Stephen Batchelor (author)
Stephen Batchelor (born 7 April 1953) is a Scottish Buddhist author and teacher, writing books and articles on Buddhist topics and leading meditation retreats throughout the world. He is a noted proponent of agnostic or secular Buddhism. Biography Batchelor was born in Dundee, Scotland in 1953. When he was three, his family relocated briefly to Toronto, Ontario, Canada, where his parents separated. He returned with his mother Phyllis (b. 1913) to England, where he was raised in a humanist environment with his younger brother David in Watford, Hertfordshire. After completing his secondary education at Watford Grammar School, in February 1972, at the age of eighteen, he embarked on an overland journey which eventually led him to India. He settled in Dharamsala, the capital-in-exile of the Dalai Lama, and studied with Geshé Ngawang Dhargyey at the Library of Tibetan Works and Archives. He was ordained as a novice monk in the Gelug tradition in 1974. A few months after ordinat ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Upaya Zen Center
Upaya Institute and Zen Center is a center for residential Zen practice located in Santa Fe, New Mexico, and founded by Joan Halifax Roshi. The center focuses on integration of Zen practice with social action, with traditional cultivation of wisdom and compassion in the Buddhist sense. It also provides service in the areas of death and dying, prison work, environment, women's rights and peace work. According to the Upaya website, in 2002 Joan Halifax founded the Prajna Mountain Buddhist Order. A non-profit organization, Prajna is a new Buddhist Order in the lineage of Taizan Maezumi Roshi, the Zen Peacemaker Order and White Plum Asanga. Gallery Image:Water fountain (Upaya Zen center).jpg Image:Upaya Zen Center.jpg Image:Upaya Zen Center zendo.jpg Image:Upaya Zen Center 4.jpg Image:Upaya Zen Center 3.jpg Image:Upaya Zen Center 2.jpg Image:Upaya ZC.jpg Image:Stephen Batchelor.jpg Image:Kaz Tanahashi Sensei.jpg Image:Joan Halifax 2.jpg Image:Dining tables (Upaya Zen Center).jpg Res ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Gelug
file:DalaiLama0054 tiny.jpg, 240px, 14th Dalai Lama, The 14th Dalai Lama (center), the most influential figure of the contemporary Gelug tradition, at the 2003 Kalachakra ceremony, Bodh Gaya, Bodhgaya (India). The Gelug (, also Geluk; "virtuous")Kay, David N. (2007). ''Tibetan and Zen Buddhism in Britain: Transplantation, Development and Adaptation,'' p. 39. Routledge. is the newest of the four major schools of Tibetan Buddhism. It was founded by Je Tsongkhapa (1357–1419), a Tibetan people, Tibetan philosopher, Vajrayana, tantric yogi and lama and further expanded and developed by his disciples (such as Khedrup Gelek Pelzang, 1st Panchen Lama, Khedrup Je, Gyaltsab Je, Gyaltsap Je and 1st Dalai Lama, Gendün Drubpa). The Gelug school is alternatively known as New Kadam (''bKa’-gdams gsar-pa''), since it sees itself as a continuation of the Kadam (Tibetan Buddhism), Kadam tradition of Atiśa, Atisha (c. 11th century). Furthermore, it is also called the Ganden Monastery, Ganden ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Pyrrhonism
Pyrrhonism is a school of philosophical skepticism founded by Pyrrho in the fourth century BCE. It is best known through the surviving works of Sextus Empiricus, writing in the late second century or early third century CE. History Pyrrho of Elis (c. 360 – c. 270 BCE) and his teacher Anaxarchus, both Democritus, Democritean philosophers, Indian campaign of Alexander the Great, traveled to India with Alexander the Great's army where Pyrrho was said to have studied with the magi and the gymnosophists, and where he was influenced by Buddhism, Buddhist teachings, most particularly the three marks of existence. After returning to Greece, Pyrrho started a new line of philosophy now known as "Pyrrhonism." His teachings were recorded by his student Timon of Phlius, most of whose works have been lost. Pyrrhonism as a school was either revitalized or re-founded by Aenesidemus in the first century BCE. This phase of Pyrrhonism, starting with Aenesidemus and going through the last known ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Philosophical Skepticism
