History of Religions of Eastern Origins Commons^™

Cognitive Illusion, Lucid Dreaming, And The Psychology Of Metaphor In Tibetan Buddhist Dzogchen Contemplative Practices, Michael R. Sheehy

International Journal of Transpersonal Studies Advance Publication Archive

A classic set of eight similes of illusion (sgyu ma’i dpe brgyad) are employed recurrently throughout Indian and Tibetan Buddhist literature to illustrate the operations of cognition, its correlative perceptions, and experiences that emerge. To illustrate a Buddhist psychology of metaphor, the fourteenth century Tibetan scholar and synthesizer of the Dzogchen (rdzogs chen) or Great Perfection system, Longchen Rabjam Drimé Ödzer (1308-1363), composed his poetic text, Being at Ease with Illusion. This work on illusion is the third volume in Longchenpa’s Trilogy of Being at Ease (Ngal gso skor gsum) in which he presents a series of Dzogchen instructions on …

The Jaina Goddess Padmāvati In Karnataka, Robert Zydenbos

Monsoon: South Asian Studies Association Journal

Stories about Padmāvati played an important role in the founding of the Ganga Dynasty (ca. 350-1000 C.E.) and the Hoysala Dynasty (ca. 950-1350 C.E.) in what is now the modern state of Karnataka. Although not without its critics, goddess worship has been integral to Jainism as practiced in south India for more than a millennium. This article surveys primary and secondary literature written about Padmāvati and describes worship at the main shrine dedicated to her, located in Hombuja in central Karnataka.

A Note On Ursula K. Le Guin's Daoist Interests, Robert Steed

Mythlore: A Journal of J.R.R. Tolkien, C.S. Lewis, Charles Williams, and Mythopoeic Literature

This note focuses upon specifying Le Guin’s particular Daoist interests. It also serves as a beginning in mapping out various Daoist concepts that she renders creatively in her literary work, serving as a short primer in Daoist thought and Le Guin.

Sikhs And Colonialism: A Study Of Religious Identity Across Time From Guru Nanak To The British Raj, Samrath S. Machra

CMC Senior Theses

This thesis deals with how a religious community shapes itself in the face of powerful external pressures. It explores ways the Sikh religion (code, creed, and cultus) was influenced by its encounters with the British Empire and in process, gave birth to a new combinative tradition. This paper will look at where the Sikh people located themselves during the Colonial period, to understand Colonialism’s imprint on the Sikh tradition. It traces the thread of contact throughout Sikh history and argues that British contact resulted in religious and cultural exchanges which reoriented Sikh creed, code, and cultus. The resulting combinative tradition …

Yunini Copy Of Sahih Al-Bukhari, Feruz Kholmuminov, Oybek Sotvoldiev

The Light of Islam

Among the collections of hadiths, the work of Imam al-Bukhari “Sahih al-Bukhari” is recognized as the most reliable book of hadiths. From the history of the creation of the work, it is known that Imam al-Bukhari created this work with great patience and perseverance for 16 years. It should be noted that the ideal and perfect state in which it has come down to our days is the result of the enormous work put into it. This process consisted of several stages. At the frst stage, several storytellers listened to “Sahih” from Imam Bukhari himself and wrote the book directly …

Investigation Of The "Cultural Appropriation" Of Yoga, Olivia Bartholomew

Honors Projects

With our world becoming increasingly globalized and cosmopolitan, practices that were once very traditional and spiritual are much different when they confront Western societies. Many yoga instructors and practitioners around the world are concerned about the issue of cultural appropriation within their practice. The researcher defines cultural appropriation to mean the process of a dominant culture manipulating aspects of a marginalized culture for its benefit. Traditionally, yoga comes from India, but it has become popularized throughout the world in our recent human history. Through interviews with nine yoga instructors, each from different yogic traditions, who teach in a variety of …

The Gendering Of Voice In Medieval Hindu Literature, Nancy M. Martin

Religious Studies Faculty Books and Book Chapters

"To fully grasp the implications of the gendering of voice in this literature, we must first understand the religious context that generates these voices and the life stories of the saintly figures in whose names these voices continue to be spoken. Accordingly, we will trace the origins and nature of devotional Hinduism. Theologically gender inclusive and embracing a feminine spiritual identity, the stories and songs of its saints will nevertheless reveal an ongoing bias against women and upholding of patriarchal norms that is continually challenged, particularly by women saints whose life stories follow very different trajectories than their male counterparts, …

