Travels in the Netherworld

Travels in the Netherworld PDF Author: Bryan J. Cuevas
Publisher: Oxford University Press
ISBN: 9780199712373
Category : Philosophy
Languages : en
Pages : 216

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Book Description
In Travels in the Netherworld, Bryan J. Cuevas examines a fascinating but little-known genre of Tibetan narrative literature about the d?lok, ordinary men and women who claim to have died, traveled through hell, and then returned from the afterlife. These narratives enjoy audiences ranging from the most sophisticated monastic scholars to pious townsfolk, villagers, and nomads. Their accounts emphasize the universal Buddhist principles of impermanence and worldly suffering, the fluctuations of karma, and the feasibility of obtaining a favorable rebirth through virtue and merit. Providing a clear, detailed analysis of four vivid return-from-death tales, including the stories of a Tibetan housewife, a lama, a young noble woman, and a Buddhist monk, Cuevas argues that these narratives express ideas about death and the afterlife that held wide currency among all classes of faithful Buddhists in Tibet. Relying on a diversity of traditional Tibetan sources, Buddhist canonical scriptures, scholastic textbooks, ritual and meditation manuals, and medical treatises, in addition to the d?lok works themselves, Cuevas surveys a broad range of popular Tibetan Buddhist ideas about death and dying. He explores beliefs about the vulnerability of the soul and its journey beyond death, karmic retribution and the terrors of hell, the nature of demons and demonic possession, ghosts, and reanimated corpses. Cuevas argues that these extraordinary accounts exhibit flexibility between social and religious categories that are conventionally polarized and concludes that, contrary to the accepted wisdom, such rigid divisions as elite and folk, monastic and lay religion are not sufficiently representative of traditional Tibetan Buddhism on the ground. This study offers innovative perspectives on popular religion in Tibet and fills a gap in an important field of Tibetan literature.

Travels in the Netherworld

Travels in the Netherworld PDF Author: Bryan J. Cuevas
Publisher: Oxford University Press
ISBN: 9780199712373
Category : Philosophy
Languages : en
Pages : 216

Get Book

Book Description
In Travels in the Netherworld, Bryan J. Cuevas examines a fascinating but little-known genre of Tibetan narrative literature about the d?lok, ordinary men and women who claim to have died, traveled through hell, and then returned from the afterlife. These narratives enjoy audiences ranging from the most sophisticated monastic scholars to pious townsfolk, villagers, and nomads. Their accounts emphasize the universal Buddhist principles of impermanence and worldly suffering, the fluctuations of karma, and the feasibility of obtaining a favorable rebirth through virtue and merit. Providing a clear, detailed analysis of four vivid return-from-death tales, including the stories of a Tibetan housewife, a lama, a young noble woman, and a Buddhist monk, Cuevas argues that these narratives express ideas about death and the afterlife that held wide currency among all classes of faithful Buddhists in Tibet. Relying on a diversity of traditional Tibetan sources, Buddhist canonical scriptures, scholastic textbooks, ritual and meditation manuals, and medical treatises, in addition to the d?lok works themselves, Cuevas surveys a broad range of popular Tibetan Buddhist ideas about death and dying. He explores beliefs about the vulnerability of the soul and its journey beyond death, karmic retribution and the terrors of hell, the nature of demons and demonic possession, ghosts, and reanimated corpses. Cuevas argues that these extraordinary accounts exhibit flexibility between social and religious categories that are conventionally polarized and concludes that, contrary to the accepted wisdom, such rigid divisions as elite and folk, monastic and lay religion are not sufficiently representative of traditional Tibetan Buddhism on the ground. This study offers innovative perspectives on popular religion in Tibet and fills a gap in an important field of Tibetan literature.

