A leading biblical scholar offers a powerful reexamination of the Bible’s origins and its connections to human suffering Human trauma gave birth to the Bible; suggests eminent religious scholar David Carr. The Bible’s ability to speak to suffering is a major reason why the sacred texts of Judaism and Christianity have retained their relevance for thousands of years. In his fascinating and provocative reinterpretation of the Bible’s origins; the author tells the story of how the Jewish people and Christian community had to adapt to survive multiple catastrophes and how their holy scriptures both reflected and reinforced each religion’s resilient nature. Carr’s thought-provoking analysis demonstrates how many of the central tenets of biblical religion; including monotheism and the idea of suffering as God’s retribution; are factors that provided Judaism and Christianity with the strength and flexibility to endure in the face of disaster. In addition; the author explains how the Jewish Bible was deeply shaped by the Jewish exile in Babylon; an event that it rarely describes; and how the Christian Bible was likewise shaped by the unspeakable shame of having a crucified savior.
#603983 in Books Jacob P Dalton 2013-01-08Original language:EnglishPDF # 1 9.02 x .73 x 5.98l; .90 #File Name: 0300187963328 pagesThe Taming of the Demons Violence and Liberation in Tibetan Buddhism
Review
36 of 38 people found the following review helpful. illuminating studyBy inner exileThe first chapter introduces some relevant ideas pertaining to compassionate violence in the Maháyána sutras; which is followed by a synopsis of the Rudra (an epithet of the Hindu god ShÃva) subjugation myth; an excellent full translation of which; taken from "The Collected Tantras of the Ancients" (rNying-ma'i rgyud 'bum); is given in appendix A (pp. 159-206). The ultimate message for Vajrayána practitioners can be summarized as follows:"[T]he gradual unfolding of consciousness into increasingly coarse forms may be understood as either a cosmogonic process; describing the origin of beginningless samsára; or a phenomenological one; tracing the momentary emanation of concepts out of emptiness. In this sense; the universe is collapsing and being reborn at every instant; the phenomena of samsára withdrawing into the foundation [álaya/kun gzhi] and; propelled and shaped by our own fears and karmic predispositions; reemerging once more in its variegated forms as wisdom and ignorance; good and evil...Nupchen [Sangye Yeshe; 9-10th c.] thus understands the Rudra myth as a narrative account of the very nature of samsáric existence; a violent universe rooted in a seminal moment of intrinsic ignorance when beings mistake their own projections onto the foundation for the foundation itself; when Rudra misunderstood the Maháyoga teachings" (pp. 40-41; cf. chapter 9 in M. Kapstein's The Tibetan Assimilation of Buddhism: Conversion; Contestation; and Memory 2000).Chapter 2 explores through some textual evidence how during the 'age of fragmentation' (sil-bu'i dus; 842-986) certain demon-taming rituals gained popularity; freed from the Old Tibetan royal court's supervision; were adopted and altered to bind the myriad local spirits of the Tibetan landscape.Chapter 3 includes a full translation and analysis of a 10th-century Maháyoga manual; found in the Dunhuang "library cave" (Pelliot tibétain 42; 840/1 and India Office Library 419; appendices B-C on pp. 207-17); which is aimed at the liberation (sgrol-ba) of a person being guilty of committing any of the five crimes against the Dharma (p. 85; see also 'mtshams-med lnga': "five boundless/inexpiable [sins/transgressions]"). The author's dilemma is whether a live victim (whose severed head is cast in the mandala; and the consciousness is being directed - ideally - to a favourable rebirth) or; as was/is customary; an effigy of paper; cloth; or dough; was used during this rite. The text is then compared to the 'Blood Chapter' in the Hindu "Kálika Purána".Chapter 4 discusses Guge king Yeshe Ö (947-1024) prohibitive edict to counter the "rampant abuse of tantric ritual;" including live liberation and/or ritual killings. Dalton refers to the "eighteen robber monks" (ar-tsho ban-de bco-brgyad); citing The Blue Annals (Two parts in One) (Pt. 1 2) (pp. 696-7); a "group [which] had studied the tantras under a visiting Indian master named Prajnyágupta; and by the early eleventh century they had become notorious for kidnapping victims; stretching them out on the ground between ritual stakes; and sacrificing them to the dákinÃs" (p. 99)."Yeshe Ö was working to negotiate a new relationship between religious violence and the state. The Buddhist tantras bestowed upon their most accomplished practitioners the right to enact violence; and this presented a direct threat to the authority of the Tibetan court" (p. 14).Chapter 5 focuses on the geomantic; mystical theory underlying the massive construction efforts of sacred sites that characterized the early stage of 'the later diffusion' (phyi dar) of the 11-12th centuries. By drawing on the rediscovered treasure (gter-ma) known as the "Pillar Testament" (bKa'-chems ka-khol-ma); the author investigates the popular myth of pinning down the giant supine