Jiang Wu
- Published in print:
- 2008
- Published Online:
- May 2008
- ISBN:
- 9780195333572
- eISBN:
- 9780199868872
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780195333572.001.0001
- Subject:
- Religion, Buddhism
This book studies the revival of Chan Buddhism in seventeenth‐century China. Focusing on a series of controversies, this book argues that the Chan revival was a systematic reinvention of Chan ideals ...
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This book studies the revival of Chan Buddhism in seventeenth‐century China. Focusing on a series of controversies, this book argues that the Chan revival was a systematic reinvention of Chan ideals of the past. The revival not only reshaped Chinese Buddhism but also greatly influenced Buddhism throughout East Asia. The first controversy is the debate between Miyun Yuanwu and his dharma heir, Hanyue Fazang, in the late Ming (1550–1644) and the Yongzheng emperor's intervention in 1733. The second controversy concerns Miyun Yuanwu's dharma heir Feiyin Tongrong's Chan genealogy that rearranged conventional accepted dharma transmission lines based on dubious inscriptions and thus provoked a notorious lawsuit in 1654. At the end of this book, this book offers an explanation about the rise and fall of Chan Buddhism by examining the role of textual practice and the implications of dharma transmission in rebuilding Chan institutions. By tracing the legacies of 17th‐century Chan Buddhism in modern Chinese Buddhism and placing Chan in larger historical context, this book explores a general pattern of Buddhist revival in the history of Chinese Buddhism.Less
This book studies the revival of Chan Buddhism in seventeenth‐century China. Focusing on a series of controversies, this book argues that the Chan revival was a systematic reinvention of Chan ideals of the past. The revival not only reshaped Chinese Buddhism but also greatly influenced Buddhism throughout East Asia. The first controversy is the debate between Miyun Yuanwu and his dharma heir, Hanyue Fazang, in the late Ming (1550–1644) and the Yongzheng emperor's intervention in 1733. The second controversy concerns Miyun Yuanwu's dharma heir Feiyin Tongrong's Chan genealogy that rearranged conventional accepted dharma transmission lines based on dubious inscriptions and thus provoked a notorious lawsuit in 1654. At the end of this book, this book offers an explanation about the rise and fall of Chan Buddhism by examining the role of textual practice and the implications of dharma transmission in rebuilding Chan institutions. By tracing the legacies of 17th‐century Chan Buddhism in modern Chinese Buddhism and placing Chan in larger historical context, this book explores a general pattern of Buddhist revival in the history of Chinese Buddhism.
William M. Bodiford
- Published in print:
- 2007
- Published Online:
- January 2008
- ISBN:
- 9780195304671
- eISBN:
- 9780199866861
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780195304671.003.0010
- Subject:
- Religion, Buddhism
Chapter 9 provides an example of ritual transformation in the movement of Zen from one culture to another. After describing dharma transmission in East Asia by highlighting the theme of the family ...
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Chapter 9 provides an example of ritual transformation in the movement of Zen from one culture to another. After describing dharma transmission in East Asia by highlighting the theme of the family explicit in it and then focusing on transmission in the Sōtō school of Japanese Zen, the author describes a newly created ritual for the confirmation of dharma transmission in the Sōtō sect of North America. This ritual—called the Dharma Heritage Ceremony—was created in the recognition of participants that an “accessible Western ceremony” to recognize and confirm dharma transmission was essential to the ongoing success of their Zen practice in North America. This essay asks, “What issues arise when Zen teachers attempt to transplant these various aspects of dharma transmission into twenty‐first century North America?”Less
Chapter 9 provides an example of ritual transformation in the movement of Zen from one culture to another. After describing dharma transmission in East Asia by highlighting the theme of the family explicit in it and then focusing on transmission in the Sōtō school of Japanese Zen, the author describes a newly created ritual for the confirmation of dharma transmission in the Sōtō sect of North America. This ritual—called the Dharma Heritage Ceremony—was created in the recognition of participants that an “accessible Western ceremony” to recognize and confirm dharma transmission was essential to the ongoing success of their Zen practice in North America. This essay asks, “What issues arise when Zen teachers attempt to transplant these various aspects of dharma transmission into twenty‐first century North America?”
