BHAGAVADGITA

Author(s): / Language(s): Romany / Publication Year: 2009

Translation to Romany language of the ancient Indian epic "Bhagavad Gita". / "We translated the ancient Indian epic Bhagavadgita for the first time in the world in the Roma language some ten years ago. The first variant of the text was published in the Andral magazine Nos 10, 19-20, 21, 22-23, 24, 25-26, 27-28 and 29-30 from 2000 till 2003. A decade after the first translation came to light, the translation comes out in a separate revised version. Many times I have pointed out that for me the Andral translations are no more than preliminary attempts; it was far more important for us to participate in a ‘game’ aiming at a goal that was next to impossible in the past and dare tackle the linguistic problems that occurred. The different texts are merely challenges for different solutions. No venture, no win." / "U puranuindueku eposi “Bhagavadgita” irizyam rromani chshibati agu drom desh bresh anglal. Agu variantus hramusaribnasti mukyam andu zhuralusti “Andral” andw ila 10, 19-20, 21, 22-23, 24, 25-26, 27-28 ti 29-30 mashkaral 2000 ti 2003 breshwndi. Desh bresha palal kanatu mukyam u agu kotor, u sastu irizipi akana inkila korrkorimnangu pandakerdu ti lachshwskerdu inkalzipnasti. Aver drom da vakerimas, ta Andraliskw irizipya mangi sini butserni, amingi astsyal mangseyla pis u “khelwybi” ti ovil bizaprimi buti manushwndar, ti shiyzis ti kerws chshipas, kontu her manush anglisarni vakwtsindar phennasli, ta si … bishiyzimnu, hwzlws ti astarws tut ti alakhis u tertipya sar ti irizis u tekstuya, sar ti irizis u inkistu angla tw ekhindi swy nanwy chshibakw problemuya. U ekha-avera hramusaribya sade mangina ti benin andw tuti u indriya ti rodis ekha-avera tertipya ti kerws butsi twrri en lachshws. Bi ti kerws kiya butsi, si nanwyshiyzimis ti alakhis sotu ti ovil."

BUDDHIST PHILOSOPHY OF THE GLOBAL MIND FOR SUSTAINABLE PEACE

Author(s): Juichiro Tanabe / Language(s): English / Issue: 2/2017

While violence and conflict are the main problems that must be tackled for a peace-ful world, they are caused and sustained through our own thoughts. Though external causes must not be ignored, the most fundamental problem is an epistemological one—our way of knowing and understanding the world. Since its beginning, Buddhism has deepened its analysis of the dynamics of the human mind, both as a root cause of suffer-ing and as a source of harmony. This paper explores how Buddhism's analysis of the human mind can be applied to conflict dynamics, conflict resolution, and building a sustainable peace.

Buddhist Teen Bowing to Parents: Straddling the Border between Private and Public Religion

Author(s): Phra Nicholas Thanissaro / Language(s): English / Issue: 1/2016

Bowing to parents is a Buddhist home practice that links with the Spreed of religious-led attitudes across a notional border into the public sphere of young Buddhists’ lives. A quantitative study sought to map the attitudes corresponding with bowing to parents for teen self-identifying Buddhists in Britain. A variety of statements including those concerning personal wellbeing, discrimination, work, school, RE, friends, family, substance use, collectivism, tradition and religion were rated for levels of agreement by 417 self-identifying Buddhists, aged between 13 and 20, using postal and online surveys. The 56% who bowed to parents were found to have stronger public sphere attitudes such as work ethic, resilience to intoxicant use, valuing study and RE. In the private sphere, they were found to have a more positive attitude towards family and Buddhism. Additionally the study found the significance of bowing differed with age – being linked particularly with an increased subjective well-being in early teens and acceptance of hierarchy and parental influence in late teens. Also, the attitudes corresponding with bowing depended on religious style – bowing being linked with Asian values and feeling more religious for convert Buddhist teens, whereas for heritage Buddhist teens it was linked more with in-group mentality. Unlike non-Buddhist adolescents, bowing to parents in Buddhists was linked with wanting to look after parents in old age. The article argues that bowing to parents has the cultural function of bringing religiously-led good into society, acting as a perpetuating structure, binding the Buddhist community together, facilitating mutual respect from adults and a sense of social hierarchy and such deserves to be considered an aspect of Buddhist religiosity.

