scholarly journals Can a Buddha Image be Untrue? The Grahi Buddha and the Way to Make Buddha Images in Southeast Asia

1996 ◽  
Vol 16 ◽  
pp. 193-218
Author(s):  
Klemens Karlsson
Keyword(s):  
Southeast Asia ◽  
Religious Tradition ◽  
Alternative Interpretation ◽  
Complex Object ◽  
Buddhist Tradition ◽  
Historical Times ◽  
Religious Meaning ◽  
Unusual Shape ◽  
The Way

What exactly is a Buddha image? Why does a Buddha image take the particular shape it has, rather than some other form? Is it realistic to assume that someone has consciously composed an image like the Grahi Buddha? Has it, instead, been made by mistake, by mere chance or ignorance? There have been some attempts to explain the Grahi Buddha before. One aim with this paper is to elucidate these interpretations and see how valid they are, and if necessary work out an alternative interpretation of this unusual image. To do this and answer the questions above, we must examine the religious tradition behind Buddha images, both within historical times and in Southeast Asia today. A second aim is to be acquainted with this, not so well-known Buddhist tradition. The first thing we have to do is to ask the statue itself. Unfortunately, the inscription on the image does not mention the unusual shape of the image. It can however give us some information about the context in which the statue was made. A Buddha image is a complex object withholding different aspects, and taken in isolation it can be understood in many different ways, but its religious meaning becomes clear only when it is considered as a part of the religious tradition and the society at large.

Anthropological communities of interpretation for Burma: An overview

2008 ◽  
Vol 39 (2) ◽  
pp. 239-254 ◽  
Author(s):  
U Chit Hlaing
Keyword(s):  
Southeast Asia ◽  
Ethnic Groups ◽  
Field Of Study ◽  
Anthropological Theory ◽  
History Of ◽  
Relationship Of ◽  
The Relationship ◽  
The Way

AbstractThis paper surveys the history of anthropological work on Burma, dealing both with Burman and other ethnic groups. It focuses upon the relations between anthropology and other disciplines, and upon the relationship of such work to the development of anthropological theory. It tries to show how anthropology has contributed to an overall understanding of Burma as a field of study and, conversely, how work on Burma has influenced the development of anthropology as a subject. It also tries to relate the way in which anthropology helps place Burma in the broader context of Southeast Asia.

scholarly journals The identity of Pseudomystus moeschii (Boulenger, 1890), with the description of two new species of bagrid catfishes from Southeast Asia (Teleostei: Bagridae)

Zootaxa ◽  
2005 ◽  
Vol 851 (1) ◽  
pp. 1 ◽  
Author(s):  
HEOK HEE NG ◽  
KELVIN K.P. LIM
Keyword(s):  
New Species ◽  
Southeast Asia ◽  
Peninsular Malaysia ◽  
The Other ◽  
River Drainage ◽  
Posterior Process ◽  
Two New Species ◽  
The Way

The identity of the poorly known bagrid catfish Pseudomystus moeschii (Boulenger, 1890) is clarified and the species redescribed. Two new species of closely related bagrid catfishes are also described: Pseudomystus carnosus from the Way Seputih River drainage in the province of Lampung in the southern tip of Sumatra, and P. fumosus from the Pahang River drainage in eastern Peninsular Malaysia. Pseudomystus carnosus, P. fumosus and P. moeschii can be distinguished from congeners in having an enlarged posterior process of the post-temporal, presence of long hair-like epithelial projections on the skin and long tubular extensions of the sensory pores. Pseudomystus carnosus differs from the other two species in having a pointed (vs. rounded) tip of the nuchal shield, while P. fumosus differs from the other two species in having very well developed procurrent caudal rays which are sinuously curved along the anterior edges (vs. less developed procurrent caudal rays that slope evenly along the edges). A lectotype is designated for P. moeschii.

scholarly journals HULU KE HILIR: JARINGAN DAN SISTEM PERNIAGAAN SUNGAI KERAJAAN SRIVIJAYA

2019 ◽  
Vol 9 (1) ◽  
pp. 61
Author(s):  
Asyhadi Mufsi Sadzali
Keyword(s):  
Southeast Asia ◽  
Natural Resources ◽  
Distribution Network ◽  
Coastal Areas ◽  
Small Rivers ◽  
Natural Conditions ◽  
Archaeological Methods ◽  
Maritime Culture ◽  
Network Pattern ◽  
The Way

