Search Results (588)

Most primitive religions originated from the devout worship of celestial deities, earthly spirits, and ghosts. In oracle bone inscriptions, rituals related to praying for rain, temple worship, river deity worship, and the worship of great deities were referred to as “fang” 方 or “yi fang” 以方. The Supreme God was the paramount deity of the Yin Shang Dynasty people; by the early Zhou Dynasty, the Supreme God and ancestral spirits began to merge. The hexagram of Contemplation 觀卦 (guan gua) establishes instruction through the concept of “contemplation” fully presenting the entire process of shamans, sorcerers, or ritual hosts participating in temple sacrifices, and completing the hand-washing ritual 盥 (guan) and the sacrifice-offering ritual 薦 (jian). It emphasizes the sincere communication between humans and Heaven. When a monarch performs the guan ritual, he embodies inner “sincerity and clarity” 誠明 (chengming); in response, the celestial deities will “show trust” 有孚 (youfu). Thus, it can be verified that deities exist in Heaven, and an interactive, responsive relationship is formed between Heaven and humans. The nine in the fifth place (the dominant line) possesses great inspiring power. The two fundamental dimensions for interpreting the hexagram structure are “the great view is above” 大觀在上 (da guan zai shang) and “[t]hose below look toward him and are transformed” 下觀而化 (xia guan er hua). These dimensions not only highlight the infinite transcendence, charisma, and appeal of the worshipped deities but also underscore humans’ profound reverence and faith in deities and the absolute existence. Sages 聖人 (sheng ren), as intermediaries between humans and deities, established religion for the sake of human life but did not regard themselves as religious leaders. However, from the Shang and Zhou dynasties to the Spring and Autumn period, a transition occurred in the spiritual life of the Chinese people: from shamanism to ritual propriety 禮 (li), and from theistic culture to humanistic culture. This transition laid the fundamental direction for the development and evolution of Chinese culture over the following 2500 years. Confucius attempted to replace or eliminate the shamanistic elements in early Confucians with personalized moral experience and ethical consciousness. Full article

Mosque architecture often exhibits distinct identities, elements, and forms associated with geographical locations or dynastic patronage in the Islamic world. However, there has been a significant paradigm shift in mosque architecture over the past century, with external factors influencing the construction and sustainability of contemporary mosques. This study examines the evolution of mosque architecture in Nigeria, concentrating on the Ilorin Central Mosque as a pivotal case study connecting the northern and southern regions. The study employs a qualitative research methodology, utilizing descriptive approach, historical research, architectural analysis, and field observations to examine the architectural language, urban context, and socio-historical factors shaping the mosque’s development. Although geographical settings have always influenced traditional religious designs in Nigeria, the findings reveal a transformation from simple mud structures to grand modern edifices. The Ilorin Central Mosque exemplifies this shift, with its Ottoman-inspired domes and minarets contrasting with the traditional vernacular mosques of the 19th century. The study highlights the challenges of globalization, sustainability, foreign architectural influences, and the tension between local identity and contemporary trends in mosque architecture. The study concludes by arguing that future mosques must reintegrate regionalism, local materials, and climate-responsive principles into contemporary aesthetics while considering the quintessential principles of the Prophet’s Mosque and the religious and social significance of mosques within the urban fabric. The Ilorin Central Mosque exemplifies a microcosm of the transformations in Nigerian mosque architecture, highlighting the necessity of a balanced approach that embraces both cultural heritage and contemporary needs. Full article

This study examines the Kwŏnsu-chŏngŏp-wangsaeng-ch’ŏpkyŏngdo (勸修淨業往生捷徑圖), a woodblock print created for Pure Land practice during the Chosŏn period. The print served as material evidence demonstrating how Pure Land faith developed within Chosŏn Buddhism, which consolidated various schools under the Sŏn tradition while integrating doctrinal studies and Pure Land faith. Through iconographic analysis of the transformation tableau and examination of its publication colophon, this paper explores how yŏmbul-Sŏn practice evolved from the early Chosŏn period and how this print functioned as a practical medium for daily Buddha recitation practice. The study argues that the Kwŏnsu-chŏngŏp-wangsaeng-ch’ŏpkyŏngdo represents empirical evidence of the synthesis between Sŏn meditation and Pure Land faith, demonstrating the inclusive approach of Chosŏn Buddhist masters who accepted both Mind-Only Pure Land and Western Pure Land concepts for the purpose of widespread religious instruction. Full article