Ciemniejsza strona ciemności – ścieżka lewej ręki w zachodniej tradycji ezoterycznej. Wybrane zagadnienia

Author(s): Zbigniew Lagosz,Agata Swierzowska / Language(s): Polish / Issue: 1/2016

The article is a comprehensive attempt at demonstrating the entry of the concept of the Indian Tantric Left-Hand Path into the Western esoteric tradition. Based on selected examples such as Wicca, Satanism and Thelema, the authors show the ways in which this idea has been reinterpreted and absorbed by the Western esoteric milieu.

Dharma and Religion in Tagore’s Views

Author(s): Iwona Milewska / Language(s): English / Issue: 1/2014

Rabindranath Tagore (1861–1941), one of the greatest contemporary Indian thinkers, discussed the problem of comparative study of religion and faith on the grounds of global pluralism and religious diversity. He presented his views in numerous poetical works but he also delivered many speeches, mostly addressed to Western audiences. In his writing, Tagore often uses the English term “religion” and the Sanskrit term dharma interchangeably. This article focuses on both key terms and on the question whether they may be seen as equivalent according to him. To answer this question one needs to consider their etymological meanings but also Tagore’s concepts of the so called “Man the Eternal” and “Divinity in Man”.

Female and Male Attractiveness as depicted in the Vanaparvan of the Mahābhārata

Author(s): Iwona Milewska / Language(s): English / Issue: 1/2015

This paper deals with the bodily attractiveness of heroines and heroes, as described in one of the two most important epics of India. The basis for this analysis is the love stories and episodes included in the main plot of the Vanaparvan, the third book of the Mahābhārata. The stories from this book have been taken into consideration due to their numerous occurrences, which are a sufficient ground for generalizations. many characteristic features of their protagonists are repeated in different sub ‑stories. Also, the images of female and male characters, princesses, queens and kings are presented and discussed in detail. the external beauty of such female heroines as Damayantī, Sāvitrī, Sukanyā, Suśobhanā and Sitā; as well as the attractiveness of two semi‑goddesses, called Apsarases, are described and analysed. the names of the Apsarases discussed in the context of female beauty are Urvaśī and menakā. Besides this, the image of an unnamed courtesan is discussed, as it is the most detailed description of a female character and probably follows the ideal of female beauty as shown in the Mahābhārata. As far as the male protagonists are concerned, the images of heroes such as nala, Bhīma, Aśvapati, Rāma and Daśaratha are taken into consideration. The examples of male attractiveness also include features of the five main heroes of the Mahābhārata: the Paṇḍava brothers.

GANDHI DARSHAN: A PANACEA TO THE EVIL OF POLITICAL CORRUPTION IN INDIA

Author(s): Shiladitya Chakraborty / Language(s): English / Issue: 1/2017

Corruption is the greatest pitfall of Indian democracy; it gradually erodes the faith of the Indian citizens in parliamentary democracy. Another disconcerting trend is the crim-inalization of politics which has emerged as a natural corollary to political corruption. The failure to deal with political corruption and criminalization has led to the deprava-tion of political morality in India. It is against this backdrop that the article would exam-ine the issues of political corruption and criminalization of politics in India. The article would end by providing the “Gandhian” solution to this problem.

Jesu li Tvorac i njegov Svemir u Platōnovu Timaiju zamisli sredozemnoga podrijetla?

Author(s): Mislav Ježic / Language(s): Croatian / Issue: 01/137/2015

In Plato’s dialogue it is Timaeus from Locri in Italy who describes cosmogony to his Athenian friends – a very Mediterranean narrative framework. However, many motifs in the cosmogony of Timaeus have their parallels in an Indian Upaniṣad, Aitareya-Upaniṣad, and possible partial parallels in the traditions of Iranians, Slavs, and especially Germans. That seems to imply Indo-European, and not Mediterranean origin (which does not exclude possible further correspondences). On the other hand, that cosmogonic model seems to have influenced the (Greek) terminology of the Christian formulations in the Nicene-Constantinopolitan Creed concerning the Creator and creation. Although not of Mediterranean origin, the creation model from the dialogue Timaeus became widely spread in the Mediterranean area.

