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Esoteric Buddhism (book)
''Esoteric Buddhism'' is a book originally published in 1883 in London; it was compiled by a member of the Theosophical Society, A. P. Sinnett. It was one of the first books written for the purpose of explaining theosophy to the general public, and was "made up of the author's correspondence with an Indian mystic." This is the most significant theosophical work of the author. According to Goodrick-Clarke, it "disseminated the basic teachings of Theosophy in its new Asian cast." From history of compilation Through the mediation of Blavatsky Sinnett began a correspondence in 1880 with the two adepts, who sponsored the Theosophical Society, the mahatmas Kuthumi and Morya. Hammer noted that between 1880 and 1884 Sinnett received from the mahatmas circa one hundred twenty letters with explanation of "occult cosmology". From this material, he attempted to formulate in his new book "the basis of a revised theosophy." By foundation of the book became "Cosmological notes" received fr ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Alfred Percy Sinnett
Alfred Percy Sinnett (18 January 1840 – 26 June 1921) was an English author and theosophist. Biography Sinnett was born in London. His father died while he was young, as in 1851 Sinnett was listed as a "Scholar – London University", living with his mother Jane, who is listed as a widow and whose occupation is listed as "Periodical Literature"; his older sister Sophia, age 22, was a teacher. Jane's sister Sarah, age 48, was also a teacher. In 1870 Sinnett married his wife Patience, probably in the London area. He is listed in the 1871 England Census at age 31, as a Journalist, born in Middlesex. His wife Patience is 27, and her mother Clarissa Edenson a "Landowner", is living with them.By 1879, Sinnett had moved to India where he was "... the Editor of ''The Pioneer'', the leading English Daily of India..." He relates in his book, ''The Occult World'' that: "...on the first occasion of my making Madame Blavatsky's acquaintance she became a guest at my home at Allaha ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Olav Hammer
Olav Hammer (born 1958) is a Swedish professor at the University of Southern Denmark in Odense working in the field of history of religion. Career Hammer has written four books in Swedish and one monograph ''Claiming Knowledge: Strategies of Epistemology from Theosophy to the New Age'' (2001) in English.LIBRIS record foOlav Hammer/ref> This volume, which was also Hammer's doctoral dissertation in 2000 at Lund University, investigates the rhetorical strategies of legitimization of a number of related new religious movements. Hammer is also editor of several books, including ''Polemical Encounters'' (with Kocku von Stuckrad, Brill 2007), ''The Invention of Sacred Tradition'' (with James R. Lewis, Cambridge UP 2007), ''Alternative Christs'' (Cambridge UP 2009), ''Cambridge Companion to New Religious Movements'' (with Mikael Rothstein, Cambridge UP 2012), and ''Western Esotericism in Scandinavia'' (with Henrik Bogdan, Brill 2016). He was from 2009 to 2016 one of two executive editors ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Je Tsongkhapa
Tsongkhapa ('','' meaning: "the man from Tsongkha" or "the Man from Onion Valley", c. 1357–1419) was an influential Tibetan Buddhist monk, philosopher and tantric yogi, whose activities led to the formation of the Gelug school of Tibetan Buddhism.Tsong khapa (2006), pp. ix-x. He is also known by his ordained name Losang Drakpa (, Skt. Sumatikīrti) or simply as "Je Rinpoche" (, "Precious Lord"). He is also known by Chinese as Zongkapa Lobsang Zhaba or just Zōngkàbā (宗喀巴). Tsongkhapa was born in Amdo, the son of a Tibetan Longben Tribal leader who also once served as an official of the Yuan Dynasty. As a monk, he studied under numerous teachers of the various Tibetan Buddhist traditions which flourished in central Tibet, including Sakya, Jonang, Kagyu and Kadam. Tsongkhapa was a prolific author with a broad knowledge of Buddhist philosophy, logic, hermeneutics and practice. He wrote numerous works on madhyamaka philosophy (such as ''Ocean of Reasoning,'' a comment ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Tibet
