Ritual and Speculation in Early Tantrism

Ritual and Speculation in Early Tantrism PDF Author: Teun Goudriaan
Publisher: SUNY Press
ISBN: 9780791408971
Category : Religion
Languages : en
Pages : 380

Get Book Here

Book Description
This book illustrates the extent to which we can understand the writings of the leading tantricas whose views regarding the universe and enlightenment developed from ritual practice and yoga. Contributors to this anthology include Helene Brunner, Gudrun Buhnemann, Richard H. Davis, Vrajavallabha Dviveda, Sanjukta Gupta, Minoru Hara, Paul Muller-Ortega, Navjivan Rastogi, Alexis Sanderson, Jan A. Schoterman, Raffaele Torella, and Teun Goudriaan.

Ritual and Speculation in Early Tantrism

Ritual and Speculation in Early Tantrism PDF Author: Teun Goudriaan
Publisher: SUNY Press
ISBN: 9780791408971
Category : Religion
Languages : en
Pages : 380

Get Book Here

Book Description
This book illustrates the extent to which we can understand the writings of the leading tantricas whose views regarding the universe and enlightenment developed from ritual practice and yoga. Contributors to this anthology include Helene Brunner, Gudrun Buhnemann, Richard H. Davis, Vrajavallabha Dviveda, Sanjukta Gupta, Minoru Hara, Paul Muller-Ortega, Navjivan Rastogi, Alexis Sanderson, Jan A. Schoterman, Raffaele Torella, and Teun Goudriaan.

Ritual and Speculation in Early Tantrism

Ritual and Speculation in Early Tantrism PDF Author: Teun Goudriaan
Publisher: SUNY Press
ISBN: 9780791408988
Category : Religion
Languages : en
Pages : 380

Get Book Here

Book Description
This book illustrates the extent to which we can understand the writings of the leading tantricas whose views regarding the universe and enlightenment developed from ritual practice and yoga. Contributors to this anthology include Helene Brunner, Gudrun Buhnemann, Richard H. Davis, Vrajavallabha Dviveda, Sanjukta Gupta, Minoru Hara, Paul Muller-Ortega, Navjivan Rastogi, Alexis Sanderson, Jan A. Schoterman, Raffaele Torella, and Teun Goudriaan.

Theory and Practice of Yoga

Theory and Practice of Yoga PDF Author: Knut A. Jacobsen
Publisher: BRILL
ISBN: 9047416333
Category : Religion
Languages : en
Pages : 494

Get Book Here

Book Description
This collection of original essays provides fascinating insights into yoga as a historical and pluralistic phenomenon flourishing in a variety of religious and philosophical contexts. They cover a wide variety of traditions and topics related to Yoga: Classical Yoga, Sāṃkhya, Tantric Yoga, Bhakti Yoga, the Guru, Indic Islamic traditions of Yoga, Yoga and asceticism in contemporary India, and the reception of Yoga in the West. The essays are written by eighteen professors in the field of the history of religions, most of them former graduate students of Gerald James Larson, Larson is Rabindranath Tagore Professor Emeritus, Indiana University, Bloomington, Professor Emeritus, Religious Studies, University of California, Santa Barbara, an internationally acclaimed scholar on the history of religions and philosophies of India, and one of the world's foremost authorities on the Samkhya and Yoga traditions. The publication is in honour of him.

Vajrayogini

Vajrayogini PDF Author: Elizabeth English
Publisher: Simon and Schuster
ISBN: 0861716574
Category : Religion
Languages : en
Pages : 607

Get Book Here

Book Description
Vajrayogini is a tantric goddess from the highest class of Buddhist tantras who manifests the ultimate development of wisdom and compassion. Her practice is prevalent today among practitioners of Tibetan Buddhism. This ground-breaking book delves into the origins of Vajrayogini, charting her evolution in India and examining her roots in the Cakrasamvara tantra and in Indian tradition relating to siva. The focus of this work is the Guhyasamayasadhanamala, a collection of forty-six sadhanas, or practice texts. Written on palm leaves in Sanskrit and preserved since the twelfth century, this diverse collection, composed by various authors, reveals a multitude of forms of the goddess, each of which is described and illustrated here. One of the sadhanas, the Vajravarahi Sadhana by Umapatideva, depicts Vajrayogini at the center of a mandala of thirty-seven different goddesses, and is here presented in full translation alongside a Sanskrit edition. Elizabeth English provides extensive explanation and annotation of this representative text. Sixteen pages of stunning color plates not only enhance the study but bring the goddess to life.

The Roots of Tantra

The Roots of Tantra PDF Author: Katherine Anne Harper
Publisher: State University of New York Press
ISBN: 079148890X
Category : Religion
Languages : en
Pages : 281

Get Book Here

Book Description
Among the many spiritual traditions born and developed in India, Tantra has been the most difficult to define. Almost everything about it—its major characteristics, its sources, its relationships to other religions, even its practices—are debated among scholars. In addition, Tantrism is not confined to any particular religion, but is a set of beliefs and practices that appears in a variety of religions, including Hinduism and Buddhism. This book explores one of the most controversial aspects of Tantra, its sources or roots, specifically in regard to Hinduism. The essays focus on the history and development of Tantra, the art history and archaeology of Tantra, the Vedas and Tantra, and texts and Tantra. Using various disciplinary and methodological approaches, from history to art history and religious studies to textual studies, scholars provide both broad overviews of the beginnings of Tantra and detailed analyses of specific texts, authors, art works, and rituals.

