Download or read book The Clear Mirror written by and published by Stanford University Press. This book was released on 1998-08-01 with total page 360 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The Clear Mirror (Masukagami) is an account of Japanese history from 1185 to 1333 by an anonymous author, almost certainly a court noble writing around the third quarter of the fourteenth century. During this time, the military government at Kamakura controlled the country, maintaining the emperor with his court at Kyoto as symbolic head of state. Though the imperial court had little real power, it attempted to maintain as much of its former dignity and prestige as it could. The Clear Mirror is at least semi-fictionalized, promoting a picture of a court healthier and more powerful than it really was. Moreover, the work sees the court as guardian of its own traditional arts and lifestyle, and thus provides not only a history of imperial succession and other events but also copious examples of poetic expressions and descriptions of courtly traditions and ceremonies. Because of its attempt to exemplify the best in the courtly prose tradition (it is noted for its imitation of the style of the masterpiece The Tale of Genji), the work has long been valued in Japan as much for its artistic literary contribution as for its historical significance. The present translation makes available to English readers the last significant work belonging to the genre of "historical tales" (rekishi monogatari), another example of which is A Tale of Flowering Fortunes (translated by William and Helen Craig McCullough, Stanford, 1980). The introduction provides a brief summary of the significant historical and political events of the period, together with a discussion of the significance of The Clear Mirror within the "historical tales" tradition, and comments on the literary strengths and weaknesses of the work. A glossary identifies people and places mentioned in the text, and an appendix discusses details concerning the work's authorship, possible dates of initial publication, and other matters relating to the original manuscript.
Download or read book A Clear Mirror written by Traktung Dudjom Lingpa and published by North Atlantic Books. This book was released on 2012 with total page 310 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Personal memoirs are not uncommon in Tibetan Buddhism, but A Clear Mirror offers an unusual variation: three levels of spiritual teachings, conveying outer, inner, and subtle aspects of wisdom, that give readers full access to the rich life of one of Vajrayana Buddhism's most respected figures. Dudjom Lingpa (1835–1904) was a Tibetan visionary and Great Perfection master, or tertön, a revealer of spiritual treasures called terma hidden in the Earth and in the minds of disciples. Dujdom Lingpa is renowned for his revelations on “refining perception” or Nang Jang, and, through dream yoga, trance, and visions, for transmitting the “mindstream” of a number of enlightened spiritual beings, such as Sri Singha, Saraha, Vajradhara, and Manjushri, whose wisdom he received and shares in this book. A Clear Mirror reveals what high lamas regard as most sacred and intimate: spiritual evolution via the lens of an innermost visionary life. Lingpa recounts each step of his own enlightenment process—from learning how to meditate to the highest tantric practices—as he experienced them. A Clear Mirror is a spiritual adventure that also incorporates everyday meditation advice, designed for the lay reader as well as the more seasoned practitioner, in this evocative original translation.
Download or read book Encountering Buddhism written by Seth Robert Segall and published by State University of New York Press. This book was released on 2012-02-01 with total page 225 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Creatively exploring the points of confluence and conflict between Western psychology and Buddhist teachings, various scholars, researchers, and therapists struggle to integrate their diverse psychological orientations—psychoanalytic, humanistic, cognitive-behavioral, transpersonal—with their diverse Theravada and Mahayana Buddhist practices. By investigating the degree to which Buddhist insights are compatible with Western science and culture, they then consider what each philosophical/psychological system has to offer the other. The contributors reveal how Buddhism has changed the way they practice psychotherapy, choose their research topics, and conduct their personal lives. In doing so, they illuminate the relevance of ancient Buddhist texts to contemporary cultural and psychological dilemmas.
