Traditional Teachings Research Articles

In Memoriam: Joël Thoraval (1950-2016)

On 7 March 2016, Joel Thoraval left us, struck down in a few weeks by a devastating cancer that was unfortunately discovered too late. In him sinology has lost an outstanding researcher whose brilliant insights, boundless intellectual curiosity, and encyclopaedic knowledge of a wide range of cultural universes sustained his profoundly original thinking. He will also be remembered by his colleagues and friends as a subtle mind with a ready wit and as a fundamentally modest man.Joel Thoraval was born in Brest in 1950. After his undergraduate days marked by the militant atmosphere of 1968, he enrolled at the Ecole Normale Superieure in Paris, where he was particularly keen to attend the lectures by Maurice Godelier, to whom he always remained close, while at the same time he continued his studies in philosophy and history. His attraction to Central Asia led him to train himself in archaeology and the languages of that region (Sogdian, Pehlevi, but also Russian), and for his doctorate he left to work as an archaeologist on the Hellenistic site of Ai-Khanoum in Afghanistan. He was to spend several years there, as a researcher at the French Archaeological Delegation. His stay was interrupted in 1980 by the Soviet invasion, which put a brutal end to his first scientific project. A combination of circumstances then gave him the chance to leave for China, where he began by pursuing his studies in Shanghai before taking up various posts: as Cultural Attache in Beijing (1981-1984), as a research fellow at the Chinese University of Hong Kong (1984-1991), and then as Cultural Councillor in Hong Kong. In this last position he played a major role in helping Michel Bonnin to set up the CEFC and Perspectives chinoises/China Perspectives. In 1994 he left Asia to join the EHESS China Centre in Paris.Joel Thoraval's research on China developed through several main stages. first of these was devoted to ethnological work in the northwest of Hainan Island, among a population officially classified as Han but offering nonetheless several striking features. This gave rise to a series of studies on the problem of nationality and on relationships of ethnicity within the Chinese world. He analysed these by approaching them through a range of diverse cultural practices, whether based on kinship (lineages), on religion, or on gender relations (with his study on the phenomenon of amorous nocturnal visits). Some of these studies have become classics for generations of students, such as 'Ethnicity' as Applied to the Chinese Cultural World, first published in Perspectives chinoises in 1999.His long stay in Hong Kong, at the Chinese University's New Asia (Xinya) College, allowed him to gain acute insights into the Chinese intellectual world, and especially into the academic communities rethinking Confucian traditions in the light of modern Western philosophy. This gave rise to his twofold interest in the modern Chinese reception of Western ideas and in the ways in which traditional Confucian teachings are currently categorised, theorised, and put into practice. A stay in Japan between 2000 and 2002 enabled him to bring a comparative perspective to bear on his reflections.In addition to his incisive articles on the intellectual debates in mainland China (such as The politics of memory, The dreamt tradition, and Historical consciousness and social imaginary), which demonstrate his gift for perceiving and closely analysing the spirit of an age, his work also focused on Confucian thought in the twentieth century with particular attention to the philosopher Mou Zongsan (1909-1995). He was the first to introduce this thinker to the French public (see especially his Ideal of the sage and strategy: An introduction to the thought of Mou Zongsan). Mou Zongsan was of special interest to him as the ideal embodiment of a type of philosophical fate of contemporary Confucianism while also being an indispensable thinker for understanding the reception of Kant in China. …

Encouragement, Challenges, Healing, and Progress

In his article, Alfred Kahn calls for all people to participate in a conversation about the challenges of Indigenous Communities and to participate in community-building activities among Indigenous people. Nephew of Franklin Kahn, the first Native American to be elected to the National Spiritual Assembly, the author shares his perspective on growing up among Bahá’í pioneers on Indigenous land. He also shares his candid assessment of the prophetic promises in the Bahá’í Writings about Native Americans’ potential to contribute greatly to the peoples of the world once they have reconciled their own traditional views and teachings with the global promises of Bahá’u’lláh.

