scholarly journals The Gaganagañjaparipṛcchā and the Sky as a Symbol of Mahāyāna Doctrines and Aspirations

Religions ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 12 (10) ◽  
pp. 849
Author(s):  
Jaehee Han
Keyword(s):  
Intellectual History ◽  
East Asian ◽  
Basic Structure ◽  
Mahayana Buddhism ◽  
Textual History ◽  
History Of ◽  
Comprehensive Introduction ◽  
Mahāyāna Buddhism ◽  
Scholarly Attention

The Gaganagañjaparipṛcchā is a Mahāyāna dharmaparyāya and is the eighth chapter of the great canonical collection of Mahāyāna Buddhism, the Mahāsaṃnipāta. The text is lost in the original Indic, but survives in Chinese and Tibetan translations, with several passages of the Sanskrit version preserved as quotations in later commentaries. It has been regarded as an authoritative canonical source throughout the intellectual history of Mahāyāna Buddhism, but scant scholarly attention has been paid to this important text. Thus, this paper aims to provide a concise yet comprehensive introduction of the Gaganagañjaparipṛcchā, including its textual history, its basic structure, and its reception in Indian, Tibetan, and East Asian Buddhist traditions. It also examines how the fundamental concepts of Mahāyāna Buddhism, such as emptiness, endlessness, and imperishability, are signified in the Gaganagañjaparipṛcchā by the image of the sky (Skt. gagana), the central metaphor of the text.

The Meanings of the Term Gotra and the Textual History of the Ratnagotravibhāga

1976 ◽  
Vol 39 (2) ◽  
pp. 341-363 ◽  
Author(s):  
D. Seyfort Ruegg
Keyword(s):  
Mahayana Buddhism ◽  
The Awakening ◽  
Textual History ◽  
History Of ◽  
Mahāyāna Buddhism ◽  
The Individual

The word gotra is frequently used in the literature of Mahāyāna Buddhism to denote categories of persons classified according to their psychological, intellectual, and spiritual types. The chief types usually mentioned in this kind of classification are the Auditors making up the śrāvaka-gotra, the Individual Buddhas making up the pratyehabuddha-gotra, and the Bodhisattvas making up the bodhisattva-gotra. In the Saṃdhinirmocanasūtra these three types constitute altogether different gotras, which thus coincide with the three separate Vehicles (yāna) as recognized by the Yogācārin/Vijñaptimātratā, school. To these three some sources add the further category of the undetermined (aniyatagotra), which is made up of persons not yet definitively attached to one of the three preceding classes; and the non-gotra (agotra), that is the category made up of persons who cannot be assigned to any spiritual class. Each of the first three categories is thus comprised of persons capable of achieving a particular kind of maturity and spiritual perfection in accordance with their specific type or class, the Auditor then attaining the Awakening (bodhi) characteristic of the Śrāvaka and so on. Especially remarkable in this connexion, and somewhat anomalous as a gotra, is the non-gotra, i.e. that category of persons who seem to have been considered, at least by certain Yogācārin authorities, as spiritual ‘outcastes’ lacking the capacity for attaining spiritual perfection or Awakening of any kind; since they therefore achieve neither bodhi nor nirvāṇa, they represent the same type as the icchantikas to the extent that the latter also are considered to lack this capacity.

TIM EPKENHANS, Die iranische Moderne im Exil: Bibliographie der Zeitschrift Kave, Berlin 1916–1922, Islamwissenschaftliche Quellen und Texte aus deutschen Bibliotheken (Berlin: Klaus Schwarz, 2000). Pp. 216.

2002 ◽  
Vol 34 (1) ◽  
pp. 149-150
Author(s):  
Kamran Arjomand
Keyword(s):  
Intellectual History ◽  
20Th Century ◽  
Doctoral Dissertation ◽  
Early 20Th Century ◽  
Academic Interest ◽  
Intellectual Community ◽  
History Of ◽  
Scholarly Attention

Intellectual history of modernism in Iran has proved to be a subject of lively academic interest. The role of Iranian exiles in late 19th and early 20th century, in particular, has drawn considerable scholarly attention. In recent years, the Iranian press in exile has also become a focus of academic scrutiny. In Germany, Anja Pistor-Hatam has studied the Iranian intellectual community in Istanbul around the newspaper Akhtar (Nachrichtenblatt, Informationsbörse und Diskussionsforum: Ahtar-e Estānbūl (1876–1896)—Anstöße zur frühen persischen Moderne [Münster, 1999]) and Keivandokht Ghahari's doctoral dissertation is concerned with ideas of nationalism and modernism among Iranian intellectuals in Berlin as reflected in the journals Kâveh, Iranshahr, and Ayandeh (Nationalismus und Modernismus in Iran in der Periode zwischen dem Zerfall der Qāğāren-Dynastie und der Machtfestigung Reżā Schah [Berlin, 2001]). In this context, the bibliography of Kâveh is thus a welcomed contribution.

Was Gandhāra Art a Product of Mahāyāna Buddhism?

