About: Tibetan Buddhism Teachings and practices

Description
Metadata
Settings
- owl:sameAs
- Inference Rule:

About: Tibetan Buddhism Teachings and practices Sponge Permalink

An Entity of Type : owl:Thing, within Data Space : 134.155.108.49:8890 associated with source dataset(s)

In traditional Buddhist cosmology, the earth is flat, with the cosmic mountain Sumeru at its center. Sumeru is inhabited by gods, and surrounded by a complex of seas and mountain ranges which effectively function as walls and moats. Four continents extend in each of the cardinal directions, each with a different geometrical shape. For example, "we" live on the southern continent of Jambudvipa (Tib. Jambuling), which bears the shape of a southward-pointing triangle (reminiscent, perhaps, of the Indian subcontinent). While few people today believe in the literal truth of this cosmology, it is often used symbolically, for example in the form of mandalas.

Attributes	Values
rdfs:label	Tibetan Buddhism Teachings and practices
rdfs:comment	In traditional Buddhist cosmology, the earth is flat, with the cosmic mountain Sumeru at its center. Sumeru is inhabited by gods, and surrounded by a complex of seas and mountain ranges which effectively function as walls and moats. Four continents extend in each of the cardinal directions, each with a different geometrical shape. For example, "we" live on the southern continent of Jambudvipa (Tib. Jambuling), which bears the shape of a southward-pointing triangle (reminiscent, perhaps, of the Indian subcontinent). While few people today believe in the literal truth of this cosmology, it is often used symbolically, for example in the form of mandalas.
dcterms:subject	Tibetan Buddhism
dbkwik:religion/pr...iPageUsesTemplate	dbkwik:resource/hXRUJgKDZIjmiN8LwRRn6w== dbkwik:resource/9Gd48TllqH_lymhH6ca7zw== dbkwik:resource/LiVU572CwjiG6Um6BdlgvQ==
abstract	In traditional Buddhist cosmology, the earth is flat, with the cosmic mountain Sumeru at its center. Sumeru is inhabited by gods, and surrounded by a complex of seas and mountain ranges which effectively function as walls and moats. Four continents extend in each of the cardinal directions, each with a different geometrical shape. For example, "we" live on the southern continent of Jambudvipa (Tib. Jambuling), which bears the shape of a southward-pointing triangle (reminiscent, perhaps, of the Indian subcontinent). While few people today believe in the literal truth of this cosmology, it is often used symbolically, for example in the form of mandalas. The visible, physical world, exists alongside a number of other realms (dhatu), which are conceived as stacked planes. Many of them correspond to states of meditative concentration. In general, realms are less physical locations than experiences shared by those with the karma to be reborn there. In addition to this "vertical" (chakravada) cosmology, there is a "horizontal" (sahasra, "thousand") one which describes groups of a thousand, million, or billion world-systems. Similarly vast units of time are used for time, which is measured in various types of kalpa (see Hindu units of measurement). Time is cyclical, and alternates among four yugas (eons) in which goodness steadily degenerates. We are living in the worst of these, the kaliyuga; but like the alternation of the seasons, this will one day be replaced by the satyayuga or Golden Age. Time, and the world, are also beginningless and endless—there is no creation myth of the type found in other religions. The six realms describe several types of possible rebirth (which however do not correspond exactly to the realms described above): Hell-beings, pretas (ghosts), animals, humans, asuras (warring gods), and devas (peaceful gods). The goal of Buddhist practice is to escape rebirth altogether. This does not entail abandoning the human world, however. The Pure Land in which an enlightened being dwells is closely related to his or her sambhogakaya ("enjoyment body"), and may appear even on earth.

OpenLink Virtuoso version 07.20.3217, on Linux (x86_64-pc-linux-gnu), Standard Edition
Data on this page belongs to its respective rights holders.
Virtuoso Faceted Browser Copyright © 2009-2012 OpenLink Software