Oriental Religions Research Articles

East in the West: Resolving a Spiritual Crisis

The so-called “Oriental religions” dismissed only a century ago as primitive and pagan have registered in recent times a steep ascent to prominence not only in terms of their proven capacity to articulate the cultural ego of some of Asia's decolonized nations, but also as spiritual movements now seeping into Western cultures, threatening to be respectable alternatives to traditional Christianity. Disturbing news of Western youth streaming into Asia like a river flowing backward to its source is given wide coverage in the media.

Eugene O’Neill and Oriental Thought: A Divided Vision by James A. Robinson

Reviews 91 recent study of theatrical reception, see Patrice Pavis’s Languages of the Stage [New York: Performing Arts Journal Publications, 1982].) And, when Berek’s essay turns to discussing specific instances of imita­ tion, the necessarily brief summaries do not always inspire complete confidence (compare, for example, Berek’s assessment of the role of Barabas in The Jew of Malta with the more complex views expressed by Minshull). Katharine Eisaman Maus focuses her discussion on one particular instance of dramatic imitation, comparing the sociopolitical implications of Dryden and D’Avenant’s Tempest with those of Shake­ speare’s original. The success of her otherwise plausible argument con­ cerning opposing notions of sovereignty in the two works is qualified by a problem that arises at a crucial point. I am not at all convinced by the assertion that Gonzalo’s dream of a care-free, labor-free, pastoral utopia “effectively articulates Prospero’s ideal” in Shakespeare’s play, nor do I find such an ideal represented in Prospero’s Act IV masque, since Shakespeare has that masque repeatedly evoke a specifically cul­ tivated (albeit bountiful and winter-free) nature. From a series that requests essays “that are exploratory in nature, that are concerned with critical and scholarly methodology, that raise new questions or embody fresh approaches to perennial problems,” a title such as Drama and Society arouses great expectations, expectations only partially fulfilled by the present volume. Since 1968, with the inauguration of its new series, Renaissance Drama has organized each yearly issue around such a title. Early numbers, however, also explicitly allowed for the inclusion of “papers on unrelated topics.” The present volume suggests that it might be worth considering a return to such an open editorial policy. Such a change, by removing some of the obvious temporal constraints that the present system places on writers and editors alike, might help to encourage submissions from more scholars doing innovative and methodologically sophisticated work. Surely we need a forum for the best and most innovative articles on all aspects of Renais­ sance drama more than we need collections of essays that fit under a given topic for the year. JAMES R. SIEMON Boston University James A. Robinson. Eugene O’Neill and Oriental Thought: A Divided Vision. Carbondale and Edwardsville: Southern Illinois University Press, 1982. Pp. xii + 201. $17.50. Perhaps it is fitting that James Robinson’s study of O’Neill and Oriental religions requires a leap of faith on the part of the reader. The questions that haunt this book are: “How deep was O’Neill’s knowledge of Oriental religions?” and “Is an understanding of O’Neill’s plays en­ riched by a study of O’Neill’s dabbling in Oriental faiths?” Robinson of course contends that O’Neill’s interest was profound and that the plays can be understood by looking at their Oriental, usually Taoist, under­ pinnings. I came to this study skeptical but ready to be convinced about the depth of O’Neill’s knowledge and use of Taoism and of other Asian faiths. I did not, however, find Robinson’s arguments persuasive, though for others they may be so. For the most part, Robinson’s study by indirections finds directions out. O’Neill’s knowledge of Hinduism came, Robinson argues, through adolescent reading of Emerson, through a Theosophist pamphlet he read that drew heavily on Hindu conceptions of karma, and through his pur­ chase at some indeterminate date of Muller’s Six Systems of Indian Philosophy. O’Neill’s acquaintance with Buddhism seems to stem from O’Neill’s friend Terry Carlin and from the fact that O’Neill owned a copy of A. K. Coomaraswamy’s Buddha and the Gospel of Buddhism. O’Neill’s interest in Taoism is traced to his possession of the Tao Te Ching and of the first half of the Chuang Tse as well as to his friendship with Lin Yutang and Mai-Mai Sze. In presenting these bases for O’Neill’s knowledge, Robinson provides, in his study’s second chapter, an excel­ lent brief summary of the main tenets of Hinduism, Buddism and Taoism. In his third chapter, Robinson extends his argument to assert that since...

