Hasil untuk "Buddhism"

Malik J. M. Walker

As Zen Buddhism continues into its second century in the United States, the practices and philosophies transmitted have gone through major, though necessary transformations. At present, the vast majority of Zen temples and centers are “convert” communities that have over time adjusted language, ritual, and tradition to suit pastoral and theological needs. This article lays out a blueprint for a Zen public “theology” by discussing the transformation of the exoteric, physical practice of Zen to an esoteric practice that governs inner conduct and community cohesion. For this piece, esoteric is used less in a mystical capacity, but more in terms of referring to a closed community of practitioners and initiates. The transformation from a historically exoteric practice in Japan to a generally esoteric practice in the United States reconfigured the priorities for longstanding Zen communities, who were (and still tend to be) diffuse and dependent on lineage bearing. The esoteric character of Zen practice in the U.S. is a response to several challenges in a “western” market economy- informed society. Challenges from the mindfulness industry, its minority status in a broadly Abrahamic society, and the struggle to understand the notion of tradition while in dialog with the main Soto Zen tradition in Japan present unique hermeneutical categories for Zen in America, prompting a reckoning with the fundamental principles of Mahayana Buddhism and the tenuous pluralism operative in American society.

Pathompong Bodhiprasiddhinand

The purpose of this research is to examine whether Buddhist ethics can improve the health and well-being of Buddhist practitioners during pandemics like COVID-19. It is hypothesized that diseases are part of suffering, and Buddhist teachings aim to eliminate the suffering of all beings. Buddhism also offers ethical codes of conduct for its practitioners to improve their health and well-being. So, the Buddha’s teaching or Buddhist ethics, when practiced seriously, should be able to improve one’s health, physically and mentally, enhancing the well-being of all Buddhist practitioners during the spread of all pandemics including COVID-19. The present study found that Buddhist ethical practices like the chanting of Buddhist <i>suttas</i> and the development of mindfulness, concentration/meditation, and insight (<i>vipassanā</i>) can improve both physical and mental health, which are important for dealing with any pandemic, tremendously. If the cores of Buddhist ethics (morality, meditation, and wisdom) are perfectly practiced, not only will one live with good physical and mental health but one also will be able to eliminate all the mental defilements that are the root causes of all illnesses and thus enter <i>nibbāna</i>, the state of mind that is beyond all sources of suffering including pandemics/epidemics. More specifically, this paper highlights a set of Buddhist practices, called four <i>bhāvanās</i> (types of development), that can be used to improve health and well-being during any pandemic.

Hyungong Moon, Brian D. Somers

Templestay is a Korean program where participants have the chance to stay in a Buddhist temple and explore the historic buildings, statues, and natural surroundings of the temple grounds, while experiencing meditation and Buddhist rituals first-hand. Launched in 2002, approximately six million participants have attended Templestay programs over the last 20 years. However, in contrast to the great successes during the first ten years of the program’s existence, the last ten years have met with a significant decline in rates of participation. The aim of this article is to investigate the rise and fall in these figures to better understand the current wants and needs of participants and to consider the future of the Templestay program. Through an analysis of statistics garnered by the Cultural Corps of Korean Buddhism and a review of research studies on the growth and development of Templestay, this article considers why the program has recently been in decline and suggests how this may be remedied. Particular attention is given to how the needs of diverse participants can be met within a religious environment. In the conclusion, this article suggests that the number of participants may be increased with the implementation of programs more universally applied across all Templestay sites. Furthermore, critical concerns about over-commercialization are warranted insofar as marketing compromises the sense of authenticity sought by participants.