Kept in translation: Adivasi cultural tropes in the Pragat Purushottam Sanstha

Author(s): Gregory D. Alles / Language(s): English / Issue: 1/2016

This article considers a little studied branch of Swaminarayan Hinduism, the Pragat Purushottam Sanstha, whose headquarters are located in Bakrol, Anand district, Gujarat. It is specifically concerned with the results of the activities of this branch among adivasi (tribal) people in the Chhotaudepur district in eastern central Gujarat, results that are of the sort that were once frequently referred to as ‘Sanskritization’, but that I prefer to call, with a nod to local terminology, ‘bhagatization’. The article first situates the Pragat Purushottam Sanstha within the broader family of Swaminarayan communities, contrasting it with another, much better known community, the BAPS Swaminarayan Sanstha, with whom it shares an early lineage. Then it identifies ways in which participation in the Sanstha has led adivasi people to replace some of their traditions with practices drawn from the outside. Although it is common in the area to view people who participate in a community such as the Pragat Purushottam Sanstha as abandoning adivasi traditions altogether, this article suggests that such a view is misleading. Drawing inspiration from James Clifford’s work with cultural translation and Greg Urban’s work with cultural transformation, it suggests that the Sanstha exemplifies one way in which elements of adivasi culture persist when adivasis translate their traditions into settings marked by increasing contact with globalizing modernities.

KONTROWERSJE WOKÓŁ UTWORZENIA ŻEŃSKIEJ WSPÓLNOTY MONASTYCZNEJ WE WCZESNYM BUDDYZMIE

Author(s): Joanna Gruszewska / Language(s): Polish / Issue: 4/2016

The ordination of women in early Buddhism, as it is depicted in the Pāli Canon, was a point of controversy. At first, Buddha rejected the request of the women, who wanted to join the monastic community. However, under some conditions he finally gave his permission for establishing the order of nuns (bhikkhunī saṃgha). For many women it opened a possibility for an alternative way of life and an opportunity to pursue their religious needs outside a family. Paper deals with examining reasons of the controversy, which are rooted in Brahmanical worldview, taking into account religious and social context of ancient India.

La questione del misticismo: l’accettazione d’una realtà sovrasensibile e di un raccoglimento interiore. Profili comparati tra buddhismo zen, shivaismo, sufismo e mistica cristiana

Author(s): Gianfranco LONGO / Language(s): Italian / Issue: 10/2015

The mysticism’s problem begins when our knowledge of the world becomes search for the deep: the sorrow and the joy are the same moments of life, lived in a mirror in which to dwell. The kintsugi art is care and meditation about joy and sadness, about the past time and present moment where life and death have a common point that introduces us to the mystery of our beginning.

Letting be: Thoreau and Cavell on thinking after the bhagavatgita

Author(s): Branka Arsic / Language(s): English / Issue: 7/2015

The essay starts from Cavell’s contention that what is sometimes called one’s “cultural identity” is never available to the one whose identity it is supposed to be, but is instead registered by those whose cultural identity it isn’t, and explores in particular Cavell’s propositions regarding how the mind can start revealing to itself what is opaque to it. The paradigmatic example of how the mind undoes itself to better access what is different from it is found in Thoreau’s practices at Walden. Analysis of Cavell’s reading of Thoreau leads me to propose that the work of undoing and leaving oneself – without which there is no substantive transformation – requires a certain joyous mourning over what is left behind.

Motywy indyjskie w poezji Romana Rostworowskiego

Author(s): Hermina Cielas / Language(s): Polish / Issue: 1/2014

Along with the development of colonialism in Europe, more and more people became interested in Oriental cultures. Not only objects of international trade such as spices and textiles reached our continent, but also elements of culture; especially in the field of literature, philosophy and religion. In the era of Romanticism and Young Poland, according to current trends, many writers used oriental motifs in their works. Roman Rostworowski (1885–1954), poet and landlord, whose poetry was imbued with Young Poland convention and the Indian philosophical and religious thought, was a continuation of this tradition. Numerous references to Indian culture in the works of Rostworowski show not only a source of his inspiration but also his personal path of spiritual development, which he followed from the first moment of contact with Indian philosophical and religious literature.

