Mémoire numérisé par la Division de la gestion de documents et des archives de l'Université de Montréal

As part of the Phenomenological Method used in this dissertation, the research work applied the hermeneutical concepts of bhakti, karma and moksha. Focus was on the role played by the guru, the sadhus and devotees of the Swaminarayan Movement and how they related t~ their religious, ethical and social obligations. Their responses to ethical scriptures were evaluated, especially with a view to determining the extent to which ethical injunctions permeates, enhances, uplifts and shapes the adherents spiritually ,morally and socially. Swaminarayan ethics was also placed within the context of Classical Hindu Texts and in particular, the work of Ramanuja and his Vishistadvaita philosophy. Further, it has been observed that the quest for the Ultimate Reality (Purushottam) is through their relationship with Akshar, Guru Pramukh Swami, the model of ethical excellence whose charisma binds the fibre of the Movement and his role serves both the ethical and transcendental plane of the Movement. / Religious Studies and Arabic / MA (Religious Studies)

The Bhagavad Gītā, a classical Sanskrit text, describes a spiritual practice called karma yoga. Central to this practice is niṣkāma karman or action without desire. A number of philosophical issues present themselves in connection with this teaching. First, while the Gītā enjoins action, action seems prima facie problematic in the Gītā in light of metaphysical claims that seem to deny human freedom. Second, Western scholars who hold that desire is necessary for action find the Gītā's desirelessness requirement problematic. Finally, while the sense of karma yoga seems clear enough, the teaching is connected with two notions that are obscure: transcendence of the guṇa-s and surrender of action to Krishna. This dissertation explores and seeks solutions to these problems. Chapter 1 provides an introduction to the Gītā's philosophy and selected classical Indian commentaries. Chapter 2 tackles the assumption by some scholars that the Gītā shares tenets of the determinist metaphysics of classical Sāṃkhya. This assumption is shown false and the argument made that the Gītā, as a yogic text, implies voluntarism. Chapter 2 offers an analysis of the Gītā's concept of guṇa (literally 'strand'), and argues that the puruṣa, or self, which is called a 'consenter' exercises agency in consenting. Chapter 3 addresses the worry that niṣkāma karman, or desireless action, is a contradictory notion because desire is necessary for action. Based on examination of the Gītā's theory of action, it is shown that the Gītā does not hold desire necessary for action and that in fact the text articulates four distinct types of niṣkaāma karman. Chapter 4 explores the concepts of transcendence of the guṇa-s and surrender of action to Krishna and develops a definition of karma yoga involving these concepts. The chapter concludes with an argument that karma yoga requires creativity. The dissertation closes with the suggestion that through karma yoga a practitioner might come to enjoy an extraordinary sort of freedom that surpasses the ability to exercise will. / text

The Tibetan Book of the Dead and the Jewish Tractate Mourning are important texts about death in their respective traditions. The Tibetan Book of the Dead is a manual read by the living to the deceased as the deceased journeys through the many realms of the after-life. It is an abstract, philosophical text. The Tractate Mourning on the other hand, is a highly empirical and pragmatic text that guides the living through their loss. It is concerned only with the living left behind and offers no guidance to the deceased. Despite this profound difference however, this thesis has as its objective to show that both traditions, as evidenced through these texts, share an underlying emotion: compassion. Through the concern shown to the deceased as he or she stumbles through the often terrifying realms of the after-life in the Tibetan tradition, and through the precise and detailed instructions given to the living in the Jewish tradition as the mourners are guided through their grief, both texts exhibit profound compassion.

Thesis (Ph.D.)--University of Pennsylvania, 2002. / Adviser: Victor Mair. Includes bibliographical references.

The number of internet users is growing by the second and with an increase of internet users, there is also an increase of User-generated content. Web application that bases their buisness on User-generated content is often called by the name Collaborative Web Applications. There is a challenge for those types of applications to maintain high quality of content, since the amount of content that flows in is massive. Previous studies in the area propose that this challenge might be answered by a Web Reputation System. Previous studies has also proposed to divide Web Reputation System into various simple models. One of these models is karma, which is the focus in this report. Karma as a model aims to reward users who contribute content that is considered by other users as rewarding or entertaining. Through literature studies, guidelines on karmabased systems could not be found, which suggets that its has not previously been investigated. This made it a relevant problem for this report. The work has been carried out as a case study and used documents and a questionnaire to answer the research questions. Through data acquisition from both users of existing karma-based systems and a comparison of these existing system, it has resulted in a number of guidlines which are presented in this report. / Antalet internetanvändare ökar hela tiden och med en ökning av användare, tillkommer även en ökning av användargenererat innehåll. Webbapplikationer som baserar sig på användargenererat innehåll benämns som en ’Collaborative Web Application’ och det är en utmaning för dessa att bibehålla bra informationskvalité med tanke på mängden information som strömmar in. Tidigare studier inom området föreslår att ett ’Web Reputation System’ kan vara lösningen för att hantera detta. Tidigare studier har även valt att dela upp ’Web Reputation System’ i olika enkla modeller, där fokuset i denna studie har varit på karma. Karma syftar till att belöna användare som bidrar med innehåll som anses av användare som givande. Via litteraturstudier så kunde inte riktlinjer gällande karmabaserade system hittas, vilket föreslår att det inte tidigare har efterforskats. Detta gjorde att det blir ett relevant problem för detta arbete. Arbetet har genomförts som en fallstudie och använt sig av dokument och en enkätundersökning för att svara på frågeställningarna. Genom datainsamling både från användare av befintliga karma-baserade system och en jämförelse av befintliga karma-baserade system, så har det resulterat i ett antal riktlinjer som presenteras i detta arbete.

This Diploma Thesis introduces the basic concepts of reputation and trust, reputation systems and problems of multi-contextual models of reputation. It also describes practical aspects of multi-contextual models in web environment. Described contextual models are then used for design and implementation of real web application.

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Within recent Japanese Buddhist scholarship there is a debate over the interpretation of Karmic causality evidenced in the 75 and 12 fascicle editions of Dogen's Shobogenzo, one salient example being that found in the daishugyo and shinjin inga fascicles on the fox koan from the mumonkon. At issue is whether a Buddhist of great cultivation transcends karmic causality, with the earlier daishugyo promoting a balanced perspective of both "not falling into" and "not obscuring" causality, while shinjin inga instead strongly favors the latter over the former. Traditionalists interpret the apparent reversal in shinjin inga as an introductory simplification to aid novices, while some Critical Buddhists see Dogen as instead returning to the orthodox truth of universal causality. I argue that Dogen philosophically favored the view found in daishugyo, but moved away from it in his later teachings due to misinterpretations made by both senior and novice monks alike. / Religion