Download or read book Frame Glass Verse written by Rayna Kalas and published by Cornell University Press. This book was released on 2018-12-15 with total page 355 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: In a book that draws attention to some of our most familiar and unquestioned habits of thought—from "framing" to "perspective" to "reflection"—Rayna Kalas suggests that metaphors of the poetic imagination were once distinctly material and technical in character. Kalas explores the visual culture of the English Renaissance by way of the poetic image, showing that English writers avoided charges of idolatry and fancy through conceits that were visual, but not pictorial. Frames, mirrors, and windows have been pervasive and enduring metaphors for texts from classical antiquity to modernity; as a result, those metaphors seem universally to emphasize the mimetic function of language, dividing reality from the text that represents it. This book dissociates those metaphors from their earlier and later formulations in order to demonstrate that figurative language was material in translating signs and images out of a sacred and iconic context and into an aesthetic and representational one. Reading specific poetic images—in works by Spenser, Shakespeare, Gascoigne, Bacon, and Nashe—together with material innovations in frames and glass, Kalas reveals both the immanence and the agency of figurative language in the early modern period. Frame, Glass, Verse shows, finally, how this earlier understanding of poetic language has been obscured by a modern idea of framing that has structured our apprehension of works of art, concepts, and even historical periods. Kalas presents archival research in the history of frames, mirrors, windows, lenses, and reliquaries that will be of interest to art historians, cultural theorists, historians of science, and literary critics alike. Throughout Frame, Glass, Verse, she challenges readers to rethink the relationship of poetry to technology.
Download or read book The Mutable Glass written by Herbert Grabes and published by Cambridge University Press. This book was released on 1982 with total page 434 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: A comprehensive survey of mirror-imagery in English literature from the thirteenth to the end of the seventeenth century.
Download or read book Don t Be a Jerk written by Brad Warner and published by New World Library. This book was released on 2016-02-15 with total page 330 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The Shōbōgenzō (The Treasury of the True Dharma Eye) is a revered eight-hundred-year-old Zen Buddhism classic written by the Japanese monk Eihei Dōgen. Despite the timeless wisdom of his teachings, many consider the book difficult to understand and daunting to read. In Don’t Be a Jerk, Zen priest and bestselling author Brad Warner, through accessible paraphrasing and incisive commentary, applies Dōgen’s teachings to modern times. While entertaining and sometimes irreverent, Warner is also an astute scholar who sees in Dōgen very modern psychological concepts, as well as insights on such topics as feminism and reincarnation. Warner even shows that Dōgen offered a “Middle Way” in the currently raging debate between science and religion. For curious readers worried that Dōgen’s teachings are too philosophically opaque, Don’t Be a Jerk is hilarious, understandable, and wise.
Download or read book The Signifier Pointing at the Moon written by Raul Moncayo and published by Karnac Books. This book was released on 2012 with total page 250 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Within the context of a careful review of the psychology of religion and prior non-Lacanian literature on the subject, Raul Moncayo builds a bridge between Lacanion psychoanalysis and Zen Buddhism, that steers clear of Reducing one to the other or creating a simplistic synthesis between the two. Instead, by making a purposeful "one mistake" of "unknown knowing", this book remains consistent with the analytic unconscious and continues in the splendid tradition of Bodhidharma who did not know "Who" he was and told Emperor Wu that there was no merit in building temples for Buddhism.
Download or read book A Clear Mirror of Tibetan Medicinal Plants written by Zla-ba (Sman-rams-pa) and published by . This book was released on 1999 with total page 386 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:
Download or read book The Light That Shines through Infinity written by Dainin Katagiri and published by Shambhala Publications. This book was released on 2017-11-28 with total page 242 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: A Zen Buddhist perspective on the universal flow of cosmic energy and how to incorporate that energy into one's life and spiritual practice The universe is alive with a dynamic energy that creates and sustains our lives. It surrounds us, flows through us, and is available to us in every moment. Spiritual practice, according to revered American Zen teacher Dainin Katagiri Roshi, is about aligning ourselves with this ever-present life force—sometimes referred to as chi, qi, or ki. This collection, edited from Roshi’s talks, focuses on cosmic energy as it relates to all aspects of Zen practice. With references to classic texts and personal stories that bring the teachings to life, The Light That Shines through Infinity is also a powerful antidote to the notion that practice is in some way about transcending the world around us. It is in fact about nothing other than relating to it compassionately and whole-heartedly.
Download or read book Man y sh Book 17 written by and published by BRILL. This book was released on 2015-12-22 with total page 232 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Book seventeen of the Man’yōshῡ (‘Anthology of Myriad Leaves’) continues Alexander Vovin’s new English translation of this 20-volume work originally compiled between c.759 and 782 AD. It is the earliest Japanese poetic anthology in existence and thus the most important compendium of Japanese culture of the Asuka and Nara periods. Book seventeen is the fifth volume of the Man’yōshῡ to be published to date (following books fifteen (2009), five (2011), fourteen (2012) and twenty (2013)). Each volume of the Vovin translation contains the original text, kana transliteration, romanization, glossing and commentary.
