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Paṃsukūla
Among Buddhists, death is regarded as one of the occasions of major religious significance, both for the deceased and for the survivors. For the deceased, it marks the moment when the transition begins to a new mode of existence within the round of rebirths (see Bhavacakra). When death occurs, all the karmic forces that the dead person accumulated during the course of their lifetime become activated and determine the next rebirth. For the living, death is a powerful reminder of the Buddha's teaching on impermanence; it also provides an opportunity to assist the deceased person as they transition to a new existence. There are several academic reviews of this subject. In Buddhism, death marks the transition from this life to the next for the deceased. Theravada traditions For the non-Arhat, death is a time of transitioning to another rebirth; thus, the living participate in acts that transfer merit to the departed, either providing for a more auspicious rebirth or for the relief of ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Buddhist
Buddhism, also known as Buddhadharma and Dharmavinaya, is an Indian religion and List of philosophies, philosophical tradition based on Pre-sectarian Buddhism, teachings attributed to the Buddha, a wandering teacher who lived in the 6th or 5th century Before the Common Era, BCE. It is the Major religious groups, 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 Western world, the West in the 20th century. According to tradition, the Buddha instructed his followers in a path of bhavana, development which leads to Enlightenment in Buddhism, awakening and moksha, full liberation from ''Duḥkha, dukkha'' (). He regarded this path as a Middle Way between extremes su ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Ten Realms
file:Tainai jikkai no zu by Kuniteru III.jpg, Japanese depiction of the ten realms The ten realms, sometimes referred to as the ten worlds, are part of the belief of some forms of Buddhism that there are 240 conditions of life which sentient beings are subject to, and which they experience from moment to moment. The popularization of this term is often attributed to the Chinese scholar Zhiyi, Chih-i who spoke about the "co-penetration of the ten worlds." The Ten Realms The ten realms are part of Buddhist cosmology and consist of four higher realms and six lower realms derived from the Indian concept of Bhavacakra#Third layer: the six realms of samsara, the six realms of rebirth. These realms can also be described through the degrees of enlightenment that course through them. They have been translated in various ways. They are divided into the Six Realms (六道), followed by higher states of enlightened consciousness that lead to final Buddhahood. The Six Realms are: Narak ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Huiyuan (Buddhist)
Lushan Huiyuan (; 334–416 AD), meaning "Huiyuan of Mount Lu", was a Chinese Buddhist teacher who founded Donglin Temple at the foot of Mount Lu in Jiujiang province and wrote the text ''On Why Monks Do Not Bow Down Before Kings'' in 404 AD. He was born in Shanxi province but moved to Jiujiang, where he died in 416. Although he was born in the north, he moved south to live within the bounds of the Eastern Jin Dynasty. Huiyuan was posthumously named First Patriarch of the Pure Land School of Buddhism, and founder of the White Lotus Society, an early Buddhist community devoted to Amitabha Buddha. His disciples included Huiguan (), Sengji (), and Faan (). Life Huiyuan began studying the '' Zhuangzi'', ''Laozi'', and the teachings of Confucius at a young age. However, at the age of 21 he was converted to Buddhism in Hebei Province by the monk Dao An, a Chinese disciple of a Kuchan missionary. Hearing the sermons of Dao An convinced Huiyuan to "leave the family" and embark ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Sichuan
Sichuan is a province in Southwestern China, occupying the Sichuan Basin and Tibetan Plateau—between the Jinsha River to the west, the Daba Mountains to the north, and the Yunnan–Guizhou Plateau to the south. Its capital city is Chengdu, and its population stands at 83 million. Sichuan neighbors Qinghai and Gansu to the north, Shaanxi and Chongqing to the east, Guizhou and Yunnan to the south, and Tibet to the west. During antiquity, Sichuan was home to the kingdoms of Ba and Shu until their incorporation by the Qin. During the Three Kingdoms era (220–280), Liu Bei's state of Shu was based in Sichuan. The area was devastated in the 17th century by Zhang Xianzhong's rebellion and the area's subsequent Manchu conquest, but recovered to become one of China's most productive areas by the 19th century. During World War II, Chongqing served as the temporary capital of the Republic of China, and was heavily bombed. It was one of the last mainland areas captured ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Dunhuang
Dunhuang () is a county-level city in northwestern Gansu Province, Western China. According to the 2010 Chinese census, the city has a population of 186,027, though 2019 estimates put the city's population at about 191,800. Sachu (Dunhuang) was a major stop on the ancient Silk Road and is best known for the nearby Mogao Caves. Dunhuang is situated in an oasis containing Crescent Lake and Mingsha Shan (, meaning "Singing-Sand Mountain"), named after the sound of the wind whipping off the dunes, the singing sand phenomenon. Dunhuang commands a strategic position at the crossroads of the ancient Southern Silk Route and the main road leading from India via Lhasa to Mongolia and southern Siberia, and also controls the entrance to the narrow Hexi Corridor, which leads straight to the heart of the north Chinese plains and the ancient capitals of Chang'an (today known as Xi'an) and Luoyang. Administratively, the county-level city of Dunhuang is part of the prefecture-level city of ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Longmen Grottoes
