“Windows To Spirituality”
Buddhist Eschatology Buddhist eschatology, like many facets of modern Buddhist practice and belief, came into existence during its development in China, and, through the blending of Buddhist cosmological understanding and Daoist eschatological views, created a complex canon of apocalyptic beliefs. These beliefs, although not entirely part of Orthodox Buddhism, form...
Karma In Jainism Karma is the basic principle within an overarching psycho-cosmology in Jainism. Human moral actions form the basis of the transmigration of the soul (jīva). The soul is constrained to a cycle of rebirth, trapped within the temporal world (saṃsāra), until it finally achieves liberation (mokṣa). Liberation is achieved by...
What Is Mandala? A mandala (मण्डल, maṇḍala – literally “circle”) is a spiritual and ritual symbol in Hinduism and Buddhism, representing the universe. In common use, “mandala” has become a generic term for any diagram, chart or geometric pattern that represents the cosmos metaphysically or symbolically; a microcosm of the...
What Is Vijnana? Vijnana or Vijñāna (Sanskrit) or viññāṇa (Pāli) is translated as “consciousness,” “life force,” “mind,” or “discernment.” In the Pāli Canon‘s Sutta Pitaka‘s first four nikāyas, viññāṇa is one of three overlapping Pali terms used to refer to the mind, the others being manas and citta. Each is used in the generic and non-technical sense of “mind” in...
Buddhist Music Buddhist music is music created for or inspired by Buddhism and part of Buddhist art. The teachings or Dharma of the Buddha mention music on many occasions. It is written in an important Buddhist text the Amitabha Sutra, that heavenly singing and chanting is heard all day and night in the world around...
What Is Tantra? Tantra (तन्त्र, literally “loom, weave, system”) denotes the esoteric traditions of Hinduism and Buddhism that co-developed most likely about the middle of the 1st millennium AD. The term tantra, in the Indian religions, also means any systematic broadly applicable “text, theory, system, method, instrument, technique or practice”....
What Is Sikh Music? Sikh music or Shabad kirtan is Kirtan-style singing of hymns or Shabad from the Guru Granth Sahib, the central text of Sikhism. It began in the late 16th century as the musical expression of mystical poetry, accompanied by a musical instrument rabab, by Bhai Mardana an early follower of Guru Nanak –the founder...
What Is Hindu Music? Hindu music is music created for or influenced by Hinduism. It includes Indian classical music, Kirtan, Bhajan and other musical genres. Raagas are a common form of Hindu music in classical India. The most common Hindu bhajan in North India is “Om Jai Jagdish Hare.” The...
What Is Bhakti Yoga? Bhakti yoga, also called Bhakti marga, is a spiritual path or spiritual practice within Hinduism focused on loving devotion towards a personal god. It is one of the paths in the spiritual practices of Hindus, others being Jnana yoga and Karma yoga. The tradition has ancient roots. Bhakti is mentioned in the Shvetashvatara Upanishad where it...
What Is Deity Yoga? Deity yoga (Devata-yoga) is a practice of Vajrayana Buddhism involving identification with a chosen deity through visualisations and rituals, and the realisation of emptiness. According to the Tibetan scholar Tsongkhapa, deity yoga is what separates Buddhist Tantra practice from the practice of other Buddhist schools. Deity...
The Theory Of Karma Karma is the law of moral causation. The theory of Karma is a fundamental doctrine in Buddhism. This belief was prevalent in India before the advent of the Buddha. Nevertheless, it was the Buddha who explained and formulated this doctrine in the complete form in which...
Naam Japo In Sikhism, Naam Japo or Nām Japō (ਨਾਮ ਜਪੋ), Naam Japna, or Naam Simran refers to the meditation, vocal singing of hymns from the Sri Guru Granth Sahib or contemplating the various Names of God (or qualities of God), especially the chanting of the word Waheguru, which means “Wonderful Lord”...
Subitism The term subitism points to sudden awakening, the idea that insight into Buddha-nature, or the nature of mind, is “sudden,” c.q. “in one glance,” “uncovered all together,” or “together, completely, simultaneously,” in contrast to “successively or being uncovered one after the other.” It may be posited as opposite to gradualism, the original Buddhist...
What Is Jain Meditation? Jain meditation (dhyāna) has been the central practice of spirituality in Jainism along with the Three Jewels. Jainism holds that emancipation can only be achieved through meditation or Shukla Dhyana. According to Sagarmal Jain, it aims to reach and remain in a state of “pure-self awareness or knowership.” Meditation is...
Dhyana In Hinduism Dhyana in Hinduism means contemplation and meditation. Dhyana is taken up in Yoga exercises, and is a means to samadhi and self-knowledge. The various concepts of dhyana and its practice originated in the Vedic era of Hinduism, and the practice has been influential within the diverse traditions of Hinduism. It is, in Hinduism, a part of a self-directed...
What Is Mantra? A mantra ( मन्त्र) is a sacred utterance, a numinous sound, a syllable, word or phonemes, or group of words in Sanskrit believed by practitioners to have psychological and spiritual powers. Mantra meditation helps to induce an altered state of consciousness. A mantra may or may not have a syntactic...
What Is Zen? Zen (禪; Chán, 선) is a school of Mahayana Buddhism that originated in China during the Tang dynasty as Chan Buddhism. It was strongly influenced by Taoism and developed as a distinct school of Chinese Buddhism. From China, Chan Buddhism spread south to Vietnam which became Vietnamese Thiền, northeast to Korea and east to Japan, where it became...
What Is Buddhist Meditation? Buddhist meditation is the practice of meditation in Buddhism. The closest words for meditation in the classical languages of Buddhism are bhāvanā (“mental development”) and jhāna/dhyāna (mental training resulting in a calm and luminous mind). Buddhists pursue meditation as part of the path toward liberation, awakening and Nirvana, and includes...
What Is Vedanga? The Vedanga (वेदाङ्ग, vedāṅga, “limbs of the Veda”) are six auxiliary disciplines in Hinduism that developed in ancient times, and have been connected with the study of the Vedas. These are: Shiksha (śikṣā): phonetics, phonology, pronunciation. This auxiliary discipline has focussed on the letters of the Sanskrit alphabet, accent, quantity, stress,...
Sanskrit Literature Sanskrit literature refers to texts composed in Sanskrit language since the 2nd-millennium BCE. Many of the prominent texts are associated with Indian religions, i.e., Hinduism, Buddhism, and Jainism, and were composed in ancient India. However, others were composed central, East or Southeast Asia and the canon includes works...
