DOCSLIB.ORG

Downloaded from Brill.Com09/25/2021 02:47:34PM Via Free Access MANUSYA: Journal of Humanities Regular 19.2, 2016

Total Page：16

File Type：pdf, Size：1020Kb

Download full-text PDF Read full-text
Downloaded from Brill.Com09/25/2021 02:47:34PM Via Free Access MANUSYA: Journal of Humanities Regular 19.2, 2016 BUDDHISM IN ITALY IN เอกสารที่อางอิงบางชิ้นในบทความนี้ไมเคยตีพิมพ THE NINETEENTH มากอน หรือเปนเอกสารหายากจากหอจดหมายเหตุ 1 CENTURY ในประเทศอิตาลี Paolo Euron2 Abstract บทคัดยอ First reports on Buddhism arrived in Italy in the sixteenth century through Italian Catholic missionaries. Later several รายงานเกี่ยวกับพุทธศาสนามาถึงประเทศอิตาลีเปน scholars developed a philological and ครั้งแรกในราวคริสตวรรษที่สิบหก ผานทางคณะ philosophical understanding of it. The attitude toward Buddhism changed from มิชชันนารีของอิตาลี ในเวลาตอมานักวิชาการได an anthropological interest to a พัฒนาความเขาใจดานภาษาและปรัชญาเกี่ยวกับ philological study. In the academic field of philology the Theravāda tradition and the พุทธศาสนา ทาทีตอพุทธศาสนาไดเปลี่ยนจากความ Siamese edition of Tripitaka had great สนใจดานมานุษยวิทยา มาเปนการศึกษาดานภาษา importance. The spread of Buddhism in Italy in the nineteenth century also ในการศึกษาดานนิรุกติศาสตร ประเพณีของเถรวาท increasingly influenced Italian culture and และพระไตรปฎกฉบับของสยามมีความสําคัญมาก ideas. Outside of academic debate Buddhism became a subject of apologetics การแพรกระจายของพุทธศาสนาในอิตาลีใน and philosophy as well as a topic of คริสตศตวรรษที่สิบเกา ก็ไดรับอิทธิจากวัฒนธรรม general interest. This essay is based on books and printed material published in และแนวคิดตางๆของอิตาลีดวย ในบรรดาผูที่อยู Italy before the twentieth century. It นอกวงการวิชาการ พุทธศาสนาไดกลายเปนหัวขอ contains the complete bibliography of Italian studies on Buddhism in the ของการพยายามแกตาง และของวิชาปรัชญา รวม nineteenth century. Some texts cited in this ไปถึงหัวขอที่คนทั่วไปสนใจ บทความอาศัย essay are unpublished or rare documents หนังสือและเอกสารสิ่งพิมพที่ตีพิมพในประเทศ from Italian archives. อิตาลีเกี่ยวกับพุทธศาสนาในคริสตศตวรรษที่สิบเกา Introduction The first accounts of Buddhism in Italy 1 (พระพุทธศาสนาในอิตาลีในคริสตวรรษที่สิบเกา) This essay arrived through the memories and writings has been written with the support of the Faculty of of Italian Catholic missionaries coming Arts, Chulalongkorn University, Bangkok. back from the Far East in the sixteenth 2 (เปาโล ยูรอน) Ph. D., Lecturer, Department of century. These descriptions of another Western Languages, Faculty of Arts, philosophical and religious tradition, so Chulalongkorn University, Bangkok, Thailand. different from the Classical culture of Downloaded from Brill.com09/25/2021 02:47:34PM via free access MANUSYA: Journal of Humanities Regular 19.2, 2016 Europe, conjure up an idea of Buddhism and scientific attitude to Buddhism (1985: which is vague and imprecise, as well as 175). fascinating. In this essay the description of the Interestingly, a century later, many evolution of Italian Buddhist studies is not authors still show a certain superficiality strictly chronological and we will take into in dealing with the subject. “Interest in account the most significant authors and Buddhist studies in Italy, so flourishing in their works. Nevertheless, since we are other European lands, has started very researching in a delimited chronological late” (Botto 1997: 101). The slow spread frame, we will consider above all the first of Buddhism in the nineteenth century and second phases and only some shows two different effects on Italian examples of critical consciousness and culture. On one side, we can state an adequate method, for instance Pavolini’s enthusiastic appreciation of Buddhism; on excellent book Buddismo (1898). In other the other side Buddhism is considered a words, we will consider the period of threat with some authors attempting to uncritical enthusiasm for Buddhism and show its limits and inferiority to the the open criticism against it and, after that, Christian religion. On the other hand the origins of a correct philosophical and several distinguished scholars develop an accurate philological method in Italian adequate understanding of Buddhism, Buddhist studies. opening a field of study from a philosophically and philologically correct First reports on Buddhism perspective. Since the beginning of the seventeenth Oscar Botto, in his essay Appunti per una century, reports of travelers and storia degli studi Buddhisti in Italia (Notes missionaries stoked an interest in the on the History of Buddhist