The Longmen Grottoes () or Longmen Caves are some of the finest examples of Chinese Buddhist art. Housing tens of thousands of statues of Shakyamuni Buddha and his disciples, they are located south of present-day Luoyang in Henan province, China. The images, many once painted, were carved as outside rock reliefs and inside artificial caves excavated from the limestone cliffs of the Xiangshan () and Longmenshan, running east and west. The Yi River () flows northward between them and the area used to be called Yique (). The alternative name of "Dragon's Gate Grottoes" derives from the resemblance of the two hills that check the flow of the Yi River to the typical " Chinese gate towers" that once marked the entrance to Luoyang from the south. There are as many as 100,000 statues within the 2,345 caves, ranging from to in height. The area also contains nearly 2,500 stelae and inscriptions, hence the name "Forest of Ancient Stelae", as well as over sixty Buddhist pagodas. S ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Chang'an
Chang'an (; zh, t=長安, s=长安, p=Cháng'ān, first=t) is the traditional name of the city now named Xi'an and was the capital of several Chinese dynasties, ranging from 202 BCE to 907 CE. The site has been inhabited since Neolithic times, during which the Yangshao culture was established in Banpo, in what is now the city's suburbs. Furthermore, in the northern vicinity of modern Xi'an, Qin Shi Huang of the Qin dynasty, China's first emperor, held his imperial court and constructed his massive mausoleum guarded by the Terracotta Army. From its capital at Xianyang, the Qin dynasty ruled a larger area than either of the preceding dynasties. The imperial city of Chang'an during the Han dynasty was located northwest of today's Xi'an. During the Tang dynasty, the area that came to be known as Chang'an included the area inside the Ming Xi'an fortification, plus some small areas to its east and west, and a substantial part of its southern suburbs. Thus, Tang Chang'an was eight t ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Joss Paper
Joss paper, also known as incense papers, are papercrafts or sheets of paper made into burnt offerings common in Chinese ancestral worship (such as the veneration of the deceased family members and relatives on holidays and special occasions). Worship of deities in Chinese folk religion also uses a similar type of joss paper. Joss paper, as well as other papier-mâché items, are also burned or buried in various Asian funerals, "to ensure that the spirit of the deceased has sufficient means in the afterlife". In Taiwan alone, the annual revenue that temples received from burning joss paper was US$400 million (NT$13 billion) as of 2014. Use Spirit money is most often used for venerating those departed but has also been known to be used for other purposes such as a gift from a groom's family to the bride's ancestors. Spirit money has been said to have been given for the purpose of enabling their deceased family members to have all they will need or want in the afterlife. It ha ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Amitabha Pure Land Rebirth Mantra
The ''Amitabha Pure Land Rebirth Dhāraṇī'', sometimes called the ''Pure Land Rebirth Mantra'', is considered an important ''dhāraṇī'' in Pure Land Buddhism and other schools of Buddhism, mainly following the Mahayana tradition. The full name of this ''dhāraṇī'' is the ''Dhāraṇī for pulling out the fundamental cause of karmic obstacles and obtaining rebirth in the Pure Lands'' ( Chinese: 拔一切業障根本得生淨土陀羅尼). It is also known as ''Pure Land Rebirth Dhāraṇī'' ( Chinese: 往生淨土神咒; Wang Sheng Jing Tu Shen Zhou), or ''Rebirth Mantra'' ( Chinese: 往生咒; Wang Sheng Zhou) for short. In East Asian Buddhism, reciting this dhāraṇī is believed to grant the reciter a peaceful and joyful life, and allow them to be reborn into the Buddha Amitabha's buddha-field of Ultimate Bliss, as well as to have a vision of Buddha Amitabha. It can also be recited to help the spirits of the animals that a person has killed in the past, including po ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Heart Sutra
The ''Heart Sūtra'', ) is a popular sutra in Mahayana, Mahāyāna Buddhism. In Sanskrit, the title ' translates as "The Heart of the Prajnaparamita, Perfection of Wisdom". The Sutra famously states, "Form is emptiness (''śūnyatā''), emptiness is form." It has been called "the most frequently used and recited text in the entire Mahayana Buddhist tradition." The text has been translated into English dozens of times from Chinese, Sanskrit, and Tibetan, as well as other source languages. Summary of the sutra In the sutra, Avalokiteśvara addresses Sariputta, Śariputra, explaining the fundamental emptiness (śūnyatā) of all phenomena, known through and as the five aggregates of human existence (skandhas): form (rūpa), feeling (vedanā), volitions (saṅkhāra), perceptions (saṃjñā), and mind (vijñāna). Avalokiteśvara famously states, "Form is Emptiness (śūnyatā). Emptiness is Form", and declares the other skandhas to be equally empty—that is, Pratītyasamutp� ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Nīlakaṇṭha Dhāraṇī
The , also known as the , or Great Compassion Dhāraṇī / Mantra (Standard Chinese, Chinese: 大悲咒, ''Dàbēi zhòu''; Japanese language, Japanese: 大悲心陀羅尼, ''Daihishin darani'' or 大悲呪, ''Daihi shu''; Vietnamese language, Vietnamese: ''Chú đại bi'' or ''Đại bi tâm đà la ni''; Korean language, Korean: 신묘장구대다라니 (Hanja: 神妙章句大陀羅尼), ''Sinmyo janggu daedarani''), is a Mahayana, Mahayana Buddhist dhāraṇī associated with the bodhisattva Avalokiteśvara (Guanyin). The dhāraṇī is thought to have originally been Nama sankeerthanam, a recitation of names and attributes of Harihara (a composite form of the Hinduism, Hindu gods Vishnu and Shiva; ''Nīlakaṇṭha'' 'the blue-necked one' is a title of Shiva) said to have been recited by Avalokiteśvara, who was sometimes portrayed as introducing popular non-Buddhist deities (e.g. Hayagriva, Cundi (Buddhism), Cundi) into the Buddhist pantheon by reciting their dhāraṇīs ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