Farah Godrej
- Published in print:
- 2011
- Published Online:
- January 2012
- ISBN:
- 9780199782062
- eISBN:
- 9780199919123
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199782062.003.0003
- Subject:
- Political Science, Political Theory, Comparative Politics
Given the unique challenges posed by the interpretation of ideas from other civilizations, the existence of Western interpretive techniques is often insufficient in allowing us to understand well ...
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Given the unique challenges posed by the interpretation of ideas from other civilizations, the existence of Western interpretive techniques is often insufficient in allowing us to understand well these ideas. Using the Vedic Hindu concept of dharma (variously translated as duty, moral law, or force of moral order) and Gandhi’s appropriation of Vedic hermeneutic techniques, chapter 3 will argue for a particular approach to the interpretation of non-Western texts and ideas. “Existential immersion” suggests that such interpretive study must involve immersion within the practices and life-worlds of members and adherents within a tradition. But a good cosmopolitan scholar will inevitably have to alternate between an internal immersion in the lived experience of texts or ideas, and an external stance of commentary and exegesis regarding. A cosmopolitan political thought must therefore be understood as one in which non-Western intellectual resources are seen as objects of both immersed ethnographic inquiry connected to context, as well as objects of transcultural political relevance across civilizational borders. The radical “self-dislocation” involved in existential immersion is a necessary—if paradoxical—task of the cosmopolitan political theorist, a prelude to a cosmopolitan mode of engagement that eventually troubles and unsettles the disciplinary home.Less
Given the unique challenges posed by the interpretation of ideas from other civilizations, the existence of Western interpretive techniques is often insufficient in allowing us to understand well these ideas. Using the Vedic Hindu concept of dharma (variously translated as duty, moral law, or force of moral order) and Gandhi’s appropriation of Vedic hermeneutic techniques, chapter 3 will argue for a particular approach to the interpretation of non-Western texts and ideas. “Existential immersion” suggests that such interpretive study must involve immersion within the practices and life-worlds of members and adherents within a tradition. But a good cosmopolitan scholar will inevitably have to alternate between an internal immersion in the lived experience of texts or ideas, and an external stance of commentary and exegesis regarding. A cosmopolitan political thought must therefore be understood as one in which non-Western intellectual resources are seen as objects of both immersed ethnographic inquiry connected to context, as well as objects of transcultural political relevance across civilizational borders. The radical “self-dislocation” involved in existential immersion is a necessary—if paradoxical—task of the cosmopolitan political theorist, a prelude to a cosmopolitan mode of engagement that eventually troubles and unsettles the disciplinary home.
Ariel Glucklich
- Published in print:
- 2007
- Published Online:
- May 2008
- ISBN:
- 9780195314052
- eISBN:
- 9780199871766
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780195314052.003.0013
- Subject:
- Religion, Hinduism
The last chapter of the book looks at the religious and political developments in India after the arrival of the British colonialists. The chapter focuses primarily on the Hindu response to ...
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The last chapter of the book looks at the religious and political developments in India after the arrival of the British colonialists. The chapter focuses primarily on the Hindu response to missionary and economic pressures and the changes introduced into Hindu theology as a result. Men such as Rammohun Roy, Mohandas Gandhi, and Aurobindo Ghose receive the greatest attention in the discussion over religion, politics, and ethics. The chapter ends with the founding of India.Less
The last chapter of the book looks at the religious and political developments in India after the arrival of the British colonialists. The chapter focuses primarily on the Hindu response to missionary and economic pressures and the changes introduced into Hindu theology as a result. Men such as Rammohun Roy, Mohandas Gandhi, and Aurobindo Ghose receive the greatest attention in the discussion over religion, politics, and ethics. The chapter ends with the founding of India.
Jiang Wu
- Published in print:
- 2008
- Published Online:
- May 2008
- ISBN:
- 9780195333572
- eISBN:
- 9780199868872
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780195333572.003.0015
- Subject:
- Religion, Buddhism
This chapter explains the rise and fall of Chan Buddhism in the 17th century. The chapter shows that Chan Buddhism was revived through romantic imaginations of textual ideals and thus should be ...