Coming Home to Die: Six Nations of the Grand River Territory Develops Community-Based Palliative Care

This paper describes the development and implementation of a community-based palliative care program in Six Nations of the Grand River Territory, Ontario. Six Nations innovative program is grounded in their vision to provide access to quality palliative care at home and incorporate Haudenosaunee Traditional teachings. A community Project Advisory Committee led the development process, and a Leadership Team of local and regional palliative care partners led implementation. Using participatory action research, academic researchers supported activities and facilitated data collection and evaluation. Outcomes included: creation of a Palliative Shared Care Outreach Team, including a First Nation’s physician, nurse and social worker; development of a detailed care pathway for clients who need palliative care; increased home deaths (55) as compared to hospital (22) or hospice deaths (6); access to palliative care education and mentorship for local health care providers; incorporation of Traditional teachings to support clients and staff around death, dying, grief and loss; and creation of a palliative care program booklet for Six Nations Health Services. This unique initiative reduces disparities in access to quality palliative home care and demonstrates that First Nations communities can successfully undertake a process of community capacity development to create unique and culturally responsive palliative care programs. Challenges included overcoming federal and provincial jurisdictional issues in provision of health services through collaborative partnerships at the local and regional level.

Abuse of power in relationships and sexual health

STI rates are high for First Nations in Canada and the United States. Our objective was to understand the context, issues, and beliefs around high STI rates from a nêhiyaw (Cree) perspective. Twenty-two in-depth interviews were conducted with 25 community participants between March 1, 2011 and May 15, 2011. Interviews were conducted by community researchers and grounded in the Cree values of relationship, sharing, personal agency and relational accountability. A diverse purposive snowball sample of community members were asked why they thought STI rates were high for the community. The remainder of the interview was unstructured, and supported by the interviewer through probes and sharing in a conversational style. Modified grounded theory was used to analyze the narratives and develop a theory. The main finding from the interviews was that abuse of power in relationships causes physical, mental, emotional and spiritual wounds that disrupt the medicine wheel. Wounded individuals seek medicine to stop suffering and find healing. Many numb suffering by accessing temporary medicines (sex, drugs and alcohol) or permanent medicines (suicide). These medicines increase the risk of STIs. Some seek healing by participating in ceremony and restoring relationships with self, others, Spirit/religion, traditional knowledge and traditional teachings. These medicines decrease the risk of STIs. Younger female participants explained how casual relationships are safer than committed monogamous relationships. Resolving abuse of power in relationships should lead to improvements in STI rates and sexual health.

Taking Back the Fire: Schooling Experiences of Central California Indian People Across Generations

Conversations about Indian education often seem to exclude the voices of Indian people affected by educational policies and programs. In this qualitative study we collected interview data from several generations of Central California Indian people from the Tule River, Mono, and Tachi-Yokut tribes to document their schooling experiences. Interviews provided insight into the perceived role of education and schooling in the survivance of Central Valley Indian tribes. Analysis of the data indicated that: (a) Indian boarding school experiences for interviewees varied depending on historical context and (b) early immersion in traditional language and cultural teachings appears to have enhanced resilience among elders, suggesting potential benefits of culturally responsive schooling for current and future generations of Central California Indian youth.

From Theology to Theologies

The purpose of this article is to restate, with added emphasis, what has been accomplished in the past in order to better understand the positive elements in African traditional religions and to challenge traditional Christian theology. This work is a restatement of the continued need to deepen the avenues of dialogue with African traditional religious teachings and values, paving way for a more formal recognition of African theology from within traditional Christian circles in the West. This article raises a greater awareness of and draws attention to Christian theology, in order to explore more creative ways to engage in dialogue with African traditional religions. This work is undertaken with the hope of creating a greater awareness towards a more formal recognition, study and understanding of African theology in relation to Catholic theology. This article argues that an evolving African theology can mutually enrich Catholic theology and practice, using specific examples of similarities, while, at the same time, respecting each other's uniqueness.

