.
Download or read book The Way to Nirvana in this Life written by Ekachai Chulacharitta and published by . This book was released on 2014 with total page 241 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:
Download or read book How to Attain Nirvana While We Are Still Living written by Umesh Gupta and published by Lulu.com. This book was released on 2015-02-23 with total page 67 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: In this book, you will learn about a simple process on how to live a phenomenal life to its fullness. Life will become so much easier and mesmerizing once you understand and follow this process. You will feel the true magnificence that your amazing life has to offer you. You will come to know who you really are. Simply written and easy to read, this book gives a profound outline for achievement of spiritual success in addition to personal success.This book is written in a way that you will cherish for a lifetime. A must read for anyone who wants to learn the way to unveil and attain his or her purpose in life.
Download or read book Jesus Wants to Save Christians written by Rob Bell and published by Zondervan. This book was released on 2009-03-17 with total page 204 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: There is a church not too far from us that recently added a $25 million addition to their building. Our local newspaper ran a front-page story not too long ago about a study revealing that one in five people in our city lives in poverty. This is a book about those two numbers. Jesus Wants to save Christians is a book about faith and fear, wealth and war, poverty, power, safety, terror, Bibles, bombs, and homeland insecurity. It's about empty empires and the truth that everybody's a priest. It's about oppression, occupation, and what happens when Christians support, animate and participate in the very things Jesus came to set people free from. It's about what it means to be a part of the church of Jesus in a world where some people fly planes into buildings while others pick up groceries in Hummers.
Download or read book Why I Am Not a Buddhist written by Evan Thompson and published by Yale University Press. This book was released on 2020-01-28 with total page 239 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: "A provocative essay challenging the idea of Buddhist exceptionalism, from one of the world's most widely respected philosophers and writers on Buddhism and science. Buddhism has become a uniquely favored religion in our modern age. A burgeoning number of books extol the scientifically proven benefits of meditation and mindfulness for everything ranging from business to romance. There are conferences, courses, and celebrities promoting the notion that Buddhism is spirituality for the rational; compatible with cutting-edge science; indeed, "a science of the mind." In this provocative book, Evan Thompson argues that this representation of Buddhism is false. In lucid and entertaining prose, Thompson dives deep into both Western and Buddhist philosophy to explain how the goals of science and religion are fundamentally different. Efforts to seek their unification are wrongheaded and promote mistaken ideas of both. He suggests cosmopolitanism instead, a worldview with deep roots in both Eastern and Western traditions. Smart, sympathetic, and intellectually ambitious, this book is a must-read for anyone interested in Buddhism's place in our world today."--Provided by publisher.
Download or read book Many Ways to Nirvana written by Dalai Lama XIV Bstan-ʼdzin-rgya-mtsho and published by Viking Adult. This book was released on 2004 with total page 208 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Can A Common Man With Family Responsibilities Achieve Nirvana Or Buddhahood? What Should Be The Spiritual Limit Of Ambition For A Busy Professional? Are There Different Kinds Of Negative Emotions? How Do You Stay Positive When Confronted With Environmental And Human Injustice? His Holiness The Dalai Lama Answers These And A Host Of Other Questions In This Companion Volume To The Transformed Mind: Reflections On Truth, Love And Happiness, Successfully Published Around The World In 1999. Interpreting The Ancient Wisdom Of Lord Buddha For Today'S Generation, He Speaks To Us About The Paths To Self-Realization And The Need To Overcome Negative Emotions In Order To Develop One'S Inner Consciousness. Wise, Compassionate And Always Pragmatic, He Offers Advice On The Many Issues That Confront The Ordinary Human Being: How To Free Yourself From Emotional Afflictions And Petty Cravings, How To Transform Anxiety And Depression Into Contentment, How To Initiate And Keep Alive Inter-Faith Dialogue In The Troubled Times We Live In. Undeniably One Of The Best Books Of Its Kind, Many Ways To Nirvana Gives Us An Insight Into The Dalai Lama'S Philosophy And Guides Us Along The Path To True Liberation.