Holistic Vision and Fictional Form in Peter Matthiessen's Far Tortuga

Holistic Vision and Fictional Form in Peter Matthiessen's Far Tortuga Richard F. Patteson Mississippi State University Since World War II, and increasingly during the past fifteen years, a significant alteration in human perspective has occurred, the effects of which are beginning to be felt in both politics and literature. This change in our way of perceiving the world has been variously defined. But all attempts at definition involve a recognition that man is part of, and dependent upon, an interconnected system greater than himself. Gregory Bateson, in his recent book Mind and Nature, sees this recognition as only the most recent manifestation of a deep-seated intuitive response to nature: "We are beginning to play with ideas of ecology, and although we immediately trivialize these ideas into commerce or politics, there is at least an impulse still in the human breast to unify and thereby sanctify the total natural world, of which we are."1 The relationship between man and nature, of course, has always been an object of human contemplation. But a "holistic and 'organic' view of nature" — forced upon us by quantum mechanics and relativity theory and expressed politically in the environmental movement — is a comparatively new development, and it has found its most striking literary articulation in the work of Peter Matthiessen.2 Matthiessen's position as both naturalist3 and novelist makes him an ideal exponent of the ecological awareness 1.Gregory Bateson, Mind and Nature: A Necessary Unity (New York: E.P. Dutton, 1979), p. 18. 2.The quotation is from Fritjof Capra's The Tao of Physics (Boulder: Shambhala, 1975), p. 54. Both Capra and Matthiessen, in The Snow Leopard (New York: Bantam, 1979), pp. 63-66, discuss the similarities between the world view of oriental religions and that being developed by modern physics. Matthiessen has long been interested in oriental thought, an interest that has found its fullest and most personal expression in The Snow Leopard. Subsequent page references to The Snow Leopard are to the Bantam edition. Where necessary for clarity, I have used the abbreviation SL. 3.Matthiessen's credentials as an environmentalist are unimpeachable. In addition to his five novels, his books include Wildlife in America (New York: Viking, 1959); Under the Mountain Wall: A Chronicle of Two Seasons in the Stone Age (New York: Viking, 1962); Oomingmak: The Expedition to the Musk Ox Island in the Richard F. Patteson71 that is gradually shaping our consciousness, and his novel Far Tortuga (1975) is his most ambitious attempt to cast the holistic vision in a fictional narrative. The casual reader opening Far Tortuga for the first time can readily see that the novel contains certain eccentricities: snatches of dialogue without the usual narrative transitions; brief, stark descriptive passages, again with a minimum degree of authorial presence; and white*spaces — many of them — lying between dialogue and description. These formal elements are crucial to the book's meaning and effect, but their function can be understood only in relation to deeper, less obvious structural patterns. The plot involves a series of dualities or oppositions grounded largely in conflict between a presumably idyllic past and an unacceptable present. The cast of characters — Caribbean turtlemen — divides along these lines; some long for "de back time," while others are content to dwell in the present or look forward to a more promising future. The turtlers' concerns are personal and political. They talk incessantly about days when turtle fishing was better, before tourism and American economic hegemony made turtling a vanishing way of life. But Matthiessen's own viewpoint is broader than this, and the novel is more than an indictment of human and environmental waste. Not until we look at the greater oppositions in the novel — those scarcely articulated by the characters themselves — do we see what Matthiessen is really about. The island of Far Tortuga, which may or may not have existed (tortuga in Spanish means "turtle"), comes to be identified with the Edenic past that figures so prominently in American literature. For Matthiessen, however, the significant event in the Eden story is not original sin so much as expulsion from the garden: man's separation from nature. The ultimate "back time" is the...

