Born Again Buddhists - Discovery Channel
Believing that highly-evolved lamas choose to be reborn to lead the rest of us to nirvana, children born at auspicious times are carefully watched for signs of being a reincarnate and are usually identified at a young age by their past-life recall. These people are called tulkus/ reincarnated lamas - the most famous being the Dalai Lama. In the last remaining Himalayan kingdom of Bhutan, reincarnation is a very much a way of life. But things have taken a curious turn in recent years. It seems more and more children are claiming to be reincarnates - a situation so worrying, the Bhutanese government has stepped in to oversee the ancient process of identifying reincarnates. Born Again Buddhists unravels the mysteries of this centuries-old Himalayan belief.
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Imagining Karma: Ethical Transformation in Amerindian, Buddhist, and Greek Rebirth - Gananath Obeyesekere
This work is a tour-de-force in cross-cultural scholarship, both sound and bold, constructing a new and refreshing theory on the rise to prominence of rebirth eschatology in India. Obeyesekere argues convincingly that "ethicization" of rebirth through the theory of karma was the new ingredient that transformed a commonplace belief into a central philosophical and eschatological principle in most of Indian theologies. This is a book that will engage and challenge anthropologists, classicists, and Indologists alike, as well as non-specialists interested in culture and religion." - Patrick Olivelle, University of Texas at Austin "This is a book in the grand tradition of comparative studies, pulling together anthropology, psychology, psychoanalysis, classics, Indology, and history of religions, but in a distinctly contemporary mode. Few scholars would attempt such a project today, let alone pull it off so intriguingly as Obeyesekere does. A brilliant and intellectually courageous book.http://rapidshare.com/files/180169400/IMG_K_GO.rarPassword: zhInE
Born Again Buddhists - Discovery Channel