Hmong Statement Of Belief: A Case Study, Jon L. Dybdahl

Journal of Adventist Mission Studies

"This case study exploring the Hmong statement of belief is more than just a story. Embedded and implied in it are certain key missiological principles which should be considered any time a particular belief statement is framed. Specifically, it assumes that the gospel must be presented in ways that are culturally relevant. Responsible communicators must adapt their message so that it can communicate the gospel to their intended audience with clarity and power. A missionary must prayerfully consider both how the truths of Scripture can be best articulated in a new cultural context, as well as just what truths ought …

Sinolization Of Christianity: Increasing Gospel Relevance Or Distorting The Gospel Message?, L. Asher

Journal of Adventist Mission Studies

"This study aims to address the concept of the Sinolization of Christianity in light of cultural studies, biblical principles, and the Great Controversy perspective. It will then set forth some ideas on how it could affect the communication of the gospel in the Chinese context. It will attempt to see if Sinolization makes the gospel more relevant or further distorts the Christian message through the lens of the Chinese culture. The answers to these questions should help Chinese Christians, and especially Adventists, better understand their mission in China."

Reaching Thai Buddhists And Those With A Background In Thai Buddhist Beliefs, Warren A. Shipton, Jared Wright, Tonya Wright, Nilubon Srisai

Journal of Adventist Mission Studies

"One of the greatest challenges for those working across cultures is to understand the unique features of the host culture and the dominant religious beliefs and practices found in the society represented. If this is to be done acceptably, the written and spoken language must be mastered and personal friendships formed with community members. Much damage has been done by Western missionaries arriving with preconceived ideas on evangelism taken from their home country and with an attitude of being holders of superior knowledge in many areas of thought beyond that held by the host culture. Catholic missionary activity has been …

Sikh Self-Sacrifice And Religious Representation During World War I, John Soboslai

Department of Religion Faculty Scholarship and Creative Works

This paper analyzes the ways Sikh constructions of sacrifice were created and employed to engender social change in the early twentieth century. Through an examination of letters written by Sikh soldiers serving in the British Indian Army during World War I and contemporary documents from within their global religious, legislative, and economic context, I argue that Sikhs mobilized conceptions of self-sacrifice in two distinct directions, both aiming at procuring greater political recognition and representation. Sikhs living outside the Indian subcontinent encouraged their fellows to rise up and throw off their colonial oppressors by recalling mythic moments of the past and …

Sikh Self-Sacrifice And Religious Representation During World War I, John Soboslai

Department of Religion Faculty Scholarship and Creative Works

This paper analyzes the ways Sikh constructions of sacrifice were created and employed to engender social change in the early twentieth century. Through an examination of letters written by Sikh soldiers serving in the British Indian Army during World War I and contemporary documents from within their global religious, legislative, and economic context, I argue that Sikhs mobilized conceptions of self-sacrifice in two distinct directions, both aiming at procuring greater political recognition and representation. Sikhs living outside the Indian subcontinent encouraged their fellows to rise up and throw off their colonial oppressors by recalling mythic moments of the past and …

Whosoever Will: A Review Essay, C. Fred Smith

Fred O. Smith Jr.

No abstract provided.

Religion And Genocide Nexuses: Bosnia As Case Study, Kate E. Temoney

Department of Religion Faculty Scholarship and Creative Works

Social scientists have been involved in systematic research on genocide for over forty years, yet an under-examined aspect of genocide literature is a sustained focus on the nexuses of religion and genocide, a lacuna that this article seeks to address. Four ways religion and genocide intersect are proposed, of which two will receive specific attention: (1) how religious rhetoric and (2) how religious individuals and institutions foment genocide. These two intersections are further nuanced by combining a Weberian method of typologies, the Durkheimian theory of collective violence, and empirical data in the form of rhetoric espoused by perpetrators and supporters …

Islam In Saudi Arabia: The Homogeneous Portrayal And Heterogeneous Reality, John Rogeberg

Masters Theses

The objective of this thesis is to apply commonly held statistics in the world of missiology regarding folk Islamic practices to the least likely country for such practices to be found, Saudi Arabia. Saudi Arabia is believed by most to be the birth-site of an austere, strict, orthodox form of Islam, responsible for the nature and nurture (education, promotion, and financing) of Islamic extremism. Conversely, I posit that through tracing the development of Wahhabism and its current global influence on Islam, its literalist interpretation becomes a profitable tool for the student of anthropology, missiology, and cross-cultural studies to gain a …

The Extent Of The Christian Approach In Converting Chinese Buddhists Encountering Physical Or Spiritual Difficulties In Life, Ann Ge