Confucianism and Christianity: A Comparative Study. By Julia Ching. Tokyo, New York, & San Francisco: Kodansha International, in cooperation with The Institute of Oriental Religions, Sophia University, Tokyo, 1977. xxvi, 234 pp. Notes, Chronological Table, Selected Bibliography, Index. $12.50.

Confucianism and Christianity: A Comparative Study. By Julia Ching. Tokyo, New York, & San Francisco: Kodansha International, in cooperation with The Institute of Oriental Religions, Sophia University, Tokyo, 1977. xxvi, 234 pp. Notes, Chronological Table, Selected Bibliography, Index. $12.50. - Volume 38 Issue 1

Confucianism and Christianity: A Comparative Study. By Julia Ching. Tokyo, New York, & San Francisco: Kodansha International, in cooperation with The Institute of Oriental Religions, Sophia University, Tokyo, 1977. xxvi, 234 pp. Notes, Chronological Table, Selected Bibliography, Index. $12.50.

Confucianism and Christianity: A Comparative Study. By Julia Ching. Tokyo, New York, & San Francisco: Kodansha International, in cooperation with The Institute of Oriental Religions, Sophia University, Tokyo, 1977. xxvi, 234 pp. Notes, Chronological Table, Selected Bibliography, Index. $12.50.

Bonnō no Kenkyū (A Study of Kleśa-A Study of Impurity and Its Purification in the Oriental Religions)

Bonnō no Kenkyū (A Study of Kleśa-A Study of Impurity and Its Purification in the Oriental Religions)

The Science of Yoga: A Study in Perspective

THE SCIENCE OF YOGA: A STUDY IN PERSPECTIVE MISHRILAL JAIN, Ph.D., and KAMAL M. JAIN, M.D.* The time is here, in this new year, To speak of ancient things, Of yoga and Patanjali, And of the yogi kings. Now you may ask, wherefore this task Of probing Vedic lore? How Buddha attained Samadhi Along the Ganges' shore? Allay your fears, my learned peers, A guru 7 am not, My only quest: to try my best To rediscover Patanjali's thought. To learn with you, both who is who And also what is what. So join with me, my dear friends In examining what the yogis sought. Based on a verse by E. V. Jensen [1] Yoga: A Science of Self Scientific and technological advances, along with a fast, competitive pace of life, have confronted man with unique, often paradoxical, situations . While he has landed on the moon, transplanted the heart, and explored the chemistry of life, he still riots, wages wars, inflicts death penalties, invents means of mass destruction, and frequently does not hesitate to exploit his fellow man for personal gain. It is an interesting contrast that whereas he has obtained considerable mastery over the physical world, he knows so little of his own self and of his mental world! While man's age-old search for peace and harmony and for a better quality of life still remains his major preoccupation, the ever-increasing complexities of civilization have added a host of psychosomatic symptoms and existential anxieties (e.g., "nervous stomach," "tension headache," etc.), to the list of * Address: Box 3235, Maryland Psychiatric Research Center, Baltimore, Maryland 21228. Dr. M. Jain, research biochemist, is a student of yoga and Indian philosophy; Dr. K. Jain, practicing physician, is a student of Sanskrit literature. Perspectives in Biology and Medicine · Autumn 1973 | 93 his problems. The stresses of life threaten both his physical and mental well-being. One wonders: Is there a scientifically valid way for man to know himself? Is there a body of science that will allow man to discover his own consciousness? As a result of disenchantment with the unending race for material possessions and as an alternative to the conventional life style, we have recently seen the development of a "counter culture." More recently, a widening interest in the mystical and altered states of consciousness has arisen throughout North America and Western Europe. Initially, this interest centered around the use of psychedelic and mood-altering drugs. Lately, it seems the focus has shifted toward yoga and transcendental meditation. Besides having its dominant impact on the adolescent and young adult population, this interest in the mystical and altered states of consciousness has increased among physical scientists, psychiatrists, and other mental health professionals. The intensity of this interest is evident from the fact that arguments for the recognition of a sensual-intellectual approach to nature and for the development of state-specific sciences have been advanced by research scientists [2, 3]. Investigations into the clinical and neurophysiological aspects of mystical states have already been started [4, 5]. It has been said that "perhaps science has much to learn along this line from the disciplines, as distinct from the content, of Oriental religions" [I]. It is not incidental, therefore, that schools, or ashrams, of transcendental meditation and yoga are rapidly increasing. A large number of people, ranging from those in ordinary walks of life to bright young intellectuals and professionals, are being attracted to this movement in a hope of finding the "true," of discovering the "self," of experiencing the ecstatic "mystical union," of feeling the other "dimension," of achieving the psychological peace beyond time-and-space transcendence, and of attaining "real knowledge." In the light of this burgeoning trend, it is appropriate that the scientific validity, the purpose and content, as well as the scope and potential of the science of yoga be carefully determined . This is particularly useful because there exists such a mixture of understanding and misunderstanding, conception and misconception, admiration and skepticism, and fact and fancy with respect to this discipline . The present article endeavors first to present, from a scientific point of view, a detailed examination of the basic principles and techniques of...

