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Abstract: Abstract Starting from the allegation of the Pure Land tradition “as a deviant form of Buddhism,” the paper looks at non-dualist and dualist features in the teachings of the Japanese medieval Pure Land master Shinran Shōnin (1173–1263). It is suggested that Shinran should be understood within the Mahāyāna framework of the two truths or realities (satyadvaya). Shinran retains both perspectives in a paradoxical way implicating that non-dualism needs to be realized in a spiritual practice with strong dualist aspects. Non-dual ultimate reality manifests itself within conventional reality as the all-embracing compassionate “other-power” (tariki) that evokes an existential attitude of radical entrusting (shinjin) thereby evoking a liberative transformation “naturally” (jinen). PubDate: 2023-11-03
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Abstract: Abstract This study considers the usage of mantra for and by the dying, addressing a lacuna in Hindu death studies. This topic is approached by examining a selection of texts, including the Garuḍa Purāṇa, Upaniṣads, and Bhagavad Gītā, alongside ethnographic accounts, considering to whom these mantras are addressed. Particular focus is given to the literary and ritual usage of the Mahā Mṛtyuṃjaya Mantra as a case study. A wide-angle approach is adopted, contingent on the scope of ancient and contemporary literature that touches upon deathbed chanting, with findings supplemented by the author’s auto-ethnographic accounts as a spiritual care practitioner providing this service for cancer patients with Ganga Prem Hospice in Rishikesh, India. The power of deathbed mantra recitation is emphasized, as well as its multiplicity of expressions across a variety of communities and geographies, which is represented even within early textual materials. The recitation of mantra for and by the dying may function to relieve pain, call forth divine intimacy, and grant liberation. Through this practice, the dying subject may overcome death itself. PubDate: 2023-10-16
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Abstract: Abstract Bas-reliefs of scenes from the epics Rāmāyaṇa and Mahābhārata are extremely common in temples all over India, but depictions of scenes from a Sanskrit drama (mahānāṭaka) in places of worship are virtually unheard of. A few bas-reliefs at the Lokeśvara Temple and the Trailokyeśvara Temple at Paṭṭadakal depict scenes centring around a female figure, who is arguably Śakuntalā. The story of Śakuntalā is first mentioned in the Mahābhārata and was subsequently dramatised by Kālidāsa in the fifth century in the Abhijñānaśākuntalam. From a comparison of these bas-reliefs with the aforesaid texts in the original Sanskrit, it is evident that they match the storyline in the drama better than that of the epic. Apart from corroborating the probability that these reliefs may have been inspired by a Sanskrit drama, this paper also explores how the rasas, which can normally be experienced through live performances or literature, can also be depicted and communicated through a non-dynamic medium. Additionally, this paper demonstrates that the works of Kālidāsa were known and cherished by the Cālukya royal figures, some of whom memorialised them in stone, in an unusual form of temple iconography in the two temples at Paṭṭadakal. PubDate: 2023-07-26 DOI: 10.1007/s42240-023-00148-7
Please help us test our new pre-print finding feature by giving the pre-print link a rating. A 5 star rating indicates the linked pre-print has the exact same content as the published article.
Please help us test our new pre-print finding feature by giving the pre-print link a rating. A 5 star rating indicates the linked pre-print has the exact same content as the published article.
Please help us test our new pre-print finding feature by giving the pre-print link a rating. A 5 star rating indicates the linked pre-print has the exact same content as the published article.
Abstract: Abstract The discourse on non-human animal personhood is at once ontological and axiological; it can involve a proposal of (what are taken to be) ontological facts about criteria for personhood and usually implies a positive axiological valuation of those who are deemed to be “persons.” The argument in favor of non-human personhood is critical for environmentalists and animal advocates alike. It is often believed that as people increasingly recognize animals as persons that the perceived human likeness to animals (the ontological component) more readily inspires empathetic pangs (an axiological component) in response to the exploitation of animals. As the public increasingly supports the idea of animal personhood, such a designation can eventually come to have legal and legislative implications as animal personhood becomes an important basis for the argument of legal protection—a legal argument that is more likely to be successful as this notion of non-human and animal personhood has increasing paradigmatic currency in the public at large. Elsewhere, I have shown how themes in the Bhāgavata Purāṇa (BhP or Śrīmad Bhāgavatam) affirm animal advocacy and animal rights in a way that is relevant to Gauḍīya (or Caitanya) Vaiṣṇava (GV) theology (Bohanec, 2018). This current work is a further movement in the construction of an animal-centered ecotheology that affirms animal personhood—where personhood is foundational to animal rights—from the perspective of the Gauḍīya tradition by investigating the implications of the 17th chapter of the Second Book (Madhya Līlā or just Madhya) of the Caitanya Caritāmṛta (CC). PubDate: 2023-06-09 DOI: 10.1007/s42240-023-00146-9
Please help us test our new pre-print finding feature by giving the pre-print link a rating. A 5 star rating indicates the linked pre-print has the exact same content as the published article.
Please help us test our new pre-print finding feature by giving the pre-print link a rating. A 5 star rating indicates the linked pre-print has the exact same content as the published article.
Please help us test our new pre-print finding feature by giving the pre-print link a rating. A 5 star rating indicates the linked pre-print has the exact same content as the published article.
Please help us test our new pre-print finding feature by giving the pre-print link a rating. A 5 star rating indicates the linked pre-print has the exact same content as the published article.
Please help us test our new pre-print finding feature by giving the pre-print link a rating. A 5 star rating indicates the linked pre-print has the exact same content as the published article.
Abstract: Abstract The offering of sevā in its more recent sense of organized service to humanity has been central to engaged Hinduism. Despite the scale of the practice of sevā by Hindutva-inspired organizations, scholarly studies have tended to focus on the political rather than the cultural and religious dimensions of their activities. An examination of the nature and extent of these organizations’ commitment to sevā reveals that, far from being monolithic in character, these organizations are characterized by different blends and balances of cultural, political, and religious aspirations and symbolism. This article explores examples of sevā activities drawn from two Hindutva-inspired organizations, the Rashtriya Svayamsevak Sangh (RSS) and the more recently formed Vivekananda Kendra, and aspects of the development of this practice within these groups. It considers what such groups might understand by engaged Hinduism, their goals, how they seek to realize these goals, and the relationship between their sevā activities and their wider cultural and political agendas, and some would say, in the terms of this volume, about the “benevolence” of their aims. PubDate: 2023-03-15 DOI: 10.1007/s42240-023-00139-8
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Hybrid journal (It can contain Open Access articles)