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Author: SAVAŞ KARABULUT
Publisher: SAVAŞ KARABULUT
ISBN:
Category : Religion
Languages : en
Pages : 180
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Book Description
The principal objective of this book is to understand ascetic practices in Islam and Buddhism by examining the religious motives and beliefs that lead to them. It also attempts to demonstrate how important realizing the diversity in the purposes of ascetic practices is, especially in regards to understanding belief systems and in making reliable and objective comparative studies in the field of religious studies. Religious beliefs in different traditions display a considerable complexity in their social, historical, and canonical backgrounds. This is what makes one religion different from another. This complexity presents a particular problem in comparative studies because of the lack of a mutual conceptual base which would enable us to make reliable comparative studies between theistic and non-theistic religions. However, we have tried to solve this problem by examining each belief system in terms of its own concepts and in its respective tradition. I believe that studying an idea or religion in terms of its own framework of references is an indispensable method. There may be some similarities in methodology but at the same time some differences in relation to their different points of view regarding value systems. The practices that constitute Islamic asceticism and the meanings of these actions in Islam differ radically from those of Buddhism. Islam does not consider certain natural human feelings such as sensual desires, jealousy, anger and so on to be unconditionally negative, since according to Islam all these feelings and emotions serve a purpose. Being good or bad depends on how those feelings and desires are employed. Therefore, while Islam allows Muslims to satisfy these feelings within divine limits, Buddhism does not allow for their complete satisfaction. In both ascetic traditions the cultivation of free will is one of the most important elements of self-discipline. A characteristic difference between Islam and Buddhism is that while Buddhism places great stress upon the mind, Islam does not. Being moderate in actions and ascetic practices is a very important principle in both traditions. In this respect, Buddhism is similar to Islam in terms of eating practices. The most important ascetic practice and one of the most important principles of self-restraint in Islamic life, and also a main pillar of Islam, is fasting. However, it must be borne in mind that complete fasting as in Islam seems to be an excessive form of self-restraint in the eyes of Buddhists. In Buddhism, there are a few practical differences between lay people and monks; in Islam, however, everybody must fast in the same way whether he is a prophet or saint or an ordinary Muslim. In addition to this, unlike Buddhism, Islam approves of neither monasticism, nor a caste system. One of the most similar practices in both traditions is not consuming intoxicants. Islam and Buddhism have very similar attitudes to intoxicants and all kinds of alcoholic drinks. In addition to this Islam differs from Buddhism in its point of view on celibacy. Celibacy is practically forbidden in Islam if somebody has no reasonable excuse for it. In particular, according to the early Buddhist texts, celibacy is the highest conduct of life. There is a marked difference here with Islam. However, both Buddhism and Islam make a similar point of protecting their followers from fornication by recommending or commanding them to shut the doors of sense organs and to avoid sexual misconduct. There may be some similarities between religious traditions whether they are theistic or non-theistic. These similarities cannot be a means of objectively evaluating their religious understandings or religious purposes. The best and most reliable way to understand ascetic practices is to study these practices separately, according to the historical and geographical facts of each religion, paying particular attention to their essential teachings and beliefs.