<p>The Kedukan Bukit inscription was written in 682 AD. It is considered as the oldest inscription related to the kingdom of Srivijaya and an authentic proof of the advanced maritime culture of Srivijaya. This argument is supported by the fact that, geographically, Sumatra is endowed with hundreds of large and small rivers that have generated abundant natural resources from its upstream to downstream areas. Srivijaya must have utilized these natural conditions to facilitate the distribution of its trade commodities—pepper, camphor, resin, and gold—from the upstream regions (flowing through countless tributaries to the main rivers) to the coastal areas, and even further to the various ports in Southeast Asia. Archaeological methods were used to identify and analyze a number of findings in the form of ancient boat artifacts from Srvijaya period in terms of both their respective forms and positions as they were unearthed along the Batanghari and Musi watersheds, from the upstream to estuary areas. From these findings, it can be inferred that Srivijaya managed to build a pattern of distribution network of trade commodities and to develop a sophisticated boat technology to support it. The commodity distribution network started from the upstream areas, namely the feeder points, all the way down to the downstream areas, namely the collecting centers; then, the commodities would be transported to the estuary, namely the main port of Srivijaya, and then carried to various other ports throughout Southeast Asia. The development of boat technology is the second key to the success and effectiveness of the pattern of trade commodity distribution that Srivijaya created from its upstream to downstream areas. The combination of such distribution network pattern and the development of boat technology has successfully established Srivijaya’s image as the most influential maritime power in Southeast Asia in the ancient period.</p>

scholarly journals ROME AND CARTHAGE BY A.V. TIMOFEEV: ON THE PROBLEM OF THE GENESIS OF “HISTORICAL FANTASY” AS A GENRE VARIETY OF RUSSIAN ROMANTIC DRAMA OF THE 19TH CENTURY

2021 ◽  
pp. 142-163
Author(s):  
ARKADII MAN'KOVSKII
Keyword(s):  
19Th Century ◽  
Religious Tradition ◽  
The Other ◽  
Literary Critic ◽  
Historical Events ◽  
Romantic Drama ◽  
The One ◽  
Historical Fantasy ◽  
The 19Th Century ◽  
The Way

The paper explores the genre of scarcely studied play by Russian minor writer Alexei V. Timofeev (1812-1883) Rome and Carthage (1837). Timofeev’s contemporary literary critic Osip Senkovskii treated like poet’s failure his use of romantic techniques in the play on ancient plot. Taking into account this opinion the paper analyzes the paratextual elements in the play, the way of describing characters, the division of the play into acts, the connection of the plot events with historical facts. The paper argues that the play approaches the kind of romantic drama, which the author suggests to call “historical fantasy” Its main feature is the coexisting in the plot mythology and religious tradition, on the one hand, and historical events, on the other, the heroes of historical chronicles and the heroes of folk legends, belief in miracles and rationalism. The goal of historical fantasy is to produce a generalized image of the time, to convey the spirit of the epoch while the dramatic action takes a secondary place. Samples of the genre were given in the works of Alexander A. Shakhovskoi, Alexander I. Gertsen, Apollon N. Maikov. Timofeev’s play was just in the way to this kind of drama.

Volcanic Hazards in Southeast Asia

2005 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jan J. Nossin
Keyword(s):  
Southeast Asia ◽  
Natural Hazards ◽  
Underlying Mechanism ◽  
Volcanic Hazards ◽  
The Philippines ◽  
Tectonic Plates ◽  
Continental Plate ◽  
Historical Times ◽  
Oceanic Plates ◽  
Definition Of

Active volcanism in Southeast Asia is associated with marked zones of activity in the Earth’s crust that run through south and east Indonesia and the Philippines. These zones are also characterized by frequent earthquakes and a measurable movement of tectonic plates, often in the order of 5 cm yr−1. The underlying mechanism is that of subduction of oceanic plates below continental plates; the rigidity of the moving plates causes ruptures and shockwise adjustments (earthquakes). The oceanic plate, while being under thrust, sinks down to great depths below the continental plate and in the process loses its rigidity owing to heating and part assimilation into the underlying magma. Earthquakes are caused in the zone where the subducted plate is still rigid. Chapter 1 in this book puts this phenomenon in the regional context. Volcanism in this zone is marked by frequent eruptions, mostly violent and of an explosive nature. It is manifest in distinct belts that comprise all (or nearly all) of the Philippines, and large parts of Indonesia with the exception of, roughly speaking, Kalimantan and Papua. The violence of the eruptions poses threats to human settlements in the surroundings of the volcanoes, to the cultivated lands, and the infrastructure. These threats may occur during and after the actual eruption, and they may indirectly cause other hazards as well. Moreover, volcanoes in apparent dormancy that have not erupted in historical times may still come to life as the interval between eruptions may be very long. In the present chapter these hazards will be discussed. Natural hazards have been defined in four ways, of which the 1982 definition of the United Nations Disaster Relief Co-ordinator (UNDRO) seems appropriate to follow in the context of volcanic hazards (Alexander 1993). UNDRO defines natural hazards as ‘the probability of occurrence within a specific period of time and within a given area of a potentially damaging phenomenon’. A hazard therefore may represent a situation with the possibility of a disaster that may affect the population and the environment which are in some degree of vulnerability.

The Role of Discipline in the Military

2005 ◽  
Vol 42 ◽  
pp. 385-421 ◽  
Author(s):  
L. C. Green
Keyword(s):  
Historical Times ◽  
International Conventions ◽  
The Military ◽  
The Way

SummaryThe importance of the role of discipline in the military and the way in which it has been viewed from historical times to the present day are surveyed by the author. The practices of different armies in various conflicts are considered and attempts to codify rules through international conventions and decisions of tribunals are discussed.

