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Void and Fullness in...
Void and Fullness in the Buddhist, Hindu and Christian Traditions
Sunya Purna Pleroma by: Bettina Sharada Bäumer , John R. DupucheInterreligious dialogue is one of the important ways for overcoming cultural and religious differences and misunderstandings. But it has to reach the depths of the spiritual, philosophical and theological insights of the religious traditions. This volume throws light on concepts of Void (sunya) and Fullness (purna, in Greek pleroma) in the Buddhist, Hindu and Christian traditions.
₹900.00
ISBN: 9788124603406
Year Of Publication: 2005
Edition: 1st
Pages : xii, 292
Bibliographic Details : 7 Coloured plates; Glossary; Index
Language : English
Binding : Hardcover
Publisher: D.K. Printworld Pvt. Ltd.
Size: 23 cm.
Weight: 625
Interreligious dialogue is one of the important ways for overcoming cultural and religious differences and misunderstandings, and for contributing to world peace. But such a dialogue has to go beyond the social, institutional and purely academic areas: it has to reach the very depths of the spiritual, philosophical and theological insights of the religious traditions. In Buddhism, Hinduism and Christianity such insights are expressed in the apparently opposite, but in reality complementary concepts of Void (shunya) and Fullness (purna, in Greek pleroma). These concepts lead to the respective spiritual experiences and their interpretations in scriptures and philosophies. This volume contains the papers presented at an interreligious seminar at Sarnath, Varanasi, organised by the Abhishiktananda Society, and inspired by the ideas and life of Swami Abhishiktananda (1910-1973). These papers throw light on these fundamental concepts from the different traditions, and are an invitation to dialogue. H.H. the Dalai Lama gave the concluding speech on the importance of interreligious dialogue.
Preface
Acknowledgements
Prologue
— Bettina Baumer
1. Opening Address
— Raimon Panikkar
2. Sunya and Purna
— Samdhong Rinpoche
3. Concept of Fullness or Purnatva in Indian Philosophy
— Deba Brata Sen Sharma
4. The Pleroma of God, Jesus Christ and the Christian
— Paddy Meagher
5. Emptiness: Philosophy and Spirituality
— Ngawang Samten
6. Concept of Fullness (Purnata) in Kashmir Shaivism
— Makhan Lal Kokiloo
7. The Nothingness of God and its Explosive Metaphors
— Alois M. Haas
8. The Tantric System in Buddhism
— Wangchuk Dorje Negi
9. Attaining the Form of the Void: Sunya in Vijnana Bhairava
— Bettina Baumer
10. The Themes of Light and Dark in the Greek Fathers
— John R. Dupuche
11. Sunyata in the Sahaja Practice of Buddhism
— Suniti Kumar Pathak
12. Sunya Sampadana: A Mystical Concept of Virasaivism
— Rama Ghose
13. Purna-Sunya-Pleroma as Communion of Beings
— Antony Kalliath
14. Nietzsches Encounter with Buddhism
— Johann Figl
15. Gopinath Kaviraj on Purna
— H.N. Chakravarty (Tr.)
16. The Silence and the Cry
— John R. Dupuche
Speech of His Holiness the Dalai Lama
Photographs
Panel Discussion
— Raimon Panikkar
— Alois Haas
— Swami Nityananda Giri
— Nirmala Deshpande
— Bettina Baumer
— Samdhong Rinpoche
Glossary
Contributors
General Index
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Sale!Mind and Cognition An Interdisciplinary Sharing ₹3,600.00
“Knowing one’s tradition is important; but only when tradition is not presented as fossilised but as continuous with our present-day living. In most places we do not make enough effort to show the link between the classical philosophical thoughts and the contemporary world view. We need to show that we can still meaningfully interact with the classical philosophical systems”, writes Amita Chatterjee in her seminal essay “In Search of Counterpoints”. This volume is dedicated in her honour. “Knowing one’s tradition is important; but only when tradition is not presented as fossilised but as continuous with our present-day living. In most places we do not make enough effort to show the link between the classical philosophical thoughts and the contemporary world view. We need to show that we can still meaningfully interact with the classical philosophical systems”, writes Amita Chatterjee in her seminal essay “In Search of Counterpoints”. This volume is dedicated in her honour. Chatterjee belongs to a genre of philosophers, who have as part of their cultural heritage, like Raghunath Siromani and Immanuel Kant. Chatterjee, in addition to breaking cultural boundaries, desired to break boundaries that have kept professional disciplines apart. She deeply believes that there are certain basic questions that are questions not for any specific discipline. These questions, she thinks, could not be answered by remaining within one single discipline. It is no surprise that she was the founder of the first Cognitive Science Centre in India. Responding to her multifaceted academic talent, forty academics from diverse disciplines and from all over the world have contributed papers to this volume. The major areas of Chatterjee’s interest that feature in this volume are: (i) Fusion Philosophy, (ii) Mind and Cognition, (iii) Mind and Perception, (iv) Mind and Language, (v) Logic and Vagueness, (vi) Logic, (vii) Indian Philosophy, and (viii) Philosophy, Society and Popular Culture. Chatterjee’s intellectual autobiography and her responses to each of the papers are parts of this volume.
