Early Asceticism in India

Early Asceticism in India

Author: Piotr Balcerowicz

Publisher: Routledge

Published: 2015-09-16

Total Pages: 329

ISBN-13: 1317538528

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Ājīvikism was once ranked one of the most important religions in India between the 4th and 2nd centuries BCE, after Buddhism, ‘Brahmanism’ and before Jainism, but is now a forgotten Indian religion. However, Jainism has remained an integral part of the religious landscape of South Asia, despite the common beginnings shared with Ājīvikism. By rediscovering, reconstructing, and examining the Ājīvikism doctrine, its art, origins and development, this book provides new insight into Ājīvikism, and discusses how this information enables us to better understand its impact on Jainism and its role in the development of Indian religion and philosophy. This book explains how, why and when Jainism developed its strikingly unique logic and epistemology and what historical and doctrinal factors prompted the ideas which later led to the formulation of the doctrine of multiplexity of reality (anekānta-vāda). It also provides answers to difficult passages of Buddhist Sāmañña-phala-sutta that baffled both Buddhist commentators and modern researchers. Offering clearer perspectives on the origins of Jainism the book will be an invaluable contribution to Jaina Studies, Asian Religion and Religious History.


The =Aśrama System

The =Aśrama System

Author: Patrick Olivelle

Publisher: Oxford University Press

Published: 1993-10-14

Total Pages: 289

ISBN-13: 0195344782

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The lesser known and explored of the two pillars of Hinduism--=aśrama and var.na--=aśrama is the name given to a system of four distinct and legitimate ways of leading a religious life: as a celibate student, a married householder, a forest hermit, and a world renouncer. In this, the first full-length study of the =aśrama system, Olivelle uncovers its origin and traces its subsequent history. He examines in depth its relationship to other institutional and doctrinal aspects of the Brahmanical world and its position within Brahmanical theology, and assesses its significance within the history of Indian religion. Throughout, he argues that the =aśrama system is primarily a theological construct and that the system and its history should be carefully distinguished from the socio-religious institutions comprehended by the system and from their respective histories.


Asceticism in Early Taoist Religion

Asceticism in Early Taoist Religion

Author: Stephen Eskildsen

Publisher: State University of New York Press

Published: 1998-10-01

Total Pages: 244

ISBN-13: 1438402155

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Using a wide variety of original sources, this book brings to light how and why asceticism was carried out by Taoists during the first six centuries of the common era. It examines the practices of fasting, celibacy, self-imposed poverty, wilderness seclusion, and sleep-avoidance, and it discusses the beliefs and attitudes that motivated and justified such drastic actions. Asceticism in Early Taoist Religion demonstrates that although Taoist ascetics pursued austerities that were extremely rigorous, they did not seek to mortify the flesh. Through their austerities, they almost always sought to improve their physical strength and health, because they aspired toward physical longevity as well as spiritual perfection. Even though they sometimes taxed their bodies severely, they believed that their strength and health would eventually be restored if they persevered. The highest goal was to ascend to divine realms in an immortal body. However, certain beliefs that emerged during this period—particularly those influenced by Buddhism—may have caused some Taoist ascetics to virtually abandon their concern with longevity, and to focus disproportionately upon the perfection of the spirit. Such ascetics were more likely to purposely harm and neglect their bodies, contradictory as this may have been to the cherished ideals of the Taoist religion. Eskildsen traces how this problem may have emerged, and how it was viewed and dealt with by those who maintained the ideal of longevity.


Pneumatology and the Christian-Buddhist Dialogue

Pneumatology and the Christian-Buddhist Dialogue

Author: Amos Yong

Publisher: BRILL

Published: 2012-07-26

Total Pages: 322

ISBN-13: 900423117X

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This project at the interface of Buddhist-Christian studies, comparative theology, and Christian systematic theology proceeds by way of exploring questions related to the presence and activity of the Holy Spirit in a 21st century world of many faiths.


Ancient Indian Social History

Ancient Indian Social History

Author: Romila Thapar

Publisher: Orient Blackswan

Published: 1978

Total Pages: 360

ISBN-13: 9788125008088

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A collection of papers that interprets afresh, known facts about the early period of Indian history up to the end of the first millennium AD. The papers discuss several associated themes such as society and religion, social classification and mobility and the study of regional history. A useful reference book for postgraduate students of History.


Buddhist Saints in India

Buddhist Saints in India

Author: Reginald A. Ray

Publisher: Oxford University Press, USA

Published: 1994

Total Pages: 527

ISBN-13: 0195134834

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Calling for a reconceptualization of Indian Buddhist history that takes into account the essential role played by the saints of the forest, Ray proposes a new three-fold model of Buddhism, that adds the forest renunciant to the well-known figures of the Buddhist monastic and layperson. Of primary concern to scholars of Buddhism, Indian religions, Asian studies, and religious studies, Buddhist Saints in India will also interest those who study hagiography.


Tapta-Mārga

Tapta-Mārga

Author: Walter O. Kaelber

Publisher: State University of New York Press

Published: 1989-09-15

Total Pages: 224

ISBN-13: 1438408145

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This is the most comprehensive study yet made of tapas and of asceticism during the Vedic period. It also explains three other essential components of Vedic thought: sacrifice, homology, and knowledge. These concepts, along with tapas and initiation symbolism, reveal the heart of Vedic religion. therefore, this study presents a "history of Vedic religion," organized around the central building blocks of that tradition.


Indian History

Indian History

Author:

Publisher: Allied Publishers

Published: 1988

Total Pages: 1418

ISBN-13: 9788184245684

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Rodeo researcher and writer Reba Perry Blakely discusses Indian history in the State of Washington, especially the Treaty of Walla Walla. She also attempts to interest the National Cowboy Hall of Fame in financing a book on the subject that she proposes to write and talks about her own family history.


Tracing the Path of Yoga

Tracing the Path of Yoga

Author: Stuart Ray Sarbacker

Publisher: State University of New York Press

Published: 2021-01-01

Total Pages: 308

ISBN-13: 1438481233

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Clear, accessible, and meticulously annotated, Tracing the Path of Yoga offers a comprehensive survey of the history and philosophy of yoga that will be invaluable to both specialists and to nonspecialists seeking a deeper understanding of this fascinating subject. Stuart Ray Sarbacker argues that yoga can be understood first and foremost as a discipline of mind and body that is represented in its narrative and philosophical literature as resulting in both numinous and cessative accomplishments that correspond, respectively, to the attainment of this-worldly power and otherworldly liberation. Sarbacker demonstrates how the yogic quest for perfection as such is situated within the concrete realities of human life, intersecting with issues of politics, economics, class, gender, and sexuality, as well as reflecting larger Indic religious and philosophical ideals.