Studies in “East” and in Asian philosophical and Italy), writes that there are three different religious traditions. As a consequence of phases in the Italian history of Buddhist that, some Western thinkers viewed studies: first of all, there is a phase of Buddhism in its peculiarity. From almost uncritical acceptance of documents Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz (1646-1716) to on Buddhism from different sources, Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803-1882), from considered without the right background Henry David Thoreau (1817-1862) to and without adequate philosophical and Arthur Schopenhauer (1788-1860) philological tools. Then there is a middle Buddhism was considered as a theoretical phase, in which we can appreciate a system and as a new intellectual development of critical skills along with perspective, which was often unclear and the refinement of a philosophical and confused with Hinduism. Nevertheless, in philological consciousness of the subject. many Western authors it appeared to be a This awareness leads to the third period, in consistent belief. In 1844, the French which there is a fully developed critical scholar Eugène Burnouf (1801-1852) proposed a systematic and influential 72 Downloaded from Brill.com09/25/2021 02:47:34PM via free access Buddhism in Italy in the Nineteenth Century interpretation of Buddhism, and soon after, Italian missionaries. Actually missionaries in France, Germany and England, were the only Italians interested in the Buddhism was considered as a speculative religious and philosophical aspects of fact rather than as a religious practice. We Asian cultures. De Gubernatis writes in his have to consider that the first contact with Matériaux pour servir à l’Histoire des Buddhism occurred through written texts Etudes Orientales en Italie [Materials to separated from the cultural background use for the History of Oriental Studies in and real experience of it. (see Filoramo Italy] 2007: 377) Il est hors de doute qu’il revient What happened in Germany, England, the aux missionaries italiens le mérite United States and France did not happen in d’avoir les premiers apporté en Italy. At the beginning of the eighteenth Europe une notice de la region century, there is in Italy no cultural asiatique la plus impenetrable. interest in or curiosity about Buddhism. […] Il est surtout à regretter que Though the first travelers to India and the cette etude soit resté en Italie le Far East were Italian, they brought back to privilège des missionaires, qui Italy above all geographical descriptions, n’avaient certainement aucun historical reports and commercial notes. In intérêt à nous donner une idée 1867 Angelo de Gubernatis describes the exacte du bouddhisme. (1876: contribution of Italian travelers to the 367, 376) knowledge of the Far East in his book Memoria intorno ai viaggiatori italiani [No doubt that Italian missionaries nelle Indie Orientali (Memoire about have the merit to be the first to Italian travelers to East India). From bring to Europe news from an Marco Polo to the sixteenth century Asian region among the most travelers reported unsystematically on impenetrable. (…) It is a pity that geography, history and commerce. There in Italy such a study remained the is little information about language. Facts privilege of missionaries, who about culture and religion are very general definitely had no interest in giving and poor. In his book Milione Marco Polo us a precise idea of Buddhism.] uses the very generic expression “they worship idols” in order to describe the In 1876, Carlo Puini announced the religious practices of many different non- recovery of an ancient report written by Muslim peoples. The Italian travelers the Jesuit missionary Ippolito Desideri notice rather the extravagance of these (1684-1739) who went to Tibet in 1713. In religious practices and show little interest this book, Di una relazione inedita del in the rest. (See de Gubernatis 1867b: viaggio al Tibet del padre Desideri 137). (Unpublished Report of Father Desideri’s Travel to Tibet) Father Desideri declares The first Italian scholars of Oriental that he travelled to Tibet in order to bring studies considered the contribution of the Catholic religion. There he meets 73 Downloaded from Brill.com09/25/2021 02:47:34PM via free access MANUSYA: Journal of Humanities Regular 19.2, 2016 Buddhist monks; he is touched by the metempsychosis in the Buddhist system, kindness and tolerance of the people in but his work is an external, almost