Activating Indigenous Knowledge to Create Supportive Educational Environments by Rethinking Family, Community, and School Partnerships

In this article, the author describes ways that Indigenous knowledges can be activated through social justice philosophies and pedagogies that promote equitable and fair social-educational systems to support Indigenous students. Specifically, she argues that when considering family-community-school partnerships, family and community are one and the same when viewed through the conceptual framework of k’é and that for indigenous communities, education and community are inseparable. She establishes k’é as a Diné philosophy of community that dictates ways of knowing and being that are rooted in traditional teachings and ceremonies meant to ensure survival of the people. She describes a qualitative study that employed an indigenous methodology in which she asks Diné youth how they define community. The findings of the study imply that to support the Diné youth holistically, educators must promote equity and fairness within schools serving Indigenous communities by partaking in active and critical engagement that includes acquiring an understanding of the histories, contributing to the processes of healing relationships and activating Indigenous knowledges that focuses on philosophies of community.

The Captivating Beauty of the Divine Spark—Breslau and the Reception of Yehuda Halevi’s Sefer Kuzari (1877–1911)

Abstract The article follows the reception of the philosophy of Yehudah Halevi (1075–-1141) within the Breslau school of Jewish thought during the second half of the nineteenth century. Special focus is given to the discussion of Halevi in the writings of David Kaufmann and Julius Guttmann. Both scholars admire Halevi’s Sefer haKuzari because they discovered a certain analogy between his medieval project of an intellectual apology of Judaism and their own endeavors in Breslau to philosophically justify the existence of Judaism in modernity. In their point of view, Halevi has achieved his results, however, without forcing the wealth of traditional Jewish teachings into an artificial system of thought, as did Maimonides after him. Thus, Halevi became for the Breslau scholars a personal example of Jewish integrity, combining faithful adherence to Judaism with intellectual penetration of its doctrines.

Elders' Teachings about Resilience and its Implications for Education in Dene and Cree Communities

This study developed out of a need to discuss Eurocentrism in Indigenous education and to provide what the Elders describe as an appropriate educational experience. The purpose of the study was, within a northern context, to discuss Indigenous education, and how educators and Elders perceived their cultural models, values, and aspirations of Indigenous resilience. This study deals with Indigenous resilience based on knowledge held by Indigenous educators and Elders with respect to the traditional teachings and values within Indigenous cultures in Northern Manitoba. We present the perspectives held by these constituents with respect to the notions of Indigenous resiliency. Two Indigenous researchers of Dene and Cree nations share their perspectives based on interviews with Indigenous Elders about traditional education in Northern Manitoba. Interview results demonstrate that a traditional, culturally appropriate model of education is significant to Indigenous resilience development.

Are contemporary mindfulness-based interventions unethical?

Mindfulness involves regulating ruminative thought processes by focusing awareness on the present moment.1 The technique derives from Buddhist practice and has received substantial interest and uptake among the scientific and medical community, as well as the public more generally. Based on emerging empirical evidence, the UK’s Mental Health Foundation recently called for mindfulness to be made more readily available on the NHS.2 Although there is considerable interest in mindfulness, the rapidity at which it has been extracted from its traditional Buddhist setting has given rise to what has been termed the ‘mindfulness backlash’.3 This has emerged from a wider movement that views many mindfulness-based interventions (MBIs) as highly superficial representations of traditional Buddhist mindfulness teachings, and asserts that MBIs are teaching ‘McMindfulness’.2,3 Included within the criticisms levied at MBIs are claims that patients are being treated unethically due to being provided with …

Postcolonial healing landscapes and mental health in a remote Indigenous community in subarctic Ontario, Canada

