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Kō (lecture)
The Japanese language, Japanese term , or , in Buddhism, is a service or gathering in which monks read or study Buddhist texts. In a broader sense, it is the Japanese word for a lecture or a meeting of an association. The term originally referred to a group of Sangha, monks who read and studied Buddhist scriptures in a temple, and eventually came to refer to a (''kōkai'') centering on the reading of Buddhist scriptures. The term has also been applied to folk religion to refer to a group of people who hold religious events, or their events and meetings. It can also be used to refer to a mutual aid group or meeting. Thus, the term "kō" covers a wide range of subjects. Original meaning and its evolution During the Heian period, Tiantai rose among the aristocrats, and they financed the eight Buddhist rites of the Lotus Sutra, which were lavishly decorated. This led to the development of "kōko," or religious meetings away from the study of Buddhist scriptures, among the secular ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Japanese Language
is the principal language of the Japonic languages, Japonic language family spoken by the Japanese people. It has around 123 million speakers, primarily in Japan, the only country where it is the national language, and within the Japanese diaspora worldwide. The Japonic family also includes the Ryukyuan languages and the variously classified Hachijō language. There have been many Classification of the Japonic languages, attempts to group the Japonic languages with other families such as Ainu languages, Ainu, Austronesian languages, Austronesian, Koreanic languages, Koreanic, and the now discredited Altaic languages, Altaic, but none of these proposals have gained any widespread acceptance. Little is known of the language's prehistory, or when it first appeared in Japan. Chinese documents from the 3rd century AD recorded a few Japanese words, but substantial Old Japanese texts did not appear until the 8th century. From the Heian period (794–1185), extensive waves of Sino-Ja ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Mountain Worship
is a faith that regards mountains as sacred objects of worship. Overview Mountain worship, as a form of nature worship, is thought to have evolved from the reverence that ethnic groups closely associated with mountains have for mountainous terrain and the natural environment that accompanies it. In mountain worship, there is a belief in the spiritual power of mountainous areas and a form of using the overwhelming feeling of the mountains to govern one's life. These faiths are mainly found in the cultures of inland mountainous regions, where mountains with inhospitable, rugged terrain are essential for their development. In areas with such beliefs, people depend on the river flowing from the mountains and the forest spreading at the foot of the mountains for all their food, clothing, and shelter, and are constantly being blessed by the mountains they see. On the other hand, the people who hold these beliefs are in an environment where even the slightest carelessness in the ru ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Buddhist Organizations
Buddhism, also known as Buddhadharma and Dharmavinaya, is an Indian religion and philosophical tradition based on teachings attributed to the Buddha, a wandering teacher who lived in the 6th or 5th century BCE. It is the world's fourth-largest religion, with about 500 million followers, known as Buddhists, who comprise four percent of the global population. It arose in the eastern Gangetic plain as a movement in the 5th century BCE, and gradually spread throughout much of Asia. Buddhism has subsequently played a major role in Asian culture and spirituality, eventually spreading to the West in the 20th century. According to tradition, the Buddha instructed his followers in a path of development which leads to awakening and full liberation from '' dukkha'' (). He regarded this path as a Middle Way between extremes such as asceticism or sensual indulgence. Teaching that ''dukkha'' arises alongside attachment or clinging, the Buddha advised meditation practices and eth ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Awa Dance Festival
The is held from 12 to 15 August as part of the Obon, Obon festival in Tokushima Prefecture on Shikoku in Japan. Awa Odori is the largest dance festival in Japan, attracting over 1.3 million tourists every year. Groups of choreographed dancers and musicians known as ''ren'' (連) dance through the streets, typically accompanied by the shamisen lute, taiko drums, shinobue flute and the kane (musical instrument), kane bell. Performers wear traditional obon dance costumes, and chant and sing as they parade through the streets. ''Awa Province (Tokushima), Awa'' is the old feudal, feudal administration name for Tokushima Prefecture, and ''Japanese traditional dance, odori'' means "dance". History The earliest origins of the dance style are found in the Japanese Buddhist priestly dances of Nembutsu-odori and ''hiji-odori'' of the Kamakura period (1185–1333), and also in ''kumi-odori'', a lively harvest dance that was known to last for several days. The Awa Odori festival grew out ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Church (congregation)
A church (or local church) is a religious organization or congregation that meets in a particular location, often for Christian worship, worship. Many are formally organized, with constitutions and by-laws, maintain offices, are served by clergy or lay leaders, and, in nations where this is permissible, often seek non-profit corporate status. Local churches often relate with, affiliate with, or consider themselves to be constitutive parts of Christian denomination, denominations, which are also called churches in many traditions. Depending on the tradition, these organizations may connect local churches to larger church traditions, ordination, ordain and defrock clergy, define terms of membership and exercise church discipline, and have organizations for cooperative ministry such as educational institutions and Christian mission, missionary societies. Non-denominational churches are not part of denominations, but may consider themselves part of larger church movements without i ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Onshi