Structures and Figures in the Cult of Jerusalem. Studies on Ancient Oriental, Pre-Israelitic and Early Israelitic Religion

Structures and Figures in the Cult of Jerusalem. Studies on Ancient Oriental, Pre-Israelitic and Early Israelitic Religion

Religion and Economic Development

There hardly exists a writing on the relationship between religion and economic development which does not owe something to Max Weber's formulations. Two of his main theses are of interest theo retically and practically: first, his formulation of the specific relationship between the Protestant ethic and the rise of the spirit of capitalism m 16th and 17th century Europe, and secondly, his contention that the ethic of the major Oriental religions was not conducive to capitalistic development in Asia. Both these issues have given rise to wide-ranging controversies, resulting in the growth of a large body of literature. This paper,1 however, does not attempt to review them in detail. Its purpose, rather, is to evaluate generally the different aspects of the complex problem of the relation between religion and economic development, and more parti cularly, to examine the connection between Hinduism and economic growth.

Psychic energy; its source and its transformation

This presentation of Jungian psychology first appeared in 1947 and now has been reissued with several changes and additions. The typography has been altered, the bibliography extended to include the more recent works of C. G. Jung that have appeared in English translation, and a more detailed index prepared. However, the content of the work remains essentially the same. Jungian psychology is a strange yet fascinating amalgam of philosophy, psychopathology, mythology, oriental religion, symbolism, and alchemy. Dr. Harding is able to synthesize a number of Jung's ideas without falling into her teacher's patterns of abstruse scholarship and obscurantism. However, many of these concepts continue to be vague and difficult to formulate in a more meaningful and scientific language. For example, the meaning of psychic energy itself is never really clarified, and one must admit that this remains a confusing concept as stated in Freudian and Jungian hypotheses. Certainly there is

Jung's influence on contemporary thought

Carl Jung, whose long life came to an end on the sixth of June, 1961, devoted his enormous energies for many years to the exploration of the human psyche. He would spend eight to ten hours a day in the consult ing room, working with his patients and pupils. In the evenings he studied everything he could find relating to the inner life of human beings. Even when he was but recently graduated from medical school, his interest was captivated by the problems of human behavior?and misbehavior. What is the motive power of the human psyche? he asked himself; and why do some people react to a situation, and indeed to life itself, in one way and some in another? And strangest of all, where did the queer ideas that he observed in his mental patients come from? In the last analy sis, were not these ideas very similar to the fantasies and day-dreams that he and other normal people entertained? What did these ideas mean? All his life Jung sought the answers to these questions. At first they seemed to be merely questions needing more or less simple answers. But gradually he realized that they contained the most profound mysteries of human life and experience. He was up against the enigma of life itself. He looked for answers first through his work with his patients in the consulting room, at the same time observing and analyzing his own dreams and fantasies. Then, realizing that analysis always brought out the primitive reactions in the individual, he began to read anthropologi cal reports. Later he went to North and Central Africa and to the Indian reservations of California and New Mexico to observe primitive psychol ogy at first hand. Next he studied oriental religions, journeying to India to meet and talk with Hindus, Buddhists, and Mohammedans. Meanwhile he studied the speculative thought of Gnosticism, alchemy, and patristic literature. But always he kept himself grounded in reality through his constant and patient work with people. As he gained insight into the