The purpose of this research was to investigate whether music empirically associated with therapeutic effects contains intrinsic informational structures that differentiate it from other sound sequences. Drawing on ontology, phenomenology, nonlinear dynamics, and complex systems theory, we hypothesize that therapeutic relevance may be linked to persistent structural patterns embedded in musical signals rather than to stylistic or genre-related attributes. This paper introduces the Discriminating Music Sequences (DiMuSes) method, an unsupervised, structure-oriented analytical framework designed to detect such patterns. The method applies 24 scalar evaluators derived from statistics, fractal geometry, nonlinear physics, and complex systems, transforming sound sequences into multidimensional vectors that characterize their global temporal organization. Principal Component Analysis (PCA) reduces this feature space to three dominant components (PC1–PC3), enabling visualization and comparison in a reduced informational space. Unsupervised k-Means clustering is subsequently applied in the PCA space to identify groups of structurally similar sound sequences, with cluster quality evaluated using Silhouette and Davies–Bouldin indices. Beyond clustering, DiMuSe implements ranking procedures based on relative positions in the PCA space, including distance to cluster centroids, inter-item proximity, and stability across clustering configurations, allowing melodies to be ordered according to their structural proximity to the therapeutic cluster. The method was first validated using synthetically generated nonlinear signals with known properties, confirming its capacity to discriminate structured time series. It was then applied to a dataset of 39 music and sound sequences spanning therapeutic, classical, folk, religious, vocal, natural, and noise categories. The results show that therapeutic music consistently forms a compact and well-separated cluster and ranks highly in structural proximity measures, suggesting shared informational characteristics. Notably, pink noise and ocean sounds also cluster near therapeutic music, aligning with independent evidence of their regulatory and relaxation effects. DiMuSe-derived rankings were consistent with two independent studies that identified the same musical pieces as highly therapeutic.The present research remains at a theoretical stage. Our method has not yet been tested in clinical or experimental therapeutic settings and does not account for individual preference, cultural background, or personal music history, all of which strongly influence therapeutic outcomes. Consequently, DiMuSe does not claim to predict individual efficacy but rather to identify structural potential at the signal level. Future work will focus on clinical validation, integration of biometric feedback, and the development of personalized extensions that combine intrinsic informational structure with listener-specific response data. Full article

The Ming Dynasty (1368–1644) was a transformative era for Baojuan (寶卷, “precious scrolls”), a traditional genre of Chinese folk religious literature, which evolved from its Yuan origins to achieve widespread prominence. Luo Qing’s Wubu liuce (五部六冊, “Five Books in Six Volumes”) during the Zhengde reign (1506–1521) marked a pivotal moment, enabling the systematic dissemination of his teachings among diverse social strata and profoundly shaping popular religious beliefs. The Ming Baojuan texts, bridging the developments between the Yuan and Qing periods, offer rich and dispersed data suitable for digital visualization. Employing digital humanities tools such as 3D radar charts and GIS visualization, this study maps the spatial distribution and influence of Baojuan in Ming China. The findings reveal that transportation networks and regional economic prosperity played a crucial role in driving its dissemination, with southern regions–particularly the Wu-Yue region (referring to the historical cultural area encompassing southern Jiangsu and northern Zhejiang, core parts of Ming Jiangnan)–showing high density, reflecting the economic and cultural vitality of Ming Jiangnan. The research further demonstrates that the flourishing of Baojuan publication and dissemination during the Ming period was sustained not only by economic and cultural forces but also by the ruling elite’s patronage, a form of discursive strategies that functioned as a mechanism of sectarian legitimation, thereby underscoring the interdependence of regional prosperity, elite patronage, and religious transmission. Full article

