<p>As its central purpose, the thesis outlines the Buddhist conception of human omniscience as developed by the philosophers of later Vijnanavada Buddhism, i.e., DharmakIrti, Prajnakaragupta Santarakita and Kamalasila. It attempts to show how those philosophers dialectically established the possibility of human omniscience and the omniscience of the Buddha. The concept of human omniscience was introduced into Indian philosophy because of the religious controversies between Heterodox (Nastika) schools, such as Jainism and Buddhism, and Orthodox (Astika) schools, especially Nyaya-Vaiseika, Sankhya-Yoga, Mimamsa and Vedanta. The Mimamsakas began the argument with claims for the omniscience of the Vedas; the Naiyayikas followed with the attribution of omniscience to God. When the Buddhists, in turn, maintained the omniscience of the Buddha, the Mimamsakas raised objections to the concept of human omniscience, the omniscience of the Buddha, of God, and of any human religious teacher. In order to refute these objections and to assert once again the superiority of the Buddha and his teachings of Dharma, the later Buddhist philosophers sought to dialectically established the concept of human omniscience. The Buddhist argument was the product of constant interaction and debate with other Indian religious and philosophical schools, and it is clear that omniscience was and continues to be one of the pivotal topics for all schools of Indian philosophy. The Buddhists have used logical arguments to support the concept of human omniscience. They have established the omniscience of the Buddha using the logical methods of presumption and inference. They have provided the answers from the Buddhist point of view to the Mimamsakas' objections against the concepts of human omniscience and the omniscience of the Buddha. The Buddhists maintain that an omniscient person perceives all objects of the world simultaneously in a single cognitive moment. They have also argued that only an omniscient person can teach Dharma. The aim of the Buddhists was to prove the superiority of Buddhism among all religions, because it is based on the teachings of an omniscient being. In brief, this thesis outlines the development of the concept of omniscience, which the Buddhists hold to be the necessary and sufficient condition for perception of supersensuous truths such as Dhatma.</p> / Doctor of Philosophy (PhD)

<p>Yung-ming Yen-shou (904-975) was a Buddhist monk who lived in a period of broad changes in Chinese society and Buddhism. He played a leading role in the restoration of Buddhism in the Wu Yüeh kingdom, and left a large body of writings. One of his best known works, the Wan-shan t'ung-kuei chi, has long been cherished by the tradition for its advocacy of harmony between Ch'an meditation and Pure Land practice. The dissertation questions the association of Yen-shou and his Treatise on the Common End of Myriad Good Deeds with the motives of the Pure land school from two points of view. In the history of the numerous biographies of Yen-shou, the association of his image with the Pure Land movement is relatively late. An investigation of the Wanshan t'ung-kuei chi demonstrates that the synthesis of Ch'an meditation and Pure Land practice is a topic of discussion, but is by no means the central concern of the text from either a theoretical or pracical standpoint. The dissertation contends that Yen-shou's Ch'an-Pure Land synthesis should be understood within the context of the Wan-shan t'ung-kuei chi as a whole. A translation of elect passages of the Wan-shan t'ung-kuei chi are included by way of confirming the reassessment put forward in the dissertation.</p> / Doctor of Philosophy (PhD)

