Monthly Archives: March 2015

The Encyclopedia of Religion entry on sacred space gives several valid and fascinating ways to think about and examine sacred spaces. To begin the entry brings up “sacred space as a lens” (7978 EOR) Sacred spaces may not all have … Continue reading →

In Dancing of Self, Sax’s description of the Pandav Lila highlighted the inclusivity of the ritual as “everyone in the village had become absorbed in the performance” (Sax 32). However, there are multiple divisions within the community based on who … Continue reading →

The self is generally viewed by anthropology as a sociocultural construction (Sax, 9). Mainstream anthropological thought thus aligns with the theories of postmodernism and post – structuralism as well as Hinduism in the sense that it does not give any … Continue reading →

To Buddhists merit is understood to be the good fortune that is bestowed upon a person for making good action. It is believed that giving alms to a monk produces good merit. The belief in receiving merit in return for … Continue reading →

The Mahabharata is one of two major epic poems in Sanskrit – the other is the Ramayana. The Mahabharata is important as a historical source because it recounts the development of Hinduism over a period of time, as well as … Continue reading →

While reading the article by Linda LaMacchia concerning the changing identities of the Mayahana Buddhist nuns of Kinnaur, in Himachal Pradesh, I was immediately reminded of a class I took called The Technology of Reading and Writing in which we … Continue reading →

What I have learned from the last week of reading about Buddhist nuns is that they are not valued in the Buddhist community nearly as much as the monks. There is a huge divide among genders that is visible in … Continue reading →

Something that I have been struggling with, not only within this class but also in my study of religion in general, is the vast complexities in religious interpretation and lived experience. In class we were discussing the difference of how … Continue reading →

Kim Gutschow’s Being a Buddhist Nun: The Struggle for Enlightenment in the Himalayas is a study of Buddhist nuns in a Tibetan tradition, mostly living in Zangskar, Ladakh, and India. In Chapter 3: “The Buddhist Economy of Merit,” Gutschow says … Continue reading →

There is a certain sense of pride and strength that accompanies being part of the second generation Punjabi community in the United States. Conversations smattered with Punjabi prefixes and suffixes, tears of laughter from the collective hours spent making fun … Continue reading →