Lhasa, where he can study the Tibetan anthropological description of rites, beliefs “Kaa-n-ghiur” which living in a Buddhist and customs. temple “where the monks transformed a room into a Catholic chapel” (Puini 1876: It is worth remembering that Italian 37). Desideri is able to study the Buddhist scholars in the eighteenth century, thanks religion and to read the original texts, but to the influence of European translations his aim is to fight Buddhism and to show and studies (rather than because of its supposed errors. Desideri is the first Desideri’s report), consider the Tibetan European scholar of Tibetan Buddhism, canon as the first and most important but he fails to undertake a scientific and source of Buddhism, along with Chinese philological study. His only interest is an translations. The publishing of the apologetic one. He does not offer
Load more

Recommended publications
  • Materials of Buddhist Culture: Aesthetics and Cosmopolitanism at Mindroling Monastery
    Materials of Buddhist Culture: Aesthetics and Cosmopolitanism at Mindroling Monastery Dominique Townsend Submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy in the Graduate School of Arts and Sciences COLUMBIA UNIVERSITY 2012 © 2012 Dominique Townsend All rights reserved ABSTRACT Materials of Buddhist Culture: Aesthetics and Cosmopolitanism at Mindroling Monastery Dominique Townsend This dissertation investigates the relationships between Buddhism and culture as exemplified at Mindroling Monastery. Focusing on the late seventeenth and early eighteenth centuries, I argue that Mindroling was a seminal religio-cultural institution that played a key role in cultivating the ruling elite class during a critical moment of Tibet’s history. This analysis demonstrates that the connections between Buddhism and high culture have been salient throughout the history of Buddhism, rendering the project relevant to a broad range of fields within Asian Studies and the Study of Religion. As the first extensive Western-language study of Mindroling, this project employs an interdisciplinary methodology combining historical, sociological, cultural and religious studies, and makes use of diverse Tibetan sources. Mindroling was founded in 1676 with ties to Tibet’s nobility and the Fifth Dalai Lama’s newly centralized government. It was a center for elite education until the twentieth century, and in this regard it was comparable to a Western university where young members of the nobility spent two to four years training in the arts and sciences and being shaped for positions of authority. This comparison serves to highlight commonalities between distant and familiar educational models and undercuts the tendency to diminish Tibetan culture to an exoticized imagining of Buddhism as a purely ascetic, world renouncing tradition.
    [Show full text]
  • The La Trobe Journal No. 91 June 2013 Endnotes Notes On
    Endnotes NB: ‘Scollay’ refers to Susan Scollay, ed., Love and Devotion: from Persia and beyond, Melbourne: Macmillan Art Publishing in association with the State Library of Victoria and the Bodleian Library, 2012; reprinted with new covers, Oxford: The Bodleian Library, 2012. Melville, The ‘Arts of the Book’ and the Diffusion of Persian Culture 1 This article is a revised version of the text of the ‘Keynote’ lecture delivered in Melbourne on 12 April 2012 to mark the opening of the conference Love and Devotion: Persian cultural crossroads. It is obviously not possible to reproduce the high level of illustrations that accompanied the lecture; instead I have supplied references to where most of them can be seen. I would like to take this opportunity to thank all those at the State Library of Victoria who worked so hard to make the conference such a success, and for their warmth and hospitality that made our visit to Melbourne an unrivalled pleasure. A particular thanks to Shane Carmody, Robert Heather and Anna Welch. 2 The exhibition Love and Devotion: from Persia and beyond was held in Melbourne from 9 March to 1 July 2012 with a second showing in Oxford from 29 November 2012 to 28 April 2013. It was on display at Oxford at the time of writing. 3 Scollay. 4 For a recent survey of the issues at stake, see Abbas Amanat and Farzin Vejdani, eds., Iran Facing Others: identity boundaries in a historical perspective, New York: Palgrave Macmillan, 2012; the series of lectures on the Idea of Iran, supported by the Soudavar Memorial Foundation, has now spawned five volumes, edited by Vesta Sarkhosh Curtis and Sarah Stewart, vols.
