Companions in the Darkness
Companions in the Darkness

Author: Diana Gruver

Publisher: InterVarsity Press

Published: 2020-11-24

Total Pages: 195

ISBN-13: 0830853383

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The church's relationship with depression has been fraught, and we still have a long way to go. Drawing on her own experience with depression, Diana Gruver looks back into church history and finds depression in the lives of some of our most beloved saints, telling their stories in fresh ways and offering practical wisdom both for those in the darkness and those who care for them.

The Notion of Solitude in Pali Buddhist Literature
The Notion of Solitude in Pali Buddhist Literature

Author: Indaka Nishan Weerasekera

Publisher: Bloomsbury Publishing

Published: 2024-05-30

Total Pages: 273

ISBN-13: 1350426083

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Exploring how notions of solitude in Pali literature are encompassed in various literary forms, such as stock formulae, poetry, narrative, and imagery, this book includes close analysis of some of the most famous Buddhist verses about solitary practice. Indaka Nishan Weerasekera considers how solitude is valued as one significant aspect of the Buddhist path, including how the imagery of landscape, especially the forest, serves to both inspire solitary practice as well as functions as a metaphor for meditation. The author employs a cross-section of primary sources to explore the practical and psychological aspects of solitude in relation to Buddhist meditation, as well as relational/attitudinal concepts such as renunciation or desirelessness, independence, and self-reliance. This 'lonely' aspect of the Buddhist path sits alongside the 'communal' aspect of the Buddhist teachings. Together, they serve to maintain monastic harmony, while the 'social' aspect preserves monastic relations with wider society.