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This chapter explains the rise and fall of Chan Buddhism in the 17th century. The chapter shows that Chan Buddhism was revived through romantic imaginations of textual ideals and thus should be described as a reinvention. The literati and Chan Buddhists formed various kinds of textual communities that were devoted to reading and interpreting ancient Chan texts. However, the revived Chan Buddhism based on textual ideals contradicted the ritualized monastic reality in many ways.Less
This chapter explains the rise and fall of Chan Buddhism in the 17th century. The chapter shows that Chan Buddhism was revived through romantic imaginations of textual ideals and thus should be described as a reinvention. The literati and Chan Buddhists formed various kinds of textual communities that were devoted to reading and interpreting ancient Chan texts. However, the revived Chan Buddhism based on textual ideals contradicted the ritualized monastic reality in many ways.
Robert Eric Frykenberg
- Published in print:
- 2008
- Published Online:
- September 2008
- ISBN:
- 9780198263777
- eISBN:
- 9780191714191
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780198263777.003.0003
- Subject:
- Religion, Church History
This chapter explores the contexts of classical religious traditions within which the impact of European Christendom occurred. Topics discussed include dharma and karma, Al Hind, and Dar-ul-Islam.
This chapter explores the contexts of classical religious traditions within which the impact of European Christendom occurred. Topics discussed include dharma and karma, Al Hind, and Dar-ul-Islam.
Jiang Wu
- Published in print:
- 2008
- Published Online:
- May 2008
- ISBN:
- 9780195333572
- eISBN:
- 9780199868872
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780195333572.003.0003
- Subject:
- Religion, Buddhism
This chapter recounts the Buddhist revival in the late Ming. It first describes the institutional reorganization of Buddhism in the early Ming. Then the revival of Tiantai, Huayan, Yogacara, and ...
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This chapter recounts the Buddhist revival in the late Ming. It first describes the institutional reorganization of Buddhism in the early Ming. Then the revival of Tiantai, Huayan, Yogacara, and ordination ceremonies in the late Ming was introduced. However, Chan Buddhism was not fully recovered because of the confusion of dharma transmission and divergence of Chan understandings.Less
This chapter recounts the Buddhist revival in the late Ming. It first describes the institutional reorganization of Buddhism in the early Ming. Then the revival of Tiantai, Huayan, Yogacara, and ordination ceremonies in the late Ming was introduced. However, Chan Buddhism was not fully recovered because of the confusion of dharma transmission and divergence of Chan understandings.
Jiang Wu
- Published in print:
- 2008
- Published Online:
- May 2008
- ISBN:
- 9780195333572
- eISBN:
- 9780199868872
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780195333572.003.0008
- Subject:
- Religion, Buddhism
This chapter explores the disputed issues in the first controversy, which are: (1) using Chan principle as standard to test students' enlightenment experience, (2) the perfect circle as the origins ...
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This chapter explores the disputed issues in the first controversy, which are: (1) using Chan principle as standard to test students' enlightenment experience, (2) the perfect circle as the origins of five Chan schools, and (3) proper understanding of encounter dialogues.The chapter explores the practice of dharma transmission, esoteric ritual, and encounter dialogue in 17th‐century Chan Buddhism.Less
This chapter explores the disputed issues in the first controversy, which are: (1) using Chan principle as standard to test students' enlightenment experience, (2) the perfect circle as the origins of five Chan schools, and (3) proper understanding of encounter dialogues.The chapter explores the practice of dharma transmission, esoteric ritual, and encounter dialogue in 17th‐century Chan Buddhism.
Jiang Wu
- Published in print:
- 2008
- Published Online:
- May 2008
- ISBN:
- 9780195333572
- eISBN:
- 9780199868872
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780195333572.003.0011
- Subject:
- Religion, Buddhism
The chapter introduces the beginning of the second controversy in the late Ming. This dispute concerns the identity of Tianhuang Daowu and Tianwang Daowu in the Tang dynasty. The author summarizes ...
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The chapter introduces the beginning of the second controversy in the late Ming. This dispute concerns the identity of Tianhuang Daowu and Tianwang Daowu in the Tang dynasty. The author summarizes all evidence and explains how the literati first discovered the issue. The key issue here is the use of evidential scholarship in determining dharma transmission. The controversy started with the publication of Muchen Daomin's Chandeng shipu, which relied on the spurious inscription of Tianwang Daowu.Less
The chapter introduces the beginning of the second controversy in the late Ming. This dispute concerns the identity of Tianhuang Daowu and Tianwang Daowu in the Tang dynasty. The author summarizes all evidence and explains how the literati first discovered the issue. The key issue here is the use of evidential scholarship in determining dharma transmission. The controversy started with the publication of Muchen Daomin's Chandeng shipu, which relied on the spurious inscription of Tianwang Daowu.