Download or read book Wisdom As a Way of Life written by Steven Collins and published by . This book was released on 2020 with total page 296 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: "In this wide-ranging and field-changing work Steven Collins argues that the study of Theravada Buddhism needs to separated from the rather dated and stagnant field of textual history and approached both "civilizationally" and as a "practice of the self." By civilizationally, he means that instead of seeing Buddhism as a set of "original" teachings of the so-called historical Buddha from the 5th century BC to the present, it should rather be viewed as an effort by many teachers and visionaries over time to make sense of what it means to lead a worthy life. The purveyors of Buddhist philosophy did not consider themselves to be preservers of an archaic body of rules and ethical guidelines; they were designing a dynamic way of living and confronting human problems in a timeless way. Using approaches to the very idea of the self promoted by Foucault and Hadot, he compares Theravada Buddhist ways of understanding and "practicing" the self to modernist and postmodernist ideas about "philosophy as a way of life." Rather than applying positivist and historicist approaches, Buddhism should be assessed philosophically, literarily, and ethically, using its own vocabulary and rhetorical tools. Treated in this manner, Buddhist notions of the self can be applied to contemporary ideas of self-care and the promotion of human flourishing. The book covers topics such as spiritual practice, ultimate versus provisional truth, systematic versus narrative thinking, meditation versus virtue, and history versus philosophy. It is a bold and complex way of understanding the impact that Buddhist ways of knowing can have in the world today, bringing them into conversation with modern psychology, literary studies, ethics, gender and sexuality studies, and philosophy"--
Download or read book Many Ways to Nirvana written by Dalai Lama and published by Penguin. This book was released on 2005-07-26 with total page 225 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Can an ordinary person with family responsibilities achieve Nirvana or Buddhahood? What should be the spiritual limit of ambition for a busy professional? How do you stay positive when confronted with environmental and human injustice? Answering these and a host of other questions from his most recent annual Dharma Celebration, His Holiness delivers a message about the paths to “right living” and the need to overcome negative emotions in order to develop one’s inner consciousness. Wise, compassionate, and always pragmatic, he offers advice on the many issues that confront us every day: how to free ourselves from emotional afflictions and petty cravings, how to transform anxiety into contentment, and how to initiate and keep alive interfaith dialogue in the troubled times we live in.
Download or read book Venerable cariya Mun Bh ridatta Thera written by Ajaan Mahā Boowa Ñāṇasampanno and published by Forest Dhamma Publications. This book was released on 2003 with total page 529 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Ajaan Mun is a towering figure in contemporary Thai Buddhism. He was widely revered during his lifetime for the extraordinary courage and determination he displayed in practicing the ascetic way of life and for his uncompromising strictness in teaching his many disciples. The epitome of a wandering monk intent on renunciation and solitude, he assumed an exalted status in Buddhist circles, his life and teachings becoming synonymous with the Buddha’s noble quest for self-transcendence.
Download or read book Venerable Ajaan Khao An layo written by Ajaan Mahā Boowa Ñāṇasampanno and published by Forest Dhamma Publications. This book was released on 2006 with total page 238 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: A senior disciple of Ajaan Mun, Ajaan Khao Anālayo was one of the foremost meditation masters of our time. He always preferred to practice in remote, secluded locations and with such single-minded resolve that his diligence in that respect was unrivaled among his peers in the circle of Thai forest monks. In his frequent encounters with wild animals, Ajaan Khao exhibited a special affinity for elephants.
Download or read book Life on Planet Rock written by Lonn Friend and published by Crown Archetype. This book was released on 2008-11-26 with total page 322 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: For the generation coming of age in the years from 1987 to 1994, RIP magazine was every bit as crucial as Rolling Stone. Life on Planet Rock describes how Friend, the editor of RIP, became the Zelig-like chronicler of the biggest musical moments of that time—from introducing Guns N’ Roses (in nothing but a top hat, underwear, and cowboy boots) to sitting in during the making of Metallica’s "Black Album." Life on Planet Rock provides revealing portraits of artists as varied as Kurt Cobain, Gene Simmons, Alice Cooper, Axl Rose, James Hetfield, Steven Tyler, and many more. Part oral history, part candid and humorous memoir, it is a wormhole back to a fast-moving time in music that saw tastes flash from new wave to hair metal to grunge, told as only someone who was there through it all could tell it.
