Download or read book Island of Guanyin written by Marcus Bingenheimer and published by Oxford University Press. This book was released on 2016-04-15 with total page 305 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Among Chinese religious sites, Mount Putuo, the "Island of Guanyin," stands out as a fascinating embodiment of China's vibrant Buddhist tradition. A small island in the East China Sea, it has been the single most important pilgrimage site for the worship of Guanyin, the beloved Bodhisattva of Compassion, who is venerated from Sri Lanka to Japan. Attracting thousands of visitors every year, the site has accumulated a multi-layered historical record, as it appears in different lights in poems, biographies, maps, and legends across the centuries. From its foundation in Mahayana Buddhist scriptures to its descriptions in local histories known as "gazetteers," Mount Putuo's distinctive profile makes it an abiding landmark throughout the checkered history of Chinese Buddhism. This book, the first monograph on Mount Putuo in any language, follows the structure of a gazetteer as it presents important texts about this sacred site, which are here translated for the first time, groups them according to the individual genres found in the gazetteers, and analyzes their function. This brings out the full meaning of the texts against their historical, geographical, and religious contexts, producing a panoramic view of Mount Putuo through the lens of its textual heritage. Revealing the dense fabric of one deep-rooted devotional tradition, the book will be of interest to all students of Asian Buddhism.
Download or read book Becoming Guanyin written by Yuhang Li and published by Columbia University Press. This book was released on 2020-02-18 with total page 365 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Winner, 2024 Geiss-Hsu Book Prize for Best First Book, Society for Ming Studies The goddess Guanyin began in India as the bodhisattva Avalokiteśvara, originally a male deity. He gradually became indigenized as a female deity in China over the span of nearly a millennium. By the Ming (1358–1644) and Qing (1644–1911) periods, Guanyin had become the most popular female deity in China. In Becoming Guanyin, Yuhang Li examines how lay Buddhist women in late imperial China forged a connection with the subject of their devotion, arguing that women used their own bodies to echo that of Guanyin. Li focuses on the power of material things to enable women to access religious experience and transcendence. In particular, she examines how secular Buddhist women expressed mimetic devotion and pursued religious salvation through creative depictions of Guanyin in different media such as painting and embroidery and through bodily portrayals of the deity using jewelry and dance. These material displays expressed a worldview that differed from yet fit within the Confucian patriarchal system. Attending to the fabrication and use of “women’s things” by secular women, Li offers new insight into the relationships between worshipped and worshipper in Buddhist practice. Combining empirical research with theoretical insights from both art history and Buddhist studies, Becoming Guanyin is a field-changing analysis that reveals the interplay between material culture, religion, and their gendered transformations.
Download or read book Kuan yin written by Chün-fang Yü and published by Columbia University Press. This book was released on 2001-03-22 with total page 657 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: By far one of the most important objects of worship in the Buddhist traditions, the bodhisattva Avalokitesvara is regarded as the embodiment of compassion. He has been widely revered throughout the Buddhist countries of Asia since the early centuries of the Common Era. While he was closely identified with the royalty in South and Southeast Asia, and the Tibetans continue to this day to view the Dalai Lamas as his incarnations, in China he became a she—Kuan-yin, the "Goddess of Mercy"—and has a very different history. The causes and processes of this metamorphosis have perplexed Buddhist scholars for centuries. In this groundbreaking, comprehensive study, Chün-fang Yü discusses this dramatic transformation of the (male) Indian bodhisattva Avalokitesvara into the (female) Chinese Kuan-yin—from a relatively minor figure in the Buddha's retinue to a universal savior and one of the most popular deities in Chinese religion. Focusing on the various media through which the feminine Kuan-yin became constructed and domesticated in China, Yü thoroughly examines Buddhist scriptures, miracle stories, pilgrimages, popular literature, and monastic and local gazetteers—as well as the changing iconography reflected in Kuan-yin's images and artistic representations—to determine the role this material played in this amazing transformation. The book eloquently depicts the domestication of Kuan-yin as a case study of the indigenization of Buddhism in China and illuminates the ways this beloved deity has affected the lives of all Chinese people down the ages.