Jiang Wu
- Published in print:
- 2008
- Published Online:
- May 2008
- ISBN:
- 9780195333572
- eISBN:
- 9780199868872
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780195333572.003.0012
- Subject:
- Religion, Buddhism
This chapter focuses on the dispute about Feiyin Tongrong's Wudeng yantong (Strict transmissions of the five Chan schools). The chapter details the process of the debate and contents of various ...
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This chapter focuses on the dispute about Feiyin Tongrong's Wudeng yantong (Strict transmissions of the five Chan schools). The chapter details the process of the debate and contents of various polemical books. In particular, based on a newly discovered collection of legal documents, the chapter explores how the lawsuit about Feiyin's book was judged by officials.Less
This chapter focuses on the dispute about Feiyin Tongrong's Wudeng yantong (Strict transmissions of the five Chan schools). The chapter details the process of the debate and contents of various polemical books. In particular, based on a newly discovered collection of legal documents, the chapter explores how the lawsuit about Feiyin's book was judged by officials.
Alf Hiltebeitel
- Published in print:
- 2011
- Published Online:
- September 2011
- ISBN:
- 9780195394238
- eISBN:
- 9780199897452
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780195394238.001.0001
- Subject:
- Religion, Hinduism
From a verbal root meaning “to hold” or “uphold,” dharma is taken to have been the main term by which Buddhism and Hinduism came, over about five centuries, to describe their distinctive visions of ...
More
From a verbal root meaning “to hold” or “uphold,” dharma is taken to have been the main term by which Buddhism and Hinduism came, over about five centuries, to describe their distinctive visions of the good and well‐rewarded life. From about 300 BCE to about 200 CE, Buddhist and Brahmanical authors used it to clarify and classify their mutual and contending values in relation to dramatically changing historical conditions. Before this, the term had no such centrality, and after it, each tradition came to define normative dharma separately as the term's interreligious dimension lost interest. This book about dharma in history thus attempts to get at the concepts and practices associated with the term mainly during this window, which opens on dharma's vitality as it played, and was played, across political, religious, legal, literary, ethical, and philosophical domains and discourses about what “holds” life together. It examines what dharma meant in eleven texts, including text clusters like the Aśokan edicts and the canonical Buddhist Three Baskets, that can be said to have made dharma their central concern. These eleven “dharma texts,” nine “major” (including those just mentioned, the dharmasūtras, the Sanskrit epics, The Laws of Manu, and the Buddhacarita), and two “minor” (the Yuga Purāṇa and a set of Buddhist prophesies of the end of the Buddhist dharma), are explored for their treatments of dharma as experienced “over time” during this period of dynamic change. Each chapter brings out ways in which dharma is interpreted temporally: from grand cosmic chronometries of yugas and kalpas to narratives about divine plans, implications of itihāsa or “history,” war, and peace, gendered nuances of genealogical time, royal biography (even autobiography with Aśoka), guidelines for the royal life including daily routines, householder regimens including daily obligations and life‐stages, and monastic regimens including meditation.Less
From a verbal root meaning “to hold” or “uphold,” dharma is taken to have been the main term by which Buddhism and Hinduism came, over about five centuries, to describe their distinctive visions of the good and well‐rewarded life. From about 300 BCE to about 200 CE, Buddhist and Brahmanical authors used it to clarify and classify their mutual and contending values in relation to dramatically changing historical conditions. Before this, the term had no such centrality, and after it, each tradition came to define normative dharma separately as the term's interreligious dimension lost interest. This book about dharma in history thus attempts to get at the concepts and practices associated with the term mainly during this window, which opens on dharma's vitality as it played, and was played, across political, religious, legal, literary, ethical, and philosophical domains and discourses about what “holds” life together. It examines what dharma meant in eleven texts, including text clusters like the Aśokan edicts and the canonical Buddhist Three Baskets, that can be said to have made dharma their central concern. These eleven “dharma texts,” nine “major” (including those just mentioned, the dharmasūtras, the Sanskrit epics, The Laws of Manu, and the Buddhacarita), and two “minor” (the Yuga Purāṇa and a set of Buddhist prophesies of the end of the Buddhist dharma), are explored for their treatments of dharma as experienced “over time” during this period of dynamic change. Each chapter brings out ways in which dharma is interpreted temporally: from grand cosmic chronometries of yugas and kalpas to narratives about divine plans, implications of itihāsa or “history,” war, and peace, gendered nuances of genealogical time, royal biography (even autobiography with Aśoka), guidelines for the royal life including daily routines, householder regimens including daily obligations and life‐stages, and monastic regimens including meditation.
