Author: Bernard Formoso Publisher: Berghahn Books ISBN: 9781571811219 Category : Religion Languages : en Pages : 180
Book Description
Peasant societies in many parts of the world regulate their relationship with the natural environment through earth gods who anchor a group of families not in genealogical terms, as in the case of ancestors, but in ecological terms. The articles in this volume illustrate the role of, and the cultural activities surrounding, the earth gods in rural communities in Asian societies. More specifically, they show that, within the Asian context, it is possible to differentiate between two modes representing the earth gods and the relationship with nature, i.e., one that corresponds to state societies and the other to tribal ones.
Author: Halvor Eifring Publisher: University of Hawaii Press ISBN: 082485568X Category : Philosophy Languages : en Pages : 273
Book Description
Meditation has flourished in different parts of the world ever since the foundations of the great civilizations were laid. It played a vital role in the formation of Asian cultures that trace much of their heritage to ancient India and China. This volume brings together for the first time studies of the major traditions of Asian meditation as well as material on scientific approaches to meditation. It delves deeply into the individual traditions while viewing each of them from a global perspective, examining both historical and generic connections between meditative practices from numerous historical periods and different parts of the Eurasian continent. It seeks to identify the cultural and historical peculiarities of Asian schools of meditation while recognizing basic features of meditative practice across cultures, thereby taking the first step toward a framework for the comparative study of meditation. The book, accessibly written by scholars from several fields, opens with chapters that discuss the definition and classification of meditation. These are followed by contributions on Yoga and Tantra, which are often subsumed under the broad label of Hinduism; Jainism and Sikhism, Indian traditions not usually associated with meditation; Buddhist approaches found in Southeast Asia, Tibet, and China; and the indigenous Chinese traditions, Daoism and Neo-Confucianism. The final chapter explores recent scientific interest in meditation, which, despite its Western orientation, remains almost exclusively concerned with practices of Asian origin. Until a few years ago a major obstacle to the study of specific meditation practices within the traditions explored here was a widespread scholarly orientation that prioritized doctrinal issues and sociocultural contexts over actual practice. The contributors seek to counter this bias and supplement concerns over doctrine and context with the historical study of meditative practice. Asian Traditions of Meditation will appeal broadly to readers interested in meditation, mindfulness, and spirituality and those in the emerging field of contemplative education, as well as students and scholars of Asian and religious studies.
Author: Merete Demant Jakobsen Publisher: Berghahn Books ISBN: 9781571819949 Category : Body, Mind & Spirit Languages : en Pages : 304
Book Description
Shamanism has always been of great interest to anthropologists. More recently it has been discovered by westerners, especially New Age followers. This book breaks new ground byexamining pristine shamanism in Greenland, among people contacted late by Western missionaries and settlers. On the basis of material only available in Danish, and presented herein English for the first time, the author questions Mircea Eliade's well-known definition of the shaman as the master of ecstasy and suggests that his role has to be seen as that of a master of spirits. The ambivalent nature of the shaman and the spirit world in the tough Arctic environment is then contrasted with the more benign attitude to shamanism in the New Age movement. After presenting descriptions of their organizations and accounts by participants, the author critically analyses the role of neo-shamanic courses and concludes that it is doubtful to consider what isoffered as shamanism.
Author: Oliver Leaman Publisher: Routledge ISBN: 1134691149 Category : Philosophy Languages : en Pages : 697
Book Description
Incorporating cultural and religious contexts, this unique Encyclopedia provides a vital guide to the main concepts and thinkers in Asian philosophy - starting with Abhidharma and ending with Zurvan. The main philosophical trends and thinkers in each geographical area are featured, with an emphasis on endtemporary developments and movements. The A-Z structured encyclopedia emphasizes that Asian philosophy is not merely an ancient form of thought but that it is a living philosophy, with roots in the past, and also a potent and animate presence today. This translates into the reciprocal exchange of theories between Eastern and Western thinking, for example of new schools of thought such as orientalism. Requiring no prior knowledge of philosophy, religion or Asian cultures, this book is essential reading for students, teachers and the interested individual who wishes to gain an understanding of the philosophical basis to Asian cultural systems.