Download or read book Total Liberation written by Ruben L. F. Habito and published by Wipf and Stock Publishers. This book was released on 2006-09-01 with total page 129 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: What is Zen Buddhism? What is its value for Christians? How does it relate to Christian beliefs? How does Zen relate to the world--and to changing it? Total Liberation explores these and other questions about Zen and Christianity. Habito has two basic aims. First, he demonstrates the relevance of Zen to a contemporary Christian spirituality, comparing Zen insights to the often overly-cerebral qualities of Western Christianity. Second, he shows how a blending of Zen and Christian spirituality complement and sustain a social active role in the world. While an important dimension of Zen involves contemplation and personal growth, Habito points out that this basic ideal ultimately expands to embrace all of creation and not just the individual self. Similarly, the Christian spiritual relationship with God finds its expression not only in the personal and contemplative, but in action. Total Liberation defines true spirituality as engagement with, rather than disassociation from, the social dimension. It shows that Zen, no less than Christian, spirituality must lead to active involvement and struggle against social violence and oppression.
Download or read book Reflecting the Past written by Erin L Brightwell and published by BRILL. This book was released on 2022-03-07 with total page 336 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Reflecting the Past is the first English-language study to address the role of historiography in medieval Japan, an age at the time widely believed to be one of irreversible decline. Drawing on a decade of research, including work with medieval manuscripts, it analyzes a set of texts—eight Mirrors—that recount the past in an effort to order the world around them. They confront rebellions, civil war, “China,” attempted invasions, and even the fracturing of the court into two lines. To interrogate the significance for medieval writers of narrating such pasts as a Mirror, Erin Brightwell traces a series of innovations across these and related texts that emerge in the face of disorder. In so doing, she uncovers how a dynamic web of evolving concepts of time, place, language use, and cosmological forces was deployed to order the past in an age of unprecedented social movement and upheaval. Despite the Mirrors’ common concerns and commitments, traditional linguistic and disciplinary boundaries have downplayed or obscured their significance for medieval thinkers. Through their treatment here as a multilingual, multi-structured genre, the Mirrors are revealed, however, as the dominant mode for reading and writing the past over almost three centuries of Japanese history.
Download or read book Glass Exchange between Europe and China 1550 800 written by EmilyByrne Curtis and published by Routledge. This book was released on 2017-07-05 with total page 181 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: In this study, Emily Byrne Curtis explores as her subject lenses, spectacles, aventurine glass, and windows found in China from the sixteenth century. She traces their technological development back to the glassworks in Murano, Venice, and explores their significance in terms of Venice's commerce with China. Because glassware also figured among the gifts which three papal legates from the Vatican presented to the Kangxi and Yongzheng emperors, the author examines many documents from the archives in Rome and the Vatican; the study therefore touches, to an extent, on the history of the Catholic Church in China. Curtis also discusses in the volume some contemporary Chinese references and verses to European glassware, and in the case of enamel materials, she discloses the pronounced effect their use had upon the decor of Chinese porcelains.
Download or read book The Buddhist Roots of Zhu Xi s Philosophical Thought written by John Makeham and published by Oxford University Press. This book was released on 2018-06-01 with total page 369 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Zhu Xi (1130-1200) is the most influential Neo-Confucian philosopher and arguably the most important Chinese philosopher of the past millennium, both in terms of his legacy and for the sophistication of his systematic philosophy. The Buddhist Roots of Zhu Xi's Philosophical Thought combines in a single study two major areas of Chinese philosophy that are rarely tackled together: Chinese Buddhist philosophy and Zhu Xi's Neo-Confucian philosophy. Despite Zhu Xi's importance as a philosopher, the role of Buddhist thought and philosophy in the construction of his systematic philosophy remains poorly understood. What aspects of Buddhism did he criticize and why? Was his engagement limited to criticism (informed or otherwise) or did Zhu also appropriate and repurpose Buddhist ideas to develop his own thought? If Zhu's philosophical repertoire incorporated conceptual structures and problematics that are marked by a distinct Buddhist pedigree, what implications does this have for our understanding of his philosophical project? The five chapters that make up The Buddhist Roots of Zhu Xi's Philosophical Thought present a rich and complex portrait of the Buddhist roots of Zhu Xi's philosophical thought. The scholarship is meticulous, the analysis is rigorous, and the philosophical insights are fresh. Collectively, the chapters illuminate a greatly expanded range of the intellectual resources Zhu incorporated into his philosophical thought, demonstrating the vital role that models derived from Buddhism played in his philosophical repertoire. In doing so, they provide new perspectives on what Zhu Xi was trying to achieve as a philosopher, by repurposing ideas from Buddhism. They also make significant and original contributions to our understanding of core concepts, debates and conceptual structures that shaped the development of philosophy in East Asia over the past millennium.