Ariel Glucklich
- Published in print:
- 2007
- Published Online:
- May 2008
- ISBN:
- 9780195314052
- eISBN:
- 9780199871766
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780195314052.003.0006
- Subject:
- Religion, Hinduism
This chapter outlines the economic and cultural developments of the centuries dominated by the Mauryan Empire. The primary achievements included a flowering of sciences that rested on Vedic ...
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This chapter outlines the economic and cultural developments of the centuries dominated by the Mauryan Empire. The primary achievements included a flowering of sciences that rested on Vedic foundations but supported a huge civilization. These included mathematics and astronomy, medicine, law (dharma), political science, grammar, architecture, and others. The underlying philosophical assumptions of Indian sciences are explained.Less
This chapter outlines the economic and cultural developments of the centuries dominated by the Mauryan Empire. The primary achievements included a flowering of sciences that rested on Vedic foundations but supported a huge civilization. These included mathematics and astronomy, medicine, law (dharma), political science, grammar, architecture, and others. The underlying philosophical assumptions of Indian sciences are explained.
D. Dennis Hudson
- Published in print:
- 2008
- Published Online:
- September 2008
- ISBN:
- 9780195369229
- eISBN:
- 9780199871162
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780195369229.003.0003
- Subject:
- Religion, Hinduism
The chapter begins with a description of the temple, a three‐story vimana facing west. It was built by Nandivarman Pallavamalla to record and further his own spiritual progress and to establish ...
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The chapter begins with a description of the temple, a three‐story vimana facing west. It was built by Nandivarman Pallavamalla to record and further his own spiritual progress and to establish Krishna's dominance in Kanchipuram. The influence of Jain doctrine on the Pallava Dynasty and court before, during, and after Nandivarman is explored, as are the roots of the Bhagavata creative florescence of the time. The subsequent history of the dynasty, the influence of the Vaikuntha Perumal Temple's structure as a complex vision of the body of God transmitted by Bhagavata Dharma through the teachings of the acharyas, and the meaning of the name of the temple complete the chapter.Less
The chapter begins with a description of the temple, a three‐story vimana facing west. It was built by Nandivarman Pallavamalla to record and further his own spiritual progress and to establish Krishna's dominance in Kanchipuram. The influence of Jain doctrine on the Pallava Dynasty and court before, during, and after Nandivarman is explored, as are the roots of the Bhagavata creative florescence of the time. The subsequent history of the dynasty, the influence of the Vaikuntha Perumal Temple's structure as a complex vision of the body of God transmitted by Bhagavata Dharma through the teachings of the acharyas, and the meaning of the name of the temple complete the chapter.
Heidi R. M. Pauwels
- Published in print:
- 2008
- Published Online:
- January 2009
- ISBN:
- 9780195369908
- eISBN:
- 9780199871322
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780195369908.003.0007
- Subject:
- Religion, Hinduism
Chapter 4 focuses on how women should cope with a hardship crisis in their marriage. It studies Sita's resolve to leave purdah and follow Rama in his exile, comparing with the Gopis’ leaving their ...
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Chapter 4 focuses on how women should cope with a hardship crisis in their marriage. It studies Sita's resolve to leave purdah and follow Rama in his exile, comparing with the Gopis’ leaving their domestic safety to join Krishna in the forest to dance the Rasa‐lila. In both cases, while the men are originally reluctant to let the women join them, the women argue that their love overrides concerns of dharma, and they win the argument. However, the liberating potential of these examples is mitigated by the televised series’ concerns to keep the women within maryada, notwithstanding their rhetoric. Thus, Ramanand Sagar's Sita's choice is portrayed as one of identification with her husband and foregoing the easy option of returning to her paternal home. In Shri Krishna the Gopis undergo a fire‐ordeal (Agnipariksha) to prove their credentials, a scenario that plays out again and again in popular movies. Movies discussed are Yahi hai zindagi, Hum aapke hain koun..!, Meera ka Mohan and Lagaan. Less
Chapter 4 focuses on how women should cope with a hardship crisis in their marriage. It studies Sita's resolve to leave purdah and follow Rama in his exile, comparing with the Gopis’ leaving their domestic safety to join Krishna in the forest to dance the Rasa‐lila. In both cases, while the men are originally reluctant to let the women join them, the women argue that their love overrides concerns of dharma, and they win the argument. However, the liberating potential of these examples is mitigated by the televised series’ concerns to keep the women within maryada, notwithstanding their rhetoric. Thus, Ramanand Sagar's Sita's choice is portrayed as one of identification with her husband and foregoing the easy option of returning to her paternal home. In Shri Krishna the Gopis undergo a fire‐ordeal (Agnipariksha) to prove their credentials, a scenario that plays out again and again in popular movies. Movies discussed are Yahi hai zindagi, Hum aapke hain koun..!, Meera ka Mohan and Lagaan.
