The Navel of the Demoness PDF Download

Author: Charles Ramble
Publisher: Oxford University Press
ISBN: 0195154142
Category : Religion
Languages : en
Pages : 406

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Charles Ramble is Lecturer in Tibetian and Himalayan Studies, University of Oxford.

Author: Charles Ramble
Publisher: Oxford University Press
ISBN: 019803508X
Category : Religion
Languages : en
Pages : 406

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Book Description
This groundbreaking study focuses on a village called Te in a "Tibetanized" region of northern Nepal. While Te's people are nominally Buddhist, and engage the services of resident Tibetan Tantric priests for a range of rituals, they are also exponents of a local religion that involves blood sacrifices to wild, unconverted territorial gods and goddesses. The village is unusual in the extent to which it has maintained its local autonomy and also in the degree to which both Buddhism and the cults of local gods have been subordinated to the pragmatic demands of the village community. Charles Ramble draws on extensive fieldwork, as well as 300 years' worth of local historical archives (in Tibetan and Nepali), to re-examine the subject of confrontation between Buddhism and indigenous popular traditions in the Tibetan cultural sphere. He argues that Buddhist ritual and sacrificial cults are just two elements in a complex system of self-government that has evolved over the centuries and has developed the character of a civil religion. This civil religion, he shows, is remarkably well adapted to the preservation of the community against the constant threats posed by external attack and the self-interest of its own members. The beliefs and practices of the local popular religion, a highly developed legal tradition, and a form of government that is both democratic and accountable to its people all these are shown to have developed to promote survival in the face of past and present dangers. Ramble's account of how both secular and religious institutions serve as the building blocks of civil society opens up vistas with important implications for Tibetan culture as a whole.

Author: Gail Hinich Sutherland
Publisher: SUNY Press
ISBN: 9780791406212
Category : Religion
Languages : en
Pages : 258

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Among the most ancient deities of South Asia, the yakshas straddle the boundaries between popular and textual traditions in both Hinduism and Buddhism and both benevolent and malevolent facets. As a figure of material plenty, the yaksis epitomized as Kubera, god of wealth and king of the yaks In demonic guise, the yaksis related to a large family of demonic and quasi-demonic beings, such as nagas, gandharvas, raks, and the man-eating pisaacas. Translating and interpreting texts and passages from the Vedic literature, the Hindu epics, the Puranas, Kālidāsa's Meghadūta, and the Buddhist Jātaka Tales, Sutherland traces the development and transformation of the elusive yaks from an early identification with the impersonal absolute itself to a progressively more demonic and diminished terrestrial characterization. Her investigation is set within the framework of a larger inquiry into the nature of evil, misfortune, and causation in Indian myth and religion.

Author: Walter Stephens
Publisher: University of Chicago Press
ISBN: 9780226772622
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 472

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On September 20, 1587, Walpurga Hausmännin of Dillingen in southern Germany was burned at the stake as a witch. Although she had confessed to committing a long list of maleficia (deeds of harmful magic), including killing forty—one infants and two mothers in labor, her evil career allegedly began with just one heinous act—sex with a demon. Fornication with demons was a major theme of her trial record, which detailed an almost continuous orgy of sexual excess with her diabolical paramour Federlin "in many divers places, . . . even in the street by night." As Walter Stephens demonstrates in Demon Lovers, it was not Hausmännin or other so-called witches who were obsessive about sex with demons—instead, a number of devout Christians, including trained theologians, displayed an uncanny preoccupation with the topic during the centuries of the "witch craze." Why? To find out, Stephens conducts a detailed investigation of the first and most influential treatises on witchcraft (written between 1430 and 1530), including the infamous Malleus Maleficarum (Hammer of Witches). Far from being credulous fools or mindless misogynists, early writers on witchcraft emerge in Stephens's account as rational but reluctant skeptics, trying desperately to resolve contradictions in Christian thought on God, spirits, and sacraments that had bedeviled theologians for centuries. Proof of the physical existence of demons—for instance, through evidence of their intercourse with mortal witches—would provide strong evidence for the reality of the supernatural, the truth of the Bible, and the existence of God. Early modern witchcraft theory reflected a crisis of belief—a crisis that continues to be expressed today in popular debates over angels, Satanic ritual child abuse, and alien abduction.