Nagarjuna i srednji put

Author(s): Yvon Thoraval / Language(s): Bosnian / Issue: 7/1996

Knjiga Guya Bugaulta upoznaje čitaoca sa ovim budističkim dijalektičarom iz II i III stoljeća. Nagarjuna. Nakon nekoliko članaka profesora J.W.Jonga i Jacquesa Maya, Jaspers ruši predrasudu prema kojoj postoji samo grčka i zapadna filozofija i osigurava mu mjesto u svojoj knjizi "Veliki filozofi". Kako nije imao direktnog pristupa sanskrtskim tekstovima, koje je smatrao nedostupnim, njegovo izlaganje se doima poput razbijena zrcala, u kojemu se naziru dijelovi istine. Drugi dio njegova izlaganja, snažniji i ličniji, svjedoči o boljem razumijevanju, mada prikazuje i nameće neke naše kategorije tamo gdje je trebalo načiniti ’srjoxri’. Skica J.Greniera, usprkos svom taktu i finesama, sadržava poteškoću iste vrste, jer zatvara Nagarjunu u problematiku skepticizma, tamo gdje on ne traži izvjesnost. Tek od skorog datuma, 1979. g. nestručnom čitaocu su pristupni najvažniji izvodi iz glavnog djela Nagarjune sa popratnim komentarima Candrakirtia. Guy Bugault sada priprema francusku verziju integralnog teksta M K (Madhyamakakarika) ili Izvanredne srednje strofe.

Nascent Speculative Non-Buddhism

Author(s): Glenn Wallis / Language(s): Turkish / Issue: 35/2013

The present article is a contribution to a particularly urgent issue that is unfolding in Buddhist circles in North America and Europe. Although this issue is framed in various ways, it revolves around a single question; namely, what form will contemporary reconfigurations of Buddhism take in the twenty-first century West? The most influential groups in this discussion to date are those that style themselves secular-, progressive-, atheist-, agnostic-, liberal-, and post-traditional Buddhist. As these groups gain adherents in the West, traditional organizations, such as the various Zens, Tibetans, Vipassanas, etc., are stating their claim to “Buddhism” with increasingly vehement proprietorship. The present article, however, is not yet another attempt to reformulate or reform (in any sense of the term) “Buddhism.” Neither is it concerned with ameliorating traditional Buddhism's relationship with contemporary western secular values. In performing its first task, however, my emerging theory, called “speculative non-buddhism,” can contribute to the current debate in a decisive way by showing that all forms of Buddhism are identical. What makes them so is that they are all governed by what I call “buddhistic decision:” the syntactical structure that constitutes all things, discourse, and people, “Buddhist.” Decision thus constitutes both the ideological nature, and the ideological constant, of “Buddhism.”

Notes Towards Defining ‘Theory’ (Śāstra) in Sanskrit; Systematic Classification Presented in Rājaśekhara’s Kāvyamīmāṃsā

Author(s): Katarzyna Pazucha / Language(s): English / Issue: 1/2014

Even though the genre of śāstra is one of the most familiar and important constituents of the cultural and intellectual history of South Asia, it did not receive the proper atten-tion and the term itself remains obscure. Also in the tradition of Sanskrit letters itself the scope and nature of śāstra, it would seem, is not precisely delineated. Using the dis-cussion presented by Rājaśekhara, the tenth century poet and theoretician, in his Kāvy-amīmāṃsā, this article will try to bring together recent evaluations of the genre with a contextualized discussion of the tradition’s selfunderstanding.

O scriere budhistă fundamentală: Vasubandhu, VIMSIKAKARIKA cu VRTTI ( Tratatul în 20 de versete, cu Comentariul său)

Author(s): Ovidiu Cristian Nedu / Language(s): Romanian / Issue: 29/2011

Vijñaptimatratasiddhi is one of the major works of Vasubandhu, the founder of Vijñanavada school of Mahayana buddhism. The text was put into written around the IV-th century, A.D. and consists of two treatises: Vimsikakarika (The Treatise in 20 Verses) and Trimsikakarika (The Treatise in 30 Verses). The Treatise in 20 Verses is an apologetical text, dealing mostly with the objections that could be raised against the idealist ontolgy promotted by it and which are refuted in the text, while The Treatise in 30 Verses represents an exposition of the idealist doctrine itself. Throughout the The Treatise in 20 Verses, Vasubandhu offers idealist interpretations to situations that seem to involve the existence of some external, objective entities. All such situations are dealt with in terms pertaining only to consciousness and representation. The work is written as a dialogue between Vasubandhu and a virtual opponent, supporting the realistic philosophy. The realist system of philosophy considered by Vasubandhu is the atomist school, Vaisesika, very influential in India, during that age. This wide recognition enjoyed by Vaisesika explains Vasubandhu’s particular interest in rejecting the atomist theory. Although the work is mostly polemic, sporadically, Vasubandhu also exposes his own idealist theories, as alternatives to the refuted realist interpretations. The very brief Treatise in 20 Verses was commented by Vasubandhu himself, at large, in the work Vimsikakarikavrtti. The translation of the commentary is given along with the translation of the verses.

