Consecration Rituals Research Articles

Conceptions of Divinity: Statue Making in Contemporary Taiwan and the Ritual of Embedding the Spirit (Rushen)

This article examines a ritual called the rushen (“Embedding the Spirit”) as it takes place in Taiwan. The second in a traditional series of three consecration rituals, the rushen involves the transformation of varied materials and their subsequent assemblage inside of a nascent deity statue. How do statue carvers, ritual specialists, and patrons express what the ritual achieves? This article argues that the rushen aims to purify, potentiate, and protect the interior space of a young statue. To this end, the ritual achieves the conception of a spirit embryo (shentai) inside the statue’s body. The concurrent assemblage of consecrated materials thereupon works to nourish and protect this incubating divine presence as it continues to grow in subsequent weeks. From the moment of the rushen, the spirit embryo, like a newly planted seed, gestates under the statue’s surface, protecting the image from malevolent spirits and engendering it with divine capabilities. Hidden beneath the surface, the spirit embryo awaits the kaiguang, the final ritual of animation, the moment when the statue will come to life as a spirit image, like a seedling sprouting up through the soil, like an infant emerging from the womb.

Nomina Inserere Voluerint, Non Prohibeatur. Nominal Inscriptions Inside the Altar in the North-East of the Iberic Peninsula (9th-13th Centuries)

Some manuscripts of the 11th and 12th centuries preserved in Catalonia present a specific rite when a bishop had to consecrate a church. In the altar he placed relics, three fragments of hosts, three grains of incense and small parchments on which was written the information about the consecration, the ten commandments and the beginning of the four gospels. The Catalan consecration ritual corresponded to a specific liturgical codification, the Catalan-Narbonne ordo, which is generally accepted to have been strictly followed. However, archaeological excavations carried out in pre-Romanesque and Romanesque churches in Catalonia since the 19th century have often brought to light a practice that was not codified in these texts: the modest containers of wood, stone or alabaster that contained the consecration relics had been engraved with names. This paper is dedicated to these nominal inscriptions from the consecration ritual, found inside the altars.

Prohibited Mixtures: Mixed Clothing and Social Class

Abstract Prohibiting mixed fabric in Leviticus 19:19d and Deuteronomy 22:11 has often been interpreted as maintaining the created order or avoiding a holy mixture. However, weaving together two kinds of cloth does not make a hybrid that disrupts cosmic order. Also, the consecration ritual is the origin of holiness in the priestly clothing. I argue that mixed clothing is prohibited because the priestly class is strictly inherited. I will show how the Israelites must wear the national/ethnic clothing, tassels with a cord of blue, but cannot wear the clothing of the solely inherited class, mixed fabric.

“If a Woman Knows Cult Secret, She Must Never Tell”: Ritual Consecration, Secrecy, and Female Power in Egungun Pageantry Among the Yoruba

“If a Woman Knows Cult Secret, She Must Never Tell”: Ritual Consecration, Secrecy, and Female Power in Egungun Pageantry Among the Yoruba

ASSESSMENT ON VIETNAMESE-ENGLISH TRANSLATION OF OBJECT LABELS AT VIETNAMESE WOMEN’S MUSEUM THROUGH FOREIGN TOURISTS’ PERSPECTIVES

Translation of culture-specific items has posed many difficulties to translators as it requires thorough knowledge of both languages and cultures. This study aims to investigate the assessment of foreign tourists on the translation of object labels at Vietnamese Women’s Museum and to shed light on tourist’s preferences for cultural word translation procedures. In order to fulfil these objectives, a mixed-method research was conducted in which questionnaire and interview were used as the primary data collection instruments. The model proposed by Vinay and Darbelnet (2000) was applied to analyze the procedures of the cultural word translation. The findings showed that the translation at Vietnamese Women’s Museum generally came up to tourists’ expectation and successfully helped them understand the majority of Vietnamese culture exhibited at the museum. However, some contents relating to religion or Vietnamese customs such as Mother worshipping, consecration ritual, 13 celestial Mothers full-month ceremony and traditional outfits such as fabric-making or fabric-dyeing methods, names of traditional costumes caused some challenges to the readers. Suggestions from tourists were valuable for both translators and the museum to improve their translation and display at the museum.