The Sanskrit prātimokṣa-sūtras contained in the Gilgit Buddhist manuscripts have been identified as belonging to the Mūlasarvāstivāda school. However, the identification of these manuscripts as Mūlasarvāstivādin texts is problematic. A key factor for determining the school affiliation of a prātimokṣa is the rule order. The Gilgit prātimokṣa-sūtras, however, differ in their rule order. In this thesis, I explore the relationship of these Gilgit prātimokṣa-sūtras to Mūlasarvāstivādin literature. In order to do so, I have conducted a comparative analysis of the Gilgit prātimokṣa-sūtras focusing on differences in rule order in Gilgit Serials 2, 3a, and 4b/4c. I have also compared the rule order contained within the Gilgit prātimokṣa-sūtras to known Mūlasarvāstivādin commentaries. I argue that we have evidence for two distinct Mūlasarvāstivādin Vinaya traditions within the Gilgit prātimokṣa-sūtras. The author(s)/redactor(s) of Gilgit prātimokṣa-sūtras 2 and 3a were aware of a tradition similar, if not identical, to that known to the author(s)/redactor(s) of the Mūlasarvāstivādin prātimokṣa-sūtra contained in the Tibetan canon. Serial 4b/4c contains a different Mūlasarvāstivādin Vinaya tradition, one that has close parallels to Mūlasarvāstivādin commentaries. The Gilgit prātimokṣa-sūtras, therefore, contain Sanskrit evidence for multiple Mūlasarvāstivādin Vinaya traditions. / Master of Arts (MA)

In writing these following pages, I have carefully avoided criticism of any kind. In these pages, I have mentioned the main differences between the Hindu and Christian faiths. I have treated this subject of incarnation with due respect to both the religions. If the subject could be discussed on an evaluative basis, then there would be the possibility of coming to the conclusion that there is less truth and more truth in different religious faiths. The most important consideration will be the truth value. In the incarnation stories, man is restored by God’s creative act to his original state.

1984’s Operation Blue Star, an Indian Army maneuver to rid the Sikh Golden Temple of militants, shocked the world. Bullet holes riddled the temple’s façade in the operation’s aftermath, and the global Sikh community was outraged at the desecration of the site. How did the political conflict in Punjab escalate to this point? What were the factors behind the Sikh militant movement, and how did the militants rationalize their activities, considered by some as rampant terrorism? This thesis examines the circumstances surrounding the rise to arms of the Punjabi Sikh militants and the religious influences of their movement. Identifying how themes of the Sikh past, particularly those of communal identity, martyrdom, and martial tradition, were repurposed and employed by militant Sikhs to ground their violence in Sikh tradition and practice, the thesis finds that leaders of the movement, like Sant Bhindranwale, created rhetorical bridges to the Sikh past and embedded in the community a sense of participating in a greater, cosmic war. There exists a tendency among scholars to overlook the religious elements of the movement in order to assign political, economic or sociological roots to the conflict, but religion was a primary factor in the conflict, as demonstrated through the words and actions of the militants themselves. This research adopts a sociotheological approach to religious studies, drawing upon framework by Mark Juergensmeyer, Émile Durkheim and Pierre Bourdieu, among others, to frame the influence of the Sikh past on the militants’ own plane of reference.

This thesis analyzes the development of the Jingika book in the first seven Japanese waka anthologies (chokusenshū). Jingika are Japanese poems written on the gods of the heaven and the earth and illustrate man’s interactions with them through worship and prayer. They have characteristics in common with what modern scholars term the Shinto religion, and have been referenced as such in past scholarship. However, jingika are more accurately a product of the amalgamation of native kami cults and foreign Buddhist doctrine. Although the first independent Jingika book emerged in the seventh anthology (Senzaishū), poems which can be termed Jingika book predecessors exist as early as the first (Kokinshū). The second chapter of this thesis determines which of those early poems had the most influence over the development of an independent Jingika book. The last chapter provides a full original translation of the thirty-three poems of the first Jingika book and analyzes the intricacies of their arrangement introduced through new methods of association and progression by Fujiwara no Shunzei. The shrines that are mentioned in the poems also correspond to the development of a state religion centered on a small number of shrines designated as protectors of the state. In light of this, the arrangement of the poems in the Jingika book creates a metaphysical pilgrimage to the most important shrines at the dawn of the medieval period and asserts the emperor’s position as cultural center during a time of political turmoil.