Travels in the Netherworld

Travels in the Netherworld PDF Author: Bryan J. Cuevas
Publisher: Oxford University Press
ISBN: 0195341163
Category : Philosophy
Languages : en
Pages : 212

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Book Description
In Travels in the Netherworld, Bryan J. Cuevas examines a fascinating but little-known genre of Tibetan narrative literature about the delok, ordinary men and women who claim to have died, traveled through hell, and then returned from the afterlife. Providing a clear, detailed analysis of four vivid return-from-death tales, including the stories of a Tibetan housewife, a lama, a young noble woman, and a Buddhist monk, Cuevas argues that these narratives express ideas about death and the afterlife that held wide currency among all classes of faithful Buddhists in Tibet.

The Sungod's Journey Through the Netherworld

The Sungod's Journey Through the Netherworld PDF Author: Andreas Schweizer
Publisher: Cornell University Press
ISBN: 0801448751
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 254

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Book Description
Schweizer guides the reader through the Amduat, offering a psychological interpretation of its principal textual and iconographic elements. He draws on Jungian archetypes to identify similar expressions about the afterlife in other world cultures.

The Enigmatic Netherworld Books of the Solar-Osirian Unity

The Enigmatic Netherworld Books of the Solar-Osirian Unity PDF Author: John Coleman Darnell
Publisher: Saint-Paul
ISBN: 9783525530559
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 714

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Book Description
In Egypt, from the Old to the New Kingdom, enigmatic texts were created on the basis of non-standardized lists of characters and phonetic signs, the exact principles of which are still unclear to this day. For the first time, this study examines in detail the three most comprehensive known inscription texts from the New Kingdom, which were discovered in the tombs of Tutenchamun, Ramses VI and Ramses IX. Darnell shows that these three texts have a theological, iconographic and formal connection, and calls them collectively the "Book of the Solar-Osirian Unity". Differentiated and lively, he presents the content and theological peculiarities of these texts that deal with the afterlife with each other and in relation to other enigmatic texts of the new as well as the Middle and Old Kingdom.

The Netherworld in Ancient Egypt and China

The Netherworld in Ancient Egypt and China PDF Author: Mu-chou Poo
Publisher: Bloomsbury Publishing
ISBN: 0567702014
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 171

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Book Description
Considering the striking similarities between the treatment of the dead and conceptions of the netherworld in ancient Egypt and China, how can we compare the two traditions? Mu-chou Poo considers this question, and provides a new perspective on archaeological materials, including tomb structures and funerary texts, by addressing them in the context of universal human problems such as death, the future of the dead, and the search for happiness in life. Poo chronologically reconstructs the emergence of the idea of the netherworld and its evolution in both ancient Egypt and ancient China. He explores the relationship between religious beliefs and social ethics in these civilizations, considers why similar social and material conditions could have produced varied expressions of the afterlife, and what such variations reveal about each culture. Poo argues that a comparison between both visions of the netherworld and their relationship to life experience gives further insight into the nature of each civilization. Through this analysis, Poo shows that thematic comparison of ancient civilizations is not only possible, but also relevant to modern society.

Greek Myths and Mesopotamia

Greek Myths and Mesopotamia PDF Author: Charles Penglase
Publisher: Routledge
ISBN: 1134729308
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 250

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Book Description
Examines the Mesopotamian influence on Greek mythology in literary works of the epic period, concentrating in particular on journey myths. A major contribution to the understanding of the colourful myths involved.

Gilgamesh, Enkidu, and the Netherworld and the Sumerian Gilgamesh Cycle

Gilgamesh, Enkidu, and the Netherworld and the Sumerian Gilgamesh Cycle PDF Author: Alhena Gadotti
Publisher: Walter de Gruyter GmbH & Co KG
ISBN: 161451545X
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 446

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Book Description
Alhena Gadotti offers a much needed new edition of the Sumerian composition Gilgamesh, Enkidu, and the Netherworld, last published by Aaron Shaffer in his 1963 doctoral dissertation. Since then, several new manuscripts have come to light, prompting not only a new edition of the text, but also a re-examination of the composition. In this book, Gadotti argues that Gilgamesh, Enkidu, and the Netherworld was the first, not the last of the Sumerian stories about Gilgamesh. She also suggests that a Sumerian Gilgamesh Cycle, currently only attested in old Babylonian manuscripts (ca. 18th century BCE), was in fact developed during the Ur III period (ca. 2100-2000 BCE). Providing a new way to look at the Sumerian Gilgamesh stories, this book is relevant not only to scholars of the ancient Near East, but also to anyone interested in epic and epic cycle.