Author: Dahui
Publisher: Shambhala Publications
ISBN: 0834844575
Category : Religion
Languages : en
Pages : 465

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Thomas Cleary, one of America’s most beloved translators of Buddhist texts, brings twelfth century Chan master Dahui’s monumental compilation of teachings to life for the first time in English. Treasury of the Eye of True Teaching (Chinese Zhengfayanzang) stands as among the greatest classics of Chan (Chinese Zen) Buddhism, combining speeches, stories, dialogues, poems, and commentaries that the influential master Dahui (1089–1163) extracted from Chan lore. Compiled by Dahui’s students during Song Dynasty China, this work is replete with the enigmatic, paradoxical wisdom for which Zen Buddhism is so well known. Central to this collection is the notion of “great doubt” in matters of language, conceptual thinking, and how we conceive of our existence. By working with great doubt through koan introspection and other meditative practices, a practitioner is able to push themself to the limits of ideas and concepts until a breakthrough to enlightenment is achieved. In the words of Dahui, “Within great doubt there necessarily exists great enlightenment.” A fascinating compendium of literary and spiritual puzzles, Treasury of the Eye of True Teaching will challenge and inspire readers to work with great doubt themselves and to discover their inborn potential for enlightenment. Masterfully translated by one of America’s foremost translators of Chinese classics into English, it is a captivating window into the literary world of Chinese Zen and essential reading for students of all Zen schools today.

Author: James Hastings
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category : Ethics
Languages : en
Pages : 936

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Author: Kathryn Dickason
Publisher: Oxford University Press, USA
ISBN: 0197527272
Category : Performing Arts
Languages : en
Pages : 395

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Book Description
In popular thought, Christianity is often figured as being opposed to dance. Conventional scholarship traces this controversy back to the Middle Ages. Throughout the medieval era, the Latin Church denounced and prohibited dancing in religious and secular realms, often aligning it with demonic intervention, lust, pride, and sacrilege. Historical sources, however, suggest that medieval dance was a complex and ambivalent phenomenon. During the High and Late Middle Ages, Western theologians, liturgists, and mystics not only tolerated dance; they transformed it into a dynamic component of religious thought and practice. This book investigates how dance became a legitimate form of devotion in Christian culture. Sacred dance functioned to gloss scripture, frame spiritual experience, and imagine the afterlife. Invoking numerous manuscript and visual sources (biblical commentaries, sermons, saints' lives, ecclesiastical statutes, mystical treatises, vernacular literature, and iconography), this book highlights how medieval dance helped shape religious identity and social stratification. Moreover, this book shows the political dimension of dance, which worked in the service of Christendom, conversion, and social cohesion. In Ringleaders of Redemption, Kathryn Dickason reveals a long tradition of sacred dance in Christianity, one that the professionalization and secularization of Renaissance dance obscured, and one that the Reformation silenced and suppressed.

Author: Meljean Brook
Publisher: Penguin
ISBN: 110156802X
Category : Fiction
Languages : en
Pages : 411

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All hell breaks loose in Meljean Brook's erotic, supernatural debut novel. Lilith, a demon, has spent 2,000 years tempting men and guaranteeing their eventual damnation. That is, until she meets her greatest temptation: the man whose life mission has been to kill her.

Author: Kathy Love
Publisher: Kensington Books
ISBN: 0758268327
Category : Fiction
Languages : en
Pages : 414

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Hot? Hell, Yeah. If you ask Killian O'Brien, Hell gets a bad rap. True, he's a demon, so he's bound to be a little biased. But he's got great job security, all the women he can handle, a body to die for--literally--and free reign to do as he likes. Or he did, until teenager Daisy Reed and her two friends got hold of a book of spells and summoned him to do their bidding. Their demand: find Daisy's older sister, Poppy, a boyfriend. Can't be that difficult, right? It's not like the woman is unattractive. Truth be told, Poppy is irresistible--and mind-blowingly sexy. Which is exactly why finishing this simple little assignment so he can be sent back where he came from is turning out to be the hardest thing Killian's ever done. . . Praise for the novels of Kathy Love ". . .a compelling concoction of dread, desire, and delight." --Erin McCarthy on What a Demon Wants "Fangs for the Memories will make you laugh until milk comes out of your nose. No, really." --MaryJanice Davidson

Author: Kresley Cole
Publisher: Simon and Schuster
ISBN: 1849834385
Category : Fiction
Languages : en
Pages : 331

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From New York Timesbestselling author Kresley Cole comes this spellbinding story of a demon king trapped by an enchantress for her wanton purposes -- and the scorching aftermath that follows when he turns the tables and claims her as his captive. HIS OBSESSION... Sabine, Sorceress of Illusions: the evil beauty who surrenders her body, but not her heart. HER DOWNFALL... Rydstrom Woede: the ruthless warrior who vows to keep her at all costs. THEY WERE NEVER SUPPOSED TO WANT EACH OTHER THIS MUCH... With each smoldering encounter, their shared hunger only increases. If they can defeat the sinister enemy that stands between them, will Sabine make the ultimate sacrifice for her demon? Or will the proud king lay down his crown and arms to save his sorceress?