Author: SAVAŞ KARABULUT
Publisher: SAVAŞ KARABULUT
ISBN:
Category : Religion
Languages : en
Pages : 180
Get Book Here
Book Description
The principal objective of this book is to understand ascetic practices in Islam and Buddhism by examining the religious motives and beliefs that lead to them. It also attempts to demonstrate how important realizing the diversity in the purposes of ascetic practices is, especially in regards to understanding belief systems and in making reliable and objective comparative studies in the field of religious studies. Religious beliefs in different traditions display a considerable complexity in their social, historical, and canonical backgrounds. This is what makes one religion different from another. This complexity presents a particular problem in comparative studies because of the lack of a mutual conceptual base which would enable us to make reliable comparative studies between theistic and non-theistic religions. However, we have tried to solve this problem by examining each belief system in terms of its own concepts and in its respective tradition. I believe that studying an idea or religion in terms of its own framework of references is an indispensable method. There may be some similarities in methodology but at the same time some differences in relation to their different points of view regarding value systems. The practices that constitute Islamic asceticism and the meanings of these actions in Islam differ radically from those of Buddhism. Islam does not consider certain natural human feelings such as sensual desires, jealousy, anger and so on to be unconditionally negative, since according to Islam all these feelings and emotions serve a purpose. Being good or bad depends on how those feelings and desires are employed. Therefore, while Islam allows Muslims to satisfy these feelings within divine limits, Buddhism does not allow for their complete satisfaction. In both ascetic traditions the cultivation of free will is one of the most important elements of self-discipline. A characteristic difference between Islam and Buddhism is that while Buddhism places great stress upon the mind, Islam does not. Being moderate in actions and ascetic practices is a very important principle in both traditions. In this respect, Buddhism is similar to Islam in terms of eating practices. The most important ascetic practice and one of the most important principles of self-restraint in Islamic life, and also a main pillar of Islam, is fasting. However, it must be borne in mind that complete fasting as in Islam seems to be an excessive form of self-restraint in the eyes of Buddhists. In Buddhism, there are a few practical differences between lay people and monks; in Islam, however, everybody must fast in the same way whether he is a prophet or saint or an ordinary Muslim. In addition to this, unlike Buddhism, Islam approves of neither monasticism, nor a caste system. One of the most similar practices in both traditions is not consuming intoxicants. Islam and Buddhism have very similar attitudes to intoxicants and all kinds of alcoholic drinks. In addition to this Islam differs from Buddhism in its point of view on celibacy. Celibacy is practically forbidden in Islam if somebody has no reasonable excuse for it. In particular, according to the early Buddhist texts, celibacy is the highest conduct of life. There is a marked difference here with Islam. However, both Buddhism and Islam make a similar point of protecting their followers from fornication by recommending or commanding them to shut the doors of sense organs and to avoid sexual misconduct. There may be some similarities between religious traditions whether they are theistic or non-theistic. These similarities cannot be a means of objectively evaluating their religious understandings or religious purposes. The best and most reliable way to understand ascetic practices is to study these practices separately, according to the historical and geographical facts of each religion, paying particular attention to their essential teachings and beliefs.
Author: Oscar Hardman
Publisher: London : Society for Promoting Christian Knowledge
ISBN:
Category : Asceticism
Languages : en
Pages : 264
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Book Description
Author:
Publisher: BRILL
ISBN: 9004476482
Category : Social Science
Languages : en
Pages : 168
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Book Description
The collection of papers in Ascetic Culture: Renunciation and Worldly Engagement was entirely conceived and developed by K. Ishwaran, who died in June 1998. The original concept was to focus on "Tradition and Innovation in Monastic Life in South Asia", a topic which combined two of Ishwaran’s major interests: comparative studies of the monastic systems of south Asia, and criticism of Western anthropological and sociological assumptions of tradition and modernity being antithetical, especially with regard to traditional religions. Ishwaran saw this collection of papers as reinforcing the "demise of universalistic projects, all encompassing grand master narratives and similar globally integrative, theoretical or empirical enterprises in social discourse" flowing from the post-structural and post-modernist revolutions in the social sciences. Later he conceived of broadening this topic to be more liberally comparative, to include major religious traditions around the world. The new title was to be "Tradition and Modernity in Monastic orders in Contemporary Societies". Finally, he broadened the theme to the present title of his collection. Taken together, the articles appearing in this book strongly support Ishwaran’s theses. First, is the obvious point that eremitism and asceticism are far more complex than commonly understood in the scholarly world. If ever a general understanding of these interrelated phenomena is developed, careful examination not only how they are found in these cultures and traditions but also study of their particular manifestations in individual movements, places, cultures, social groups etc. must take place. The second thesis is clearly established by the range of these papers: ascetic traditions are not only inimical to modernity, they may be found at the heart of certain contemporary social and cultural developments. K. Ishwaran has rendered the study of religion in particular and the social sciences in general an important service with this anthology. Contributers are John E. Cort, Alan Davies, Balkrishna G. Gokhale, Daniel Gold, Shaman Hatley, Sohail Inayatullah, Klaus K. Klostermaier, David Miller, S.A. Nigosian, Jordan Paper, and Earle H. Waugh.