This paper introduces Saudi Dialects Cyber Violence Detection (SD-CVD) corpus, a large-scale, class-balanced Saudi-dialect corpus for fine-grained cyber violence detection on online platforms. The dataset contains 88,687 Saudi Arabic tweets annotated using a three-level hierarchical scheme that assigns each tweet to one of 11 mutually exclusive classes, covering benign sentiment (positive, neutral, negative), cyberbullying, and seven hate-speech subtypes (incitement to violence, gender, national, social class, tribal, religious, and regional discrimination). To mitigate the class imbalance common in Arabic cyber violence datasets, data augmentation was applied to achieve a near-uniform class distribution. Annotation quality was ensured through multi-stage review, yielding excellent inter-annotator agreement (Fleiss’ κ > 0.89). We evaluate three modeling paradigms: traditional machine learning with TF–IDF and n-gram features (SVM, logistic regression, random forest), deep learning models trained on fixed sentence embeddings (LSTM, RNN, MLP, CNN), and fine-tuned transformer models (AraBERTv02-Twitter, CAMeLBERT-MSA). Experimental results show that transformers perform best, with AraBERTv02-Twitter achieving the highest weighted F1-score (0.882) followed by CAMeLBERT-MSA (0.869). Among non-transformer baselines, SVM is most competitive (0.853), while CNN performs worst (0.561). Overall, SD-CVD provides a high-quality benchmark and strong baselines to support future research on robust and interpretable Arabic cyber-violence detection. Full article

This qualitative single-case study examines how spirituality promotes mental health within a stigmatized occupation by analyzing an in-depth interview with “Perla,” a 62-year-old Mexican woman with decades of experience in sex work. Guided by Virginia Satir’s Transformational Systemic Therapy (STST), specifically the Self-Mandala and Iceberg Metaphor, we conceptualize spirituality as a universal human dimension of meaning, moral orientation, and relational connection that may be expressed within or beyond formal religion. Narrative thematic analysis identifies processes through which Perla cultivates congruence (alignment of inner experience and outward conduct), safeguards dignity, and sustains hope amid systemic constraints. Her Catholic practices (prayer, ritual boundaries regarding Eucharist) coexist with a broader spiritual agency that supports self-worth, emotional regulation, boundary-setting, and coherent identity, factors associated with mental well-being. Interdisciplinary implications bridge marriage and family therapy, psychology, pastoral care, and cultural studies. Clinically, we translate Satir’s constructs (yearnings, perceptions, expectations, coping stances) into practical assessment and intervention steps that can be applied in secular settings without religious presuppositions. Analytic rigor was supported through reflective memoing, a structured three-level coding process, constant comparison, and verification by a second coder. The case challenges pathologizing frames of sex workers by demonstrating how spirituality can function as a protective, growth-oriented resource that fosters agency and moral coherence. Full article

This article addresses the need to rethink models for managing religious diversity in Europe, which, among other causes, has transformed into a multi-religious society, breaking with Christian hegemony as a result of the migration processes of the last century. The author proposes governance as an essential tool for managing religious diversity, understood as a style of government that promotes interaction and cooperation between the State and non-state actors, including religious denominations, in decision-making processes to regulate this phenomenon and enable individuals and the groups they belong to, to exercise their fundamental right to religious freedom. This approach seeks the social inclusion and effective participation of religious minorities to combat their marginalization and radicalization. To this end, we propose moving away from laicism positions that seek to exclude religion from the public sphere or from those that defend the political use of religion as an element of national identity, proposing instead a model of positive secularism like the Spanish one. Analysing the Spanish model, the article argues how the political participation of religious minorities through a model of religious governance in the management of religious diversity is crucial for building inclusive and safe societies where social cohesion and the full observance of religious freedom and other fundamental rights are achieved. Full article

Digitalization has transformed how young believers in East Asia encounter, interpret, and negotiate Christian teachings. Drawing on four years of ethnographic and digital fieldwork at a large Pentecostal megachurch in Singapore (2019–2022), this article develops the concept of theological tinkering to describe how youth engage diverse Christian ideas through algorithmic exposure, relational discernment, and institutional boundary-work. In an environment where spiritual content circulates through smartphones, social media, livestreams, and peer networks, theological meaning is increasingly assembled through movement rather than inherited through stable structures. The article situates the Singaporean case within broader scholarship on mediatization, hybridity, digital authority, and liquid modernity, showing how theological reasoning is shaped by digital infrastructures, affective-spiritual evaluation, and communal negotiation. Rather than signalling doctrinal instability, theological tinkering reflects a resilient mode of liquid faith: a capacity to remain rooted while navigating plurality. The findings invite a rethinking of theological formation, pastoral leadership, and digital discipleship in East Asia’s rapidly evolving religious landscape. Full article