Uğur Uzunkaya

Uyghurs who migrated to Ganzhou and Turfan regions after 840 established two new khaganates. In this region, in which religious and ethnic diversity is dominant, the Uyghurs have given importance to commercial activities. Thus, they have adopted a settled lifestyle. Linguistic data about the life of the Uyghurs can be found especially in nonreligious Old Uyghur texts, which contain an extensive vocabulary on architectural structures, interior and exterior structural elements, building materials, carrier systems, public spaces, agricultural areas, and irrigation structures. These texts point toward the settled lifestyle of the Uyghurs. In addition, Buddhist pilgrimage centers, important cities, religious buildings, and mystically divine palaces are occasionally mentioned in the Old Uyghur religious texts on Buddhist themes. This article focuses on the edition of seven Old Uyghur fragments related to Buddhism, which have not been previously published. The fragments primarily address topics such as the city, palace, and army. The Berlin Turfan Collection houses the fragments included in this work, which are identified through archival numbers U 2077 (o. F.), U 2301 (T I D), U 2316 (T I D 505; T I D), U 5465 (T I D 622), U 2418 (T II 530), U 2332 (T I D 526; T I D), and U 4868 (T I D 643; T I D). This article encompasses the transcription, transliteration, Turkish translation, explanation, and a glossary/index of these fragments.

Hillary Pedersen

An eighth-century sculpture of Kokūzō Bosatsu (Space Repository Bodhisattva) from Kakuanji in Nara sits upon a base with two inscriptions: the first, dated to Kōan 5 (1282), recounts the eighth-century role of the sculpture as the primary object of worship for the priest Dōji (d. 744) in the gumonjihō (ritual for memory retention), followed by its thirteenth-century restoration and subsequent (re)consecration by the priest Eison (1200–1290). The second inscription is from Meiji 12 (1879) and states that, in this year, this inscription was reported to Home Minister Itō Hirobumi by the Kakuanji head priest. This article explores these inscriptions and their role in the conceptual reuse of the sculpture in different periods; first as a tool to legitimize the Buddhist activities of the thirteenth-century priest Eison; and later as a prime example of Japan’s long-standing religious “art” tradition, which was being developed in the Meiji period.奈良の額安寺に由来する8世紀の虚空蔵菩薩像の台座には、2つの銘文が残されている。弘安5年(1282年）に年代づけられる1つ目の銘文は、この像が、8世紀に導慈律師（-744）が求聞持法（記憶力増進のための修法）の本尊であったこと、および13世紀に修復が行われ、叡尊（1200-1290）によって再び開眼供養が行われたことを語っている。2つ目の銘文は明治12年（1879年）のもので、同年、額安寺の僧から内務卿伊藤博文に、13世紀の銘文について報告が行われたと記されている。本論文ではこれらの銘文を考察し、各時代において、さまざまな思想に基づいた仏像の再利用にそれらが果たした役割を考察する。1つ目は13世紀の叡尊による仏教活動を正当化するための手段/象徴としての仏像の利用、そしてその後、明治期に推し進められた日本の宗教「芸術」の長い伝統の優れた実例としてである。

Rustem Dosmurzinov

This article analyses the problems of the traditional world views and beliefs of the Kazakh people. The main purpose of the article is to show the features of such cultural phenomena as ‘religious syncretism’ and ‘hybrid worldview’. The author pays attention to the cosmogonic and cosmological beliefs, the perception and feeling of place and time, religious consciousness and national identity, folk customs and traditions, cultural branding. The farming and cattle-breeding practices in the harsh climatic conditions of wide steppe spaces influenced the formation of a special type of culture and unique worldview. In the long history of the nomadic peoples who inhabited the Eurasian steppes, the history of the development of the religious worldview occupies a special place. Being in the crossroad of civilization, Central Asia has been a region of interaction between different world religious traditions, such as Zoroastrianism, Buddhism, Christianity (in their earliest forms as Nestorianism), Maniсhaiesm, and Islam. However, the Kazakh people did not break ties with nature due to their way of life, so people’s beliefs and superstitions were based on the animistic, totemistic beliefs and magic. The author concludes that the cornerstone of the entire system of worldview was the faith in the opportunity to transform the world for the good of people’s traditions and it was reflected in the special rites, traditions, and practices.

Vasiliev Dmitry V., Chichko Tatyana V.