ABSTRACTThe concept of therapeutic landscape is concerned with a holistic, socio-ecological model of health, but most studies have attempted to explore land-health links from a Western perspective. On an Indigenous reserve in Northern Ontario, part of the Canadian subarctic, we explore the importance of spaces and places in creating postcolonial therapeutic landscapes to treat the wounds inflicted by colonialism. The aim of this research is to gain insight from views and experiences of First Nations residents living on reservations that are undergoing a process of regaining traditional spiritual beliefs and teachings to construct therapeutic spaces to face mental health problems caused by legal opioid analgesic abuse. This qualitative study used semi-structured interviews with Cree and Ojibwe participants to understand how they are reconnecting with earth, spirituality and traditional animist beliefs on their way to recovery. We find that practices such as taking part in ceremonies and ritual spaces, and seeking knowledge and advice from Elders assist with personal healing and enable Indigenous people to be physically and mentally healthy. Our research findings provide important insights into the relationship between space, healing and culture as determinants of health and well-being and document some key factors that contribute to substance abuse recovery.

Between Jewish Tradition and Modernity: Rethinking an Old Opposition. Essays in Honor of David Ellenson ed. by Michael A. Meyer, David N. Myers (review)

Reviewed by: Between Jewish Tradition and Modernity: Rethinking an Old Opposition. Essays in Honor of David Ellenson ed. by Michael A. Meyer, David N. Myers Robert M. Seltzer (bio) Michael A. Meyer and David N. Myers, editors, Between Jewish Tradition and Modernity: Rethinking an Old Opposition. Essays in Honor of David Ellenson. Detroit: Wayne State University Press, 2014. xiv + 360 pp. Reviewing a Festschrift presents a special problem: contributions by colleagues, friends, and/or former students of the person being honored can cover a wide range of topics only tangentially connected to each other. Should the reviewer dwell on the achievements of the honoree or look for elements that the collected essays might have in common? This was not a problem in reviewing Between Jewish Tradition and Modernity, a collection of articles of high quality, interest, and value. All of the authors of essays in this volume pay homage to David Ellenson. Raised in a modern Orthodox family in Newport News, VA., he received his BA from the College of William and Mary, his MA in Jewish Studies at the University of Virginia, his PhD from Columbia University, and rabbinic ordination from the Hebrew Union College-Jewish Institute of Religion where, after several years as a faculty member, he served as president from 2002 to 2014. In his college days influences on him included sociologists of religion Max Weber, Peter Berger, and Jacob Katz. His first book was Rabbi Esriel Hildesheimer and the Creation of Modern Jewish Orthodoxy (1990). His many studies on Judaism in Israel and America are in the dense nine pages of Ellenson’s bibliography appended to the volume. A personal note: his oeuvre includes “Zion in the Mind of the American Rabbinate during the 1940s,” which appeared in the collection The Americanization of the Jews, that I edited with Norman S. Cohen (1995). The essays in Between Jewish Tradition and Modernity are arranged under four sub-headings: Law, Ritual, Thought, and Culture. Together they constitute a mosaic of topics connected to American Jewish religious life in the last half century, such as post-denominationalism, the impact of the counterculture, new conceptions of ethnicity, changing styles of worship, the growing importance of feminism, and the State of Israel. To be sure, there are pieces that do not fit tidily into this mold, such as Jonathan Sarna’s essay on a mid-nineteenth-century controversy over whether it was appropriate to erect a statue of the New Orleans Jewish philanthropist Judah Touro in view of traditional anti-iconic Jewish teachings. Zvi Zohar examines a responsum from early twentieth-century Salonica on converting the non-Jewish partner of an intermarriage (a forerunning of widespread occurrence in contemporary American Judaism). Michael Marmur discusses the early writings of Abraham Joshua [End Page 161] Heschel before he arrived in Cincinnati to teach at the Hebrew Union College and went on to the Jewish Theological Seminary. Rachel Adler critiques Rav J. B. Soloveichik’s equivocations on feminism. As noted, however, most of the pieces deal with more recent developments. Arnold Eisen critiques the venerable Zionist trope of shelilat hagalut expressed in a talk by A. B. Yehoshua. Adam S. Ferziger discusses how the presence of Reform Judaism has sharpened the self-image of Orthodoxy in Israel whereas, conversely, Jack Wertheimer notes how the complexity of American Judaism has affected “Orthodox Outreach Workers.” Notably missing from the collection is concern for Jewish theology, perhaps a result of the list of contributors but also of the paucity of major new theologies of Judaism. Premodern/modern is a critical distinction in the history of science, technology, economics, ideologies, philosophy, art–and in Judaism. As Arnold J. Band notes in his essay on S.Y. Agnon, the relation between what we think of as tradition and modernity is dialectical. Affecting each other, they repeatedly reshaped Judaism as a whole. A central feature of the modern is repeated change. In the Festschrift this appears in Steven M. Lowenstein’s depiction of the separate paths taken by modernizing German and Dutch Jewry. This theme is driven home in Wendy Zierler’s discussion of the avant-garde film Momento, which illustrates how the pre-modern past is repeatedly rewritten. Similar...

