Rebirth and the Stream of Life

Rebirth and the Stream of Life PDF Author: Mikel Burley
Publisher: Bloomsbury Publishing USA
ISBN: 1628922273
Category : Philosophy
Languages : en
Pages : 213

Get Book Here

Book Description
Rebirth and the Stream of Life explores the diversity as well as the ethical and religious significance of rebirth beliefs, focusing especially on Hindu and Buddhist traditions but also discussing indigenous religions and ancient Greek thought. Utilizing resources from religious studies, anthropology and theology, an expanded conception of philosophy of religion is exemplified, which takes seriously lived experience rather than treating religious beliefs in isolation from their place in believers' lives. Drawing upon his expertise in interdisciplinary working and Wittgenstein-influenced approaches, Mikel Burley examines several interrelated phenomena, including purported past-life memories, the relationship between metaphysics and ethics, efforts to 'demythologize' rebirth, and moral critiques of the doctrine of karma. This range of topics, with rebirth as a unifying theme, makes the book of value to anyone interested in philosophy, the study of religions, and what it means to believe that we undergo multiple lives.

Rebirth and the Stream of Life

Rebirth and the Stream of Life PDF Author: Mikel Burley
Publisher: Bloomsbury Publishing USA
ISBN: 1628922273
Category : Philosophy
Languages : en
Pages : 213

Get Book Here

Book Description
Rebirth and the Stream of Life explores the diversity as well as the ethical and religious significance of rebirth beliefs, focusing especially on Hindu and Buddhist traditions but also discussing indigenous religions and ancient Greek thought. Utilizing resources from religious studies, anthropology and theology, an expanded conception of philosophy of religion is exemplified, which takes seriously lived experience rather than treating religious beliefs in isolation from their place in believers' lives. Drawing upon his expertise in interdisciplinary working and Wittgenstein-influenced approaches, Mikel Burley examines several interrelated phenomena, including purported past-life memories, the relationship between metaphysics and ethics, efforts to 'demythologize' rebirth, and moral critiques of the doctrine of karma. This range of topics, with rebirth as a unifying theme, makes the book of value to anyone interested in philosophy, the study of religions, and what it means to believe that we undergo multiple lives.

Rebirth and the Stream of Life

Rebirth and the Stream of Life PDF Author: Mikel Burley
Publisher: Bloomsbury Publishing USA
ISBN: 1628922281
Category : Philosophy
Languages : en
Pages : 213

Get Book Here

Book Description
Rebirth and the Stream of Life explores the diversity as well as the ethical and religious significance of rebirth beliefs, focusing especially on Hindu and Buddhist traditions but also discussing indigenous religions and ancient Greek thought. Utilizing resources from religious studies, anthropology and theology, an expanded conception of philosophy of religion is exemplified, which takes seriously lived experience rather than treating religious beliefs in isolation from their place in believers' lives. Drawing upon his expertise in interdisciplinary working and Wittgenstein-influenced approaches, Mikel Burley examines several interrelated phenomena, including purported past-life memories, the relationship between metaphysics and ethics, efforts to 'demythologize' rebirth, and moral critiques of the doctrine of karma. This range of topics, with rebirth as a unifying theme, makes the book of value to anyone interested in philosophy, the study of religions, and what it means to believe that we undergo multiple lives.

The Philosophy of Religion

The Philosophy of Religion PDF Author: Beverley Clack
Publisher: John Wiley & Sons
ISBN: 1509516921
Category : Philosophy
Languages : en
Pages : 291

Get Book Here

Book Description
For over twenty years, Beverley Clack and Brian R. Clack's distinctive and thought-provoking introduction to the philosophy of religion has been of enormous value to students and scholars, providing an approach to the subject that is bold and refreshingly alternative. This revised and updated edition retains the accessibility which makes the book popular, while furthering its distinctive argument regarding the human dimension of religion. The central emphasis of the philosophy of religion – the concept of God, and the arguments for and against God's existence – is reflected in thorough analyses, while alternative approaches to traditional philosophical theism are explored. The treatments of both the miraculous and immortality have been revised and expanded, and the concluding chapter updates the investigation of how philosophy of religion might be conducted in an age defined by religious terrorism. Clear, systematic and highly critical, the third edition of The Philosophy of Religion will continue to be essential reading for students and scholars of this fascinating and important subject.