1964 ◽  
Vol 96 (2) ◽  
pp. 104-119
Author(s):  
Y. Krishan
Keyword(s):  
Buddhist Art ◽  
Human Form ◽  
Mahayana Buddhism ◽  
History Of ◽  
Mahāyāna Buddhism ◽  
The Buddha

I. The Gandhāra and Mathurā Schools of Art made a revolutionary contribution to the traditions and history of Buddhist art. Early Buddhist art was aniconic. At Bhārhut, Sānchi and Amaravātī before the 1st century a.d., the Buddha was represented only in symbols; a riderless horse, the tree or wheel, stūpa, and the rest indicated the great renunciation, enlightenment, preaching of the doctrine and the nirvāṇa. In Gandhāra and Mathurā art, however, the Buddha was represented in human form, and many sculptures representing bodhisattvas have been found in Gandhāra.

Lost in translation? The Treatise on the Mahāyāna Awakening of Faith (Dasheng qixin lun) and its modern readings

2008 ◽  
Vol 71 (2) ◽  
pp. 323-343 ◽  
Author(s):  
Francesca Tarocco
Keyword(s):  
Twentieth Century ◽  
East Asian ◽  
Modern Society ◽  
Sanskrit Text ◽  
Medieval Period ◽  
The West ◽  
Textual History ◽  
English Translations ◽  
History Of ◽  
Lost In Translation

AbstractThe Treatise on the Mahāyāna Awakening of Faith, an indigenous Chinese composition written in the guise of an Indian Buddhist treatise, is one of the most influential texts in the history of East Asian Buddhism. Its outline of the doctrines of buddha nature (foxing), buddha bodies (foshen), and one mind (yixin), among others, served from the medieval period onwards as one of the main foundations of East Asian Buddhist thought and practice. The Treatise is putatively attributed to the Indian writer Aśvaghoṣa, and its current Chinese version was traditionally conceived of as a translation from an original Sanskrit text. In the course of the twentieth century, however, many important scholars of Buddhism have called into question the textual history of the Treatise. Even if the specific circumstances of its creation are still largely unknown, the view that the Treatise is an original Chinese composition (not necessarily written by a native Chinese) is now prevalent among scholars. Meanwhile, and for more than one hundred years, the text has also become a source of knowledge of Buddhism in the West thanks to a number of English translations. After examining the early textual history of the two existing versions of the text, this article will offer some examples of its modern appropriation by a novel group of readers and interpreters, an appropriation that took place during the first decades of the twentieth century amidst efforts to re-envision Chinese and East Asian Buddhist history and the place of Buddhism in modern society.

scholarly journals The religious prism of South East - Asia

2021 ◽  
Vol 6 (8) ◽  
pp. 54-68
Author(s):  
KVVS Satyanarayana Satyanarayana
Keyword(s):  
Religious Beliefs ◽  
Belief Systems ◽  
East Asian ◽  
Religious Tradition ◽  
The Other ◽  
Mahayana Buddhism ◽  
Religious Traditions ◽  
Other Hand ◽  
Confucian Philosophy ◽  
Mahāyāna Buddhism

When two or more religious belief systems are combined into a new system, this is known as religious syncretism. It may also be defined as the incorporation of beliefs from unconnected traditions into a religious tradition. Polytheism and numerous religious affiliations, on the other hand, are seen as diametrically opposed to one another. These situations can arise for a variety of reasons, with the latter scenario occurring quite frequently in areas where multiple religious traditions coexist in close proximity to one another and are actively practised in the culture. It can also occur when a culture is conquered, with the conquerors bringing their religious beliefs with them but not succeeding in completely eradicating the old beliefs, and especially the old practises. Faiths' beliefs or histories may have syncretic components, however members of these so-labeled systems sometimes object to the label's use, particularly those who belong to "revealed" religious systems, such as Abrahamic religions, or any system that takes an exclusivist stance. Syncretism is viewed as a betrayal of the pure truth by some supporters of such beliefs. According to this logic, introducing a belief that is incompatible with the original religion corrupts it and renders it untrue altogether. Indeed, detractors of a certain syncretistic trend may occasionally use the term "syncretism" as a derogatory pejorative, meaning that individuals who attempt to adopt a new idea, belief, or practise into a religious system are really distorting the original faith by doing so. A fatal compromise of the integrity of the prevailing religion is, according to Keith Ferdinando, as a result of this development. Religions that are not exclusivist, on the other hand, are likely to feel free to absorb other traditions into their own systems of thought. Many traditional beliefs in East Asian civilizations have become entwined with Buddhism due to the assumption that Buddhism is compatible with local religions. The Three Teachings, or Triple Religion, which harmonizes Mahayana Buddhism with Confucian philosophy and elements of Taoism, and Shinbutsu-shg, which is a syncretism of Shinto and Buddhism, are two examples of notable concretizations of Buddhism with local beliefs. The Three Teachings, or Triple Religion, harmonizes Mahayana Buddhism with Confucian philosophy and elements of Taoism, and Shinbutsu-shg, which East Asian religious beliefs, practises, and identities (who, by any measure, constitute the majority of the world's Buddhists) frequently incorporate elements of other religious traditions, such as Confucianism, Chinese folk religion.