Buddhist Wisdom for Healing the Earth

Buddhist Wisdom for Healing the Earth

Perlambangan dalam Hiasan Tekstil Tradisional Minangkabau

Traditional teaching has its impact on the creation of the art of traditional ornament of Minangkabau. That phenomenon is reflected in the effort and creation of the art designer to create traditional art motive which strictly hold to the way of life and the social and cultural system society. Traditional ornamental art of Minangkabau is a visual expression which consists of the teachings becoming the way of life of Minangkabau people in their daily life; traditional teachings and religious teachings. The philosophy of the Minangkabau tradition has its firm formation when Islam entered Minangkabau. It is reflected in the motto of the Minangkabau people in implementing their tradition and religion in their life. The motto, adat basandi syara’, syara basandi kitabullah (tradition is based the religious teachings and religious teachings are based on the Holy Book of God) is a concept which reflects that in its implementation, tradition will adjust its practice with the Islamic teachings.

Restoring the Blessings of the Morning Star: Childbirth and Maternal-Infant Health for First Nations near Edmonton, Alberta

It is not only remote Aboriginal communities in Canada that have poorer maternal-infant health status than Canadian averages; residents of First Nation communities located close to large urban centres also experience this health status gap. Alexander, Alexis, Enoch, and Paul First Nations are located within an hour of healthcare services in greater Edmonton. The narratives of 75 predominantly Cree and Stoney women from these communities were gathered through seven talking circles and five semi-structured interviews. The participants described their experiences of loss and separation as pregnancy care and childbirth moved out of the community and into the hospital over the last two generations. This shift was not only a geographic relocation; it also disconnected the childbirth experience from elders, family and community, traditional teachings, and spiritual meaning. Conversely, the participants’ hospital experiences were characterized by a limited sense of cultural safety. Participants highlighted the urgent need to reintegrate culturally based community support and health perspectives into the childbirth experience. The implementation of such a culturally integrated healthcare model in all Aboriginal communities—remote, rural, suburban, and urban—may be the key finally to closing the gap between Aboriginal and non-Aboriginal maternal and infant health status in Canada.

Krisis Lingkungan Hidup dalam Perspektif al-Qur’an

The environmental crisis is a picture of a spiritual crisis that had plagued most of humanity due to the human deification to absolutize humanism above nature. Consequently, there was exploitation of nature in the name of human rights priorities. It needs immediate rescue through the vision of traditional Islam, which has perspectives of effective environmental protection and basic. Without the introduction and implementation of traditional Islamic teachings, it would lead to the long environmental crisis. And this paper try to explore the anxiety and conceptualization of Koran to resolve the environmental crisis, based on the traditional Islamic values derived from the verses of the Koran