Text-Mining and Digital Humanities Analysis of “Eye-Opening” Consecration Ritual of Contemporary Yanling Daoist Altar of Tainan

Text-Mining and Digital Humanities Analysis of “Eye-Opening” Consecration Ritual of Contemporary Yanling Daoist Altar of Tainan

‘Tataḥ Śrī-Gurus-Tasmai Sūrimantraṃ Dadyāt’, ‘Then the Venerable Guru Ought to Give Him the Sūrimantra’: Early Modern Digambara Jaina Bhaṭṭāraka Consecrations

As recent research on the former bhaṭṭāraka lineages of Western and Central India has shown, the early modern Digambara tradition, rather than constituting a distinct, and defective, ‘bhaṭṭāraka era’, shows much similarity to contemporary Digambara Jainism. Bhaṭṭārakas were regarded and venerated as ideal renouncers. Many of their practices accorded to those of today’s Digambara munis, and the bhaṭṭāraka saṅghas also featured renouncers of the muni and ācārya ranks, long thought to have abruptly become obsolete in the late medieval period. This new understanding of early modern Digambara Jainism is corroborated by the present article, which deals with early modern bhaṭṭāraka consecration rituals (paṭṭābhiṣeka, dīkṣā). The study is mainly based on two genres of sources. Sanskrit bhaṭṭāraka consecration manuals (dīkṣā-vidhi, pada-sthāpanā-vidhi), firstly, outline the preparations, the ritual proceedings, and the festivities to be held. Some vernacular songs of praise (gīta, etc.) of individual bhaṭṭārakas, secondly, focus specifically on their consecrations. These song compositions confirm many of the manuals’ prescriptions, while also adding elements not attested in the latter. Read in conjunction, both sources allow a relatively detailed understanding of early modern bhaṭṭāraka consecrations, show they closely resembled contemporary Digambara initiations, and confirm the former venerability of early modern bhaṭṭārakas in their own times.

‘Fotografia’ de um ritual neo-assírio (século IX a.C.)

The erection of steles and rock reliefs by the Assyrians was effected by consecration rituals. In royal inscriptions, the information about the structure of those ceremonies is scarce. However, resorting to the visual record of the bronze bands that decorated one set of gates of the Assyrian palace of Imgur-Enlil (Tell Balawat), depicting several stages of the institution of some of such monuments by the Assyrian king Shalmaneser III, it may be possible to establish degrees of intertextuality between the two supports (visual and written) and to realise if the texts reflect themselves the exact structure of the rituals. It is the purpose of this paper to contribute thus to a better knowledge of those rituals, that were integral to the Assyrian empire’s ideological structures.

Candi Kimpulan (Central Java, Indonesia): Architecture and Consecration Rituals of a 9th-Century Hindu Temple

In December 2009, remains of a small Śiva sanctuary were found buried under several metres of volcanic material in the village of Kimpulan, on the southern slope of Mount Merapi. This discovery provides us with an unexpected glimpse into the architectural tradition and the ritual life of a 9th-century Javanese rural community. Not only is Kimpulan an exceptional example of mixed-materials architecture, but its relatively good state of preservation brings new clues to a recurring issue in Javanese archaeology: the function of secondary shrines in Śaiva context. The most remarkable find of the Kimpulan excavations certainly is the eighteen undisturbed ritual deposits discovered beneath the pavement and under the statues. This article presents and discusses these data, linking the Kimpulan deposits with two rituals known from Indian texts, namely the ratnanyāsa (installation of a statue/ liṅga) and the garbhanyāsa (temple consecration).

Consecration Rituals in South Asia, written by István Keul

Consecration Rituals in South Asia, written by István Keul

Necromancing Theurgic Magic: A Reappraisal of the Liber iuratus Extracts and the Consecration Ritual for the Sigillum Dei in an Early Modern English Grimoire

A manuscript in the British Library, Sloane 3853, is an Early Modern magical miscellany containing substantial extracts from a work of medieval ritual magic called the Liber iuratus Honorii or Sworn Book of Honorius. Sloane 3853 has generally been neglected as a source for the Swork Book, since other British Library manuscripts have better and more complete copies. This article argues that extracts from another text known to be included in the miscellany - the Ars notoria - in fact have the Sworn book as a proximate source. Focusing on the ways the Sworn Book is adapted and used, and especially on the vernacularized instructions given for the Sigil of God, the article goes on to trace how Sloane 3853 reflects the interests of its scribe, who focused on quick and straightforward spirit conjurations, ignoring the larger ritual context of the Sworn Book, in keeping with an interest in practical necromancy.