The article is concerned with an analysis of the archaeological residues of three adobe brick structures studied in different years at Mayachny Bugor subsoil burial ground in the Astrakhan Oblast. They are interesting in the light of the issue of studying archaeological traces of the presence of Buddhism in the Golden Horde. V.P. Kostjukov suggested a list of the main features inherent in Buddhist burials, underlining that Mayachny Bugor is one of the most studied necropolises which contain burials with signs of Buddhism. Two of the structures revealed at the burial ground were square adobe brick buildings, one of which contained the remains of a cremated body with burnt seeds of cultivated plants. Next to the second structure, a coin was discovered – one of the earliest in the Ulus of Juchi. The third structure had a complex layout - a rectangular main building with traces of the firing inside was adjoined by burials in crypts with rich inventories from the south, east and the north. The structure was located in the center of a fenced adobe brick wall of the site, where 11 burials oriented to the East were identified. The paper proposes an assumption, based on the presence of Buddhist burials at the burial ground, that these buildings are the bases of Buddhist stupas.

Gabriela Soledad Pérez

Faced with the health emergency caused by the COVID-19 pandemic, there has been an increase in symptoms of stress and anxiety in several countries. To combat these symptoms, people have different methods that have to do with flexible coping, which helps maintain psychological well-being and emotional balance in situations of fear and uncertainty. This bibliographic review work aims to establish a relationship between anxiety and coping in the context of the COVID-19 pandemic. The results of different studies show that when anxiety symptoms increase, flexible coping decreases and a greater psychological impact is associated with very high levels of stress, anxiety and depression. Coping during the pandemic would be a perceptual process, where strategies are generated according to the needs of each person.

S. Shaun Ho, Yoshio Nakamura, James E. Swain

As interpersonal, racial, social, and international conflicts intensify in the world, it is important to safeguard the mental health of individuals affected by them. According to a Buddhist notion “if you want others to be happy, practice compassion; if you want to be happy, practice compassion,” compassion practice is an intervention to cultivate conflict-proof well-being. Here, compassion practice refers to a form of concentrated meditation wherein a practitioner attunes to friend, enemy, and someone in between, thinking, “I’m going to help them (equally).” The compassion meditation is based on Buddhist philosophy that mental suffering is rooted in conceptual thoughts that give rise to generic mental images of self and others and subsequent biases to preserve one’s egoism, blocking the ultimate nature of mind. To contextualize compassion meditation scientifically, we adopted a Bayesian active inference framework to incorporate relevant Buddhist concepts, including mind (buddhi), compassion (karuna), aggregates (skandhas), suffering (duhkha), reification (samaropa), conceptual thoughts (vikalpa), and superimposition (prapañca). In this framework, a person is considered a Bayesian Engine that actively constructs phenomena based on the aggregates of forms, sensations, discriminations, actions, and consciousness. When the person embodies rigid beliefs about self and others’ identities (identity-grasping beliefs) and the resulting ego-preserving bias, the person’s Bayesian Engine malfunctions, failing to use prediction errors to update prior beliefs. To counter this problem, after recognizing the causes of sufferings, a practitioner of the compassion meditation aims to attune to all others equally, friends and enemies alike, suspend identity-based conceptual thoughts, and eventually let go of any identity-grasping belief and ego-preserving bias that obscure reality. We present a brain model for the Bayesian Engine of three components: (a) Relation-Modeling, (b) Reality-Checking, and (c) Conflict-Alarming, which are subserved by (a) the Default-Mode Network (DMN), (b) Frontoparietal Network (FPN) and Ventral Attention Network (VAN), and (c) Salience Network (SN), respectively. Upon perceiving conflicts, the strengthening or weakening of ego-preserving bias will critically depend on whether the SN up-regulates the DMN or FPN/VAN, respectively. We propose that compassion meditation can strengthen brain regions that are conducive for suspending prior beliefs and enhancing the attunements to the counterparts in conflicts.

Upali Sraman

Dongxu Zhang, Chunxiao Kong, Mei Zhang et al.

The acoustic environments of Han Chinese Buddhist temples have long played an important role in the development of Buddhism. This study explored the effects of layouts and spatial elements of Han Chinese Buddhist temples on courtyard sound fields. First, sound fields of three traditional Han Chinese courtyards were measured, and results were compared with sound field simulations to determine the appropriate acoustic and software parameter setting for ancient building materials in the context of sound field simulation. Next, a sound field model for standard forms of Han Chinese Buddhist temples was built and analysed. Results indicate that in traditional Buddhist temples, spatial elements&#8212;such as the height and sound absorption coefficient of temple courtyard walls, position of courtyard partition walls, and the position and height of bell towers&#8212;could significantly affect the sound pressure level (SPL), reverberation time (RT), and musical clarity (C₈₀) of each courtyard. However, enclosure materials, such as those used in roofs, on the ground, and in windows of Han Chinese Buddhist temples, had relatively small effects on temple courtyard sound fields.