Bedside Diagnosis of the ‘Red Eye’: A Systematic Review

BackgroundIn patients with red eye, traditional teachings suggest that photophobia, visual blurring, and eye pain indicate serious eye disease; in patients with presumed conjunctivitis, the finding of purulent drainage traditionally indicates a bacterial cause. The accuracy of these teachings is unknown. MethodsA MEDLINE search was performed to retrieve articles published between 1966 and April 2014 relevant to the bedside diagnosis of serious eye disease and bacterial conjunctivitis. ResultsIn patients with red eye, the most useful findings indicating serious eye disease are anisocoria (with the smaller pupil in the red eye and difference between pupil diameters >1 mm; likelihood ratio [LR], 6.5; 95% confidence interval [CI], 2.6-16.3) and photophobia, elicited by direct illumination (LR, 8.3; 95% CI, 2.7-25.9), indirect illumination (LR, 28.8; 95% CI, 1.8-459), or near synkinesis test (“finger-to-nose convergence test,” LR, 21.4; 95% CI, 12-38.2). In patients with presumed conjunctivitis, complete redness of the conjunctival membrane obscuring tarsal vessels (LR, 4.6; 95% CI, 1.2-17.1), observed purulent discharge (LR, 3.9; 95% CI, 1.7-9.1), and matting of both eyes in the morning (LR, 3.6; 95% CI, 1.9-6.5) increase the probability of a bacterial cause; failure to observe a red eye at 20 feet (LR, 0.2; 95% CI, 0-0.8) and absence of morning gluing of either eye (LR, 0.3; 95% CI, 0.1-0.8) decrease the probability of a bacterial cause. ConclusionsSeveral bedside findings accurately distinguish serious from benign eye disease in patients with red eye and, in patients with presumed conjunctivitis, distinguish bacterial from viral or allergic causes.

The Mid-Tang Scholar-Monk Shenqing and His Beishan lu

This article investigates the thought of the mid-Tang scholar monk Shenqing through an examination of his Beishan lu. In this work, Shenqing launched a fervent attack against Southern Chan, while pressing for the harmonization of the Three Teachings. His critique of Southern Chan reflects his Theravadin tendency, as he expressed negative views about Southern Chan's violation of traditional Buddhist teachings. He specifically attacked its de-emphasis on the vinaya, and the fabrication of the 28-Patriarchs theory of transmission. In an effort to establish the orthodoxy of Southern Chan in early Northern Song, Chan clerics found it necessary to respond to Shenqing's critique, as clearly reflected in the writings of the monk Qisong. Beishan lu is a valuable source for a study of Shenqing's thought, and the unfolding of the harmonization of the Three Teachings. It also allows us to trace the historical unfolding of the Southern Chan movement from a different perspective.

Neuroscience of aphasia recovery: the concept of neural multifunctionality.

Aphasia therapy, while demonstrably successful, has been limited by its primary focus on language, with relatively less attention paid to nonlinguistic factors (cognitive, affective, praxic) that play a major role in recovery from aphasia. Neuroscientific studies of the past 15-20years have opened a breach in the wall of traditional clinico-anatomical teachings on aphasia. It is not an exaggeration to talk of a paradigm shift. The term "neural multifunctionality" denotes a complex web of neural networks supporting both linguistic and nonlinguistic functions in constant and dynamic interaction, creating language as we know it and contributing to recovery from aphasia following brain damage. This paper reviews scientific underpinnings of neural multifunctionality and suggests ways in which this new approach to understanding the neural basis of language can lead to meaningful, practical steps for improvements in aphasia therapy.

Surviving, healing and moving forward: Journeys towards resilience among Canadian Cree adults.

Canadian First Nations (FN) people have experienced and continue to experience significant adversities, yet many demonstrate aspects of resilience. The aim of this qualitative study was to specifically understand Cree adults' meanings and mechanisms of resilience following maltreatment. Ten Cree adults were interviewed individually. Modified grounded theory was used to interpret the transcribed interviews. Participants discussed resilience as a journey of 'survival' and 'overcoming' and pathways to healing that were multifactorial and included traditional teachings. Mental health providers should consider and incorporate these mechanisms into treatment for Cree people, when appropriate, to aid recovery.