Tibet (; ''Böd''; ) is a region in East Asia, covering much of the Tibetan Plateau and spanning about . It is the traditional homeland of the Tibetan people. Also resident on the plateau are some other ethnic groups such as Monpa people, Monpa, Tamang people, Tamang, Qiang people, Qiang, Sherpa people, Sherpa and Lhoba peoples and now also considerable numbers of Han Chinese and Hui people, Hui settlers. Since Annexation of Tibet by the People's Republic of China, 1951, the entire plateau has been under the administration of the People's Republic of China, a major portion in the Tibet Autonomous Region, and other portions in the Qinghai and Sichuan provinces. Tibet is the highest region on Earth, with an average elevation of . Located in the Himalayas, the highest elevation in Tibet is Mount Everest, Earth's highest mountain, rising 8,848.86 m (29,032 ft) above sea level. The Tibetan Empire emerged in the 7th century. At its height in the 9th century, the Tibet ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Major Religious Groups
The world's principal religions and spiritual traditions may be classified into a small number of major groups, though this is not a uniform practice. This theory began in the 18th century with the goal of recognizing the relative levels of civility in different societies, but this practice has since fallen into disrepute in many contemporary cultures. History of religious categories Christian categorizations Initially, Christians had a simple dichotomy of world beliefs: Christian civility versus foreign heresy or barbarity. In the 18th century, "heresy" was clarified to mean Judaism and Islam; along with paganism, this created a fourfold classification which spawned such works as John Toland's ''Nazarenus, or Jewish, Gentile, and Mahometan Christianity'', which represented the three Abrahamic religions as different "nations" or sects within ''religion'' itself, the "true monotheism." Daniel Defoe described the original definition as follows: "Religion is properly the Wor ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Esoteric
Western esotericism, also known as esotericism, esoterism, and sometimes the Western mystery tradition, is a term scholars use to categorise a wide range of loosely related ideas and movements that developed within Western society. These ideas and currents are united since they are largely distinct both from orthodox Judeo-Christian religion and Enlightenment rationalism. Esotericism has pervaded various forms of Western philosophy, religion, pseudoscience, art, literature, and music—and continues to influence intellectual ideas and popular culture. The idea of grouping a wide range of Western traditions and philosophies together under the term ''esotericism'' developed in Europe during the late seventeenth century. Various academics have debated various definitions of Western esotericism. One view adopts a definition from certain esotericist schools of thought themselves, treating "esotericism" as a perennial hidden inner tradition. A second perspective sees esotericism as ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Buddhism
Buddhism ( , ), also known as Buddha Dharma and Dharmavinaya (), is an Indian religion or philosophical tradition based on teachings attributed to the Buddha. It originated in northern India as a -movement in the 5th century BCE, and gradually spread throughout much of Asia via the Silk Road. It is the world's fourth-largest religion, with over 520 million followers (Buddhists) who comprise seven percent of the global population. The Buddha taught the Middle Way, a path of spiritual development that avoids both extreme asceticism and hedonism. It aims at liberation from clinging and craving to things which are impermanent (), incapable of satisfying ('), and without a lasting essence (), ending the cycle of death and rebirth (). A summary of this path is expressed in the Noble Eightfold Path, a training of the mind with observance of Buddhist ethics and meditation. Other widely observed practices include: monasticism; " taking refuge" in the Buddha, the , and the ; ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Exoteric
Exoteric refers to knowledge that is outside and independent from a person's experience and can be ascertained by anyone (related to common sense). The word is derived from the comparative form of Greek ἔξω ''eksô'', "from, out of, outside". It signifies anything which is public, without limits, or universal. It is distinguished from internal esoteric knowledge. "Exoteric" relates to external reality as opposed to a person's thoughts or feelings. It is knowledge that is public as opposed to secret or cabalistic. It is not required that exoteric knowledge come easily or automatically, but it should be referenceable or reproducible. Philosophical context Most philosophical and religious belief systems presume that reality must be independent of what an individual makes of it. However, even before the days of Plato, a prominent alternate theory of knowledge insisted that the perceived outside reality is merely an internal fabrication of the observer and that it has no existen ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Nirvana