Author: Vincent L. Wimbush
Publisher: Oxford University Press
ISBN: 0198034512
Category : Religion
Languages : en
Pages : 678
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Book Description
From meditation and fasting to celibacy and anchoritism, the ascetic impulse has been an enduring and complex phenomenon throughout history. Offering a sweeping view of this elusive and controversial aspect of religious life and culture, Asceticism looks at the ascetic impulse from a unique vantage point. Cross-cultural, cross-religious, and multidisciplinary in nature, these essays provide a broad historical and comparative perspective on asceticism--a subject rarely studied outside the context of individual religious traditions. The work represents the input of more than forty preeminent scholars in a wide range of fields and disciplines, and analyzes asceticism from antiquity to the present in European, Near Eastern, African, Asian, and North American settings. Asceticism is organized around four major themes that cut across religious traditions: origins and meanings of asceticism, which explores the motivations and impulses behind ascetic behaviors; hermeneutics of asceticism, which looks at texts and rhetorics and their presuppositions; aesthetics of asceticism, which documents responses evoked by ascetic impulses and practices, as well as the arts of ascetic practices themselves; and politics of asceticism, which analyzes the power dynamics of asceticism, especially as regards gender, cultural, and ethnic differences. Critical responses to the major papers ensure the focus upon the themes and unify the discussion. Two general addresses on broad philosophical and historical-interpretive issues suggest the importance of the subject of asceticism for wide-ranging but serious cultural-critical discussions. An Appendix, Ascetica Miscellanea, includes six short papers on provocative topics not related to the four major themes, and a panel discussion on the practices and meanings of asceticism in contemporary religious life and culture. A selected bibliography and an index are also included. The only comprehensive reference work on asceticism with a multicultural, multireligious, and multidisciplinary perspective, Asceticism offers a model not only for an understanding of a most important dimension of religious life, but also for future interdisciplinary study in general.
Author: Oliver Freiberger
Publisher: Oxford University Press
ISBN: 9780199719013
Category : Religion
Languages : en
Pages : 286
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Book Description
Scholars of religion have always been fascinated by asceticism. Some have even regarded this radical way of life-- the withdrawal from the world, combined with practices that seriously affect basic bodily needs, up to extreme forms of self-mortification --as the ultimate form of a true religious quest. This view is rooted in hagiographic descriptions of prominent ascetics and in other literary accounts that praise the ascetic life-style. Scholars have often overlooked, however, that in the history of religions ascetic beliefs and practices have also been strongly criticized, by followers of the same religious tradition as well as by outsiders. The respective sources provide sufficient evidence of such critical strands but surprisingly as yet no attempt has been made to analyze this criticism of asceticism systematically. This book is a first attempt of filling this gap. Ten studies present cases from both Asian and European traditions: classical and medieval Hinduism, early and contemporary Buddhism in South and East Asia, European antiquity, early and medieval Christianity, and 19th/20th century Aryan religion. Focusing on the critics of asceticism, their motives, their arguments, and the targets of their critique, these studies provide a broad range of issues for comparison. They suggest that the critique of asceticism is based on a worldview differing from and competing with the ascetic worldview, often in one and the same historical context. The book demonstrates that examining the critics of asceticism helps understand better the complexity of religious traditions and their cultural contexts. The comparative analysis, moreover, shows that the criticism of asceticism reflects a religious worldview as significant and widespread in the history of religions as asceticism itself is.
Author: Martin G. Wiltshire
Publisher: Walter de Gruyter
ISBN: 3110858568
Category : Religion
Languages : en
Pages : 376
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Book Description
Sinceits founding by Jacques Waardenburg in 1971, Religion and Reason has been a leading forum for contributions on theories, theoretical issues and agendas related to the phenomenon and the study of religion. Topics include (among others) category formation, comparison, ethnophilosophy, hermeneutics, methodology, myth, phenomenology, philosophy of science, scientific atheism, structuralism, and theories of religion. From time to time the series publishes volumes that map the state of the art and the history of the discipline.