A Bibliography of Anthropological Bibliographies: The Americas

Previous articleNext article No AccessA Bibliography of Anthropological Bibliographies: The AmericasGordon D. GibsonGordon D. Gibson Search for more articles by this author PDFPDF PLUS Add to favoritesDownload CitationTrack CitationsPermissionsReprints Share onFacebookTwitterLinkedInRedditEmail SectionsMoreDetailsFiguresReferencesCited by Current Anthropology Volume 1, Number 1Jan., 1960 Sponsored by the Wenner-Gren Foundation for Anthropological Research Article DOIhttps://doi.org/10.1086/200076 Views: 5Total views on this site Copyright Wenner-Gren FoundationPDF download Crossref reports no articles citing this article.

The Cultural Setting of Asian Art

It is hardly possible to think of Oriental art and literature divorced from Oriental religion; or to think of Oriental religion without yoga. According to the classical statement of the first principles of yoga in the Yoga Sutras of Patanjali (which is to be dated—broadly speaking—c. 200 B.C.), “Yoga is the intentional stopping of the spontaneous activity of the mind-substance.”In the archaic Orient it was thought that within the gross substance of the brain there is an extremely volatile subtle substance, continually active, which assumes the forms of everything presented to it by the senses; and that it is by virtue of the transformations of this subtle substance that we become aware of the forms, sounds, tastes, etc., of the outer world. Even in sleep and meditation this subtle substance carries on its transformations—and with so much force that if one should try without yogic training, to hold the mind to a single image or idea for even as brief a time as one minute, one soon would find that it had left the point and run off into associated or even collateral streams of transformation. The first aim of yoga therefore is to gain control of this spontaneous flow, to slow it down, and to bring it to a stop.

Fusion of the Gods: A Religio-Astrological Study of the Interpenetration of the East and the West in Asia Minor

Next article No AccessFusion of the Gods: A Religio-Astrological Study of the Interpenetration of the East and the West in Asia MinorJ. B. McMinnJ. B. McMinn Search for more articles by this author PDFPDF PLUS Add to favoritesDownload CitationTrack CitationsPermissionsReprints Share onFacebookTwitterLinkedInRedditEmail SectionsMoreDetailsFiguresReferencesCited by Journal of Near Eastern Studies Volume 15, Number 4Oct., 1956 Article DOIhttps://doi.org/10.1086/371346 Views: 6Total views on this site PDF download Crossref reports no articles citing this article.

East-West Fire: Schopenhauer's Optimism and the Lankavatara Sutra; An Excursion toward the Common Ground between Oriental and Western Religion

East-West Fire: Schopenhauer's Optimism and the Lankavatara Sutra; An Excursion toward the Common Ground between Oriental and Western Religion

The Bacchic Mysteries of the Roman Age

Some years ago mysteries were a favorite subject of research in the religion of the Hellenistic and Roman age. Scholars were almost exclusively concerned with the mysteries originating in the Near East and Egypt and the mysteries of Dionysos were mentioned only in passing. This is understandable, for the literary sources are scarce and widely scattered, the monuments are, though numerous, dispersed and very often difficult to interpret. Father Festugière included in his paper on the Dionysiac mysteries a lengthy treatment of the later ones, especially their organization, and Cumont appended to the last edition of his book on the Oriental religions in Roman paganism a discussion of the Bacchic mysteries, in which his chief purpose was to show that they were influenced by the Orient.