Antony Black
- Published in print:
- 2009
- Published Online:
- May 2009
- ISBN:
- 9780199281695
- eISBN:
- 9780191713101
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199281695.003.0007
- Subject:
- Political Science, Political Theory
Political thought in India was based partly on religious texts, which explained dharma (morality) and the caste system, partly on arthashastras, which gave pragmatic advice on how to pursue wealth ...
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Political thought in India was based partly on religious texts, which explained dharma (morality) and the caste system, partly on arthashastras, which gave pragmatic advice on how to pursue wealth and power (of these only Kautilya's survives). The king's role was to support dharma and caste by coercive power. The tension between morality and necessity is the most original aspect of Indian political thought. Kautilya discussed numerous alternatives in both foreign and domestic policy; he stressed the importance of economic management as the basis of military power. The Buddha was revolutionary in founding a religious community in which caste did not matter, but regarded the political sphere as irrelevant to his concerns.Less
Political thought in India was based partly on religious texts, which explained dharma (morality) and the caste system, partly on arthashastras, which gave pragmatic advice on how to pursue wealth and power (of these only Kautilya's survives). The king's role was to support dharma and caste by coercive power. The tension between morality and necessity is the most original aspect of Indian political thought. Kautilya discussed numerous alternatives in both foreign and domestic policy; he stressed the importance of economic management as the basis of military power. The Buddha was revolutionary in founding a religious community in which caste did not matter, but regarded the political sphere as irrelevant to his concerns.
Paul Younger
- Published in print:
- 2009
- Published Online:
- February 2010
- ISBN:
- 9780195391640
- eISBN:
- 9780199866649
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780195391640.003.0004
- Subject:
- Religion, Hinduism
Trinidad had a long history of indigenous and European settlement even before African slaves were brought in. When the Indians joined this complex island culture, they were quickly given their own ...
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Trinidad had a long history of indigenous and European settlement even before African slaves were brought in. When the Indians joined this complex island culture, they were quickly given their own village areas to live in. In 1868, the Canadian Presbyterian mission started a school system dedicated exclusively to the Indian community and educated Indians were soon moving out into society. In 1952, Bhadase Maraj disrupted the rural base of the Indian community further when he started an Indian political party and the Sanatana Dharma Maha Sabha with its own set of Hindu schools. By 1995, a widespread revival of Hindu religious practice was underway, and a new version of the Indian political party, called the United National Congress (UNC), had come to power. In this context the various cultural rivalries in the society were sharp, and Hinduism functioned as an ethnic religion for the Indians.Less
Trinidad had a long history of indigenous and European settlement even before African slaves were brought in. When the Indians joined this complex island culture, they were quickly given their own village areas to live in. In 1868, the Canadian Presbyterian mission started a school system dedicated exclusively to the Indian community and educated Indians were soon moving out into society. In 1952, Bhadase Maraj disrupted the rural base of the Indian community further when he started an Indian political party and the Sanatana Dharma Maha Sabha with its own set of Hindu schools. By 1995, a widespread revival of Hindu religious practice was underway, and a new version of the Indian political party, called the United National Congress (UNC), had come to power. In this context the various cultural rivalries in the society were sharp, and Hinduism functioned as an ethnic religion for the Indians.
Brian K. Pennington
- Published in print:
- 2005
- Published Online:
- July 2005
- ISBN:
- 9780195166552
- eISBN:
- 9780199835690
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/0195166558.003.0005
- Subject:
- Religion, Hinduism
This chapter examines a one year run of the Bengali paper Samācār Candrikā to sketch the contours of an elite Bengali Hindu response to missionaries and Orientalists. Among the very earliest Hindu ...