ISBN 9788124609514 (vol. 1)
ISBN 9788124609521 (vol. 2)
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Sale!Abhinavaguptas Hermeneutics of the Absolute ₹1,620.00
The Paratrishika Vivarana by the great Kashmiri philosopher and mystic Abhinavagupta is an extensive commentary on the Paratrishika Tantra, and it is one of the most profound texts, not only of non-dualist Kashmir Shaivism, but of Indian philosophy and mysticism in general. The present work attempts to make this difficult text accessible, by culling out the important themes and offering an interpretation. The main focus is on the understanding of the Absolute (Anuttara) and the ways to realize it. The central theme of mantra also leads to a mysticism of language with its philosophical implications. All these reflections and practices are inscribed in the theory that everything is related to the totality, every part contains the whole of reality (sarvam sarvatmakam). It is this holistic vision of Abhinavagupta, based on the Tantras, which makes this work so relevant in our times of fragmented aspects of life and knowledge in search of integration. No doubt, in the view of the Tantra and of Abhinavagupta, language and mantra provide the key.
This fascinating book is an important contribution to studies and interpretations on Kashmir Shaivism, its spirituality and philosophy, and on Abhinavagupta in particular. -
Sale!First Five Brahmasūtras (विज्ञानभिक्षोः ब्रह्मसूत्रपञ्चचसूत्रीभाष्यम्) ₹990.00
This is an annotated English translation of Vijñānabhikṣu’s commentaries on the first five Brahmasūtra (BS) of Bādarāyaṇa called the Vijñānāmṛtabhāṣya (VijBh). This is a pioneering work as no translation of the VijBh has been done so far. Bhikṣu is perhaps the only known Vedānta scholar who has argued for Brahman along with his prakṛti-śakti being the cause of the world. He calls his Advaita philosophy as Avibhāga-Advaita and sets himself against Śaṅkara’s Advaita which argues for Brahman alone being the material and efficient cause of the world. Bhikṣu is also an unique Advaita scholar as he interprets Vedānta using Sāṁkhya/Yoga principles. One of the reasons for choosing to comment on only the first five sūtras was because the VijBh is a huge work and also because Bhikṣu’s Avibhāga-Advaita can easily be understood from his commentaries on these first five sūtras of the BS. Even though the real reason for Bhikṣu’s commentary on the fifth sūtra (BS I.1.5) should be clear to anyone familiar with Vedānta’s objection to prakṛti being the cause of the world, it needed to be seen as to how Bhikṣu, as a committed Sāṁkhya-Yoga-Vedāntācārya, defends prakṛti’s role in being the cause. Just as writing commentaries on the first four sūtras of Śaṅkara’s BSBh done by some eminent scholars present the main features of Śaṅkara’s Advaita, the commentaries on the first five sūtras of the BS by Bhikṣu could adequately present Bhikṣu’s Avibhāga-Advaita Vedānta.
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Sale!Vada in Theory and Practice ₹1,170.00
Vada, meaning debates, dialogues, discussions, was the quintessential of Indian spirit, enabling and promoting the growth of different philosophical and knowledge systems of India. It percolated deep into our mindset and enriched the moral, ethical, religious and sociocultural edifice of anything that was essentially Indian in nature. As continuation of Anvikshiki from the bc era, vada helped thrive Indian traditional knowledge systems. It subsists on diversity and its tradition envisages pluralism.
Most of our Sanskrit works, covering a wide gamut of knowledge systems, are structured in the techniques of debate. This reality applies not only to the philosophical writings, but to Indian medical systems (Ayurveda), Arthashastra of Kautilya and Kamasutra of Vatsyayana as well. Even great epics like Ramayana and Mahabharata are no exceptions.
Vada culture involved verbal duals, attacks and even violence of speech, and all major religious systems — old or modern — were parties to it. This book also elucidates how vata was vital and critical for the growth of our socio-political fabrics. It shows how some of the major conflicts in philosophical systems were centred around karma, jnana, choice between violence and non-violence, pravritti and nivritti. It also presents the manifestations of vada on a vast canvas during the nineteenth and twentieth centuries. Modern spiritual and religious gurus like Ramana Maharshi, J. Krishnamurti and Vinoba Bhave were men of dialogues. Our scholars have applied the varied techniques of vada against the philosophical and scientific systems of the West to prove them correct.
This collector’s issue should enthrall a wide audience of philosophers, scholars and believers in Indian knowledge systems. -
Sale!Journey to the Centre of my Being ₹315.00
Jim Wilson is an adventurer: mountaineering; Antarctic exploration; adventure films with Sir Edmund Hillary (on one of which he drove a jet boat up Mother Ganga from ocean to sky); climbing and school building with Sir Edmund in the Everest region of Nepal; and sailing to Pacific islands in a small yacht. These physical adventures provide an exciting backdrop to this book.
But Jim is also a religious adventurer. He relates in depth, with clarity and humour, his long journey in search of a satisfying way of understanding and experiencing the true nature of his self, and of his place in this mysterious universe. Studying Western philosophy and theology moved him away from intense involvement in the liberal Christianity of his parents. So he looked to India, inexhaustible source of inspiration. For two years he studied Indian philosophy and religion at Banaras Hindu University, Varanasi. Then he taught for 23 years in the Department of Philosophy and Religious Studies at the University of Canterbury, New Zealand, returning many times to India and Nepal.
Though profoundly moved by the religions he studied and taught about, he was unable to accept the metaphysical beliefs underpinning them. Increasingly, though, he became fascinated by modern scientific discoveries about the universe, and about our planet and the evolution of life on it. So he wove together elements from religious and scientific traditions. In particular, he took Adi Shankara’s Advaita, also known as spiritual monism, and applied it to the physical universe, adding in also feelings and attitudes from New Zealand’s indigenous Maori religion. He now believes that the centre of his being is the physical energy of the universe, with which, therefore, he is at one. He finds this deeply satisfying in understanding, and emotionally and morally experiencing, his place on this planet and in the universe. Because it owes so much to spiritual monism he calls it physical monism, or physical Advaita.