On Hearing the Word of God

E ACH time through a college course in Bible which I have taught for several years, the importance of a single figure of speech has grown in my mind. The figure of speech is this: God speaks and man listens and obeys. For the Bible the human response to God is to listen and obey, to hear and do. Since man is thus called by God into his service, religious experience is an experience of vocation, of being called, or put under orders, in such fashion that the whole meaning of one's existence consists in the quality of one's response to the orders. This paper is an attempt to understand some aspects of this experience, and of the metaphor which expresses the experience, particularly as we find it in the prophetic writings of the Old Testament. The biblical metaphor of audition stands in sharp contrast to that of vision which occurs frequently in Greek thought and in Oriental religions. To be sure, the Bible also sometimes speaks of seeing God. Isaiah saw God in the temple. Jesus taught that the pure in heart would see God. Paul saw as well as heard on the Damascus road. Conversely, in some documents of Asiatic religion the metaphor of audition is employed. Usage is likewise mixed in such traditional Christian writers as Augustine who describes the relation of man on this earth to God in terms of hearing and doing, but the state of final blessedness in terms of seeing God. But despite the variations and exceptions of usage, what I want to argue is that for theistic or biblical religion 'to hear and do' is normative, while for mystical or pantheistic religion 'to see and enjoy' is normative. Such a distinction corresponds roughly, I think, to the difference between a prophet and a mystic. In a similar way we may contrast religions which aim at contemplation with the biblical faith which involves the primacy of action. The will of God is for the Bible first and fore-

The Meaning of Negativism in Oriental Religions

ACOURSE in the History of Religion is indispensable for interpreting interracial, intercultural, and international problems. The nature of the course is such that students and teachers can foster the spirit of a one-world philosophy of life. In approaching such a course, it is essential to have an open-minded attitude. The Christian teachers of the subject are often tempted to place Christianity over against other Comparison is profitable, but not without danger in it. The teacher should resist every temptation to make the course a course in Christian apologetics. Some critics have branded religions as other-worldly, mystic, esoteric, impractical, and life-negating. Such charges come only from those who have made a superficial study of There can be little doubt that some elements of negativism are found in some One should be careful when he uses such terms as negative, or life-negating, with reference to the teaching of should be specific as to which point is negative in which Furthermore, he should make clear whether it is negative as interpreted by the West or by the East. It is highly important to know that what the West calls negatives in religions are not considered as negatives by the East itself. Some Christians are responsible for such a statement as Oriental religions are lifenegating religions, while Christianity is a lifeaffirming religion. Some religious isolationists may take literally what Adolf Harnack said: He who knows this religion knows all religions. But the celebrated words of Max Miiller should be our motto: He who knows but one religion knows none at all. If religions were life-negating and had not contained some life-affirming elements, they would not have survived more than two thousand

Oriental Religion and Philosophy

Oriental Religion and Philosophy Confucius, the Man and the Myth. By HERLEE G. CREEL. New York: The John Day Co., 1949. 363 pages. $5.00. CHARLES S. BRADEN CHARLES S. BRADEN Northwestern University Search for other works by this author on: Oxford Academic Google Scholar Journal of the American Academy of Religion, Volume XVIII, Issue 1, January 1950, Pages 79–80, https://doi.org/10.1093/jaarel/XVIII.1.79 Published: 01 January 1950

A Coptic Bibliography

The increasing stream of scholarly and scientific publications pouring steadily from modern presses has created an imperative need for subject bibliographies in practically every field, and to this need the field of Coptic studies is no exception. Indeed the lack of complete bibliographical guidance is here even more keenly felt because Coptic had, until the first issue of the Bulletin of the Société d' Archéologie Copte, in 1935, no proper organ of expression, and articles by Coptic scholars are scattered in periodicals devoted to Egyptian, Greek and the oriental languages, to history, religion, art and many other less likely fields, as well as in the journals of learned societies of many countries. The existing bibliographical guides are incomplete, out of date, or difficult to use for one reason or another, and valuable time and effort often have been spent in bibliographical research by Coptic scholars whose labors might have been saved for more fruitful employment. With the hope of eliminating this duplication of effort, a bibliography of Coptic studies has been compiled at the University of Michigan. At present it is in card form and is housed in the Office of the Curator of MSS. and Papyri. We hope to print it when world conditions again justify such publications, but in the meantime it may be profitable to give a brief account of the project, so that criticisms and suggestions from scholars may make the work more useful to them when it does appear.