An Anti-Vietnamese Rebellion in Early Nineteenth Century Cambodia: Pre-colonial Imperialism and a Pre-Nationalist Response

1975 ◽  
Vol 6 (1) ◽  
pp. 16-24 ◽  
Author(s):  
David P. Chandler
Keyword(s):  
Nineteenth Century ◽  
Southeast Asia ◽  
Early Nineteenth Century ◽  
Political Thinking ◽  
Before And After ◽  
The Way

The “holy man's” (nak sel) rebellion against the Vietnamese that broke out in 1820 along the Cambodian-Vietnamese border is the best-documented one of its kind in pre-colonial Cambodia, and makes a useful addition to the literature of such revolts in Buddhist Southeast Asia. Its importance in Cambodian terms lies in its anti-Vietnamese character, the participation in its ranks of Buddhist monks, the collusion of Cambodian authorities, and the way in which these themes foreshadow Cambodian political thinking, before and after the arrival of the French.

Classical Daoist Meditation, 400–100 bce

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Harold D. Roth
Keyword(s):  
Body Politic ◽  
Religious Tradition ◽  
Attentional Focus ◽  
The Body ◽  
Contemplative Practice ◽  
Meditative Practice ◽  
The Mind ◽  
The Way

Daoism is the indigenous Chinese religious tradition that has been a major feature of this culture for over two thousand years. It is grounded in a comprehensive cosmology of the Way (Dao) that derives from the ancient practice of a meditation that emphasizes attentional focus and mental tranquility attained through an apophatic (self-negating) practice of systematically emptying consciousness of its normal contents. These foundational ideas are present in a series of surviving works that include the famous Laozi and Zhuangzi, which have recently been supplemented by newly excavated texts and newly appreciated extant ones known for millennia. They contain a meditative practice that has been called “inner cultivation” and that emphasizes methods that develop concentration in order to empty the mind of all common thoughts, desires, emotions, and perceptions. These lead ultimately to self-transcending experiences in which adepts experience a complete union with the non-dual Way. The return to dualistic consciousness is accompanied by a fresh and transformed cognition in which adepts are able to spontaneously and effortlessly act in harmony with all new circumstances. This flowing cognition is able to effect transformations in other people and in the body politic and so becomes part of the arcana of government advocated to local kings by the scholar-practitioners of this tradition. These apophatic methods constitute one of the main contemplative practice streams within the Daoist religious tradition and its continuities with later Daoism are detailed by Louis Komjathy in another chapter of this volume.

Buddhist Encounters with Diversity

2016 ◽  
Author(s):  
Donald K. Swearer
Keyword(s):  
Religious Tradition ◽  
Singular Terms ◽  
Religious Traditions ◽  
Buddhist Tradition ◽  
Japanese Buddhism

All singular terms for designating a religious tradition (e.g. Buddhism, Christianity) belie their multiplex diversity. Historically evolved, culturally embodied religious traditions are by their very nature dynamic, complex, and multilayered. Buddhism is no exception. The tripartite division that developed to encompass the historical breadth of the Buddhist tradition—Hinayana (Theravada), Mahayana, Tantrayana (Vajrayana)—merely suggests a diversity that includes perhaps hundreds if not thousands of different sects, subsects, and movements. Even broad historical-cultural distinctions such as Thai Buddhism or Japanese Buddhism fail to encompass differences in belief and practice interwoven into the textures of global Buddhisms. This chapter addresses the question of Buddhist encounters with diversity in terms of the tripartite division familiar to all Buddhist traditions, namely, Buddha, Dharma, Sangha. While this model is shared by the varied forms of Buddhism, the ways in which it is embodied and expressed have been quite diverse.

The Theravāda Buddhist Engagement with Modernity in Southeast Asia: Whither the Social Paradigm of the Galactic Polity?

1995 ◽  
Vol 26 (2) ◽  
pp. 307-325 ◽  
Author(s):  
Juliane Schober
Keyword(s):  
Southeast Asia ◽  
Social History ◽  
Social Hierarchy ◽  
Religious Authority ◽  
Power Characteristic ◽  
Historical Changes ◽  
Buddhist Tradition ◽  
The Social ◽  
History Of ◽  
Country Specific

In the Buddhist countries of Southeast Asia, that is Burma, Thailand, Laos, Cambodia, and, to some extent, Vietnam, the articulation of secular and religious authority developed in historically particular ways. Scholars have explained these historical changes in terms of religious and political modes of constructing and negotiating power characteristic of the galactic polities of Southeast Asia and their Theravāda Buddhist tradition, such as state-saṇgharelations and the notion that one's position within the social hierarchy is perceived as a function of, and hence validated by, one's ability to engage in merit-making ritual exchange to support the Buddhist dispensation generally and thesaṇghain particular. Trevor Ling has argued that the differences created by country-specific developments in the social history of Buddhism in Southeast Asia are more significant than communalities found in the Pali scriptural tradition.

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