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This chapter examines a one year run of the Bengali paper Samācār Candrikā to sketch the contours of an elite Bengali Hindu response to missionaries and Orientalists. Among the very earliest Hindu newspapers to survive today, the Samācār Candrikā was published in Calcutta by Bhabānīcaran Bandyopādhyāya and associated with the orthodox Hindu organization the Dharma Sabhā. First formed to protest elements of colonialism, especially the government’s proposed ban on satī, the Dharma Sabhā produced a biweekly, vernacular newspaper in an effort to galvanize broad Hindu support among disparate castes and classes. In so doing, it proffered a version of a homogenous Hinduism with a centralized authority similar to that emerging among reforming organizations such as the Rammohan Roy’s Brahmo Samaj, but with an explicitly traditionalist, Brahmanical agenda. Exchanges with Christian missionaries conducted in the paper also make it an early surviving form of Hindu-Christian dialogue.Less
This chapter examines a one year run of the Bengali paper Samācār Candrikā to sketch the contours of an elite Bengali Hindu response to missionaries and Orientalists. Among the very earliest Hindu newspapers to survive today, the Samācār Candrikā was published in Calcutta by Bhabānīcaran Bandyopādhyāya and associated with the orthodox Hindu organization the Dharma Sabhā. First formed to protest elements of colonialism, especially the government’s proposed ban on satī, the Dharma Sabhā produced a biweekly, vernacular newspaper in an effort to galvanize broad Hindu support among disparate castes and classes. In so doing, it proffered a version of a homogenous Hinduism with a centralized authority similar to that emerging among reforming organizations such as the Rammohan Roy’s Brahmo Samaj, but with an explicitly traditionalist, Brahmanical agenda. Exchanges with Christian missionaries conducted in the paper also make it an early surviving form of Hindu-Christian dialogue.
Ilkka Pyysiäinen
- Published in print:
- 2009
- Published Online:
- May 2009
- ISBN:
- 9780195380026
- eISBN:
- 9780199869046
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780195380026.003.0005
- Subject:
- Religion, Philosophy of Religion
In the Buddhist tradition, buddhas are regarded as omniscient in the sense that everything is directly reflected in the mind of a buddha. In certain “Hindu” schools, the ideas of karma and rebirth ...
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In the Buddhist tradition, buddhas are regarded as omniscient in the sense that everything is directly reflected in the mind of a buddha. In certain “Hindu” schools, the ideas of karma and rebirth seem to have developed as “folk-genetic” explanations of the observed fact that offspring resemble their parents. Problems involved in explaining all states of affairs in the world as based on the past actions of isolated individuals were solved by postulating a God who saw the merits of individuals and fixed their future correspondingly. In Buddhism, both the ideas of an immutable self and God were rejected; all things and events were considered to arise from purely mechanical processes. The Buddha’s mentality now lives in the doctrine which is regarded as the Dharma-body of the Buddha. Relics and Buddha images are used as a means of giving a concrete form to the Buddha’s agency after his death.Less
In the Buddhist tradition, buddhas are regarded as omniscient in the sense that everything is directly reflected in the mind of a buddha. In certain “Hindu” schools, the ideas of karma and rebirth seem to have developed as “folk-genetic” explanations of the observed fact that offspring resemble their parents. Problems involved in explaining all states of affairs in the world as based on the past actions of isolated individuals were solved by postulating a God who saw the merits of individuals and fixed their future correspondingly. In Buddhism, both the ideas of an immutable self and God were rejected; all things and events were considered to arise from purely mechanical processes. The Buddha’s mentality now lives in the doctrine which is regarded as the Dharma-body of the Buddha. Relics and Buddha images are used as a means of giving a concrete form to the Buddha’s agency after his death.
- Published in print:
- 2008
- Published Online:
- June 2013
- ISBN:
- 9780804748636
- eISBN:
- 9780804779395
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Stanford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.11126/stanford/9780804748636.003.0055
- Subject:
- Literature, World Literature
To celebrate the benefits of the Dharma (hōraku), it was a common practice in Japan during the medieval period to make offerings of poetry (waka, renga, kanshi) as well as Nō plays and other ...