demoness/rákshasÃ; an overarching metaphor for the Buddhist conversion of the barbaric and backward Tibet."Rudra's ghastly palace of skulls atop blood-soaked Mount Malaya had provided the original setting for the tantras to be taught. Similarly for Tibetans of the later dispensation period; tantric violence provided the sacred space within which Buddhism flourished. From preliminary rites for pinning down local gods; to the mapping of Tibetan geography; the violent imagery of Rudra's sacrificial liberation remained formative" (p. 111).Please note the Tibetan verb for 'tame' ('dul) is also used for translating the Sanskrit term Vinaya/Monastic Discipline ('Dul-ba). The various rituals performed with the intent to subjugate native spirit beings can be viewed in the context of weather magic; whereby certain environmental conditions are believed to be manipulated in order to make a given location suitable for human existence and agriculture.Examples for Buddhist warfare (Sokdokpa Lodrö Gyeltsen 1552-1624; the Fifth Dalai Lama 1617-82; et al.) are provided in chapter 6; as manifested in large scale army-repelling (dmag zlog) rituals during the Mongol-Sakya hegemony (1250-1350s) and in framework of the Kagyü-Geluk intersectarian rivalry under the Tsangpa rulers (1570s-1642)."Large numbers of ritual experts would gather for performances that could last several days; if not weeks. Legions of effigies of the enemy soldiers would be fashioned; so that the practitioners in effect recreated the battlefield within the confines of the ritual space" (p. 134)."When representing their sacred realm and their demons; the greatest threats no longer inhered in Tibet's own soil; they dwelt at its dark edges. The model of demons pinned underfoot gave way to one of demons massing at the borders. Buddhist construction gave way to Buddhist warfare; foundation sacrifice to war magic" (p. 143).The final chapter draws parallel between Scotsman L. A. Waddell's view of 'Lamaism' as "deep-rooted devil-worship and sorcery" and his Tibetan contemporary; rigdzin Garwang's complaints from a text called "The Dangers of Blood Sacrifice" (dMar mchod nyes-dmigs) concerning the benighted practices of his fellow countrymen. Also considered; though briefly; are some of the themes relating to the so-called 'hidden valleys' (sbas yul) that functioned as safe havens for the devout in times of external attack; internecine conflict; plagues; etc."Simultaneously dark ravines and hidden paradises; the borderlands and their violent inhabitants operate as both posion and cure for Tibet...The realities of the borderlands and the lives of their inhabitants matter less here than the reflective power these places have in the Tibetan imagination. Tibetan attitudes toward these places thus represent Tibetans' own internal dislocation; a divide over violence that they have represented to themselves as an external dualism between center and periphery" (pp. 154-5).Endnotes (pp. 219-77); glossary (279-84); bibliography (285-304); index (305-11).1 of 1 people found the following review helpful. IlluminatingBy christopher realTaming of the demons was very illuminating in regards to the foundations of Tibetan Buddhist practice. As a Buddhist; one is often introduced to the myths; but not the history. This text expertly weaves together the founding myths of both the Nyingma (ancient way) and Sarma (new translation) traditions. It gives insight into practice for vajrayana Buddhist followers; and insight into history and culture for the casual reader.1 of 1 people found the following review helpful. A Fantastic Piece of ScholarshipBy JPCDalton’s The Taming of the Demons (2011) examines Buddhism from what is known as Tibet’s ‘period of fragmentation (842-985 c.e.) until the Mongol invasions of the 13th century. The works examines how a constitutive other played a crucial role in the formation of religious identities used to legitimate political regimes both during periods of relative economic and political isolation. One of the fundamental points argued by Dalton is that theological developments cannot be understood in isolation from the political and economic contexts in which they take place. Dalton focuses on the theme of sacrifice; and argues that it played a similar ideological function in both the British colonial project in India and Tibet; as well as the 10th-century state-building project of the Tibetan king Yeshe Ö. The Rudra myth; and its associated liberation rite – a violent act of human sacrifice as practiced by the tantrikas – played an important role in defining the new legal structures introduced during the 10th century by Yeshe Ö; functioning as the formless chaos that would define by contrast the shape of the Tibetan state. Dalton demonstrates how Tibetan political fragmentation was; on the one hand; something necessary for the spread of Buddhism: without a central; monastic authority; Buddhism spread at the local level; and this was precisely what allowed the populace of Tibet to make Buddhism its own. Yet at the same time; the fragmentation necessary for the spread of Buddhism; and the innovations made at the local level; were equally necessary for the later consolidation and control of orthodox; monastic Buddhism.