The Workings of Kamma

The Workings of Kamma PDF Author: The Pa-Auk Tawya Sayadaw
Publisher: Pa-Auk Meditation Centre (Singapore)
ISBN: 981073512X
Category : Religion
Languages : en
Pages : 422

Get Book Here

Book Description
Over the years, as he has encountered 'Western Buddhists', meditation master the Most Venerable Pa-Auk Tawya Sayadaw has seen the need for a thorough explanation of the workings of kamma in English. To that end he has composed The Workings of Kamma. It is a detailed analysis and discussion of the workings of kamma, in accordance with the Pali Texts: Vinaya, suttas, Abhidhamma, and the authoritative commentaries and subcommentaries. First, the Most Venerable Sayadaw gives a detailed discussion of how beings run on from life to life because of a belief in self, founded in craving and ignorance: he explains how those two factors are prime movers in the working of kamma. Next, he gives a comprehensive and practical analysis of the workings of kamma according to the roots of consciousness. That includes a practical and systematic analysis of the three merit-work bases: offering, morality, and meditation. Then, he analyses the ten courses of unwholesome and wholesome kamma: killing, stealing, sexual misconduct, etc., and non-killing, non-stealing, etc. He discusses also the results of kamma: rebirth in hell, as a ghost, animal, human-, or celestial being. Mundane wholesome kamma unique to a Buddha's Dispensation he discusses as knowledge and conduct: necessary for future attainment of Nibbāna. Afterwards, he explains The Buddha's twelve categories of kamma: four for time of effect, four for order of effect, and four for function of effect. And he discusses how they operate over past, future, and present, and how their workings depend also on the achievement/failure of a certain rebirth, appearance, time, and means. Then comes a lengthy discussion of 'The Small Kamma-Analysis Sutta'. There The Buddha discusses how kamma accounts for the superiority/ inferiority of people. Next is a discussion of how a being's kamma 'paints a picture' of a being, who is in fact nothing more than the five aggregates. And finally, there is a detailed discussion of the gradual unworking of the potency of kamma with the insight knowledges leading up to the Stream-Entry Path Knowledge, etc. up to Arahantship. It ends with a detailed discussion of the Arahant's Parinibbāna, and what this means in practical terms. The Most Venerable Sayadaw gives many examples, with continuous reference to the Pali Texts. He cites and explains also the dangers of holding to a wrong view that denies the workings of kamma. And he explains the necessity for seeing the workings of kamma oneself with direct knowledge, explaining that one is otherwise unable to understand the Second Noble Truth: the Noble Truth of the Origin of Suffering. There is also a detailed analysis of the transition from one life to the next, and many charts help the reader understand the explanations on the practical level of consciousness and mental factors. [From a book published by Pa-Auk Meditation Centre, a Centre of Theravāda Buddhist Tradition]

Life Is But a Dream

Life Is But a Dream PDF Author: Lon Safko
Publisher: iUniverse
ISBN: 0595341497
Category : Fiction
Languages : en
Pages : 104

Get Book Here

Book Description
"Life Is But A Dream" is an intriguing compilation of insights learned during one man's life as he rowed down his stream on his first 50 years of his journey. Each of these seven short stories is filled with compelling observations on the definition of ones' individual reality. They are present in different, interesting, and entertaining plots and are woven around unique perspectives of what your reality is or might be. "Life Is But A Dream" will leave you questioning, "Is mine, the only real reality? Do I create my own reality, the way I live, when I go to heaven, even the people in my life? What is real and what has been created by my own perception of my reality? What can I do to create the reality I really desire?" Row, row, row, your boat gently down your stream and experience these seven compelling short stories that at times may seem all too real when compared with your vision of reality. Understanding these insights might allow for change or create the life, and maybe the afterlife, you want.

Christ in Japanese Culture

Christ in Japanese Culture PDF Author: Emi Mase-Hasegawa
Publisher: BRILL
ISBN: 9047433211
Category : Literary Criticism
Languages : en
Pages : 274

Get Book Here

Book Description
This ground-breaking study on the Roman Catholic, Japanese novelist Endo Shusaku (1923-1996) uniquely combines western and Japanese religious, theological and philosophical thought. The author interprets Endo’s central works such as Silence (1966), The Samurai (1980), and Deep River (1996), from a theological point of view as documents of inculturation of Christianity in Japan. Analysing the social and religious context of Japan in a global perspective, the author identifies a central role for koshinto - a traditional Japanese ethos - in Endo's thought on inculturation. Endo’s change from a critical to a positive acceptance of the koshinto tradition partly accounts for his move from a pessimistic attitude of Christian inculturation in his early years to the growing theocentric and pneumatic concerns of his later years. Essential for Western readers.