, also called , is the common term for a member of the clergy at a responsible for maintaining the shrine and leading worship of the there.* ''Kannushi'' (in Japanese), Iwanami Japanese dictionary, 6th Edition (2008), DVD version The characters for are sometimes also read as with the same meaning. ''Kannushi'' originally referred only to the highest-ranking member of the clergy at a shrine, but has since expanded to become a collective term for all members of the clergy, synonymous with ''shinshoku''. Another office called used to exist, but the position was abolished during the removal of Shinto from government oversight during the establishment of the Japanese constitution. History Originally, the were intermediaries between and people and could transmit their will to common humans. A was a man capable of miracles or a holy man who, because of his practice of purificatory rites, was able to work as a medium for a . In ancient times, because of the overlap of p ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Glebe
A glebe (, also known as church furlong, rectory manor or parson's close(s)) is an area of land within an ecclesiastical parish used to support a parish priest. The land may be owned by the church, or its profits may be reserved to the church. Medieval origins In the Roman Catholic, Anglican and Presbyterian traditions, a glebe is land belonging to a benefice and so by default to its incumbent. In other words, "glebe is land (in addition to or including the parsonage house/rectory and grounds) which was assigned to support the priest". The word ''glebe'' itself comes from Middle English, from the Old French (originally from or , "clod, land, soil"). Glebe land can include strips in the open-field system or portions grouped together into a compact plot of land. In early times, tithes provided the main means of support for the parish clergy, but glebe land was either granted by any lord of the manor of the church's parish (sometimes the manor would have boundaries coterminou ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Folk Religion
Folk religion, traditional religion, or vernacular religion comprises, according to religious studies and folkloristics, various forms and expressions of religion that are distinct from the official doctrines and practices of organized religion. The precise definition of folk religion varies among scholars. Sometimes also termed popular belief, it consists of ethnic or regional religious customs under the umbrella of a religion; but outside official doctrine and practices. The term "folk religion" is generally held to encompass two related but separate subjects. The first is the religious dimension of folk culture (folklore), or the folk-cultural dimensions of religion. The second refers to the study of religious syncretism between two cultures with different stages of formal expression, such as the melange of African folk beliefs and Roman Catholicism that led to the development of Vodun and Santería, and similar mixtures of formal religions with folk cultures. In China, fo ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Lotus Sutra
The ''Lotus Sūtra'' (Sanskrit: ''Saddharma Puṇḍarīka Sūtram'', ''Sūtra on the White Lotus of the True Dharma'', zh, p=Fǎhuá jīng, l=Dharma Flower Sutra) is one of the most influential and venerated Buddhist Mahāyāna sūtras. It is the main scripture on which the Tiantai along with its derivative schools, the Japanese Tendai and Nichiren, Korean Cheontae, and Vietnamese Thiên Thai schools of Buddhism were established. It is also influential for other East Asian Buddhist schools, such as Zen. According to the British Buddhologist Paul Williams, "For many Buddhists in East Asia since early times, the ''Lotus Sūtra'' contains the final teaching of Shakyamuni Buddha—complete and sufficient for salvation." The American Buddhologist Donald S. Lopez Jr. writes that the ''Lotus Sūtra'' "is arguably the most famous of all Buddhist texts," presenting "a radical re-vision of both the Buddhist path and of the person of the Buddha." Two central teachings ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Golden Light Sutra
The Golden Light Sutra or (; ) is a Buddhist text of the Mahayana branch of Buddhism. In Sanskrit, the full title is ''Suvarṇaprabhāsottamasūtrendrarājaḥ'' "The King of Sutras on the Sublime Golden Radiance" History The sutra was originally written in India in Sanskrit and was translated several times into Chinese by Dharmakṣema and others, and later translated into Tibetan and other languages. Johannes Nobel published Sanskrit and Tibetan editions of the text. The sutra is influential in East Asia. The name of the sutra derives from the chapter called "The Confession of the Golden Drum", where the bodhisattva Ruchiraketu dreams of a great drum that radiates a sublime golden light, symbolizing the dharma or teachings of Śākyamuni Buddha. The ''Golden Light Sutra'' became one of the most important sutras in China and Japan because of its fundamental message, which teaches that the Four Heavenly Kings ( zh, t=四大天王, p=Sì Dàtiānwáng) protect the ruler w ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Buddhist Chant
Tibetan illustration of veena.html" ;"title="Saraswati holding a veena">Saraswati holding a veena, the main deity of music and musicians in Mahayana Buddhism Buddhist music is music (, ) created for or inspired by Buddhism and includes numerous ritual and non-ritual musical forms.Mross, Michaela (2022). Memory, Music, Manuscripts: ''The Ritual Dynamics of Kōshiki in Japanese Sōtō Zen,'' p. 7''.'' Michaela Mross University of Hawaii Press. As a Buddhist art form, music has been used by Buddhists since the time of early Buddhism, as attested by artistic depictions in Indian sites like Sanchi. While certain early Buddhist sources contain negative attitudes to music, Mahayana sources tend to be much more positive to music, seeing it as a suitable offering to the Buddhas and as a skillful means to bring sentient beings to Buddhism. Buddhist music retains a prominent place in many Buddhist traditions, and is usually used for ceremonial and devotional purposes. Buddhist music ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