This thesis examines the role of the cultural discourse on the indigenous religious traditions of China and their place within an officially sanctioned construction of Chinese culture. It starts by examining the concept of culture as it developed in the modern era, its place within the construction of national identities, and the marginalizing effects this has on certain members of national populations. Next it turns to the development of the cultural discourse within China from the mid-1800s to the Cultural Revolution, highlighting the social and legal transformations as they restricted and reframed the practice and articulation of religious traditions in mainland China. Following these early articulations of a cultural discourse in China and the subjugation of religious traditions to secular standards of legitimation, it examines the official presentations and governmentally sanctioned forms of the Daoist tradition in post-Mao China during a “cultural revival,” through an analysis of official publications and online presentations. Finally, it examines the way teachers and administrators package Chinese culture for a foreign audience through the Confucius Institute. This thesis argues that, despite greater freedom to explore indigenous traditions previously written off as “superstitious” within the cultural revival of contemporary China, the official cultural discourse in China continues to operate within the parameters of a modern cultural identity that marginalizes ritualistic forms of religion, allowing these religious forms to survive in an official space only as exotic images, sanitized and secularized activities, or ethical ideals.

This study discloses Shinto’s experiential and existential significance and aims to articulate Shinto’s sacred objective. It shows that Shinto, by way of experience, communicates being in the world with nature and with others as a sacred objective. This suggests that Shinto, in communicating its objective, appeals to the emotions more so than to the intellect; and that Shinto’s sacred objective does not transcend the natural world of both nature and everyday affairs. This study pursues this goal by showing the experiential and existential dimensions of the three primary features of Shinto: it shows how kami (or kami-ness) is thought of as an awe producing quality of being/s that are mostly associated with the natural world; how Shinto shrines’ aesthetics and atmosphere are thought to evoke a feeling of the natural world’s sacredness; and how festivals are thought to be ecstatic and effervescent occasions that regenerate an affirmation of being in the world with others. Though this study does not employ a strict methodological approach—insofar as the conclusions herein are based primarily on literature review—it was motivated by an existential outlook on the study of religion and assumes that the term “religion” refers primarily to an existential phenomenon that pertains not necessarily to socio-historical institutions but to a way of being in the world.

The purpose of this thesis is to explore Osiris’s role in the Book of the Dead[1] to unearth the ancient Egyptian connotation for the term death. This study contends that western scholars have debased the arcane expression of death to literal interpretation. The basic function of ancient Egyptian scripture was to instruct man’s soul into deity—in the earthly realm. This investigation suggests the ancient Egyptian priesthood instituted this esoteric philosophy in scripture to adumbrate this grand idea death, which was Bes—to be initiated. The third century A.D. witnessed the development of Christianity in northeast Africa and subsequent rise of the Western world, delivering the fatal blow to ancient theology sending the art of esotericism into obscurity for centuries. The discovery of the Rosetta Stone would help to reestablish portions of this lost science. Thus, this inquiry aims to restore the sublime philosophy to the Book of the Dead so that its purpose is properly understood. [1] The indigenous term for the Book of the Dead is prt m hrw or Book of Coming Forth by Day.

This paper examines the economic aspects of Buddhist monasteries in Chinese history in chronological order. The focus is on the problems related to land and taxes, which were crucial factors for the economic situation of monasteries and sensitive issues in the governing of every dynasty. By looking into the interaction among Buddhist monasteries, state/local government, great families and elites regarding land estates and tax policies in different time periods, the study reveals that despite the lasting criticisms that Buddhist monasteries were harmful to the economic wellbeing of society and effected the revenue of the state, monasteries in fact actively engaged in economic activities, and could be utilized by the state as a tool to centralize wealth from society, contributing to the state economy in its own way. The role of Buddhist monasteries was largely decided by their subject position in front of the state. The study shows that the prosperity of monastic economy was of different levels under the different social and political environment in each dynasty, but even in its most prosperous time, the scale of monasteries could be easily reduced by the state and their resources could be appropriated by government when it was considered necessary. Besides, the study also depicts the process of Buddhist monasteries gradually becoming taxed by the state, showing the general tendency that the Buddhist monastic economy was in the process of becoming more incorporated into or controlled by the state across time. / Master of Arts (MA)