Religious plurality is an increasingly prevalent phenomenon in contemporary societies, and managing it within the healthcare sector presents significant challenges. In this regard, healthcare systems must strike a balance between religious freedom and the organisation of healthcare services. This paper will address the management and legal treatment of religious diversity in healthcare, focusing on the impact of artificial intelligence in this area. There is no doubt that Artificial Intelligence is transforming the management of religious diversity in healthcare. While many advances have been observed in this area in recent years, numerous ethical and privacy challenges have also emerged, which are undoubtedly leading to the need for a reconfiguration of the legal framework. Issues such as conscientious objection by healthcare personnel, access to treatments compatible with patients’ beliefs, and possible tensions between the right to health and religious freedom will be analysed. The influence of Artificial Intelligence on decision-making and the personalisation of treatments, along with the ethical and legal challenges this entails, will also be explored. Based on this analysis, we will reflect on current challenges and possible improvements in managing religious plurality in healthcare systems. Our aim is to promote a model that provides better medical care, adequately addresses ethical and privacy challenges, respects diversity, and guarantees fundamental rights. Full article

In the history of Turkish-Islamic culture, every stage of human life—from birth to death—has been ritualized with profound symbolic and spiritual meanings. Turkish religious music has functioned as a fundamental element in these transitional phases, possessing both aesthetic and devotional dimensions. In individual rites of passage such as naming, circumcision, beginning school, and marriage, as well as in collective rituals such as bidding farewell to and welcoming Hajj pilgrims or observing religious days and nights, Turkish religious music has held a significant place. Confronting death—an inevitable and sorrowful reality of life—Turkish society has employed religious music as a consolatory and spiritually guiding medium, transforming it into a ritual mode of expression intended to soften the disruptive impact of death and to give meaning to the mourning process. Sufi order funerals represent one of the manifestations of this aesthetic depth. In this context, (Janāza) funeral ceremonies are not merely occasions of farewell but also rites of metaphysical acceptance and surrender. Since death is considered not an end but “wuṣlat,” that is, reunion with the Absolute Truth (al-Ḥaqq), within Sufi thought, the funeral rites of Sufi orders have been shaped accordingly. In Mawlawī, Bektāshī, Jarrahī, and Rifāʿī orders, not only the canonical funeral prayer (ṣalāt al-janāza) but also various forms of religious music are performed, imparting both aesthetic and spiritual depth to the ceremony. This study aims to examine the religious musical practices present in the funeral ceremonies of these four major Sufi orders, all of which have historically maintained a close relationship with music. A qualitative ritual-musicological approach has been adopted; semi-structured interviews were conducted with the Shaykh of the Rifāʿī order, the Zakirbaşı of the Jarrahī branch of the Khalwatī order, and a Dede of the Bektāshī order. The data sources of the study consist of interview materials, archival-based works, literature on the history of Sufism, sources on Turkish religious music, and digital recordings of Sufi orders’ funeral rituals. The limited number of interviews were analyzed through thematic analysis, while textual analysis and contextual interpretation were employed to examine in detail “the musical forms, thematic structures, performance contexts, and symbolic functions” present in these rituals. Preliminary findings indicate that the music unique to Sufi order funerals fulfills multiple functions, including “spiritual consolation, strengthening social solidarity, doctrinal expression of belief in the afterlife, and transforming mourning into a sacred experience.” The funeral traditions of the four orders examined possess distinctive musical structures, and these structures constitute an identifiable aesthetic form within the Ottoman and Turkish religious-musical tradition. It has also been determined that the repertory performed in Sufi orders’ funeral ceremonies is largely rooted in the tekke (Sufi lodge) musical tradition and that various forms of Turkish religious music are prominently represented in these rituals. This study has brought to light the religious musical repertory performed within the funeral rituals of Sufi orders—an area that has remained insufficiently explored to date—and has demonstrated that this repertory exerts positive psychosocial effects on both Sufi adherents and other participants in their approach to death. In this respect, the study sheds light on the repertory of Turkish religious music and offers an original contribution to the scholarly literature. Full article