Twenty Cases Suggestive of Reincarnation

Twenty Cases Suggestive of Reincarnation PDF Author: Ian Stevenson
Publisher: University of Virginia Press
ISBN: 9780813908724
Category : Body, Mind & Spirit
Languages : en
Pages : 420

Get Book Here

Book Description
Cases of responsive xenoglossy thus add to the evidence concerning the survival of human personality after death.

My Journey Through Time

My Journey Through Time PDF Author: Dena Merriam
Publisher: SCB Distributors
ISBN: 1513690655
Category : Religion
Languages : en
Pages : 399

Get Book Here

Book Description
My Journey Through Time is a spiritual memoir that sheds light on the workings of karma— the law of cause and effect that creates one’s present circumstances and relationships—as we see it unfold through Dena’s vivid memories of her previous births. We travel back in time as Dena learns of a life in early 20th century Russia, ranging from the overthrow of the Czar through Nazi Germany; then it’s back further to a life in early 19th century America in the Deep South, and before that to a time in Africa in the early 18th century. Her lives in the East—in Persia, Japan, and India—go back to the 15th-17th centuries. With each past life, we can see the way in which it has impacted her present life, how it has stemmed from the end of the previous birth, and how it will influence her next life. Dena Merriam is the founder of an interfaith organization, the Global Peace Initiative of Women. A long-time disciplined meditator, Dena’s access to her past lives brings a clearer awareness and purpose to her present life, and also overcomes any fear of death. The memories are triggered when Dena meets a new person or visits a new place in her current life. The memories bring remembrances of past suffering, but also recollections of spiritual teachers and wise guidance. She has not used and does not advocate past-life regressions or hypnosis as a way to prompt memories to return. Dena has decided to share her story, despite being a very private person, in hopes that it can provide comfort and awaken the inner knowing of your own ongoing journey through time.

Dulce Veiga

Dulce Veiga PDF Author: Caio Fernando Abreu
Publisher: University of Texas Press
ISBN: 0292705018
Category : Fiction
Languages : en
Pages : 207

Get Book Here

Book Description
A forty-year-old Brazilian journalist reduced to living in a dilapidated building inhabited by a bizarre human fauna—fortune-tellers, transvestites, tango-loving Argentinean hustlers—is called upon to track down and write the story of Dulce Veiga, a famous singer who disappeared twenty years earlier on the eve of her first big show. Thus begins a mad race through an underground, nocturnal São Paulo among rock bands with eccentric names, feline reincarnations of Vita Sackville-West, ex-revolutionaries turned junkies, gay Pietas, echoes of Afro-Brazilian religions, and intimations of AIDS . . . Constructed like a mystery, the novel unravels over a week, evoking a decadent and contaminated atmosphere in which the journalist's own search for meaning finds its expression in the elusive Dulce Veiga, who constantly appears to him as if in a dream, her arm pointing heavenward. Whatever Happened to Dulce Veiga? is a descent into the underworld of contemporary megalopolises where, like the inside of a huge TV, life intermingles with bits of music, film clips, and soap opera characters in a crazy and macabre dance, moving toward a possible catharsis.

The Audible Life Stream

The Audible Life Stream PDF Author: Alistair Conwell
Publisher: John Hunt Publishing
ISBN: 1785352970
Category : Body, Mind & Spirit
Languages : en
Pages : 271

Get Book Here

Book Description
The Audible Life Stream, or Primordial Sound Current, is the all-pervasive universal consciousness within everyone. Few realise there is credible evidence indicating that Jesus, Buddha, Krishna, and so on, all perfected the meditative technique of turning their attention inwards, thereby merging with the Audible Life Stream, to become adepts of dying while living. The Audible Life Stream: Ancient Secret of Dying While Living is the first book to provide convincing evidence of the Audible Life Stream and emphasise the importance of it to every human being, since none of us can escape the clutches of the Lord of Death. This unique book provides evidence of the Audible Life Stream from a variety of sources, including, independent testimonials of near-death experiences and out-of-body experiences from people in USA, UK and Australia; excerpts from major religious texts; simply explained quantum physics principles; and independent anecdotes from the increasingly popular field of sound/music therapy.