    [Show full text]
  • Out of the Shadows: Socially Engaged Buddhist Women
    University of San Diego Digital USD Theology and Religious Studies: Faculty Scholarship Department of Theology and Religious Studies 2019 Out of the Shadows: Socially Engaged Buddhist Women Karma Lekshe Tsomo PhD University of San Diego, [email protected] Follow this and additional works at: https://digital.sandiego.edu/thrs-faculty Part of the Buddhist Studies Commons, and the Religious Thought, Theology and Philosophy of Religion Commons Digital USD Citation Tsomo, Karma Lekshe PhD, "Out of the Shadows: Socially Engaged Buddhist Women" (2019). Theology and Religious Studies: Faculty Scholarship. 25. https://digital.sandiego.edu/thrs-faculty/25 This Book is brought to you for free and open access by the Department of Theology and Religious Studies at Digital USD. It has been accepted for inclusion in Theology and Religious Studies: Faculty Scholarship by an authorized administrator of Digital USD. For more information, please contact [email protected]. Section Titles Placed Here | I Out of the Shadows Socially Engaged Buddhist Women Edited by Karma Lekshe Tsomo SAKYADHITA | HONOLULU First Edition: Sri Satguru Publications 2006 Second Edition: Sakyadhita 2019 Copyright © 2019 Karma Lekshe Tsomo All rights reserved No part of this book may not be reproduced or utilized in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, or by any information storage or retreival system, without the prior written permission from the publisher, except in the case of brief quotations. Cover design Copyright © 2006 Allen Wynar Sakyadhita Conference Poster
    [Show full text]
  • A Buddhist Inspiration for a Contemporary Psychotherapy
    1 A BUDDHIST INSPIRATION FOR A CONTEMPORARY PSYCHOTHERAPY Gay Watson Thesis presented for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy at the School of Oriental & African Studies, University of London. 1996 ProQuest Number: 10731695 All rights reserved INFORMATION TO ALL USERS The quality of this reproduction is dependent upon the quality of the copy submitted. In the unlikely event that the author did not send a com plete manuscript and there are missing pages, these will be noted. Also, if material had to be removed, a note will indicate the deletion. uest ProQuest 10731695 Published by ProQuest LLC(2017). Copyright of the Dissertation is held by the Author. All rights reserved. This work is protected against unauthorized copying under Title 17, United States C ode Microform Edition © ProQuest LLC. ProQuest LLC. 789 East Eisenhower Parkway P.O. Box 1346 Ann Arbor, Ml 48106- 1346 ABSTRACT It is almost exactly one hundred years since the popular and not merely academic dissemination of Buddhism in the West began. During this time a dialogue has grown up between Buddhism and the Western discipline of psychotherapy. It is the contention of this work that Buddhist philosophy and praxis have much to offer a contemporary psychotherapy. Firstly, in general, for its long history of the experiential exploration of mind and for the practices of cultivation based thereon, and secondly, more specifically, for the relevance and resonance of specific Buddhist doctrines to contemporary problematics. Thus, this work attempts, on the basis of a three-way conversation between Buddhism, psychotherapy and various themes from contemporary discourse, to suggest a psychotherapy that may be helpful and relevant to the current horizons of thought and contemporary psychopathologies which are substantially different from those prevalent at the time of psychotherapy's early years.
    [Show full text]
  • Biblioteca Digitale - 2012 — 10 —
    SOCI ONORARI Boselli S. E. Paolo, Cavaliere dell’ Ordine Supremo della SS. A nnunziala; D eputato al Parlamento Nazionale; Primo Segretario di S. M. per l’Ordine Mauriziauo e Cancelliere dell Ordino della Corona d'Italia; già Professore nella E. Università di Roma ; Professore Onorario della R, Università di Bologna ; Dottore aggregato alla Facoltà di Giurisprudenza della R. Università di Genova; Presidente del Consiglio di amministrazione del R. Politecnico di 1 orino, del R. Istituto Storico Italiano, del Consiglio e della Giunta degli Archivi di Stato, del Comitato Nazionale per la Storia del Risorgimento, della Società Nazionale « Dante Alighieri », del Consiglio Superiore della Marina Mercantile, del Consiglio Provinciale di To­ rino, della Società di Storia Patria di Savona, della Società di Archeologia e Belle Arti per la Provincia di Torino, Onorario della Società di Storia Patria degli Abruzzi in Aquila ; Vice Presidente del Consorzio Nazionale Italiano ; Socio nazionale delle Regie Accademie dei Lincei, delle Scienze di Torino e della Crusca: Socio Onorario dell’ Accademia di Massa e dell’ Accademia Cosentina ; Socio ordinario della R. Accademia di Agricoltura di Torino ; Socio corrispondente dell’Accademia dei Georgofili, della R. Deputazione di Storia P atria della Toscana, della R. Accademia delle Scienze di Bologna, del R. Istituto V eneto di Scienze, Lettere ed Arti, della R. Accademia di Scienze e Lettere di Modena, dell’ Ateneo Bresciano, dell’ Accademia Dafnica di Acireale ; Gran Cordone degli Ordini dei Ss. M aurizio e Lazzaro e della Corona d’ Italia, della Legion d’ Onore di Francia, del Sole Levante del Giappone ; Grand’ Ufficiale dell’ Ordine di Leopoldo del Belgio ; ecc.
    [Show full text]
  • Soka Gakkai in Italy: Success and Controversies
    $ The Journal of CESNUR $ Soka Gakkai in Italy: Success and Controversies Massimo Introvigne CESNUR (Center for Studies on New Religions) [email protected] ABSTRACT: Italy is the Western country with the highest percentage of Soka Gakkai members. This success needs to be explained. In its first part, the article discusses the history of Soka Gakkai in Italy, from the arrival of the first Japanese pioneers to the phenomenal expansion in the 21st century. It also mentions some internal problems, the relationship with the Italian authorities, and the opposition by disgruntled ex-members. In the second part, possible reasons for the success are examined through a comparison with another Japanese movement that managed to establish a presence in Italy (although a smaller one), Sûkyô Mahikari. Unlike Sûkyô Mahikari, Soka Gakkai proposed a humanistic form of religion presented as fully compatible with modern science, and succeeded in “de-Japanizing” its spiritual message, persuading Italian devotees that it was not “Japanese” but universal. KEYWORDS: Soka Gakkai, Soka Gakkai in Italy, Buddhism in Italy, Japanese religious movements, Japanese religious movements in Italy. Introduction Soka Gakkai is the fastest-growing Buddhist movement in the world. The history and reasons of this growth have been investigated in Japan (McLaughlin 2019), as well as in the United Kingdom (Wilson and Dobbelaere 1994; Dobbelaere 1995), Quebec (Metraux 1997), and the United States (Dator 1969; Hurst 1992; Snow 1993; Hammond and Machacek 1999; for early studies of Soka Gakkai, see also White 1970; Metraux 1988; Machacek and Wilson 2000; Seager 2006). Few, however, have discussed how important has been the growth of Soka Gakkai in Italy, a country where religious minorities are all comparatively small.
    [Show full text]
  • The Principles of Tibetan Medicine a Medical System Based on Compassion
    THE MIRROR The International Newspaper of the Dzog-chen Community Volume 1 Issue 11, September 1991 NAMKHA The principles of Tibetan medicine A medical system based on compassion Germany An introduction to Dzog-chen Namkha is a Tibetan word, which page 5 means space. This word is also used as the name of an object made of France sticks and coloured threads. InTibet, Three day Paris conference Namkhas have been used a great deal yet few people understand page 6 exactly how they work. Denmark In 1983, Namkhai Norbu Rinpoche clarified the ways that Namkhas can Yantra yoga group actually be used by a person to page 5 harmonise his or her energies. This involves a certain understanding of U.S.A. Tibetan astrology related to the New York individual. Once the astrological Kalacakra Initiation signs and aspects of an individual are understood, a Namkha can be The Medicine Buddha page 4 constructed and with the use of Tsegyalgar appropriate rituals, it can become a In the Mahay a na tradition, when we practise or study, from the start we look Lobpon Tenzin Namdak practical aid in making one's life at our motivation. If we do not have good motivation then we cultivate it in teaches in October more harmonious. order to benefit others. There is an explanation of the qualities that a doctor needs to have. If people do not have these qualities, then they need to cultivate page 5 page 14 them. page 9 Australia New Mexico Some views on death Remembering Dr. Lopsang Dolma page 13 A group of people in Santa Fe now The story of one of Tibet's famous women doctors New Zealand gather together regularly for group Teachings transmitted by practice and activities as the Dzog- Bom in the Kyirong district of West years in exile, she finally resumed bringing the unique system of radio in Auckland chen Community of New Mexico.
    [Show full text]
  • 'The Conceits of Poetry': Firdausi's Shahnama
    Mario Casari ‘The Conceits of Poetry’: Firdausi’s Shahnama and the discovery of Persian in early modern Europe The Muse of the Coming Age In one of his few meta-literary stories, written in 1861, the famous Danish fairy tale writer, Hans Christian Andersen, posed a question to the reader about the future of literature in the century to come. ‘The Muse of the Coming Age, whom our great grandchildren, or possibly a later generation still, but not ourselves, shall make acquaintance with, – how does she manifest herself ? What is her face and form? What is the burden of her song? Whose heart-strings shall she touch? To what summit shall she lift her century?’ Responding with the gaze of a Romantic writer, Anderson proposes a number of possible figures, at the crossroads of the poetic tradition and modern scientific prose. But what is certain to him is that the Muse ‘in the vast workshop of the present . is born, where steam exerts its sinews’; ‘The nurse has sung to her of Eivind Skalde-spiller and Firdusi, of the Minnesingers and what Heine, boyish-bold, sang from his very poet’s soul . ’. Thus, to Andersen, the Persian poet Firdausi was among the required body of knowledge for anyone who aimed at creating literature in the coming age; an age whose Muse was launched towards the future as a locomotive pushed by the force of steam. Andersen added, with emphasis and visionary passion: ‘Europe’s railways hedge old Asia’s fast- sealed culture-archives – the opposing streams of human culture meet! .
    [Show full text]
  • Due Studi Inediti Di Luigi Bonelli (1865-1947)
    DUE STUDI INEDITI DI LUIGI BONELLI (1865-1947) di Maria Petrelli “This book professes to be a translation from an italian work by Luigi Bonelli of Naples, but of such a work by this orientalist (if it exists at all) i have no knowledge”1 I due inediti qui presentati sono il frutto di una ricerca che ha avuto il suo avvio dalla lettura di un articolo, scritto ormai più di trent’anni or sono da Giacomo Carretto; questi, nel celebrare la nascita in Italia della turcologia come scienza posta su basi razionali e metodologicamente corrette, ricorda la figura di Luigi Bonelli, professore presso l’Istituto per l’Oriente di Napoli che, per primo, ha avuto il merito di dare lustro a questa branca scientifica. L’articolo tratteggia le qualità dello studioso, attivo tra l’ultimo scorcio del XIX ed il primo trentennio del XX secolo, l’amore profuso negli studi, l’indole schiva, la meticolosità e precisione dei lavori: qualità queste che inducono Carretto a definirlo “un orientalista-positivista che non amava le carte”, riferendosi alla sua produzione scientifica, quasi esclusivamente linguistico-grammaticale. Quasi però, giacché l’articolo accenna ad alcuni scritti di Bonelli, tra cui, di particolare importanza, un manoscritto sulla religione dei Babì di Persia, talmente interessante da aver a sua volta ispirato traduzioni in lingua persiana2. Questa ipotesi viene avanzata da Edward Granville Browne, il quale, nel 1918, indica proprio il lavoro di Luigi Bonelli quale testo esemplificativo della dottrina religiosa nata in Persia a metà dell’800. Lo studioso inglese si rammarica però di non aver avuto modo di leggere il testo in questione, di cui si sono perse le tracce.
    [Show full text]
  • Lumbini Journal 13.Pmd
    LumbiniLumbiniLumbini J OURNAL O F T HE L UMBINI N EPALESE B UDDHA D HARMA S OCIETY (UK) Volume 16 B. E. 2557 May 2013 The vajra is used symbolically in Buddhism often to represent firmness of spiritual power. Lumbini Nepalese Buddha Dharma Society (UK) uddha was born more than 2600 years ago at Lumbini in Nepal. His teachings of existence of suffering and Lumbini the way out of the suffering are applicable today as they were B Journal of The Lumbini Nepalese Buddha Dharma Society (UK) applicable then. The middle way he preached is more appropriate now than ever before. Lumbini is the journal of LNBDS (UK) and published annually For centuries Buddhism remained the religion of the East. Recently, depending upon funds and written material; and distributed free more and more Westerners are learning about it and practising Dharma of charge as Dharma Dana. It is our hope that the journal will serve for the spiritual and physical well-being and happiness. As a result of as a medium for: this interest many monasteries and Buddhist organisations have been established in the West, including in the UK. Most have Asian 1.Communication between the society, the members and other connections but others are unique to the West e.g. Friends of Western interested groups. Buddhist Order. 2.Publication of news and activities about Buddhism in the United Nepalese, residing in the UK, wishing to practice the Dharma for their Kingdom, Nepal and other countries. spiritual development, turned to them as there were no such Nepalese organisations. Therefore, a group of Nepalese met in February 1997 3.Explaining various aspects of Dharma in simple and easily and founded Lumbini Nepalese Buddha Dharma Society (UK) to fill understood language for all age groups.
    [Show full text]
  • UNESCO-Private Committees Programme For
    UNESCO – Private Committees Programme for the Safeguarding of Venice In response to the appeal launched by the Director General of UNESCO in 1966, over 50 private organizations were established in a number of countries to collect and channel contributions to restore and preserve Venice. Over the years, the International Private Committees have worked closely with the Superintendencies of Monuments and Galleries of Venice, through UNESCO, to identify and address priority needs. Since 1969, they have funded the restoration of more than 100 monuments and 1,000 works of art, provided laboratory equipment and scientific expertise, sponsored research, publications and cultural events and awarded innumerable grants for craftsmen, restorers and conservators to attend specialist courses in Venice. 37 years on, the Association of Private Committees has 28 member organizations representing 11 countries (6 new Committees, based respectively in Denmark, the USA (2) and Italy (4), have joined in the last few years). Since 1997 the Association has enjoyed special relationship status as an N.G.O in operational relations with UNESCO. In the period 2002 - 2003, twenty-three Committees – from Australia Austria, Denmark, France, Germany, Great Britain, Holland, nine from Italy, Sweden, Switzerland and five from the United States of America – committed well in excess of € 5 million in finance for 86 restoration, research, maintenance and cultural promotion projects as well as several bursaries and substantial contributions to the cost of the 2003 ICCROM-UNESCO International Course on the Conservation of Stone. The following pages offer an overview of the Private Committees’ growing commitment to Venice, with a description of the various projects underway in 2002 and 2003 and a list of others started or adopted in 2004.
    [Show full text]
  • INTRODUCTION and LITERATURE REVIEW a Subject
    CHAPTER 1: INTRODUCTION AND LITERATURE REVIEW A Subject for Our Time I want plots that are great, beautiful, varied, daring ... daring to an extreme, new in form and at the same time adapted to composing. If a person says I have done thus and so because Romani, Cammarano, and others did so ... then we no longer understand each other. Precisely because of the fact that those great men did it that way, I should like to have something different done. I shall have La Dame aux Camélias performed in Venice. It will perhaps be called La Traviata. A subject from our own time. Another person would perhaps not have composed it because of the costumes, because of the period, because of a thousand other foolish objections. I did it with particular pleasure. Everybody cried out when I proposed to put a hunchback on the stage. Well, I was overjoyed to compose Rigoletto, and it was just the same with Macbeth, and so on ...1 The plot of La traviata centres on its eponymous heroine Violetta and the development of her character whose posizione must be projected musically.2 Verdi used the term posizione to describe the plot-and-character-driven gesture which must be ‘articulated musically’.3 According to Gilles de Van, it ‘arises from a particular moment in the plot; a situation [posizione] almost invariably corresponds to a phase in 1 Werfel, Franz and Stefan, Paul, Verdi: The Man in His Letters, trans. Edward Downes (New York: Vienna House, 1973), p. 373. 2 The term posizione and other Italian terms and expressions will be found in the Glossary at the end of this thesis.
    [Show full text]