Download or read book An End to Suffering written by Pankaj Mishra and published by Farrar, Straus and Giroux. This book was released on 2010-08-24 with total page 433 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: An End to Suffering is a deeply original and provocative book about the Buddha's life and his influence throughout history, told in the form of the author's search to understand the Buddha's relevance in a world where class oppression and religious violence are rife, and where poverty and terrorism cast a long, constant shadow. Mishra describes his restless journeys into India, Pakistan, and Afghanistan, among Islamists and the emerging Hindu middle class, looking for this most enigmatic of religious figures, exploring the myths and places of the Buddha's life, and discussing Western explorers' "discovery" of Buddhism in the nineteenth century. He also considers the impact of Buddhist ideas on such modern politicians as Gandhi and Nelson Mandela. As he reflects on his travels and on his own past, Mishra shows how the Buddha wrestled with problems of personal identity, alienation, and suffering in his own, no less bewildering, times. In the process Mishra discovers the living meaning of the Buddha's teaching, in the world and for himself. The result is the most three-dimensional, convincing book on the Buddha that we have.
Download or read book THE BUDDHIST WAY OF LIFE ITS PHILOSOPHY and HISTORY written by F. Harold Smith and published by K.K. Publications. This book was released on 2022-01-22 with total page 208 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: THE BUDDHIST WAY OF LIFE ITS PHILOSOPHY AIM HISTORY This study of Buddhism deals with the early tradition, followed by a brief consideration of its historicity, and the form the religion takes in Ceylon, Burma and Thailand. Then the mainline of development, in India, China and Japan comes under survey. Limits of space prevent any reference to Tibetan and other lesser branches of the faith, but this account attempts to focus essential Buddhism in both its chief schools, the Lesser and Greater Vehicle, together with an estimate of the influence of philosophy on sect and of both on the practical affairs of history. Contents SECTION I. EARLY SOURCES 1. Getama's Heritage 2. The Pali Records SECTION II. TICE TRADITION 3. The Enlightenment 4. The Jewels, Buddha & Dharma 5_ The Third. Jecvel, Sangho SECTION III INTERPRETATION 6. The Getama of History 7. Asoka SECTION IV. EARLY DIFFERENCES 8 Councils and Sciuxds 9. The Lesser Vehicle 10. Widening Hosizaas 11. Nalanda University SECTION V WORLD RELIGION 12 The Boddhisattva 13 The Chinese Cont on 14. The Chinese Interpretation 15. Sung and After 16. The Japanese Nation 17. Japan's Interpretation SECTION VI. CONCLUDING THOUGHTS 18. East and West
Download or read book The Buddhist Voyage beyond Death written by Venerable Dharma Master Hsin Tao and published by Cambridge Scholars Publishing. This book was released on 2016-12-14 with total page 200 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The Buddhist Voyage beyond Death comprehensively but concisely recapitulates the Three Turnings of the Dharma-Wheel: the central teachings of Buddha, of the Mahayana and of the Vajrayana; with a particular focus on the Mind-only tradition in relation to Buddhist cosmology, karma, and transmigration. With a Foreword by Dr. Robert Magliola, a specialist in comparative religion and author of Derrida on the Mend; On Deconstructing Life-Worlds: Buddhism, Christianity, Culture; and Facing Up to Real Doctrinal Difference, the book incorporates a modern scientific sensibility focusing on memory, time and space, matter and energy—using metaphors drawn from science and technology to illustrate spiritual concepts—and it provides an answer to those grappling with their life difficulties amid negative emotions of fear, anxiety, anger, and insecurity.
Download or read book Buddhist Cosmology written by Akira Sadakata and published by Tuttle Publishing. This book was released on 1997 with total page 236 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This extensively researched and illustrated volume offers Western readers a rare introduction to Buddhism's complex and fascinating views about the structure of the universe. The book begins by clearly explaining classical cosmology, with its symmetrical, India-centered universe and multitudinous heavens and hells, and illuminates the cosmos's relation to the human concerns of karma, transmigration, and enlightenment. It moves on to discuss the Mahayana conception of the universe as a lotus flower containing uncountable realms, each with its own buddha. Then, examining changes in the notions of hell and the gods, the author traces Buddhism's gradual shift from a religion to a mythology. Throughout, treatment of Buddhism's historical, geographical, and doctrinal origins complements detailed cosmological descriptions. Finally, the author shows us how this ancient philosophy resembles the modern scientific view of the cosmos, and how even today it can help us lead more fulfilling lives.