Download or read book Certain Unfinished Mirrors from the Federal Republic of Germany Italy Japan Portugal and the United Kingdom written by United States International Trade Commission and published by . This book was released on 1987 with total page 124 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:
Download or read book The Faults of Meat written by Geoffrey Barstow and published by Simon and Schuster. This book was released on 2019-10-01 with total page 411 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Vegetarianism is a hotly debated topic within Buddhist circles. This book provides a valuable new contribution to the discussion with translations of thirteen Tibetan texts focused on the ethical problems associated with eating meat, coming from a wide variety of perspectives and lineages. Should all Buddhists be vegetarian? Vegetarianism is an important topic of debate in Buddhist circles—some argue that Buddhists should avoid meat entirely while others suggest that it is acceptable. For the most part, however, this ethical query has been conducted in the West without consulting traditional literature on the subject. The Faults of Meat brings together for the first time a collection of rich and intricate explorations of authoritative Tibetan views on eating meat. These fourteen nuanced texts, ranging from scholastic treatises to poetic verse, reveal vegetarianism as a significant, ongoing issue of debate for Tibetans across time and traditions, with a wide variety of voices marshaled against meat, and a few in favor. Authors include many important Tibetan teachers: Dolpopa Sherab Gyaltsen (1292–1361) Khedrup Jé (1385–1438) The eighth Karmapa, Mikyö Dorjé (1507–1554) Shabkar Tsokdrük Rangdröl (1781–1851) Khenpo Tsultrim Lodrö (1961– ) and many more. These Buddhist teachers recognize both the ethical problems that surround meat eating and the practical challenges of maintaining a vegetarian diet; their skilled arguments are illuminated further by the translators’ introductions to each work. The perspectives in The Faults of Meat are strikingly relevant to our discussions of vegetarianism today; they introduce us to new approaches and solutions to a contentious issue for Buddhists.
Download or read book The Rise of G npo Namgyel in Kham written by Yudru Tsomu and published by Lexington Books. This book was released on 2014-12-11 with total page 401 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This book examines the ascendancy of a minor nineteenth-century Tibetan chieftain Gönpo Namgyel who hailed from Eastern Kham, a frontier region situated between the power centers of Central Tibet and Qing China. For most of the nineteenth century, Gönpo Namgyel dominated the politics of Kham and posed a serious challenge to both the Qing and Lhasa regimes. The study explores the dynamics of local and national politics, as well as the tensions over power and authority between the two power centers. Drawing upon both Tibetan and Chinese primary sources, the study sheds new light on the governance and polity of the Kham region, enhancing our understanding of Sino-Tibetan conflicts regarding Kham from the nineteenth century, up to the mid-twentieth century. The book focuses on local events, rather than seeing history as shaped solely by the power centers. The rise of Gönpo Namgyel is situated within the context of the local politics of Kham while taking into consideration its relations with mid-nineteenth century Qing and Central Tibet. It further explores the social-cultural milieu that gave rise to this charismatic and controversial chief. A series of questions emerge concerning traditional historiographical practice, including the historical practices of Chinese and Tibetan scholars as well as approaches to the history of China and Tibet by Western scholars. Probing into history from a local perspective adds a new dimension to the study of nineteenth-century Sino-Tibetan relations. This research reveals that there is no single force determining history, nor are persons in the periphery mere passive observers of national events. The kings, governors, and chieftains in Kham were active in shaping their own regional identity and asserting their own terms in relation to the two power centers, demonstrating that the peripheries are equal partners in central-periphery relations, rather than passive recipients as has commonly been represented in earlier historical narratives.