Daniel

Daniel PDF Author: John Joseph Collins
Publisher: Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing
ISBN: 9780802800206
Category : Religion
Languages : en
Pages : 134

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Book Description
Daniel, with an Introduction to Apocalyptic Literture is Volume XX of The Forms of the Old Testament Literature, a series that aims to present a form-critical analysis of every book and each unit in the Hebrew Bible. Fundamentally exegetical, the FOTL volumes examine the structure, genre, setting, and intention of the biblical literature in question. They also study the history behind the form-critical discussion of the material, attempt to bring consistency to the terminology for the genres and formulas of the biblical literature, and expose the exegetical process so as to enable students and pastors to engage in their own analysis and interpretation of the Old Testament texts. In his introduction to Jewish apocalyptic literature, John J. Collins examines the main characteristics and discusses the setting and intention of apocalyptic literature. Collins begins his discussion of Daniel with a survey of the book's anomalies and an examination of the bearing of form criticism on them. He goes on to discuss the book's place in the canon and the problems with its coherence and bilingualism. Collins's section-by-section commentary provides a structural analysis (verse-by-verse) of each section, as well as discussion of its genre, setting, and intention. The book includes bibliographies and a glossary of genres and formulas that offers concise definitions with examples and bibliography.

A Journey through the Beyond

A Journey through the Beyond PDF Author: Silvia Zago
Publisher: Lockwood Press
ISBN: 194848854X
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 521

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Book Description
This volume offers the first comprehensive overview of the evolution over time of a foundational concept of the Egyptian afterlife beliefs, the Duat, or netherworld. The Duat is a complicated, multifaceted notion, which was never canonized into a single version of the beyond, but offered instead a variety of alternatives attempting to describe the metaphysical realms beyond the visible world, and beyond life. Theological speculations gave rise to a rich textual and visual repertoire, which underwent a process of evolution over thousands of years, during which newer ideas and images were constantly introduced. Through the analysis of royal and non-royal funerary texts from the late Old Kingdom to the end of the New Kingdom, this book traces the development of the conceptualization of the notion of Duat, outlining what it encompassed and where it was imagined to be located. In addition to the translation and discussion of the most significant passages of the texts analyzed, each chapter also provides an overview of the individual compositions and of the relevant theological, cosmological, and astronomical notions complementing the conceptual framework, of which the Duat formed but a part. Additionally, discussions of concurrent changes in Egyptian culture, society, and ideology are included in order to clarify the context in which afterlife beliefs and related texts evolved. An analysis of the correlation between funerary compositions and their material supports complements the study, emphasizing the Egyptians' belief in a magical synergy between texts, images, and their contexts in the activation of a suitable, effective afterlife for the recipients of the texts.

Reading the Way to the Netherworld

Reading the Way to the Netherworld PDF Author: Ilinca Tanaseanu-Döbler
Publisher: Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht
ISBN: 3647540307
Category : Religion
Languages : en
Pages : 551

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Book Description
The volume focuses on the various representations of the Beyond in later Antiquity, a period of intense interaction and competition between various religious traditions and ideals of education. The concepts and images clustering around the Beyond form a crucial focal point for understanding the dynamics of religion and education in later Antiquity. Although Christianity gradually supersedes the pagan traditions, the literary representations of the Beyond derived from classical literature and transmitted through the texts read at school show a remarkable persistence: they influence Christian late antique writers and are still alive in medieval literature of the East and West. A specifically Christian Beyond develops only gradually, and coexists subsequently with pagan ideas, which in turn vary according to the respective literary and philosophical contexts. Thus, the various conceptualisations of the great existential unknown, serves here as a point of reference for mirroring the changes and continuities in Imperial and Late Antique religion, education, and culture, and opening up further perspectives into the Medieval world.