Otkriće drugoga (Razgovor s Radom Iveković)

Author(s): Radmila Gikic,Rada Ivekovic / Language(s): Serbian / Issue: 286/1982

Interview with Rada Iveković

Pobjeda ratom ili pobjeda pravdom?

Vijaya i dhammavijaya

Author(s): Mislav Ježic / Language(s): Croatian / Issue: 04/144/2016

The Indian emperor Aśoka Maurya (273/269 – 232 BC) left behind him an important corpus of inscriptions, describing the leading principles of his rule, which were disseminated over the vast territory of his empire. His ancestors conquered almost the whole of India and of contemporary Afghanistan, as well as parts of Iran. He waged only one war in Kaliṅga in order to incorporate the eastern coast of India into his realm. He described the horrible consequences of this war very openly in his inscriptions. He decided to stop waging wars therafter, and to “conquer” the world by means of righteousness in accordance with Buddhist principles. He cultivated diplomatic relations with neighbouring countries and had ambassadors in all the Hellenistic kingdoms. He invested fourty years of his rule in efforts to shape a different India, and sent missionaries to shape a different world. His thoughts on war and peace, on righteousness and care for all sentient beings are unique in human political history. The dynasty of Aśoka, the Mauryas, ruled some fifty years after his death, until 185 BC. After this, the Brahman dynasty of the Śuṅgas (185 – 73 BC) rose to power in the eastern part of the former empire. The northwestern part of the empire was conquered by the Greek rulers of Bactria, and later by Iranian peoples like the Parthians and the Scythians, and other invaders. It is very likely that we have to thank the Śuṅgas for a Brahmanist revival, and the narrative part of the great heroic epic the Mahābhārata was most probably completed during their rule. It is also possible that an essential portion of the famous philosophical and religous poem Bhagavadgītā, which was incorporated into this epic, was composed during the same period. The poem discusses under which circumstances war is a sin, and under which circumstances it is a duty to fight. The Brahmanical or Hindu world-view here polemically opposes the Buddhist one without naming it explicitly. Some of the most salient dilemmas concerning war and peace, violence and non-violence, duty and compassion found their expression within the context of the polemics between Brahmanism or Hinduism and Buddhism (and Jinism as well), and ethical views concerning human activity and life in general, which emerged on these grounds, can incite us even today to take our stand with regard to life and to other people and sentient beings. Both the Buddhists and the Hindus formulated their basic concepts of human obligation to act out of duty without regard to personal utility with the ultimate aim of promoting universal good and maintaining further existence of the world. This amonuts to the categorical imperative to act in accordance with what would be an ideal universal legislation (dharma, either in the Buddhist or in the Brahmanist sense), as it found its expression in India two thousand years before Kant in Europe. However, the difference between the Brahmanical and Buddhist conception is that, in the Brahmanical world-view, this aim should be attained through the self-denying fulfilment of our duty, irrespectively of the potential pain inflicted on others, while in the Buddhist view, this aim should be achieved through compassion that urges us to invest the greatest efforts to protect other people and sentient beings from pain and physical and spiritual ruin. However, many Buddhist and Jinist views and values were, through the course of time, also incorporated into the Hindu world-view.

PRAWDA I POZÓR W MUNIMATALANKARZE (MUNIMATĀLAṀKĀRA) ABHAJAKARAGUPTY (ABHAYĀKARAGUPTA)

Author(s): / Language(s): Polish / Issue: 24/2014

This is a selected translation drawn from Munimatālaṁkāra (The Ornament of the Sage’s Intention), authored by Abhayākaragupta (c. 1100), one of the last great masters of Buddhism in India. He wrote on most major areas of Buddhist practice and thought (Mahāyāna doctrine and the path, Tantric ritual and meditation).The text does not appear to survive in the original sanskrit. It was translated by the author’s Tibetan disciple Dpang-zho Gsal-ba-grags in Nalanda.=, and later revised by Dpang Lo-tsā-ba Blo-gros-brtan-pa (1276–1342). The passage chosen here is drawn from the final section of the lengthy first chapter of Munimatālaṁkāra, entitled the “appearance of the enlightened mind”. The chapter traces the course of the path from the initial cultivation of the aspiration to enlightenment through to the development of discernment, or wisdom. The analysis of the two truths is introduced in this context.