Becoming Buddhist

Author : Donald K. Swearer
Publisher : Princeton University Press
Page : 351 pages
File Size : 44,6 Mb
Release : 2020-07-21
Category : Religion
ISBN : 9780691216027

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Becoming the Buddha by Donald K. Swearer Pdf

Becoming the Buddha is the first book-length study of a key ritual of Buddhist practice in Asia: the consecration of a Buddha image or "new Buddha," a ceremony by which the Buddha becomes present or alive. Through a richly detailed, accessible exploration of this ritual in northern Thailand, an exploration that stands apart from standard text-based or anthropological approaches, Donald Swearer makes a major contribution to our understanding of the Buddha image, its role in Buddhist devotional life, and its relationship to the veneration of Buddha relics. Blending ethnography, analysis, and Buddhist texts related to this mimetic reenactment of the night of the Buddha's enlightenment, he demonstrates that the image becomes the Buddha's surrogate by being invested with the Buddha's story and charged with the extraordinary power of Buddhahood. The process by which this transformation occurs through chant, sermon, meditation, and the presence of charismatic monks is at the heart of this book. Known as "opening the eyes of the Buddha," image consecration traditions throughout Buddhist Asia share much in common. Within the cultural context of northern Thailand, Becoming the Buddha illuminates scriptural accounts of the making of the first Buddha image; looks at debates over the ritual's historical origin, at Buddhological insights achieved, and at the hermeneutics of absence and presence; and provides a thematic comparison of several Buddhist traditions.

Author : Yuhang Li
Publisher : Columbia University Press
Page : 365 pages
File Size : 49,9 Mb
Release : 2020-02-18
Category : Religion
ISBN : 9780231548731

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Becoming Guanyin by Yuhang Li Pdf

Winner, 2024 Geiss-Hsu Book Prize for Best First Book, Society for Ming Studies The goddess Guanyin began in India as the bodhisattva Avalokiteśvara, originally a male deity. He gradually became indigenized as a female deity in China over the span of nearly a millennium. By the Ming (1358–1644) and Qing (1644–1911) periods, Guanyin had become the most popular female deity in China. In Becoming Guanyin, Yuhang Li examines how lay Buddhist women in late imperial China forged a connection with the subject of their devotion, arguing that women used their own bodies to echo that of Guanyin. Li focuses on the power of material things to enable women to access religious experience and transcendence. In particular, she examines how secular Buddhist women expressed mimetic devotion and pursued religious salvation through creative depictions of Guanyin in different media such as painting and embroidery and through bodily portrayals of the deity using jewelry and dance. These material displays expressed a worldview that differed from yet fit within the Confucian patriarchal system. Attending to the fabrication and use of “women’s things” by secular women, Li offers new insight into the relationships between worshipped and worshipper in Buddhist practice. Combining empirical research with theoretical insights from both art history and Buddhist studies, Becoming Guanyin is a field-changing analysis that reveals the interplay between material culture, religion, and their gendered transformations.

Author : Whitney Stewart
Publisher : Heian International
Page : 0 pages
File Size : 45,9 Mb
Release : 2008
Category : Buddhism
ISBN : 0893469564

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Becoming Buddha by Whitney Stewart Pdf

An intriguing and captivating introduction to the story of Buddhism.

Author : Bano Laurent
Publisher : Unknown
Page : 50 pages
File Size : 48,9 Mb
Release : 2015-04-06
Category : Electronic
ISBN : 1532751818

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Becoming a Buddhist by Bano Laurent Pdf

Buddhism continues to grow in popularity in the Western world as more and more people are becoming aware of Buddhist philosophies and the Buddha's teachings about the purpose of life and how a person can be the best version of himself on a daily basis. Approximately 350 million people around the world already practice Buddhism, and that number is growing by the day. You probably already know that the Buddhist religion explains how to take a different perspective on personal desires and materialism, poverty and social inequalities, and how to actually overcome worldly attitudes and unimportant concerns. But what exactly is Buddhism? And how did it begin? Who is the Buddha? And how do the Buddhist philosophies apply to your daily life? These questions - and more - are exactly what this book was designed to address. By the end of this short read, you will have a solid understanding of the Buddhist religion, including all the relevant facts, a brief overview of its history, and a strong foundation of its beliefs and principles from which to grow. So if you're ready to learn more and enhance your understanding about the Buddhist's road to Nirvana, then let's get started!

Author : Glenys Eddy
Publisher : A&C Black
Page : 290 pages
File Size : 42,7 Mb
Release : 2012-02-02
Category : Social Science
ISBN : 9781441118462

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Becoming Buddhist by Glenys Eddy Pdf

Exploration of the nature of the socialization and commitment process in Western Buddhist contexts through use of interview material with individual Anglo-Australian converts.