Violence against women remains one of the most persistent social problems in Türkiye, often reinforced by patriarchal interpretations of religion and cultural traditions. This study investigates the role of religious institutions and values-based education in preventing such violence by analyzing national curricula, mosque sermons, policy documents, and reports of the Presidency of Religious Affairs. Using a qualitative design based on document analysis and literature review, it examines how religious education reflects or omits gender-related themes and how institutional practices shape public awareness. The findings reveal that while formal and non-formal types of religious education promote moral values such as compassion, justice, and respect, they rarely address gender-based violence explicitly. Religious discourse tends to emphasize general moral development rather than specific strategies for preventing violence against women. The study concludes that integrating gender-sensitive content into religious curricula, promoting authentic Qur’anic teachings on equality and mercy, and providing professional training for religious personnel are essential to transforming societal attitudes. Strengthening cooperation between educational institutions, religious authorities, and policymakers will ensure that religion functions as a constructive moral resource rather than a tool for legitimizing inequality. Full article

Recent scholarship has studied the extensive transformation of Turkey’s Directorate of Religious Affairs (Diyanet) over the past two decades as embodying a form of religious populism that mobilizes civilizational antagonisms. Based on a directed qualitative content analysis of Friday sermons, official publications, online material, broadcasts, and public statements by Diyanet leaders, this article makes three contributions. First, while confirming that the Diyanet promotes the civilizational unity of the ummah and casts Turkey as the spiritual custodian of a transhistorical Islamic world, the analysis shows that anti-elitist framings characteristic of populism are barely present in its rhetoric. Second, the article provides a detailed examination of gönül coğrafyası (geography of the heart), a widely invoked yet understudied concept through which the Diyanet reimagines Ottoman-Islamic heritage as a sacred topography of civilizational belonging and responsibility. Third, it examines how Europe is situated both outside and within this imagined geography: at once a constitutive and menacing “other” marked by Islamophobia and cultural decay yet also a moral frontier inhabited by Muslim diasporas through whom Turkish Islam extends its reach. By drawing such symbolic boundaries, the Diyanet frames Islam as both religious patrimony and ethical alternative to Western modernity, portraying itself as a key actor in the re-sacralization of modern life across borders. Full article

This study explores the dynamics of engaged spiritualities within contemporary Buddhist communities in Italy. By employing an ethnographic approach, the research examines how physical space fosters spiritual experiences, facilitates social interactions, and serves as a site for personal and collective transformation. The study integrates insights from religious studies, anthropology, and neuroscience to analyse the cognitive and emotional effects of meditation while also engaging with Foucault’s theories on power and space to understand Buddhist centres as structured environments that shape individual and collective subjectivities. The research highlights how engaged Buddhism in Italy adapts traditional practices to contemporary challenges, particularly in response to mental health concerns among university students. Through participant observation and interviews conducted during mindfulness and contemplative education programmes, the study demonstrates how meditation contributes to psychological well-being, emotional regulation, and social connection. This analysis aligns with theoretical discussions on the conceptualisation of spirituality in modern societies, illustrating how engaged spiritualities manifest in secular and pluralistic contexts. The findings suggest that Buddhist spaces in Italy function not only as sites of religious practice but also as transformative environments where power relations are renegotiated, identity is reconstructed, and alternative ways of living emerge. The study further explores how scientific advancements in neuroscience inform spiritual practices, shedding light on the reciprocal relationship between spiritual yearning and scientific inquiry. Finally, the research contributes to the debate on the future of engaged spiritualities in the face of global crises. It argues that while Buddhist communities in Italy preserve traditional wisdom, they also actively shape new forms of spiritual engagement that respond to contemporary social, political, and environmental challenges. This work situates engaged Buddhism as a key player in fostering alternative models of coexistence, well-being, and ethical responsibility in the modern world. Full article

The Yungang Grottoes, carved by imperial commission from the Xianbei 鮮卑 royal family of the Northern Wei Dynasty, represent a pivotal site for understanding Buddhism’s sinicization in China. This study examines the roof ridge decorations from the Yungang Grottoes as material evidence of cultural transformation during the eastward dissemination of Buddhism along the Silk Road. Through systematic analysis of five decorative elements—chiwei 鴟尾, phoenix, garuda 金翅鳥, triangular patterns, and flame beads—this research reveals how indigenous Chinese architectural traditions integrated with Buddhist iconography. The findings suggest that these roof ridge decorations offer compelling evidence of the sinicization of Buddhist art in China, a process that established a distinctive esthetic synthesis balancing foreign religious symbolism with local cultural expression. This localization process created foundational models for Buddhist artistic development throughout East Asia, illuminating the mechanisms of cross-cultural religious adaptation in medieval China. Full article