Bair Ts. Gomboev

Introduction. In Buddhist religious practice, Wutaishan as a symbol of the five sacred mountains of China has long enjoyed fame among pilgrims as a holiest place in East and Central Asia subsequent to Lhasa (Tibet). The article considers the sacred objects of Wutaishan and features of veneration of Buddhist objects by pilgrims (including representatives of Mongolic peoples). Goals. The work focuses on contemporary local forms of Buddhist worship observed during visits to religious sites of Wutaishan, and identifies the general and specific features of such practices. Materials and Methods. The paper primarily analyzes the author’s field materials collected in the course of his 2019 journey to the Wutaishan Buddhist religious and pilgrimage center (Shanxi Province, People’s Republic of China). The comparative analysis conducted involves traditional religious ideas of Mongolic peoples and the Buryats proper. The work employs the descriptive method, historicalcomparative analysis, and the method of participant observation. Results. Nowadays, the opening of borders has resulted in that various objects — including religious ones, and particularly special places of worship — have become available for visits and inspections by representatives of traditional religious practices. According to the Buryat cultural and historical traditions, such places include sacred objects both in the territory of ethnic Buryatia (e.g., Olkhon Island and Mount Alkhanay), and in neighboring states (Gandantegchinlen Monastery in Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia; Lhasa and Wutaishan in China, etc.). The primary study reveals certain historical ties between the sacred mountains of Wutaishan and other sacred sites in East and North Asia, and their religious-mythological parallels. The religious tradition says these objects (especially from the Yuan era onwards) have had great impacts on the development of Buddhism in the context of Mongolic ethnocultural traditions.

Stephen C. Berkwitz

The present article focuses on Sri Lankan views of divine kingship to illustrate how the figure of the king was developed in ways that borrowed and were shaped by the transfer of Hindu notions of kings and gods around the period of intensive Hindu interventions into the island from the tenth to thirteenth centuries CE. After discussing the paradigmatic figure of King Aśoka, the virtuous king (*dhammarāja*) held to be the model for all subsequent monarchs in the tradition, we will examine inscriptional and poetic writings that conflated Sri Lankan kings with Hindu gods. The dynamics of comparing kings with gods has ancient roots in India, and these notions were adopted by Sri Lankan Buddhists during the long “medieval” period of roughly the tenth to the sixteenth centuries CE. The dynamic introduction of new strands of Buddhist kingship expanded upon the figure of the king. I argue that this development was primarily metaphorical in nature, and it was further enhanced by eulogizing kings as bodhisattvas, or future Buddhas. By incorporating much of the language and notions of divine kingship from the Hindu tradition, Sri Lankan Buddhism made kingship into the dynamic site for cultural borrowing. Yet it stabilized and reinforced its local traditions by comparing kings with gods and bodhisattvas, presenting them as being *like* extraordinary beings in the context of praise for their power and virtue.