Download or read book Kuan Yin s Miracle Mantras written by Josefine Stark and published by . This book was released on 2011-11-27 with total page 218 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Kuan Yin's Miracle Mantras: Awakening the Healing Powers of the Heart" is based on decades of scientific research and both ancient and modern spiritual texts. It includes the direct experiences of the author and several contributors. This book is a key resource for anyone desiring to masterfully ride the waves of evolutionary change that humanity is currently undergoing. To ease this shift into post-2012 consciousness, the many tools and practices given here are based on the wisdom of the ancients (who foresaw these changes), coupled with its correlation to quantum science. The mantras in this book, especially "The Great Compassion Mantra," are particularly intended for use in our time for the clearing away of any past records holding back our spiritual evolution and forward progress. Who is Kuan Yin? Her story, legends and miracles are well known throughout most of Asia. Her name means "Hearer of Sounds." According to Eastern tradition, when Kuan Yin was about to enter heaven, she stood on the threshold and heard the cries of distress from the earth. She turned back to come to the aid of all who suffer in this plane. She is a cross-cultural figure revered by many traditions worldwide and is considered to be the essence or symbol of Divine Compassion. Many view her as both the impersonal and personal manifestations of Divine Mercy. Practices for nurturing the growth of this divine quality within ourselves and delivering it to the world are given in this book. Kuan Yin delivered The Great Compassion Mantra millennia ago so that "living beings may obtain peace and joy, be healed of illness, enjoy prosperity, erase past sins and offenses, remove hardship and suffering, and increase spiritual attainment and virtue." The mantras are for people of all faiths, and the information in these pages is also a valuable aid for anyone desiring to develop greater love, compassion and unity consciousness. And, of course, this book is for anyone who could use a few miracles! Part One, "The Essence of Divine Compassion," covers Kuan Yin's lore, origins and history. Her lineage from Amitabha to Avalokitesvara to Tara is included. Also in this section are chapters on her famous embodiments and legends, her island, and her etheric retreat. Part Two, "Tools for Accelerating Consciousness" covers the powers of mercy, forgiveness and compassion, the use of crystals, and techniques for entering into the "Zero Point of the Heart," which is a convergence point of all planes of consciousness, as well as a portal to higher dimensions. It covers the quantum mechanics of oneness (Unity Consciousness) and the use of the violet light as an energetic purifier. We learn the secrets of the science of sound through sonic healing and mantra, and how the use of visualization and feeling can accelerate the manifestation of a desired result. The phrase "HeartSound," coined by the author, represents the convergence of the key techniques explained. There are chapters on how to protect oneself from lower astral entities, and a collection of miracle stories and Kuan Yin's appearances in modern times. Part Three, "Miracle Mantras and Powerful Meditations," includes many of Kuan Yin's important ancient texts, such as "The Great Compassion Dharani Sutra" and "The Heart Sutra," with explanations and commentaries and how the Heart Sutra describes the Source Field or Zero Point Field. It reveals Kuan Yin's Ten Vows, and her Thirty-Three Miracle Mantra Ritual. The original Chinese and/or Sanskrit glyphs are often included, with their translations and pronunciation guides. The book concludes with a beautiful forgiveness meditation, and a summation of the Twelve Power Tools contained herein for self-transformation and manifestation. formation and manifestation.
Download or read book Journey to the West written by Wu Cheng'en and published by Asiapac Books Pte Ltd. This book was released on 2018-08-14 with total page 176 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The bestselling Journey to the West comic book by artist Chang Boon Kiat is now back in a brand new fully coloured edition. Journey to the West is one of the greatest classics in Chinese literature. It tells the epic tale of the monk Xuanzang who journeys to the West in search of the Buddhist sutras with his disciples, Sun Wukong, Sandy and Pigsy. Along the way, Xuanzang's life was threatened by the diabolical White Bone Spirit, the menacing Red Child and his fearsome parents and, a host of evil spirits who sought to devour Xuanzang's flesh to attain immortality. Bear witness to the formidable Sun Wukong's (Monkey God) prowess as he takes them on, using his Fiery Eyes, Golden Cudgel, Somersault Cloud, and quick wits! Be prepared for a galloping read that will leave you breathless!