Decoding a Hindu Temple: Royalty and Religion in the Iconographic Program of the Virupaksha Temple, Pattadakal by Cathleen Cummings

BOOK REVIEWS Cathleen Cummings. Decoding a Hindu Temple: Royalty and Religion in the Iconographic Program of the Virupaksha Temple, Pattadakal. Woodland Hills, CA: South Asia Studies Association, 2014. ISBN: 9780983447269 Paperback: 706 pages Cathleen Cummings' Decoding a Hindu Temple provides readers a thorough examination ofa Hindu temple's sculptural program. The author exposes the myriad forces involved in the decoration ofHindu sacred architecture, including patronage , religious sectarianism, and political exigencies, as well as provisions for images serving as foci for religious devotion and instruction in their requisite contexts. Although the topics she engages apply to a wide swath of Hindu temples, Cummings offers the Virupaksha Temple at Pattadakal as a case study for the interconnection of architecture and sculpted imagery. Her approach is iconographic and iconologic in that she seeks not only the accurate identification of divine forms, but also the underlying principles and motivations for their placement and inclusion. Pattadakal, the royal commemorative site of the early Chalukya dynasty (544-757), is located presently in Bagalkot district, Karnataka, India. The early Chalukyas, principally a South Indian dynasty, ruled a vast empire stretching at its fullest extent from Gujarat in the north to Odisha in the east and as far southward as Kerala and Tamil Nadu. Their period ofrule is acknowledged as a formative era for the development ofthe South Indian temple style, with rock-cut and structural temples from the well-known sites of Badami, Aihole, and Ellora dating to the reign of the early Chalukyas. While archaeological excavations indicate an importance to Pattadakal perhaps as early as the Satavahana era, this royal site features seven main temples from the early Chalukya period and a later Rashtrakuta temple. The Virupaksha Temple dates from the reign ofKing Vikramaditya II (733-745), the penultimate early Chalukyan ruler in control of the site. An inscription (although lacking a specific date) relates that Queen Lokama66 hadevi commissioned the Virupaksha Temple to celebrate the conquest of Kanchipuram by her husband, Vikramaditya II. This temple, the largest surviving early Chalukya monument and the most lavishly decorated, offers a glimpse into South Indian conceptions ofroyal identity and pious duty, in addition to providing a well-documented example of female patronage in pre-modern India. Cummings' book focuses predominantly on images carved in niches along the exterior surfaces ofthe VirupakshaTemple. As a microcosm of the Hindu pantheon, the temple displays stone reliefs ofShiva in his various forms, Vishnu, his avatars, and scenes from the Ramayana, as well as depictions ofloving couples and celestial females frequently represented in Hindu sacred architecture. These reliefs serve to emphasize and illustrate common themes that demonstrate - far from a haphazard collection ofloosely associated iconographic forms - a premeditated program ofdecoration to serve royal and religious constructions of meaning. For example, Shiva and Parvati Gaming with Dice relates to an analogous game of chance played as part ofa king's consecration, and Shiva Lingodbhavamurti , with the form ofthe god as an unfathomable cosmic pillar, compares with similar imagery evoked in consecration rituals. Cummings explains their presence on the temple in part through the concept ofrajadharma, or the righteous duty and manner ofthe king. Ofcourse, these images are polyvalent, and the author meticulously uncovers various layers ofmeaning in her analysis ofthe reliefs' iconographic peculiarities. A significant contribution of Cummings' analysis is her explanation ofthe Virupaksha Temple's iconographic parallels with images associated with the Pallavas, dynastic rivals to the earlyChalukyas, whose defeat byVikramaditya II the Virupaksha Temple commemorates. According to the author, the insertion ofthese features into the iconographic plan was deliberate and constituted a practice she terms "symbolic looting." In this case, the image ofShiva Gangadhara (or Descent ofthe Ganges) seems to appear first on the Virupaksha Temple among early Chalukya monuments. Perhaps its most famous depiction in South Asia, its precise interpretation still controversial, occurs with the Pallava-era rock-cut monuments at Mamallapuram (also known as Mahabalipuram). Cummings argues that the inclusion of the image symbolically appropriates the Ganga River valley into Chalukya domains and also stakes a claim over Pallava-held regions as a symbolic bounty of war. That the relief faces the Malaprabha River in Pattadakal further associates the Ganga River with Chalukya geography and King Vikramaditya II with Shiva...

