Search Results (3)

In the Chinese Buddhist tradition, copying and printing sacred texts is considered a form of merit-making, or virtuous activity. One reason for the printing and circulation of books in the Buddhist tradition is the belief that one can gain merits. From the introduction of Buddhism into China, devotees copied, printed and disseminated sūtras to generate merit, a kind of spiritual goodness, which accumulates with each positive act. The author has gathered a large amount of data from libraries, museums and temples around the world that demonstrates how the imperial family members, concubines, court ladies, eunuchs, Buddhist monks and lay devotees supported the construction of the Buddhist canon. They believed that the printing of the Buddhist scriptures would grant them all kinds of merit, such as those who seek happiness in life now and happiness in the next life, or those who encounter disasters and difficulties in the present world. As this paper deeply delves into the sources of the editions of the Chinese Buddhist canon, we may further analyze the practice of merit-making hierarchically and horizontally. Full article

The present article traces the symbols of the eye (Greek: κόρη [maiden, concubine, pupil of the eye]; Latin: pūpilla; Hebrew: īshōn bath ʿāyin (‘apple of the eye’ or the ‘pupil of the eye’ [lit. ‘daughter of an eye’], i.e., the feminine divine Presence [Shĕkhīnāh]); Arabic: ʿayn; Persian: chashm) and the black pupil of the eye (Arabic: insān al-ʿayn; Persian: mardum-i chashm) in Sufism, both—in the context of Andalusian Sufism, specifically in Ibn al-ʿArabī’s poem entitled ‘I saw a Girl…’, in whose dark pupil or abyssal blackness (Arabic: ḥawar; Hebrew: īshōn), pleasure of the gaze (naẓar) and repository of the secret (sirr), resides the Beloved—as in the medieval Persian gnosis of the followers of al-Sahykh al-Akbar—Fakhr al-Dīn ʿIrāqī and Maḥmūd Shabistarī—, and the mystical poet Ḥāfiẓ Shīrāzī. Ibn al-ʿArabī and Shabistarī have had an explicit influence on the work of the reputed American video artist Bill Viola (Queens, New York, 1951), specifically in his two video/sound installations—He Weeps for You (1976) and I Do Not Know What It Is I Am Like (1986), in which the common image of the mirror pupil of the eye summarizes the entire ancient Neoplatonic conception of the θεωρία (contemplatio, speculatio). Full article

The Pearl River Delta (PRD) is one of the most typical regions in China, where people commonly believe in Nanhaishen 南海神 (the South Sea God), Tianfei 天妃 (the Heavenly Concubine), Beidi 北帝 (the Northern Emperor) and other Water Deities. This paper investigates 40 local chronicles from 9 counties in the region. It has digitized, quantified, and analyzed the temple records of the Water Deities and used the Geographic Information System (GIS) to reconstruct the spatiotemporal evolution of the local beliefs. The results show the consistency and difference in the spatiotemporal evolution of the local beliefs of Water Deities. The consistency reflects that their original centers were all around the city of Canton and its west, namely Foshan 佛山 and Jiujiang 九江, which were in the jurisdiction of Nanhai County 南海縣, showing a similar tendency to move from the center to the periphery. The difference in the evolution is that they had apiece characteristics in distribution patterns and transmission paths. The blossoming, propagation, and consolidation of the beliefs were influenced by multi-factors such as defending against flood disasters, transportation and commercial development, the integration of national sacrifices and folk beliefs, and the connection of the beliefs with regional security. Overall, Water Deities’ status in people’s minds continued to deepen, and their supernatural powers were perceived as increasingly outstanding. It reflects people of the traditional regional society and their spiritual orientation to the material world, which was affected by institutional and non-institutional factors. Full article