Download or read book The Lives of Chinese Objects written by Louise Tythacott and published by Berghahn Books. This book was released on 2011-06-01 with total page 289 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This is the biography of a set of rare Buddhist statues from China. Their extraordinary adventures take them from the Buddhist temples of fifteenth-century Putuo – China’s most important pilgrimage island – to their seizure by a British soldier in the First Opium War in the early 1840s, and on to a starring role in the Great Exhibition of 1851. In the 1850s, they moved in and out of dealers’ and antiquarian collections, arriving in 1867 at Liverpool Museum. Here they were re-conceptualized as specimens of the ‘Mongolian race’ and, later, as examples of Oriental art. The statues escaped the bombing of the Museum during the Second World War and lived out their existence for the next sixty years, dismembered, corroding and neglected in the stores, their histories lost and origins unknown. As the curator of Asian collections at Liverpool Museum, the author became fascinated by these bronzes, and selected them for display in the Buddhism section of the World Cultures gallery. In 2005, quite by chance, the discovery of a lithograph of the figures on prominent display in the Great Exhibition enabled the remarkable lives of these statues to be reconstructed.
Download or read book Chinese Religion in Malaysia written by Chee-Beng Tan and published by BRILL. This book was released on 2018-02-12 with total page 167 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This informative book describes Chinese Religion in Malaysia and contributes to an understanding of Chinese migration and settlement, religion and identity politics as well the significance of religion to both individuals and communities.
Download or read book Sacred Places of Goddess written by Karen Tate and published by CCC Publishing. This book was released on 2005-11-01 with total page 425 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Uncovering the past through the lens of sacred travel, this travel book includes both academic and popular religious perspectives, and is filled with photographs of both famous and lesser-known locales from every corner of the world. Each site-specific explanation of the significance of Goddess today and in centuries past deftly combines current trends, academic theories, and historical insights. From the Middle East, to Europe, Africa, and the Americas, the images of feminine divinity presented in this work are as uniform in their beauty as they are diverse in cultural tradition. For each location-be it the shrines in Kyoto and Kamakura or the sites worshipping the Virgin Mary in Bolivia, France, Trinidad, and the Saut D'Eau Waterfalls of Haiti-this book provides a history of each site in conjunction with the photography.
Download or read book Buddhist Tourism in Asia written by Courtney Bruntz and published by University of Hawaii Press. This book was released on 2020-03-31 with total page 273 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This innovative collaborative work—the first to focus on Buddhist tourism—explores how Buddhists, government organizations, business corporations, and individuals in Asia participate in re-imaginings of Buddhism through tourism. Contributors from religious studies, anthropology, and art history examine sacred places and religious monuments as they have been shaped and reshaped by socioeconomic and cultural trends in the region. Following an introduction that offers the first theoretical understanding of tourism from a Buddhist studies’ perspective, early chapters discuss the ways Buddhists and non-Buddhists imagine concepts and places related to the religion. Case studies highlight Buddhist peace in India, Buddhist heavens and hells in Singapore, Thai temple space, and the future Buddha Maitreya in China. Buddhist tourism’s connections to the state, market, and new technologies are explored in chapters on Indian package tours for pilgrims, thematic Buddhist tourism in Cambodia, the technological innovations of Buddhist temples in China, and the promotion of pilgrimage sites in Japan. Contributors then situate the financial concerns of Chinese temples, speed dating in temples in Japan, and the diffuse and pervasive nature of Buddhism for tourism promotion in Ladakh, India. How have tourist routes, groups, sites, and practices associated with Buddhism come to be possible and what are the effects? In what ways do travelers derive meaning from Buddhist places? How do Buddhist sites fortify national, cultural, or religious identities? The comparative research in South, Southeast, and East Asia presented here draws attention to the intertwining of the sacred and the financial and how local and national sites are situated within global networks. Together these findings generate a compelling comparative investigation of Buddhist spaces, identities, and practices.
