Understanding Paticasamuppada or dependent origination in light of brahmanical texts

A short post on that dependent origination chain, a good scholarly article by polish author joanna jurewicz in which she tries to relate how each element of that chain was an attempt by buddha to reinvent the brahmanism karmakanda or yajna process from birth to death known is the 16 samskrtas or rites of passage, good work .

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Zostrianos a gnosis of Middle Platonism

General Introduction Zostrianos (NHC VIII, I ) is the pseudonymous account of an otherworldly journey by Zostrianos, a kinsman of Zoroaster. Probably written late in the second century C.E. or early in the third, perhaps in Alexandria, it reflects a non-Christian Sethian gnosis heavily influenced by Middle Platonism. The tractate opens with a narrative section, told in the first person, that introduces Zostrianos as a possessor of the truth and knowledge of life. In despair over his bondage in this world, he asks how this evil world came into existence from the eternal, non-existing Spirit. Interpreting angels then lead Zostrianos through the heavenly world and reveal to him its secret gnosis. At each level of his ascent he undergoes a ritual baptism through which he is transformed; then, knowledge suitable to that stage of his perfection is revealed to him. The content of the knowledge consists of the names and the interrelationships of the heavenly beings of...
Read more

Skull Imagery and Skull Magic in the Yoginī Tantras

The Buddhist tantras constitute a unique class of Buddhist literature. While developing from earlier trends in Buddhist thought and practice, they also constituted a serious challenge to Buddhist identity, largely due to the fact that many of them contain passages that appear to transgress the tenets of Buddhist morality.1 Tantric literature also departed, gradually, from the rhetorical norms of Mahayana Buddhism. While early tantras maintained the rhetorical style of the Mahayana sutras, later tantras, and most notably the Yoginī tantras, radically departed from this style.2 This essay will explore one small facet of the vast array of unusual elements that can be found in this literature, namely, the image of the skull, as well as the use of skulls in tantric ritual. Like other elements, this deployment of skulls in the tantras was disquieting to some, evoking as it does the uncanny atmosphere of the charnel ground. Through this exploration, I will argue that skulls are multifaceted...
Read more

Fate (Buddhism)

In Buddhism, the concept of destiny or fate is called  niyati. Niyati  refers to predetermined, inevitable, and unalterable events. In some religious traditions of India, such as the Vedanta school of Hinduism, an external or divine power or outside agency is seen to be able to influence one’s fate. However, in Buddhism, which is doctrinally an atheistic religion, there is no supreme being or force which is seen to control or influence the course of an individual’s life, and essentially, the concept of  niyati  plays only a minor role compared to the concept of karma (Sanskrit; Pali:  kāmma ). The Buddha did make a distinction between karma and  niyati , in the sense that some events are not karmically determined but are rather the result of  niyati.  For the most part, however, individuals are viewed to possess the capacity to manipulate future events through interventions to karma. The law of karma is seen to determine the conditions of rebirth ...
Read more