Tortoise burials in Namaqualand: uncovering ritual behaviour on South Africa's west coast

Numerous instances of deliberately buried tortoises have been uncovered at late Holocene sites along the Namaqualand coast of South Africa. They occur in small pits immediately beneath intact shell middens at the coast or below other archaeological layers at sites further inland. At the coast, the pits were never dug through the overlying midden material and, besides the tortoises, generally contain nothing except incidental inclusions. Other examples have been found further inland and to the south. Animal burials elsewhere appear invariably to be linked to ritual behaviour and it is concluded that the Namaqualand tortoise burials likely represent a consecration ritual developed within the last 800 years and marking the establishment of a new campsite.

From Mongol Prince to Russian Saint: A Neglected 15th-Century Russian Source on the Mongol Land Consecration Ritual

Hagiographical literature has long been acknowledged by historians of medieval West as an important source for understanding past. (1) Yet its potential--and this is especially true in case of medieval Russian sources--remains little explored by historians of Eurasia. (2) Russian sources, with their largely parochial outlook and infrequent references to outside world, cannot compete with eloquence of contemporary Persian chroniclers or with meticulousness of Chinese imperial scribes. (3) In this respect, Tale of Venerable Peter, Prince from Horde (Povest' o Blazhennom Petre, tsareviche ordynskom)--a 15th-century vita that describes conversion of a Mongol prince to Christianity, his move to Russian principality of Rostov, and building of a church there--constitutes an exceptional source. The ritual that consecrated land and church betrays, in my opinion, existence of a Mongol layer buried within medieval Russian hagiographical text. It thereby offers a unique glimpse not only of Mongol religious practices but also of process of conversion and converging religious beliefs. At core of tale lies a legal dispute over fishing rights in Lake Nero between ruling (Riurikid) family of Rostov and descendants of a Mongol whom we know only by his Christian name, Peter. (4) According to text, Peter was a Mongol prince (porody khanska) who happened to witness miraculous healing of his relative by Kirill, bishop of Rostov (d. 1262), while latter was visiting Golden Horde. Impressed by power of Christian prayer, Peter began to question Mongol worship of the sun, moon, stars, and fire and followed Kirill to Rostov. (5) There, after seeing church adorned with gold and pearls and hearing liturgy, young Mongol decided to convert to Christianity. Kirill, afraid to provoke anger of Horde, cautiously waited; and only after Berke Khan's death (1267), which was later followed by civil war within Golden Horde, did he finally agree to baptize his protege. Some time passed; and one day, while hunting, Mongol prince fell asleep and had a vision of apostles Peter and Paul ordering him to build a church on this spot. He petitioned prince (kniaz') of Rostov to sell him plot of land where vision had occurred. The Russian prince, at first suspicious of Peter's intentions (mostly due to latter's Mongol background), eventually agreed and later even befriended young Mongol and granted him many lands from his patrimony (votchina). The two princes eventually became sworn brothers; and Peter, after permanently settling in Rostov and marrying a girl from Rostov's Tatar (i.e., Mongol) quarter, lived a long and happy life. (6) He also founded a monastery, adjacent to church he had built years earlier, to which he retired after death of his wife. The Tale then continues to describe a legal dispute between grandchildren of two princes about ownership of lake next to Peter's monastery. The Russian side claimed that although their grandfather had sold land to his sworn brother, lake had not been mentioned in agreement. Therefore, lake belonged to them. Peter's grandchildren appealed directly to Horde, evoking their Chinggisid ancestry and their relationship to Horde's ruler, whom they addressed as uncle. The khan sent an ambassador to investigate matter, and it was settled in favor of Peter's family. The same issue arose in next generation, however, and entire process was repeated, with Peter's descendants gaining upper hand once again. The text ends with Ignat, Peter's great-grandson, who saved city of Rostov from destruction at hands of a Mongol raiding expedition. Coming out before Mongol troops and again invoking his Mongol blood, Ignat explained that since his great-grandfather had bought land from prince of Rostov, it now belonged to his descendants and therefore to Horde. …