The Iconostasis and Darśan in Orthodox Christianity and Mahāyāna Buddhism

2020 ◽  
Vol 24 (1-2) ◽  
pp. 38-64
Author(s):  
Junhyoung Michael Shin
Keyword(s):  
Visual Culture ◽  
East Asian ◽  
Russian Orthodox ◽  
Pure Land ◽  
Orthodox Christianity ◽  
Mahayana Buddhism ◽  
Religious Traditions ◽  
The Gaze ◽  
Esoteric Buddhism ◽  
Mahāyāna Buddhism

Abstract This essay discusses how Orthodox Christianity and Mahāyāna Buddhism understood the acts of both seeing and being seen by the divine, and how such ideas affected the making and use of icons in these two religious traditions. I focus on the visual culture of the Byzantine and Russian Orthodox churches between the eleventh and fifteenth centuries, and that of the East Asian Pure Land and Esoteric schools between the ninth and fourteenth centuries, respectively. I interpret the function of the iconostasis as an enduring remnant of the Jewish veil used to obstruct God’s vision. Here, Jacques Lacan’s concepts of the gaze and the screen provide a thought-provoking rationale. In turn, I investigate the mandala and icon in Japanese Esoteric Buddhism, in which both seeing and being seen by the divine were deemed spiritual blessings granted by the divine being. This thematic comparison brings to light the less discussed aspects of Christian and Buddhist visual experiences.

scholarly journals Of Education, Humanism and Civilizational Progress: An Explorative Study of Jaya Prithvi Bahadur Singh’s Life and Work from the Perspective of ‘Global Intellectual History’

HIMALAYA ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 40 (2) ◽  
pp. 59-78
Author(s):  
Stefan Lueder
Keyword(s):  
South Asia ◽  
Intellectual History ◽  
Historical Research ◽  
Central Himalayas ◽  
Explorative Study ◽  
Methodological Nationalism ◽  
The World ◽  
History Of ◽  
Research Questions ◽  
Scholarly Attention

The Himalayas have long been perceived as a region at the margins between South Asia, Southeast Asia and Central Asia. Since the turn of the 21st century, however, the area received continuously more scholarly attention, particularly with regards to historiography and historical research. Researchers started to explore the manifold historical connections, entanglements, and interdependencies of the Himalayas with its neighboring regions and the rest of the world, which have long been disregarded due to the prevalence of implicit methodological nationalism, historiographical isolationism, and exceptionalism. Anticipating these changing perspectives, my paper explores the life and works of Jaya Prithvi Bahadur Singh in an attempt to render the global historical connections of the Central Himalayas further visible and enrich broader debates from the perspective of ‘Global Intellectual History’. At the intersection of this newly emerging discipline and the intellectual history of the Himalayas, my paper seeks to address the research questions: Who was Jaya Prithvi Bahadur Singh and why is his life and work relevant for a better understanding of the multifaceted historical entanglements of the Central Himalayas? I argue that Jaya Prithvi’s thoughts, specifically those on education, humanism, and civilizational progress will add new thematic dimensions, empirically diversify and, thus, broaden the scope of contemporary discourses on ‘Global Intellectual History’ as well as Himalayan History.

A Brief History of Buddhist Transnational Connections

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Tan Lee Ooi
Keyword(s):  
Religious Beliefs ◽  
Religious Leaders ◽  
Immigrant Communities ◽  
Mahayana Buddhism ◽  
Rubber Plantations ◽  
Transnational Connections ◽  
History Of ◽  
Chinese Buddhists ◽  
Mahāyāna Buddhism

This chapter elaborates on the historical connection between Malaya and the larger Buddhist world. Chinese Buddhism’s roots in Malaya started when the immigrant communities that arrived as laborers in tin mining and rubber plantations brought their religious beliefs. Burmese and Sinhalese brought the Theravada traditions that influenced Chinese Buddhists, while the Chinese inherited a loosely defined Mahayana Buddhism mixed with Chinese customs and popular religions. The idea of modern religion was brought by religious leaders of various traditions to revitalize Buddhism.

scholarly journals WHAT, IF ANYTHING, IS MAHĀYĀNA BUDDHISM? PROBLEMS OF DEFINITIONS AND CLASSIFICATIONS

Numen ◽  
2002 ◽  
Vol 49 (4) ◽  
pp. 355-405 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jonathan Silk
Keyword(s):  
Sufficient Conditions ◽  
Necessary And Sufficient Conditions ◽  
Mahayana Buddhism ◽  
Alternative Employment ◽  
History Of ◽  
Mahāyāna Buddhism ◽  
Definition Of ◽  
Necessary And Sufficient

AbstractThis study investigates some problems regarding the definition of Mahāyāna Buddhism. Tracing the history of the notion in modern scholarship, it pays particular attention to the question of the relation between Mahāyāna and so-called Hīnayāna or Sectarian Buddhism. Finding the commonly used methods of classification which rely on necessary and sufficient conditions to be inadequate to the task, it suggests the alternative employment of polythetic classification, a method which permits a constantly variable set of questions and data to be taken into account in the most flexible and accommodating manner.

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