Author: Phyllis Granoff Publisher: UBC Press ISBN: 0774859806 Category : Religion Languages : en Pages : 398
Book Description
This collection offers a challenge to any simple understanding of the role of images by looking at aspects of the reception of image worship that have only begun to be studied, including the many hesitations that Asian religious traditions expressed about image worship. Written by eminent scholars of anthropology, art history, and religion with interests in different regions (India, China, Japan, and Southeast Asia), this volume takes a fresh look at the many ways in which images were defined and received in Asian religions. Buddha Dharma Kyokai Foundation Book on Buddhism and Comparative Religion
Author: Thomas A. Tweed Publisher: Oxford University Press, USA ISBN: Category : History Languages : en Pages : 436
Book Description
This book presents the American encounter with Asian religions through a wide range of documents -- written and visual from elite and popular culture -- dating from 1788 to the present. Coverage of Buddhism, Hinduism, and Islam predominate, through selectoins from other religions are included -- Daoism, Confusianism, Shinto, Sikhism. The entries are divided into four chronological periods. The first section traces the initial attempts to map the earliest contracts, up to 1840; the second section, from 1840 to 1924, presents the first real passages -- from east to west and west to east; the third, from 1924 to 1965, sketches a drifting period when immigration has stopped and Euro-American interest in Asian religions was minimal; and the final section, which takes us to the present, covers a time when the encounter intensifies greatly.
Author: Christopher Patrick Miller Publisher: Rowman & Littlefield ISBN: 1498564852 Category : Religion Languages : en Pages : 335
Book Description
Today’s globalized society faces some of humanity’s most unprecedented social and environmental challenges. Presenting new and insightful approaches to a range of these challenges, the timely volume before you draws upon individual cases of exemplary leadership from the world’s Dharma traditions—Hinduism, Sikhism, Jainism, and Buddhism. The volume's authors refer to such exemplary leaders as “beacons of Dharma,” highlighting the ways in which each figure, via their inspirational life work, provide us with illuminating perspectives as we continue to confront cases of grave injustice and needless suffering in the world. Taking on difficult contemporary issues such as climate change, racial and gender inequality, industrial agriculture and animal rights, fair access to healthcare and education, and other such pressing concerns, Beacons of Dharma offers a promising and much needed contribution to our global remedial discussions. Seeking to help solve and alleviate such social and environmental issues, each of the chapters in the volume invites contemplation, inspires action, and offers a freshly invigorating source of hope.
Author: Edmond Zi-Kang Chua Publisher: Wipf and Stock Publishers ISBN: 1666763195 Category : Religion Languages : en Pages : 283
Book Description
A Systematic Theology from East Asia: Jung Young Lee’s Biblical-Cultural Trinity considers the Trinitarian theology of Jung Young Lee, a twentieth-century Korean American theologian, unique for being based on the Bible but also inspired by the Book of Changes, a classical text from East Asian culture with wide appeal. This monograph examines the Christian scriptural-traditional and cultural roots of Lee’s doctrines of God and the Trinity as twin pillars of his systematic theological system bearing out God’s nature, purposes, and guidance for humanity and the world. In addition, this book outlines the autobiographical milieu of Lee’s theology, its contribution to three distinct fields of Trinitarian doctrine (immanent-economic trinitarianism, social Trinity theory, and Cappadocian trinitarianism), and culminates in an assessment of Lee as a systematic theologian from East Asia, comparing Lee with other Asian American theologians.
Author: Melissa S. Williams Publisher: Cambridge University Press ISBN: 1108480500 Category : Philosophy Languages : en Pages : 327
Book Description
Leading political theorists demonstrate the transformative potential of de-centering Western traditions in the field of political theory.
Author: Bernard Formoso
Author: Halvor Eifring
Author: Merete Demant Jakobsen
Author: Oliver Leaman
Author: Phyllis Granoff
Author: Thomas A. Tweed
Author: Christopher Patrick Miller
Author: Peter C. Phan
Author: Edmond Zi-Kang Chua
Author: Melissa S. Williams