Download or read book Comparative Religion written by Carla Mooney and published by Nomad Press. This book was released on 2015-10-19 with total page 129 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Over 7 billion people live on the earth, and 84 percent of them describe themselves as being religious. Few topics incite such passion as religion. What does that mean? Why are humans invested in ideas that may never be proved? Why has religion played such an important role in history? In Comparative Religion: Investigate the World through Religious Tradition, readers seek answers to these questions by comparing and contrasting the cultural, spiritual, and geographical underpinnings of five different religions. By developing a better understanding of the similarities and differences among religions of the world, readers gain a strong foothold in a dialogue that has continued for thousands of years. Combining hands-on activities with theology, history, geography, world cultures, art, and architecture, Comparative Religions encourages deeper understanding of the world’s religions. Entertaining graphic art, fascinating sidebars, and links to primary sources bring the topic to life, while key questions reaffirm foundational concepts. Activities include conducting an interview with a rabbi, comparing the story of Abraham and Isaac in three sacred texts, studying the architecture of the National Cathedral in Washington, DC, studying the Hindu practice of yoga and meditation, and examining how religious doctrines shape the behavior of believers.
Download or read book Penang written by Jean Elizabeth DeBernardi and published by NUS Press. This book was released on 2009 with total page 340 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:
Download or read book Religion in Modern Taiwan written by Philip Clart and published by University of Hawaii Press. This book was released on 2003-09-30 with total page 358 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Religion in Modern Taiwan takes a new look at Taiwan's current religious traditions and their fortunes during the twentieth century. Beginning with the cession of Taiwan to Japan in 1895 and the currents of modernization that accompanied it, the essays move on to explore the developments that have taken place as Buddhists, Daoists, Christians, non-Han aborigines, and others have confronted, resisted, and adapted to (even thrived in) the many upheavals of the modern period. An overview of Taiwan's current religious scene is followed by a comprehensive look at the state of religion in the country prior to the end of World War II and the return of Taiwan to Chinese sovereignty. The remaining essays probe aspects of change within individual religious traditions. The final chapter analyzes changes that took place in the scholarly study and interpretation of religion in Taiwan during the course of the twentieth century. Religion in Modern Taiwan will be read with interest by students and scholars of Chinese religion, religion in Taiwan, the modern history of Taiwan, and by those concerned with issues of religion and modernization. Contributors: Chang Hsun, Philip Clart, Shiun-wey Huang, Christian Jochim, Charles B. Jones, Paul Katz, André Laliberté, Lee Fong-mao, Randall Nadeau, Julian Pas, Barbara Reed, Murray A. Rubinstein.
Download or read book Buddhism in Practice written by Donald S. Lopez, Jr. and published by Princeton University Press. This book was released on 2015-11-24 with total page 481 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This anthology, first published in 1995, illustrates the vast scope of Buddhist practice in Asia, past and present. Re-released now in a slimmer but still extensive edition, Buddhism in Practice presents a selection of thirty-five translated texts--each preceded by a substantial introduction by its translator. These unusual sources provides the reader with a sense of the remarkable diversity of the practices of persons who over the course of 2,500 years have been identified, by themselves or by others, as Buddhists. Demonstrating the many continuities among the practices of Buddhist cultures widely separated by both history and geography, Buddhism in Practice continues to provide an ideal introduction to Buddhism and a source of new insights for scholars.
