To Tibetan Buddhists, Guru Rinpoche is a Buddha. This book recounts Guru Rinpoche's historic visit to Tibet and explains his continuing significance to Buddhists. In doing so, it illustrates how a country whose powerful armies overran the capital of China and installed a puppet emperor came to abandon its aggressive military campaigns: this transformation was due to Guru Rinpoche, who tamed and converted Tibet to Buddhism and thereby changed the course of Asian history. Four very different Tibetan accounts of his story are presented: one by Jamgon Kongtrul; one according to the pre-Buddhist Tibetan religion Bön, by Jamyang Kyentse Wongpo; one based on Indian and early Tibetan historical documents, by Taranata; and one by Dorje Tso. In addition, there are supplications by Guru Rinpoche and visualizations to accompany them by Jamgon Kongtrul. Guru Rinpoche is part of The Tsadra Foundation series published by Snow Lion Publications. The Tsadra Foundation takes its inspiration from the nineteenth-century nonsectarian Tibetan scholar and meditation master Jamgon Kongtrul Lodro Taye, and is named after his hermitage in eastern Tibet, Tsadra Rinchen Drak. The Foundation's programs reflect his values of excellence in both scholarship and contemplative practice, and a recognition of their mutual complementarity.

This edition of the Sanskrit text of the Subhāṣitaratnakoṣa--in the editors' opinion the oldest known general anthology of Sanskrit verse--is the result of years of work deciphering and comparing the five different versions. The editors' aim has been to restore, as far as the sources permit, the text compiled by Vidyākara between A.D. 1100 and 1130.

Sanskrit Has An Unbroken Literary Tradition Of At Least Three Thousand Years. As The Principal Language Of Indias Thought And Culture For Much Of This Time, It Has A Unique Position In National Identity.The Vast Literature Of Sanskrit Is A Major Component Of Indias Cultural Heritage. Its Study Occupies An Important Place, Both In Traditional Learning And In Current Scholarship About Indic Civilization. But The Fruit Of This Knowledge Has, To A Considerable Extent, Stayed Within The Domain Of The Specialist.While The Great Sacred And Philosophical Works Are Well Known, Other Aspects Of Sanskrit Literature Have Had Comparatively Less Public Exposure.The Present Volume Seeks To Fill This Gap For General Readers, Both In India And Abroad. Focused Mainly On Classical Literature, It Is Based On Scholarship Of The First Rank And Attuned To A Broader Interest.Sixteen Distinguished Indian And Foreign Experts Comment Here On Different Aspects Of Sanskrits Literary Treasure House, Ranging From The Famous Epic, Dramatic, Poetic And Prose Works To Anthologies, Epigrams And The Inscriptional Poetry Found In And Outside India. Also Reviewed Are Sanskrit Linguistics, Poetics And Mathematics, Together With Contemporary Writings And Modem Sanskrit Studies Abroad.This Book Gives Revealing Glimpses Of A Magnificent Literature. It Includes Also An Introductory Overall Appraisal From The Vedic Times Onwards. A Special Feature Is A Select Anthology Of Translated Excerpts From Celebrated Sanskrit Classics To Enable The Literature To Speak For Itself.

Samkhya and Yoga systems of religious thought.

The intangible cultural heritage (ICH) of the world's communities is an inheritance that has been passed down through many generations. Its survival, however, is increasingly threatened by the realities of post-modern society, such as rapid urbanization, large-scale migration, severe environmental change, and globalization. In 2003, the UNESCO Convention for the Safeguarding of the Intangible Cultural Heritage recognized the importance of ICH, both as a mainspring of cultural diversity and a source of sustainable development. Early efforts to implement the Convention are bringing to light issues that are crucial to the survival of ICH. Many of these involve its interaction with intellectual property law. To clarify the relationship between these two fields, this present volume gathers the views of scholars and practitioners with diverse expertise and national backgrounds. They examine four main issues: the construction and operation of ICH inventories; the conceptualization of the "community" as a holder of ICH; how to obtain the community's prior informed consent; and the pros and cons of various regulatory regimes. With the book's variety of contributions, the common thread is the belief that regulatory regimes must be designed so that ICH will not only be safeguarded in archives and museums, but also in its living form.