Philosophical skepticism ( UK spelling: scepticism; from Greek σκέψις ''skepsis'', "inquiry") is a family of philosophical views that question the possibility of knowledge. It differs from other forms of skepticism in that it even rejects very plausible knowledge claims that belong to basic common sense. Philosophical skeptics are often classified into two general categories: Those who deny all possibility of knowledge, and those who advocate for the suspension of judgment due to the inadequacy of evidence. This distinction is modeled after the differences between the Academic skeptics and the Pyrrhonian skeptics in ancient Greek philosophy. In the latter sense, skepticism is understood as a way of life that helps the practitioner achieve inner peace. Some types of philosophical skepticism reject all forms of knowledge while others limit this rejection to certain fields, for example, to knowledge about moral doctrines or about the external world. Some theorists criti ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Hellenistic Philosophy
Hellenistic philosophy is a time-frame for Western philosophy and Ancient Greek philosophy corresponding to the Hellenistic period. It is purely external and encompasses disparate intellectual content. There is no single philosophical school or current that is either representative or dominating for the period. Background The classical period in Ancient Greek philosophy had begun with Socrates (c. 470–399 BC), whose student Plato had taught Aristotle, who, in turn, had tutored Alexander. The period began with the death of Alexander in 323 BC (followed by the death of Aristotle the next year in 322 BC). While the classical thinkers were mostly based in Athens, at end of the Hellenistic period philosophers relocated at Rome or Alexandria. The shift followed Rome's military victories from the middle of the second century. Sulla's capture of Athens in 87 led to destructions and the shipping of Aristotle's manuscripts to Rome. The end of the Hellenistic period does not correspond ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Pali Canon
The Pāli Canon is the standard collection of scriptures in the Theravada Buddhist tradition, as preserved in the Pāli language. It is the most complete extant early Buddhist canon. It derives mainly from the Tamrashatiya school. During the First Buddhist Council, three months after the parinibbana of Gautama Buddha in Rajgir, Ananda recited the Sutta Pitaka, and Upali recited the Vinaya Pitaka. The Arhats present accepted the recitations and henceforth the teachings were preserved orally by the Sangha. The Tipitaka that was transmitted to Sri Lanka during the reign of King Asoka were initially preserved orally and were later written down on palm leaves during the Fourth Buddhist Council in 29 BCE, approximately 454 years after the death of Gautama Buddha. The claim that the texts were "spoken by the Buddha", is meant in this non-literal sense. The existence of the bhanaka tradition existing until later periods, along with other sources, shows that oral tradition conti ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Aquitaine
Aquitaine ( , , ; oc, Aquitània ; eu, Akitania; Poitevin-Saintongeais: ''Aguiéne''), archaic Guyenne or Guienne ( oc, Guiana), is a historical region of southwestern France and a former administrative region of the country. Since 1 January 2016 it has been part of the region of Nouvelle-Aquitaine. It is situated in the southwest corner of Metropolitan France, along the Atlantic Ocean and the Pyrenees mountain range on the border with Spain, and for most of its written history Bordeaux has been a vital port and administrative center. It is composed of the five departments of Dordogne, Lot-et-Garonne, Pyrénées-Atlantiques, Landes and Gironde. Gallia Aquitania was established by the Romans in ancient times and in the Middle Ages, Aquitaine was a kingdom and a duchy, whose boundaries fluctuated considerably. History Ancient history There are traces of human settlement by prehistoric peoples, especially in the Périgord, but the earliest attested inhabitants in the south- ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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The Buddhist Review
''The'' () is a grammatical article in English, denoting persons or things that are already or about to be mentioned, under discussion, implied or otherwise presumed familiar to listeners, readers, or speakers. It is the definite article in English. ''The'' is the most frequently used word in the English language; studies and analyses of texts have found it to account for seven percent of all printed English-language words. It is derived from gendered articles in Old English which combined in Middle English and now has a single form used with nouns of any gender. The word can be used with both singular and plural nouns, and with a noun that starts with any letter. This is different from many other languages, which have different forms of the definite article for different genders or numbers. Pronunciation In most dialects, "the" is pronounced as (with the voiced dental fricative followed by a schwa) when followed by a consonant sound, and as (homophone of the archaic pr ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Channings Wood Prison