Download or read book Guan Yin and the Horrors of Skull Island written by Barry Reese and published by . This book was released on 2009 with total page 65 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:
Download or read book Architects of Buddhist Leisure written by Justin Thomas McDaniel and published by University of Hawaii Press. This book was released on 2018-04-30 with total page 241 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Buddhism, often described as an austere religion that condemns desire, promotes denial, and idealizes the contemplative life, actually has a thriving leisure culture in Asia. Creative religious improvisations designed by Buddhists have been produced both within and outside of monasteries across the region—in Nepal, Japan, Korea, Macau, Hong Kong, Singapore, Laos, Thailand, and Vietnam. Justin McDaniel looks at the growth of Asia’s culture of Buddhist leisure—what he calls “socially disengaged Buddhism”—through a study of architects responsible for monuments, museums, amusement parks, and other sites. In conversation with noted theorists of material and visual culture and anthropologists of art, McDaniel argues that such sites highlight the importance of public, leisure, and spectacle culture from a Buddhist perspective and illustrate how “secular” and “religious,” “public” and “private,” are in many ways false binaries. Moreover, places like Lek Wiriyaphan’s Sanctuary of Truth in Thailand, Suối Tiên Amusement Park in Saigon, and Shi Fa Zhao’s multilevel museum/ritual space/tea house in Singapore reflect a growing Buddhist ecumenism built through repetitive affective encounters instead of didactic sermons and sectarian developments. They present different Buddhist traditions, images, and aesthetic expressions as united but not uniform, collected but not concise: Together they form a gathering, not a movement. Despite the ingenuity of lay and ordained visionaries like Wiriyaphan and Zhao and their colleagues Kenzo Tange, Chan-soo Park, Tadao Ando, and others discussed in this book, creators of Buddhist leisure sites often face problems along the way. Parks and museums are complex adaptive systems that are changed and influenced by budgets, available materials, local and global economic conditions, and visitors. Architects must often compromise and settle at local optima, and no matter what they intend, their buildings will develop lives of their own. Provocative and theoretically innovative, Architects of Buddhist Leisure asks readers to question the very category of “religious” architecture. It challenges current methodological approaches in religious studies and speaks to a broad audience interested in modern art, architecture, religion, anthropology, and material culture.
Download or read book Climate Catastrophe and Faith written by Philip Jenkins and published by Oxford University Press. This book was released on 2021 with total page 273 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: "[The author] draws out the complex relationship between religion and climate change. He shows that the religious movements and ideas that emerge from climate shocks often last for many decades, and become a familiar part of the religious landscape, even though their origins in particular moments of crisis may be increasingly consigned to remote memory" -- From jacket flap.
Download or read book The Novice written by Thich Nhat Hanh and published by Harper Collins. This book was released on 2011-08-23 with total page 164 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Bestselling author and Zen Master Thich Nhat Hanh transforms an ancient folktale into a timeless parable of a young woman who dares to risk her life for her faith. Born to an aristocratic family in rural Vietnam, Kinh Tam’s uncommon beauty and intelligence were obvious to all she encountered. From an early age she was drawn to the teachings of Buddha and the rewards of a monastic life, but to please her family she agreed to walk the traditional path of marriage. Throughout her marriage, Kinh Tam’s mind was devoted to her husband but her heart never waivered from her true calling. She wanted to be a monk. And yet Buddhism was still new to Vietnam and temples accepted only men for ordination. Making a decision that would forever change her life, Kinh Tam left town, disguised herself as a man, and joined a monastery as a novice. Despite the many challenges of living as a man, Kinh Tam thrived and became a beloved member of the community. Years of profound joy and peace passed until a local woman accuses the novice of fathering her unborn child. Kinh Tam is torn between two impossible choices: keep her secret and endure brutal punishment or reveal the truth that would prove her innocence but put an end to her spiritual path. Facing the unbearable with the boundless heart of Buddha, her choice forever changes her life, her country, and her faith. In spare, elegant prose, Thich Nhat Hanh reminds us that we, too, face our own injustices and suffering, and by connecting with love, we can, like Kinh Tam, discover a mind and heart that are peaceful, happy, and free.