Author : Renuka Singh
Publisher : Penguin Books India
Page : 202 pages
File Size : 42,8 Mb
Release : 2011
Category : Philosophy
ISBN : 9780670085378

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Becoming Buddha by Renuka Singh Pdf

Becoming Buddha compiles the invaluable teachings of contemporary Buddhist teachers who have sought to illuminate the ways of the Buddha in a manner that is comprehensible to a wide audience. These lectures comprise easy to follow dialogues, with anecdotes from the Buddha's own life as well as the lives of ordinary people, to explain how everyone can attain Buddhahood. The message underlying these teachings is that becoming Buddha is not an unattainable ideal. Each person can be a Buddha by becoming the perfect spiritual practitioner, one who wants enlightenment for all fellow creatures. This is not achieved simply through prayers or offerings but through the practical application of Buddha's wisdom to our own lives. The book reaffirms the significance of taking responsibility for our actions and instructs us to cherish all sentient beings in this life. The friendly, empathetic tone puts the reader at ease, reducing the distance between teacher and disciple. Becoming Buddha includes a previously unrecorded lecture by the Dalai Lama, rare photographs of the other educators who speak through this book and an article by eminent Buddhist scholar Professor Robert Thurman, which locates enlightenment in a socio-historical context, establishing that it is not merely a spiritual desire but an essential tool for survival today.

Author : Chogyam Trungpa
Publisher : Shambhala Publications
Page : 273 pages
File Size : 54,7 Mb
Release : 2019-06-04
Category : Religion
ISBN : 9781611806922

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Shambhala by Chogyam Trungpa Pdf

The classic guide to enlightened living that first presented the Buddhist path of the warrior to Western readers—with a new foreword and cover presentation. This timeless classic presents a vision of basic human wisdom that synchronizes the mind and body—what Chögyam Trungpa called the sacred path of the warrior. This discipline embodies characteristics that many cultures, regions, and spiritual traditions throughout time have found valuable. The sacred warrior conquers the world not through violence or aggression but through gentleness, courage, and self-knowledge, discovering the basic goodness of human life and radiating that goodness out into the world for the peace and sanity of others. That’s what the Shambhala teachings are all about, and this is the book that has been presenting them to a wide and appreciative audience for more than thirty years. This book is part of the Shambhala Pocket Library series. The Shambhala Pocket Library is a collection of short, portable teachings from notable figures across religious traditions and classic texts. The covers in this series are rendered by Colorado artist Robert Spellman. The books in this collection distill the wisdom and heart of the work Shambhala Publications has published over 50 years into a compact format that is collectible, reader-friendly, and applicable to everyday life.

Author : Franklyn Sills
Publisher : North Atlantic Books
Page : 329 pages
File Size : 49,6 Mb
Release : 2008-09-23
Category : Body, Mind & Spirit
ISBN : 9781556437625

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Being and Becoming by Franklyn Sills Pdf

Being and Becoming is a wide-ranging analysis of the nature of being and selfhood. The book presents an original, integrated paradigm with the aim of creating a comprehensive overview of the human condition—and finding ways to alleviate suffering. In essence, the book explores the question, “What does it mean to be?” Being and Becoming begins with fresh interpretations of the work of Martin Heidegger and Buddhist, Taoist, and Christian writings as they relate to this question. Most of Being and Becoming, however, is about the nature of self and selfhood as a process of “I-am-this,” “my becoming” rather than “my being.” Author Franklyn Sills interweaves concepts from object relations theories, psychodynamics, pre- and perinatal psychology, and Buddhist self-psychology, along with his own rich experience as a Buddhist monk, somatic therapist, and psychotherapist, into his inquiry. The works of Fairbairn and Winnicott are discussed in depth, as are Winnicott and Stern’s insights into the nature of the early holding environment, the infant-mother relational field, and early perceptual dynamics. A thoughtful guide for psychologists, therapists, counselors, and other health professionals, the book is also ideal for Buddhists and anyone looking for alternative therapy models.

Author : Glenys Eddy
Publisher : Bloomsbury Publishing
Page : 288 pages
File Size : 49,6 Mb
Release : 2012-02-02
Category : Religion
ISBN : 9781441161451

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Becoming Buddhist by Glenys Eddy Pdf

What does it mean to be a Western Buddhist? For the predominantly Anglo-Australian affiliates of two Western Buddhist centres in Australia, the author proposes an answer to this question, and finds support for it from interviews and her own participant-observation experience.Practitioners' prior experiences of experimentation with spiritual groups and practices-and their experiences of participation, practice and self-transformation-are examined with respect to their roles in practitioners' appropriation of the Buddhist worldview, and their subsequent commitment to the path to enlightenment.Religious commitment is experienced as a decision-point, itself the effect of the individual's experimental immersion in the Centre's activities.During this time the claims of the Buddhist worldview are tested against personal experience and convictions. Using rich ethnographic data and Lofland and Skonovd's experimental conversion motif as a model for theorizing the stages of involvement leading to commitment, the author demonstrates that this study has a wider application to our understanding of the role of alternative religions in western contexts.