Masters Theses

This research paper presents the results of a quantitative and qualitative survey of Chinese Christians from Buddhist backgrounds, with a special focus on the Christian response to life trials, since, in Buddhism, any spiritual or physical adversity tends to be attributed to bad Karma from one’s past. The biggest aim of the research is to investigate more effective ways of leading Chinese people to Christ. The survey focuses mainly on three aspects of the respondents’ conversion stories: (1) their backgrounds, (2) their life changes after conversion, and (3) their inter-religious perspectives. In terms of background, most of the respondents had …

Theories Of The Self, Race, And Essentialization In Buddhism In The United States During The “Yellow Peril,” 1899-1957, Ryan Anningson

Theses and Dissertations (Comprehensive)

This dissertation is an intellectual history tracing developing notions of the Self in Buddhism through Buddhist publications during the years from 1899-1957. I define this time period as the Era of the Yellow Peril, due to common views in the United States of an Asian “other” which formed a larger clash of civilizations globally. 1899-1957 was marked by pessimism and dread due to two World Wars and the Great Depression, while popular and academic cultures argued for the validity of race sciences, and the application of these “sciences” through eugenics. Buddhism in the United States was created through a global …

Old Testament Costume Resource Guide, Rory R. Scanlon

Faculty Publications

This report offers visual costume research support for artists working on Old Testament Bible projects, with an historical overview of Mesopotamia and how to understand its historical clothing pieces, an annotated listing of the best research sources, a list of garment and fabric terms for the 4000 BC to 0 AD period, and sample sketches from historical artifacts to suggest how to interpret the original research images the artist will encounter.

Book Of Mormon Costume Resource Guide, Rory R. Scanlon

Faculty Publications

This report offers visual costume research support for artists working on Book of Mormon projects, with an historical overview of Mesoamerica and how to understand its historical clothing pieces, an annotated listing of the best research sources, a list of garment and fabric terms for the 2000 BC to 600 AD period, and sample sketches from historical artifacts to suggest how to interpret the original research images the artist will encounter.

Climbing A Ladder To Heaven. Gnostic Vision Of The World In Jacob's Ladder (1990), Fryderyk Kwiatkowski

Journal of Religion & Film

Contemporary film-makers quite willingly employ motifs typical of various gnostic trends. The author shows that ancient gnosticism is a treasury of motifs and a source of aesthetical and narrative strategies present in contemporary cinema. The article treats Jacob’s Ladder (1990, dir. Adrian Lyne) which is analyzed through Gnostic beliefs. In the author’s opinion, this film can be treated as a model where the gnostic thought has been presented in a coherent and systematic manner.

Kashmiri Marsiya (Elegy) Manuscripts: The Valuable Sources For The Dissemination, Reconstruction And Safeguarding The History And Culture-Iii, Tawfeeq Nazir

Library Philosophy and Practice (e-journal)

Manuscripts are the links to the historical facts that will otherwise remain unknown to the world. They contain authentic information and facts about the social, political and cultural aspects of a nation. Therefore their intellectual value cannot be over emphasized. Many countries and nations are joining hands towards preserving such cultural assets by way of taking conservation and preservation measures including digitization and documentation.

Marsiya or Elegy has gained more importance after the Martyrdom of Imam Hussain (a.s) and his companions and household in Karbala. Marsiya has been since written and recited in order to mourning the tragic events of …

Masjids, Ashrams And Mazars: Transnational Sufism And The Bawa Muhaiyaddeen Fellowship, Merin Shobhana Xavier

Theses and Dissertations (Comprehensive)

The Bawa Muhaiyaddeen Fellowship is a community that formed in relation to the Tamil teacher Muhammad Raheem Bawa Muhaiyaddeen (d. 1986). Bawa’s teachings attracted diverse followers- those with Islamic inclinations, those from Jewish, Hindu and Christian backgrounds, and those seeking to transcend religious creeds. With his passing and no appointed successor, the communities that developed during Bawa Muhaiyaddeen’s lifetime rely now on the institutions and spaces established by him. These include a mosque and burial shrine (mazar) in Pennsylvania and an ashram and shrine in Sri Lanka. This case study of the Bawa Muhaiyaddeen Fellowship and its parallel …

The Neglected Heavens: Gender And The Cults Of Helios, Selene, And Eos In Bronze Age And Historical Greece, Katherine A. Rea