S. G. Batyreva

The article is devoted to the cultural analysis of the tradition in the study of fine arts of Buddhism. The subject of the research are Buddhist artifacts from the collection of the Kiev Museum of Western and Oriental Art named after B. and B. Khanenko which are considered as a cultural heritage of Kalmykia. It was formed during the interaction of tradition and innovation. The art shows historical destiny of the iconographic canon in the artistic culture of Northern Buddhism. Traditional psychogenetic particular worldview, ceremonial culture and folklore are projected in the iconography, defining “local” nature of art. The analysis of the Kalmyk artistic tradition revealed visible local features of graphic images of iconographic interpretation. Selectivity of pantheon deities observed in particular images of Kiev collection is explained by the history of the people who lived beyond the bounds of their ethnic homeland. It is a local variant of the Central Asian pantheon, where archaic traces of nomadic mythology preserved in a different cultural environment can be found.  Inscriptions in Old Kalmyk todo bichig script (usually on the left border of the painting) and in Cyrillic script with yat on the lower edge of the images of Amitābha Buddha, Green Tārā Bodhisattva and Bhaisajyaguru Buddha are the specific features of the described religious paintings. Vertical ligatured todo bichig script (Kalmyk: Амидава, Отчи бурхн, Ноhан дәрк) written in ink faded to pale brown is the indisputable defining feature of Kalmyk painting. Kalmyk art developed gradually both in separate formal details of paintings and in general aesthetic interpretation of images. Canonization of deities involves introduction of border scenes, symbolic attributes and accented symmetrical front compositions into the painting. On the whole, concise symmetrical scenes with unelaborated plot which tend to emphasize main image’s personification that is the center of a religious painting and believers’ direct object of worship prevail in Old Kalmyk art.

Gregory Max Seton

David Fincher may not be an expert in Buddhism. But his description of Fight Club&mdash;as reprising the figurative admonishment to &ldquo;kill the buddha&rdquo; by Lin-ji Yi-xuan (9th cent.), the founder of the Rinzai Zen Buddhist school&mdash;illuminates the way that Fincher&rsquo;s own directorial choices mirror the ritualized practices of Rinzai Zen aimed at producing insights into the imaginary and subjective nature of reality. Other articles have already looked from the perspective of film criticism at the many Buddhist (and non-Buddhist) diegetic elements in Fight Club&rsquo;s story, plot, and dialogue. In contrast, this article analyzes the non-diegetic elements of Fincher&rsquo;s mise-en-sc&egrave;ne in Fight Club from the perspective of film theory in order to demonstrate the way they draw inspiration from certain Zen Buddhist pedagogical methods for breaking through to a &ldquo;glimpse of awakening&rdquo; (kenshō). By reading David Fincher&rsquo;s directorial choices in light of Zen soteriology and the lived experience of Rinzai Zen informants, the article sheds light not only on the film&rsquo;s potentially revelatory effects on its viewers, but also on esoteric aspects of Rinzai Zen pedagogy as encapsulated in Lin-ji&rsquo;s &ldquo;Three Mysterious Gates&rdquo; and Hakuin&rsquo;s three essentials of practice.

A G Lyulina

The strengthening of political ties between China and Tibet begins during their stay of the Manchu rulers of Aisin Gioro Clan or the Qing Dynasty (1644-1911) in the Chinese throne. A key role in this process was played by the emperors relationships with senior lamas of Tibetan Buddhism and major influence of the Dalai Lama V, VI and VIII. Article devoted to the review of written sources on the history of the Qing Empire in the middle of the XVII - the second half of the XVIII century, which reflect the details of the first contacts in China and Tibet and the development of relations between the two countries with the mediation of the Dalai Lama. Such sources include dynastic chronicles, collections of legislative texts, inscriptions on stone stelae and travel notes. The author also paid attention to the most famous updated and reprinted collections of historical materials on the history of the Qing of the XVII-XVIII century.

David L. McMahan

Karénina Kollmar-Paulenz

Sri Rahayu Wilujeng

<p><strong><em>A</em></strong><strong><em>bstract</em></strong></p> <p><strong><em> </em></strong></p> <p><em>Buddhism taught by Sidhartha Gautama in India about two thousand years B.C. has spread throughout the world. From India to Tibetan Buddhism evolved, China and into Japan. Buddhism in Japan has distinct characteristics compared to Buddhism elsewhere. In Japan, Buddhism is mixed with a strong Japanese spirituality. This paper is the result of a brief research on the book, as well as the Buddhists by means of dialogue. The general objective of this paper is to get a general idea of ​​the concept of Nichiren cosmology, particularly on the subject of the universe (environment) and life. The specific objective of this paper is the growing awareness to be open to understand other religions. It takes an attitude to want to investigate a  religion without fanaticial attitude or prejudice.</em><em> </em></p> <p><em> </em></p> <p><em>Key words: Nichiren Daishonin, Universe, Life</em><em> </em></p>

D. Lopez