Author : Thubten Yeshe
Publisher : Simon and Schuster
Page : 226 pages
File Size : 54,5 Mb
Release : 2012-06-04
Category : Religion
ISBN : 9780861719013

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Becoming the Compassion Buddha by Thubten Yeshe Pdf

Not only was Lama Yeshe one of the most beloved Tibetan Buddhist masters of the late twentieth century, he was also a remarkably effective teacher and communicator. In Becoming the Compassion Buddha, just as he did with his bestselling Introduction to Tantra, he once again demonstrates his extraordinary ability to present practices that once were considered arcane or hidden in a way that is clear and understandable to the general reader. In these pages, Lama Yeshe guides readers through the tantric practice of Avalokiteshvara, the Buddha of Compassion, basing his instructions on a text written by His Holiness the Dalai Lama at age nineteen. He gives special emphasis to mahamudra, the emptiness of one's own mind, and demystifies these esoteric techniques, clearly showing them for what they are: highly developed psychology. Throughout, Lama Yeshe presents his approachable teachings by drawing on examples from daily life and introducing meditation practices that all can follow. Becoming the Compassion Buddha is an extraordinary book that opens new doors for countless readers.

Author : Giulio Cesare Giacobbe
Publisher : Unknown
Page : 160 pages
File Size : 48,9 Mb
Release : 2009
Category : Spiritual life
ISBN : 1848370334

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How to Become a Buddha in 5 Weeks by Giulio Cesare Giacobbe Pdf

Author : Dzongsar Jamyang Khyentse
Publisher : Shambhala Publications
Page : 144 pages
File Size : 40,6 Mb
Release : 2008-08-12
Category : Religion
ISBN : 0834823160

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What Makes You Not a Buddhist by Dzongsar Jamyang Khyentse Pdf

So you think you're a Buddhist? Think again. Tibetan Buddhist master Dzongsar Jamyang Khyentse, one of the most creative and innovative lamas teaching today, throws down the gauntlet to the Buddhist world, challenging common misconceptions, stereotypes, and fantasies. With wit and irony, Khysentse urges readers to move beyond the superficial trappings of Buddhism—beyond the romance with beads, incense, or exotic robes—straight to the heart of what the Buddha taught.

Author : Robert Sachs
Publisher : Watkins Media Limited
Page : 207 pages
File Size : 43,9 Mb
Release : 2012-01-01
Category : Body, Mind & Spirit
ISBN : 9781780282862

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Becoming Buddha by Robert Sachs Pdf

To "Become Buddha" is to AWAKE. We need to awake to our personal responsibility-not only for our own lives but for the world around us. Individual efforts can change the world. This book does not promise enlightenment but it will provide a path-a path that, if you follow it, will transform your life. Buddhist masters say that we are in a "Dark Age". Terrorist attacks, wars, economic failures, and natural disasters have created an atmosphere of fear. Tibetan masters encourage us not to lose heart-catastrophes have happened before and we have overcome them. Robert Sachs shows how Tibetan Buddhist teachings can have a real influence on our personal lived and equally on contemporary politics. He presents the four thoughts that revolutionize the mind, and demonstrates how we must take personal responsibility for the future. The Four Noble Truths show us there is no need to despair; and the four components of action will change our attitude to life and give us practical instruction on how to act. Using the power of meditation to make a difference, we can turn the inherent goodness of the human race into positive energy to help transform the world. The Venerable Chogyam Trungpa Rinpoche used to say, "A mind that is transformed, free and cheerful can help create peace and happiness. Let us start down the path from this very moment."

Author : Pema Chödrön
Publisher : Shambhala Publications
Page : 409 pages
File Size : 52,8 Mb
Release : 2018-09-04
Category : Religion
ISBN : 9781611806328

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Becoming Bodhisattvas by Pema Chödrön Pdf

Best-selling American Buddhist nun Pema Chödrön presents a friendly and encouraging guide to spiritual practice for all those who want to take up the path of the bodhisattva--one who aspires to live life with courage, generosity, patience, fearlessness, and compassion. The Way of the Bodhisattva has long been treasured as an indispensable guide to enlightened living, offering a window into the greatest potential within us all. Written in the eighth century by the scholar and saint Shantideva, it presents a comprehensive view of the Mahayana Buddhist tradition’s highest ideal—to commit oneself to the life of a bodhisattva warrior, a person who is wholeheartedly dedicated to the freedom and common good of all beings. And it has inspired many of the tradition’s greatest teachers, providing a remarkable source of insight on the means by which we may heal ourselves and our troubled world. These essential teachings present the core of the Buddhist path, from cultivating deep-seated confidence to infusing one’s life with selflessness, joyfulness, kindness, and compassion. Pema Chödrön here invites you to journey more deeply into this liberating way of life, presenting Shantideva’s text verse-by-verse and offering both illuminating stories and practical exercises to enrich the text and bring its timeless teachings to life in our world today. Previously published under the title No Time to Lose.

Author : Sakyong Mipham Rinpoche,Sakyong Mipham
Publisher : Harmony
Page : 226 pages
File Size : 40,5 Mb
Release : 2013
Category : Buddhists
ISBN : 9780770437435

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The Shambhala Principle by Sakyong Mipham Rinpoche,Sakyong Mipham Pdf

Examines the principles of Shambhala to reveal the inherent goodness of humanity and explain how readers can rediscover inner peace through compatible practices of meditation.