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To celebrate the benefits of the Dharma (hōraku), it was a common practice in Japan during the medieval period to make offerings of poetry (waka, renga, kanshi) as well as Nō plays and other performing arts at temples and shrines. Records of hōraku renga suggest that artistic performance was one way of giving delight to the gods, buddhas, and bodhisattvas to solicit their blessing of a specific request by the celebrant or the sponsor. In this chapter, Shinkei responds to the question of whether the poor quality of a performance would have an adverse effect on divine response. His answer is consistent with the opinion expressed in the Shasekishū, based on a passage in the Sutra of the Ten Wheels, namely, that imperfect observance (of the precepts) must not be condemned outright. Instead, it must be turned into the seed of future benefits. Shinkei claims that such an attitude conforms to the Buddha's compassion and is in agreement with the fact that among the six perfections, that of giving and generosity comes first.Less
To celebrate the benefits of the Dharma (hōraku), it was a common practice in Japan during the medieval period to make offerings of poetry (waka, renga, kanshi) as well as Nō plays and other performing arts at temples and shrines. Records of hōraku renga suggest that artistic performance was one way of giving delight to the gods, buddhas, and bodhisattvas to solicit their blessing of a specific request by the celebrant or the sponsor. In this chapter, Shinkei responds to the question of whether the poor quality of a performance would have an adverse effect on divine response. His answer is consistent with the opinion expressed in the Shasekishū, based on a passage in the Sutra of the Ten Wheels, namely, that imperfect observance (of the precepts) must not be condemned outright. Instead, it must be turned into the seed of future benefits. Shinkei claims that such an attitude conforms to the Buddha's compassion and is in agreement with the fact that among the six perfections, that of giving and generosity comes first.
Alf Hiltebeitel
- Published in print:
- 2011
- Published Online:
- September 2011
- ISBN:
- 9780195394238
- eISBN:
- 9780199897452
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780195394238.003.0005
- Subject:
- Religion, Hinduism
Chapter 5 is about how Brahmanical authors seek to shape consensus in a post‐Vedic society affected by Buddhism and other nāstika traditions or “heterodoxies” by composing dharma texts in new genres, ...
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Chapter 5 is about how Brahmanical authors seek to shape consensus in a post‐Vedic society affected by Buddhism and other nāstika traditions or “heterodoxies” by composing dharma texts in new genres, beginning with the dharmasūtras, and soon including dharmaśāstra (headed by The Laws of Manu) and the two “epics”: the Mahābhārata and the Rāmāyaṇa. The chapter looks at how the dharmasūtras introduce consensus as one of the “sources of dharma” and underscore it practially by commending the householder life and the ”five great sacrifices” that a householder is to perform daily. It then looks at novel features of Manu, including its mixing of narrative and normative elements, and compares them with similar features of the epics. Unlike the dharmasūtras, Manu introduces a cosmological frame centered on the god Brahmā, and works in mini‐narratives about the king and the rod of punishment (daṇda) he should deploy in upholding dharma. The chapter unfolds the issues that classical Brahmanical dharma texts come to treat as basic, showing their development through them. These issues include varṇa (caste) and āśrama (life pattern or life‐stage); the theoretical origin of mixed classes; common portrayals of Śūdras and women; and increased attention to rājadharma or the dharma of kings.Less
Chapter 5 is about how Brahmanical authors seek to shape consensus in a post‐Vedic society affected by Buddhism and other nāstika traditions or “heterodoxies” by composing dharma texts in new genres, beginning with the dharmasūtras, and soon including dharmaśāstra (headed by The Laws of Manu) and the two “epics”: the Mahābhārata and the Rāmāyaṇa. The chapter looks at how the dharmasūtras introduce consensus as one of the “sources of dharma” and underscore it practially by commending the householder life and the ”five great sacrifices” that a householder is to perform daily. It then looks at novel features of Manu, including its mixing of narrative and normative elements, and compares them with similar features of the epics. Unlike the dharmasūtras, Manu introduces a cosmological frame centered on the god Brahmā, and works in mini‐narratives about the king and the rod of punishment (daṇda) he should deploy in upholding dharma. The chapter unfolds the issues that classical Brahmanical dharma texts come to treat as basic, showing their development through them. These issues include varṇa (caste) and āśrama (life pattern or life‐stage); the theoretical origin of mixed classes; common portrayals of Śūdras and women; and increased attention to rājadharma or the dharma of kings.