Discovering the Vedas

Discovering the Vedas PDF Author: Frits Staal
Publisher: Penguin Books India
ISBN: 9780143099864
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 476

Get Book Here

Book Description
In this unprecedented guide to the Vedas, Frits Staal, the celebrated author of Agni- The Vedic Ritual of the Fire Altarand Universals- Studies in Indian Logic and Linguisticsexamines almost every aspect of these ancient sources of Indic civilisation. Staal extracts concrete information from the Oral Tradition and Archaeology about Vedic people and their language, what they thought and did, and where they went and when. He provides essential information about the Vedas and includes selections and translations. Staal sheds light on mantras and rituals, that contributed to what came to be known as Hinduism. Significant is a modern analysis of what we can learn from the Vedas today- the original forms of the Vedic sciences, as well as the perceptive wisdom of the composers of the Vedas. The author puts Vedic civilisation in a global perspective through a wide-ranging comparison with other Indic philosophies and religions, primarily Buddhism. For Staal, originally a logician, the voyage of discovering the Vedas is like unpeeling an onion but without the certainty of reaching an end. Even so, his book shows that the Vedas have a logic all their own. Accessible, finely-argued, and with a wealth of information and insight, Discovering the Vedas is for both the scholar and the interested lay reader.

Rethinking Ghosts in World Religions

Rethinking Ghosts in World Religions PDF Author: Mu-chou Poo
Publisher: BRILL
ISBN: 9047424840
Category : Religion
Languages : en
Pages : 360

Get Book Here

Book Description
The central theme of this volume is to re-examine the received concepts and images of ghosts in various religious cultures ranging from the Ancient Near East and Egypt to the Old Testament, the Classical Era, Early Medieval and Early Modern Europe, Early India, and Medieval China. As a religious phenomenon, the realm of ghosts has been less studied than the realm of the divine. Through a collaborative effort by scholars from different disciplines, this volume proposes a multi-cultural approach to construct a wider and complicated picture of the phenomenon of ghosts and spirits in human societies and to have a grasp of the various problems involved in understanding the phenomenon of ghost.

Tantra Iluminado

Tantra Iluminado PDF Author: Christopher D. Wallis
Publisher: Mattamayura Press
ISBN: 0998688738
Category : Body, Mind & Spirit
Languages : en
Pages : 675

Get Book Here

Book Description
Tantra Iluminado gu&ía al lector a lo largo de un viaje fascinante hacia el coraz&ón mismo del Tantra: sus ense&ñanzas principales, los linajes que le dan fundamento y sus pr&ácticas transformativas. Desde que Occidente descubri&ó el Tantra hace 100 a&ños, este movimiento espiritual ha sido objeto de gran fascinaci&ón, especulaci&ón, y una buena dosis de desinformaci&ón. Ahora, por primera vez en nuestra lengua, Tantra Iluminado nos brinda una introducci&ón accesible a esta sagrada tradici&ón que naci&ó hace 1,500 a&ños en el norte de la India. Esta obra se sustenta en fuentes originales en s&ánscrito, ofrece una mirada profunda a la pr&áctica espiritual, y revela la rica historia del Tantra junto con sus poderosas ense&ñanzas.Entrar en el mundo del Tantra original es adentrarse en un reino de magia y misterio, en una filosof&ía que expande nuestra mente; llena de ritos arcanos; panteones de diosas feroces encarnadas en s&ílabas m&ísticas; diagramas energéticos que dibujan un mapa de las dimensiones de la realidad; visualizaciones de los centros de poder del cuerpo; posturas que expresan las formas m&ás puras de la conciencia; experiencias nect&áreas del éxtasis m&ás absoluto, portadoras un poder sobrenatural, y conceptos que desaf&ían las normas fundamentales de la sociedad tradicional. En pocas palabras, un mundo que abarca todo el rango de la actividad religiosa y espiritual del ser humano, desde las contemplaciones m&ás sublimes y elevadas de nuestra naturaleza interna, hasta las m&ás extra&ñas supersticiones. Hoy en d&ía, algunos est&án interesados en la elevada filosof&ía del Tantra, otros s&ólo quieren conocer las técnicas netamente pr&ácticas, mientras que a otros m&ás los mueve la curiosidad de conocer el contexto hist&órico. No importa quién seas, para sumergirte por completo en este mundo, deber&ás no nada m&ás renunciar a cualquier noci&ón de aquello que t&ú creas que es Tantra, sino también despojarte de algunas de tus creencias m&ás arraigadas sobre la realidad en s&í misma.

Explaining Mantras

Explaining Mantras PDF Author: Robert A. Yelle
Publisher: Routledge
ISBN: 1135888183
Category : Education
Languages : en
Pages : 190

Get Book Here

Book Description
First Published in 2003. Routledge is an imprint of Taylor & Francis, an informa company.

Tantric Mantras

Tantric Mantras PDF Author: Andre Padoux
Publisher: Routledge
ISBN: 1136707573
Category : Body, Mind & Spirit
Languages : en
Pages : 193

Get Book Here

Book Description
Providing a systematic and complete overview of the highest scholarly quality on Tantric mantras in Hinduism, this book presents a summary on the nature of Tantric mantras, their phonetic aspect, structure and classifications. Additionally, it explains the metaphysical-theological nature of Tantric mantras and gives an introduction to their beliefs and practices. In individual chapters, Andre Padoux discusses the extraction and examination of mantras, certain characteristics such as their "perfect nature" and their imperfections, and he describes certain mantrics practices. For the first time, Andre Padoux' work on Tantric mantras is made accessible to an English-speaking readership. This book will be of great interest to scholars of Religious Studies, Theology, Indology, South Asian Studies, and Asian Religion.