( , , ; sa, निर्वाण} ''nirvāṇa'' ; Pali: ''nibbāna''; Prakrit: ''ṇivvāṇa''; literally, "blown out", as in an oil lampRichard Gombrich, ''Theravada Buddhism: A Social History from Ancient Benāres to Modern Colombo.'' Routledge) is a concept in Indian religions (Buddhism, Hinduism, Jainism, and Sikhism) that represents the ultimate state of soteriological release, the liberation from duḥkha and '' saṃsāra''. In Indian religions, nirvana is synonymous with ''moksha'' and ''mukti''. All Indian religions assert it to be a state of perfect quietude, freedom, highest happiness as well as the liberation from attachment and worldly suffering and the ending of ''samsara'', the round of existence.Gavin Flood, ''Nirvana''. In: John Bowker (ed.), '' Oxford Dictionary of World Religions'' However, non-Buddhist and Buddhist traditions describe these terms for liberation differently. In Hindu philosophy, it is the union of or the realization of the identity of ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Gautama Buddha
Siddhartha Gautama, most commonly referred to as the Buddha, was a wandering ascetic and religious teacher who lived in South Asia during the 6th or 5th century BCE and founded Buddhism. According to Buddhist tradition, he was born in Lumbini, in what is now Nepal, to royal parents of the Shakya clan, but renounced his home life to live as a wandering ascetic ( sa, śramaṇa). After leading a life of begging, asceticism, and meditation, he attained enlightenment at Bodh Gaya in what is now India. The Buddha thereafter wandered through the lower Indo-Gangetic Plain, teaching and building a monastic order. He taught a Middle Way between sensual indulgence and severe asceticism, leading to Nirvana, that is, freedom from ignorance, craving, rebirth, and suffering. His teachings are summarized in the Noble Eightfold Path, a training of the mind that includes meditation and instruction in Buddhist ethics such as right effort, mindfulness, and '' jhana''. He di ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Astral Plane
The astral plane, also called the astral realm or the astral world, is a plane of existence postulated by classical, medieval, oriental, and esoteric philosophies and mystery religions.G.R.S.Mead, ''The Doctrine of the Subtle Body in Western Tradition'', Watkins 1919. It is the world of the celestial spheres, crossed by the soul in its astral body on the way to being born and after death, and is generally believed to be populated by angels, spirits or other immaterial beings. In the late 19th and early 20th century the term was popularised by Theosophy and neo- Rosicrucianism. Another view holds that the astral plane or world, rather than being some kind of boundary area crossed by the soul, is the entirety of spirit existence or spirit worlds to which those who die on Earth go, and where they live out their non-physical lives. It is understood that all consciousness resides in the astral plane. Some writers conflate this realm with heaven or paradise or union with God itself, a ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Sukhavati
Sukhavati (IAST: ''Sukhāvatī''; "Blissful") is a pure land of Amitābha in Mahayana Buddhism. It is also called the Land of Bliss or Western Pure Land, and is the most well-known of Buddhist pure lands, due to the popularity of Pure Land Buddhism in East Asia. Etymology and names The word is the feminine form of ''sukhāvat'' ("full of joy; blissful"), from ''sukha'' ("delight, joy") and ''-vat'' ("full of"). Sukhavati is known by different names in other languages. East Asian names are based on Chinese translations, and longer names may consist of the words "Western", "Blissful" and "Pure Land" in various combinations. Some names and combinations are more popular in certain countries. Due to its importance, Sukhavati is often simply called "The Pure Land" without distinguishing it from other pure lands. * Only common in Chinese. Nine levels of birth In the final part of the ''Amitāyurdhyāna Sūtra'', Gautama Buddha discusses the nine levels into which those born into ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
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