Le lieu cultuel dans la synthèse liturgique de Guillaume Durand

The Place of Worship in Guillaume Durand’s Liturgical Synthesis. The Rationale divinorum officiorum by bishop of Mende Guillaume Durand is an exceptionaly rich source for the study of the constitution of a Christian worship places theology in the scolastic age. The proliferation of references to authorities in the book is explained by the author’s compilating approach and by the law of universal meaning upon which his whole understanding of liturgy relies. A detailed analysis of his work on dedication shows that Durand gives great importance to the consecration ritual, which is a fundamental element. Most of all, the author doesn’t ignore a real spirituality of the place of worship, especially in his moral interpretation of the altar, one of his favourite themes.

Observations sur les sculpteurs de statuettes religieuses du Hunan

Occasionally, in a context in which information is sparse, exceptions arise. Since ancient times, Chinese woodworkers have, in certain circumstances, appended their signatures to the items they produced. This is, for example, true of engravers of printing plates who were sometimes obliged to account for their work, make claims for their artistic skill, etc. It is also true of sculptors of religious statues in Hunan, whose signatures implied a degree of "technical" competence not only in terms of woodworking but also of religious knowledge (consecration rituals, funeral rites, etc.). The inventory of these artisans in three collections of statuettes is remarkable for both its wealth and precision: all the names are accompanied by dates and places. However, a problem remains—how can this information be made to "speak" about ordinary people when traditional historical sources are obviously lacking. The article focuses on contemporary materials, which provide information about present-day practices and shed retrospective light on what such practices may have been in the past, before moving on to a comparative analysis of the data drawn from the statuettes and their certificates of consecration, ranging from the 16th to the 20th centuries. The "portraits" of the sculptors remain imprecise and the ancient secrets of the "profession" obscure—but how could it be otherwise for a practice reserved to initiates? However, the article does succeed in describing the role of the sculptors, a role as important as that of other "actors" presented in this volume, within the ambit of a local rural society in which religion is a central part of life and gives structure to the social network.

Penelope and the Pigs: Indic Perspectives on the "Odyssey"

In India it is a commonplace that the great epic, the Mahābhārata, is a dharma or legal text. It can also be demonstrated not only that there are explicit references to ritual in the epic narrative, but that the narrative sometimes covertly encodes ritual, allowing the audience to experience the narrative on several levels at once. I will suggest that it is possible to read the Odyssey both as a legal and a ritual text and that explicit reference to the rich legal, ritual, and epic materials of ancient India clarifies much that is murky in the Odyssey, given the Indo-European heritage that they both share. The paper focuses on three issues: (1) A legal point: the legal status of Penelope, particularly with regard to her remarriage. Should she remarry, and if so, who has the authority to arrange such a marriage? Both legal and epic materials in Sanskrit treat in detail the situation of a woman whose husband has gone abroad and disappeared. (2) A legal institution: the marital self-choice (svayamvara in Sanskrit) and its relevance to Penelope and the suitors. The self-choice is a common type of marriage for kings' daughters in Sanskrit, in which the princess "chooses" a husband from a group of assembled suitors. Often the "choice" is governed by an act of strength and skill, just as Penelope's marriage contest was. (3) A ritual: the consecration of the king (Rājasūya in Sanskrit) and its relevance to Odysseus' return. Odysseus' return to Ithaka can be read as a covert encoding of a royal consecration ritual similar to the Sanskrit Rājasūya. In particular, the theme of the bow, the importance accorded to Eumaios' pigs, and the narrative of the boar hunt all find their counterparts in the Sanskrit ritual.