Classics: Student Scholarship & Creative Works

Why is it that the sun and moon held such a small place in cults of the Greeks, and is it that the sun is male and the moon is female in Greek myth? Aristophanes in Peace 406-413 claims that “we sacrifice to you [the Olympians], the barbarians sacrifice to them [the sun and moon]”. But if we look at nearby or related civilizations, the situation is quite different. In Ugaritic, Minoan, and Hittite religion (as well as among other Indo-European speaking people), the sun and other celestial deities have much more prominence. However, while the Greeks acknowledged the divinity …

Shinto: An Experience Of Being At Home In The World With Nature And With Others, Marcus Evans

Masters Theses & Specialist Projects

This study discloses Shinto’s experiential and existential significance and aims to articulate Shinto’s sacred objective. It shows that Shinto, by way of experience, communicates being in the world with nature and with others as a sacred objective. This suggests that Shinto, in communicating its objective, appeals to the emotions more so than to the intellect; and that Shinto’s sacred objective does not transcend the natural world of both nature and everyday affairs. This study pursues this goal by showing the experiential and existential dimensions of the three primary features of Shinto: it shows how kami (or kami-ness) is thought of …

Seeking A Comprehensive Worldview: The Religious Seeker In The Modern World, Michael Gregory

Undergraduate Theses and Capstone Projects

Anecdotally, the casual observer of anthropological phenomenon may be led to believe that every human is basically the same. Indeed, many may assume that groups of people possess identical beliefs, religions, and expressions that hardly vary across different cultures and generations. Throughout the plethora of different cultures and the countless varieties of religious expression and experience it may seem that all of humanity is merely following the same lifestyles and worldviews as their parents and ancestors with very little change save for the gradual evolution in society. A religious studies scholar, or any scholar of the humanities, however, may notice …

(De)Psychologizing Shangri-La: Recognizing And Reconsidering C.G. Jung's Role In The Construction Of Tibetan Buddhism In The Western Imagination, Alec M. Terrana

Pomona Senior Theses

Popular literature on Tibetan Buddhism often overemphasizes the psychological dimension of the religion's beliefs and practices. This misrepresentative portrayal is largely traceable to the writings of the psychoanalyst C.G. Jung. By employing distinctly psychological terminology and interpretive strategies in his analyses of the Tibetan Book of the Dead and mandala symbolism, Jung helped to establish precedents that were adopted in subsequent analyses of the religion. Imposing a psychological lens on Tibetan Buddhism obscures other essential elements of the tradition, such as cosmology, physiology, and ritualism, thereby silencing the voices of Tibetans in analyses of their own practices. Jung's imposition of …

The Politics Media Equation:Exposing Two Faces Of Old Nexus Through Study Of General Elections,Wikileaks And Radia Tapes, Ratnesh Dwivedi Mr

Ratnesh Dwivedi

The important identity of a responsible media is playing an unbiased role in reporting a matter without giving unnecessary hype to attract the attention of the gullible public with the object of making money and money only.After reporting properly the media can educate the public to form their own opinion in the matters of public interest. Throughout the centuries, the world has never existed without information and communication, hence the inexhaustible essence of mass media. The government has the power to either make or reject whatever that will exist within its environment. It also determines how free the mass media …

Liberation As Revolutionary Praxis: Rethinking Buddhism Materialism, James Shields

Faculty Journal Articles

While it is only in recent decades that scholars have begun to reconsider and problematize Buddhist conceptions of “freedom” and “agency,” the thought traditions of Asian Buddhism have for many centuries struggled with questions related to the issue of “liberation”—along with its fundamental ontological, epistemological and ethical implications. With the development of Marxist thought in the mid to late nineteenth century, a new paradigm for thinking about freedom in relation to history, identity and social change found its way to Asia, and confronted traditional religious interpretations of freedom as well as competing Western ones. In the past century, several attempts …

A Blueprint For Buddhist Revolution: The Radical Buddhism Of Seno’O Girō (1889–1961) And The Youth League For Revitalizing Buddhism, James Shields

Faculty Journal Articles

In the early decades of the twentieth century, as Japanese society became engulfed in war and increasing nationalism, the majority of Buddhist leaders and institutions capitulated to the status quo. One notable exception to this trend, however, was the Shinkō Bukkyō Seinen Dōmei (Youth League for Revitalizing Buddhism), founded on 5 April 1931. Led by Nichiren Buddhist layman Seno’o Girō and made up of young social activists who were critical of capitalism, internationalist in outlook, and committed to a pan-sectarian and humanist form of Buddhism that would work for social justice and world peace, the league’s motto was “carry the …

Confidence In Christ And The Sin Unto Death -- When Should A Believer Not Pray? 1 John 5:13-21, Leo R. Percer

Leo Raines Percer

No abstract provided.