Author: Ilana Friedrich-Silber
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
ISBN: 0521413974
Category : Philosophy
Languages : en
Pages : 262
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Book Description
This book is a comparative macrosociological study of the interaction between religious virtuosi and society in two civilizations: traditional Theravada Buddhism and Medieval Catholicism. Merging Weberian sociology with the Maussian tradition of gift-analysis, and criticizing the neglect of meaning in current comparative historical sociology, the author also argues the need for a multidimensional approach capable of addressing the part played by religious orientations in shaping the institutional strength and ideological power of religious elites in the historical framework of the Great Traditions.
Author: Oscar Hardman
Publisher: Franklin Classics Trade Press
ISBN: 9780344315312
Category :
Languages : en
Pages : 260
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Book Description
This work has been selected by scholars as being culturally important and is part of the knowledge base of civilization as we know it. This work is in the public domain in the United States of America, and possibly other nations. Within the United States, you may freely copy and distribute this work, as no entity (individual or corporate) has a copyright on the body of the work. Scholars believe, and we concur, that this work is important enough to be preserved, reproduced, and made generally available to the public. To ensure a quality reading experience, this work has been proofread and republished using a format that seamlessly blends the original graphical elements with text in an easy-to-read typeface. We appreciate your support of the preservation process, and thank you for being an important part of keeping this knowledge alive and relevant.
Author: Oscar Hardman
Publisher: Theclassics.Us
ISBN: 9781230211954
Category :
Languages : en
Pages : 92
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Book Description
This historic book may have numerous typos and missing text. Purchasers can usually download a free scanned copy of the original book (without typos) from the publisher. Not indexed. Not illustrated. 1921 edition. Excerpt: ... CHAPTER IV THE MYSTICAL IDEAL--FELLOWSHIP I THE intimate conjunction of the human and the divine effected by the Incarnation of the Son of God was rendered possible by the fact that an essential kinship already existed between them, awaiting its perfect realisation.1 That kinship has declared itself throughout man's history by creating in him an enduring desire for God, and by moving him, not infrequently with a strong urgency, to search out God, to commune with Him, and in some way to find union with Him: and men everywhere have striven to satisfy this deepest and truest craving of their nature by the practice of an asceticism which may be called "mystical," since it is undertaken as a means of initiation into the mysteries and privileges of divine fellowship. This fellowship is variously conceived. It is sought by men generally as a present sustained association, dependent upon the establishment and maintenance of sympathetic relations: and by specialists as a series of fitful invasions by which from time to time men's bodies are "possessed" by the divine at will, or as a continuing process of self-emancipation, culminating in the complete absorption of man's individual personality in the All, or, again, as a rarelyaccorded ecstatic communion enjoyed by the human spirit as a divinely permitted favour after due self-preparation. Where this ecstatic union is sought, the soul prepares itself for deliverance from its material habitation and from senseperceptions so that it may sometimes be caught up in and 1 Cf. H. M. Relton, A Study in Christology, an able treatment of the doctrine of the Enhypostasia, which is " rooted and grounded in the belief that there is an essential affinity between the human and the Divine " (p. 229). 74 wholly...
Author: Esra Çizmeci
Publisher: Taylor & Francis
ISBN: 1000998622
Category : Performing Arts
Languages : en
Pages : 221
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Book Description
This ethnographic research project examines the generation of post-tariqa Tasavvuf (Sufism: a spiritual practice and philosophy recognised as the inner dimension of Islam) in a variety of private, semi-public, public, secular and sacred urban spaces in present-day Turkey. Through extensive field research in minority Sufi communities, this book investigates how devotees of specific orders maintain, adapt, mobilise, and empower their beliefs and values through embodied acts of their Sufi followers. Using an ethnographic methodology and theories derived from performance studies, Esra Çizmeci examines the multiple ways in which the post-tariqa Mevlevi and Rifai practice is formed in present-day Turkey, such as through the authority of the spiritual teacher; the individual and collective performance of Sufi rituals; nefs (self) training; and, most importantly, the practice of Sufi doctrines in everyday life through the production of sacred spaces. Drawing on the theories of performance, she examines how the Sufi way of living and spaces are created anew in the process of each devotee’s embodied action. This book is informed by theories in performance studies, anthropology, religious studies, and cultural studies and places current Sufi practices in a historical perspective.