On the symbolism of the mirror in Indo-Tibetan consecration rituals

The Mahāyāna ideal isaprati\(\underset{\raise0.3em\hbox{$\smash{\scriptscriptstyle\cdot}$}}{s} \underset{\raise0.3em\hbox{$\smash{\scriptscriptstyle\cdot}$}}{t} \)hā-nirvā\(\underset{\raise0.3em\hbox{$\smash{\scriptscriptstyle\cdot}$}}{n} \)a — liberation with a basis in neithersa\(\underset{\raise0.3em\hbox{$\smash{\scriptscriptstyle\cdot}$}}{m} \)sāra nornirvā\(\underset{\raise0.3em\hbox{$\smash{\scriptscriptstyle\cdot}$}}{n} \)a, that is to say, neither in the conventional world nor in the true nature of all things (Nagao 1981). Through the consecration proceedings ayidam, Buddha, or Bodhisattva is established insa\(\underset{\raise0.3em\hbox{$\smash{\scriptscriptstyle\cdot}$}}{m} \)sāra. Through the employment of the mirror in the consecration ritual, thatyidam, Buddha, or Bodhisattva participates in the actual nature of all things as they are — unestablished, devoid of own nature, like reflected images in a mirror. If the mirror does not resolve the paradox of consecrating the unconsecratable, it holds up a mirror to the impossible mystery of transcendent immanence.

Gratitude to an Empty Savior: A Study of the Concept of Gratitude in Mahāyāna Buddhist Philosophy

Previous articleNext article No AccessGratitude to an Empty Savior: A Study of the Concept of Gratitude in Mahāyāna Buddhist PhilosophyMalcolm David EckelMalcolm David Eckel Search for more articles by this author PDFPDF PLUS Add to favoritesDownload CitationTrack CitationsPermissionsReprints Share onFacebookTwitterLinkedInRedditEmail SectionsMoreDetailsFiguresReferencesCited by History of Religions Volume 25, Number 1Aug., 1985 Article DOIhttps://doi.org/10.1086/463021 Views: 12Total views on this site Citations: 3Citations are reported from Crossref Copyright 1985 The University of ChicagoPDF download Crossref reports the following articles citing this article:Hyunsuk Choi, Erick Kong, Saehya Ann Young College Students’ Perception of DINESERV: A Study of On-Campus Dining in the USA, Tourism and hospitality management 27, no.33 (Nov 2021): 529–554.https://doi.org/10.20867/thm.27.3.4 by Patrick Fitzgerald Gratitude and Justice Fitzgerald, Ethics 109, no.11 (Jul 2015): 119–153.https://doi.org/10.1086/233876Yael Bentor On the symbolism of the mirror in Indo-Tibetan consecration rituals, Journal of Indian Philosophy 23, no.11 (Mar 1995): 57–71.https://doi.org/10.1007/BF01062066

The Several Bodies of Buddha: Reflections on a Neglected Aspect of Theravada Tradition

Previous articleNext article No AccessThe Several Bodies of Buddha: Reflections on a Neglected Aspect of Theravada TraditionFrank E. ReynoldsFrank E. Reynolds Search for more articles by this author PDFPDF PLUS Add to favoritesDownload CitationTrack CitationsPermissionsReprints Share onFacebookTwitterLinkedInRedditEmail SectionsMoreDetailsFiguresReferencesCited by History of Religions Volume 16, Number 4May, 1977The Mythic Imagination Article DOIhttps://doi.org/10.1086/462774 Views: 12Total views on this site Citations: 6Citations are reported from Crossref Copyright 1977 The University of ChicagoPDF download Crossref reports the following articles citing this article:Eviatar Shulman Buddha as the Pole of Existence, or the Flower of Cosmos, History of Religions 57, no.22 (Nov 2017): 164–196.https://doi.org/10.1086/693680PATRICE LADWIG Worshipping Relics and Animating Statues. Transformations of Buddhist statecraft in contemporary Laos, Modern Asian Studies 49, no.0606 (Jul 2014): 1875–1902.https://doi.org/10.1017/S0026749X13000486Steven Collins Reflections on the Dichotomy Rūpakāya / Dhammakāya, Contemporary Buddhism 15, no.22 (Jul 2014): 259–273.https://doi.org/10.1080/14639947.2014.932481Yael Bentor On the symbolism of the mirror in Indo-Tibetan consecration rituals, Journal of Indian Philosophy 23, no.11 (Mar 1995): 57–71.https://doi.org/10.1007/BF01062066Charles F. Keyes Buddhist politics and their revolutionary origins in Thailand, (Oct 2011): 319–350.https://doi.org/10.1515/9783110876352.319 John Strong The Transforming Gift: An Analysis of Devotional Acts of Offering in Buddhist "Avadāna" Literature, History of Religions 18, no.33 (Oct 2015): 221–237.https://doi.org/10.1086/462817