Buddhism in the West. Buddhism in the West broadly encompasses the knowledge and practice of Buddhism outside of Asia. Occasional intersections between Western civilization and the Buddhist world have been occurring for thousands of years. With the rise of European colonization of Buddhist countries in Asia during the 19th century detailed knowledge of Buddhism became available to large numbers of people in the West, as a result of accompanying scholarly endeavours. Hellenistic world[edit] Ancient history[edit] The Western and Buddhist worlds have occasionally intersected since the distant past. The Mauryan Emperor Aśoka (273–232 BCE) converted to Buddhism after his bloody conquest of the territory of Kalinga (modern Orissa) in eastern India during the Kalinga War.
Perhaps the finest example of these is the Great Stupa of Sanchi in India. The Maurya Empire under Emperor Aśoka was the world's first major Buddhist state. This period marks the first spread of Buddhism beyond India to other countries. 1950s[edit] Gospel of Thomas. The Coptic-Language text, the second of seven contained in what modern-day scholars have designated as Codex II, is composed of 114 sayings attributed to Jesus.[2] Almost half of these sayings resemble those found in the Canonical Gospels, while it is speculated that the other sayings were added from Gnostic tradition.[3] Its place of origin may have been Syria, where Thomasine traditions were strong.[4] The introduction states: "These are the hidden words that the living Jesus spoke and Didymos Judas Thomas wrote them down.
"[5] Didymus (Greek) and Thomas (Aramaic) both mean "twin". Some critical scholars suspect that this reference to the Apostle Thomas is false, and that therefore the true author is unknown.[6] The Gospel of Thomas is very different in tone and structure from other New Testament apocrypha and the four Canonical Gospels. Bishop Eusebius included it among a group of books that he believed to be not only spurious, but "the fictions of heretics".[13] P. P. Attestation[edit] Obama's Theologian: David Brooks and E.J. Dionne on Reinhold Niebuhr and the American Present [Speaking of Faith® from American Public Media] Bön. Door in Tibet with Bon religious symbolism. Definitions of Bon[edit] The scholarly history of Bon is difficult to clearly ascertain because the earliest surviving documents referring to the religion come from the 9th and 10th centuries, well after Buddhists began the suppression of indigenous beliefs and practices.[3] Moreover, historian Per Kværne[3] notes that "Bon" is used to describe three distinct traditions: the pre-Buddhist religious practices of Tibetans and Tibetic peoples of Nepal that are "imperfectly reconstructed [yet] essentially different from Buddhism" and were focused on the personage of a divine king;a syncretic religion that arose in Tibet and Nepal during the 10th and 11th centuries, with strong shamanistic and animistic traditions.
This shamanic indigenous religion is not Buddhism, but is sometimes regarded by scholars as a substrate form of Buddhism.a set of popular beliefs in which local shamans try to heal people using ideas sometimes ascribed to Bon. History[edit] Chochma - Sefirot. Lojong. Lojong (Tib. བློ་སྦྱོང་,Wylie: blo sbyong) is a mind training practice in the Tibetan Buddhist tradition based on a set of aphorisms formulated in Tibet in the 12th century by Geshe Chekhawa.
The practice involves refining and purifying one's motivations and attitudes. The fifty-nine or so slogans that form the root text of the mind training practice are designed as a set of antidotes to undesired mental habits that cause suffering. They contain both methods to expand one's viewpoint towards absolute bodhicitta, such as "Find the consciousness you had before you were born" and "Treat everything you perceive as a dream", and methods for relating to the world in a more constructive way with relative bodhicitta, such as "Be grateful to everyone" and "When everything goes wrong, treat disaster as a way to wake up.
" History of the practice[edit] Atiśa journeyed to Sumatra and studied with Dharmarakṣita for twelve years. Geshe Chekhawa is claimed to have cured leprosy with mind training. 1. 2.