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Academic study of the tantric traditions has blossomed in recent decades, in no small measure thanks to the magisterial contributions of Alexis G. J. S. Sanderson, until 2015 Spalding Professor of Eastern Religions and Ethics at Oxford University. This collection of essays honours him and touches several fields of Indology that he has helped to shape (or, in the case of the Śaiva religions, revolutionised): the history, ritual, and philosophies of tantric Buddhism, Śaivism and Vaiṣṇavism; religious art and architecture; and Sanskrit belles lettres. Grateful former students, joined by other experts influenced by his scholarship, here offer papers that make significant contributions to our understanding of the cultural, religious, political, and intellectual histories of premodern South and Southeast Asia. Contributors are: Peter Bisschop, Judit Törzsök, Alex Watson, Isabelle Ratié, Christopher Wallis, Péter-Dániel Szántó, Srilata Raman, Csaba Dezső, Gergely Hidas, Nina Mirnig, John Nemec, Bihani Sarkar, Jürgen Hanneder, Diwakar Acharya, James Mallinson, Csaba Kiss, Jason Birch, Elizabeth Mills, Ryugen Tanemura, Anthony Tribe, and Parul Dave-Mukherji.
Early Śaivism -- Exegetical and Philosophical Traditions -- Religion, the State, and Social History -- Mantra, Ritual, and Yoga -- Art and Architecture.
This book presents an account of the concept of mind in Hindu Tantra through a study of religious and philosophical texts in the medieval period. Offering an understanding on how the mind is conceptualized both as that which keeps a person bound to the cycle of reincarnation and as having transformative potential in allowing a person to achieve liberation or salvation, this book examines mostly previously untranslated sources. It shows how there are different understandings of the mind that relate to different ideas of redemption. The main tantric tradition, the Śaiva Siddhānta, adopts a model of mind from Yoga in which the wandering mind keeps us trapped, whereas the nondualist Śaiva tra...
Transmitted to us in a well-preserved ninth-century Nepalese manuscript, the Nisvasatattvasamhita has come in recent years to be recognised as probably the oldest surviving complete scripture of the Mantramarga. Although its historical importance has been hinted at by a range of scholars across the twentieth century, this is the first time its text appears in print. This volume presents a critical edition and annotated translation of the three earliest layers of the text : the Mulasutra, Uttarasuutra and Nayasutra. The topics dealt with include cosmology, rituals of worship and initiation, and forms of yoga. A lengthy introduction sets these sutras in context, in particular by examining the evidence for dating them. There follow a summary of their contents, an account of the early manuscript and its three twentieth-century apographs, and a treatment of the various ways in which the language of the Nisvasa deviates from Paminian norms.
Explores the metaphor of inwardness and the idea of truth within, along with the methods developed in three religions to attain it, such as prayer and meditation.
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.
Jainism originated in India and shares some features with Buddhism and Hinduism, but it is a distinct tradition with its own key texts, art, rituals, beliefs, and history. One important way it has often been distinguished from Buddhism and Hinduism is through the highly contested category of Tantra: Jainism, unlike the others, does not contain a tantric path to liberation. But in Making a Mantra, historian of religions Ellen Gough refines and challenges our understanding of Tantra by looking at the development over two millennia of a Jain incantation, or mantra, that evolved from an auspicious invocation in a second-century text into a key component of mendicant initiations and meditations t...
When a kidnapping of a wealthy playboy occurs, Private Investigator Joseph Riley must unravel the tentacles of truth to discover what is hidden at the core of his client’s darkest vow In 1943 San Diego, as the rest of the city keeps watch on the war in the Pacific, Joseph Riley recounts a year old case that proved to be anything but ordinary. It was a normal day in October of 1942, as normal as any other day would be, when a new client walks into Joseph Riley’s office. Alexis Santorum, recently married, is a woman whose many shades of beauty provides a façade to the many shades of her predicament and personality. At the root of her problem is an abducted husband, William Santorum, a kno...
This Volume Is A Birth Centenary Tribute To Swami Lakshman Joo Raina (1907-1991), One Of The Greatest Saints Of 20Th Century India, Living A Secluded Life In His Ashram In Kashmir. The Articles By Scholar-Disciples, Devotees And Relatives Throw Light On The Extraordinary Life Of This Saint In Reviving Kashmir Shaivism.