HM Prison Channings Wood is a Category C men's prison, located in the parish of Ogwell (near Newton Abbot) in Devon, England. The prison is operated by His Majesty's Prison Service. History The United States Army built a camp in Ogwell and shooting range in Denbury in the run up to the invasion of Europe in 1944. The site was taken over by the Royal Corps of Signals junior training Regiment. The construction of Channings Wood Prison began on the former Ministry of Defence site in 1973, by a combination of contract and prison labour. The prison officially opened in July 1974,although some of the wooden huts remained in use whilst building and landscaping continued into the eighties. From the 1990s Channings Wood gained a reputation for pioneering therapeutic work to reform sex offenders and drug addicts. This was confirmed in a report by His Majesty's Chief Inspector of Prisons in April 2003, however the report noted that overcrowding at Channings Wood was putting this good wo ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Zen Buddhism
Zen ( zh, t=禪, p=Chán; ja, text= 禅, translit=zen; ko, text=선, translit=Seon; vi, text=Thiền) is a school of Mahayana Buddhism that originated in China during the Tang dynasty, known as the Chan School (''Chánzong'' 禪宗), and later developed into various sub-schools and branches. From China, Chán spread south to Vietnam and became Vietnamese Thiền, northeast to Korea to become Seon Buddhism, and east to Japan, becoming Japanese Zen. The term Zen is derived from the Japanese pronunciation of the Middle Chinese word 禪 (''chán''), an abbreviation of 禪那 (''chánnà''), which is a Chinese transliteration of the Sanskrit word ध्यान ''dhyāna'' ("meditation"). Zen emphasizes rigorous self-restraint, meditation-practice and the subsequent insight into nature of mind (見性, Ch. ''jiànxìng,'' Jp. '' kensho,'' "perceiving the true nature") and nature of things (without arrogance or egotism), and the personal expression of this insight in daily ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Songgwangsa
Songgwangsa () translation: Spreading Pine Temple; alternates: Songgwang-sa, or Songgwang Sa, or Songkwangsa; also known as: Piney Expanse Monastery; originally: Gilsangsa), one of the three jewels of Seon Buddhism, is located in South Jeolla Province on Mount Jogye on the Korean Peninsula. Situated approximately away from the sea, it is within the Jogyesan Provincial Park. While founded in 867, it fell into disuse but was re-established in 1190 by Seon master Jinul. Jinul's meditation teachings evolved from this monastery and contributed significantly to the Seon practice that prevails to this day in Korea. Songgwangsa is considered the "jewel" (''Samgharatna'') of the Korean monastic community. Though smaller in size, it is considered as the greatest among the trio of Three Jewels Temples representing “the Buddha, the dharma, and the sangha". The other two of the trio, Tongdosa and Haeinsa, are located in South Gyeongsang Province. This monastery, though under the jurisdic ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Tibet Institute Rikon
The Tibet Institute Rikon is a Tibetan monastery located in Zell-Rikon im Tösstal in the Töss Valley in Switzerland. It was established as a non-profit foundation because Swiss laws resulting from the 19th century secularization movement did not allow for the establishment of new monasteries until 1973 History In 1961, Switzerland was one of the first countries in the West that allowed Tibetan refugees to settle in large numbers. Henri and Jacques Kuhn (owner of ''Metallwarenfabrik AG Heinrich Kuhn'', now '' Kuhn Rikon AG'') offered work and accommodations to a group of refugees. They helped found a monastic Tibet Institute for spiritual and cultural care of Tibetan people in Switzerland, which would also preserve and maintain the Tibetan culture for future generations. Jacques Kuhn supported the monastic community until his death in January 2017. The Tibet-Institut Rikon is the only monastery outside Asia that was founded on behalf of the Dalai Lama. It was inaugurated ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |