This book contains three separate, and very important, works detailing Tibetan Tantric Buddhist thought and practice: Seven Initiation Rituals of the Tibetan Tantra, The Six Yogas of Naropa, and The Vow of Mahamudra. These were translated and edited by Musés assisted by exiled Tibetan monks from manuscripts in the Library of Congress.
A collection of various art and expressions I find inspiring, interesting, or beautiful in some way.
Dreams Made Flesh
Esoteric Teachings of the Tibetan Tantra
ambivalensen: O fond Arachne! Purgatory Canto XII., lines 39-41
(Divina Commedia, 1321, Dante Alighieri)Illustration by Gustave Doré (1832-1883)
(via whoreofbabalon)
Botan Dōrō (牡丹燈籠) is a well-known ghost story which involves a man having a relationship with a lady ghost (Yōkai (妖怪 = demon, spirit, or goblin) who eventually falls in love with her. This Japanese ghost story is both romantic and horrific. It involves sex with the dead and the consequences of loving a ghost.
It is sometimes known as Kaidan Botan Dōrō, based on the kabuki version of the story. Most commonly translated as Tales of the Peony Lantern, it is one of the most famous kaidan in Japan.
Botan Dōrō entered the Japanese psyche in the 17th century, through a translation of a book of Chinese ghost stories called Jian Deng Xin Hua (New Tales Under the Lamplight). The collection was didactic in nature, containing Buddhist moral lessons on karma.
There are differing endings to the tale, one as Death the victor, the other - Love.
M o n o n o a w a r e 物の哀れ:
Literally “the pathos of things”), also translated as “an empathy toward things,” or “a sensitivity of ephemera,” is a Japanese term used to describe the awareness of mujo or the transience of things and a bittersweet sadness (or wistfulness) at their passing. The term was coined in the eighteenth century by the Edo period Japanese cultural scholar Motoori Norinaga, and was originally a concept used in his literary criticism of The Tale of Genji, and later applied to other seminal Japanese works including the Man’yōshū, becoming central to his philosophy of literature, and eventually to Japanese cultural tradition. The word is derived from the Japanese word mono, which means “things” and aware, which was a Heian period expression of measured surprise (similar to “ah” or “oh”), translating roughly as “pathos,” “poignancy,” “deep feeling,” or “sensitivity.” Thus, mono no aware has frequently been translated as “the ‘ahh-ness’ of things.” In his criticism of The Tale of Genji, Motoori noted that mono no aware is the crucial emotion that moves readers. Its scope was not limited to Japanese literature, and became associated with Japanese cultural tradition (see also sakura). Notable manga artists who use mono no aware-style storytelling include Hitoshi Ashinano, Kozue Amano, and Kaoru Mori. The quintessentially “Japanese” director Yasujiro Ozu was well known for creating a sense of mono no aware, frequently climaxing with a character saying a very understated “ii tenki desu ne” (It is fine weather, isn’t it?), after both a familial and societal paradigm shift, such as daughter being married off, against the backdrop of a swiftly changing Japan. Norwegian Wood by the Japanese novelist Haruki Murakami is an example of this feeling as well. Ivan Morris in The World of the Shining Prince compared it to Virgil’s term lacrimae rerum.
