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dharma
dharma . In Hinduism , dharma is the doctrine of the religious and moral rights and duties of each individual; it generally refers to religious duty, but may also mean social order, right conduct, or simply virtue. Sacred law is the codification of dharma, and Hinduism itself is also called Sanatan...
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Abhidharma
Abhidharma [Skt.,=higher dharma, or doctrine], schools of Buddhist philosophy. Early Buddhism analyzed experience into 5 skandhas or aggregates, and alternatively into 18 dhatus or elements. Later schools developed the process of analysis and classification that was called Abhidharma ; their...
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Hinduism
Hinduism , Western term for the religious beliefs and practices of the vast majority of the people of India. One of the oldest living religions in the world, Hinduism is unique among the world religions in that it had no single founder but grew over a period of 4,000 years in syncretism with the rel...
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avatara
avatara [Skt.,=descent], incarnations of Hindu gods, especially Vishnu . The doctrine of avatara first occurs in the Bhagavad-Gita , where Krishna declares: "For the preservation of the righteous, the destruction of the wicked, and the establishment of dharma [virtue], I come into being from ...
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caste
caste [Port., casta =basket], ranked groups based on heredity within rigid systems of social stratification, especially those that constitute Hindu India. Some scholars, in fact, deny that true caste systems are found outside India. The caste is a closed group whose members are severely restricted...
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Bhutan
Bhutan , officially Kingdom of Bhutan, kingdom (2005 est. pop. 2,232,000), 18,147 sq mi (47,000 sq km), in the E Himalayas, southern Asia. It is bordered on the west, south, and east by India and on the north by the Tibet region of China. Punakha is the traditional capital; Thimphu is the offici...
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Buddhism
Buddhism , religion and philosophy founded in India c.525 BC by Siddhartha Gautama, called the Buddha . There are over 300 million Buddhists worldwide. One of the great world religions, it is divided into two main schools: the Theravada or Hinayana in Sri Lanka and SE Asia, and the Mahayana in Chin...
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sunyata
sunyata [Skt.,=emptiness], one of the main tenets of Mahayana Buddhism , first presented by the Perfection of Wisdom ( Prajna-paramita ) scriptures (1st cent. BC on) and later systematized by the Madhyamika school. Early Buddhist schools of Abhidharma , or scholastic metaphysics, analyzed reali...
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Hua-yen Buddhism
Hua-yen Buddhism [Chin.,=flower garland], school of Chinese Buddhism centering on the Avatamsaka Sutra [flower garland sutra]. This school has no Indian counterpart. Hua-yen classifies Buddhist scriptures and doctrines on five levels, with its own teaching as the highest and most complete. Accord...
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Pure Land Buddhism
Pure Land Buddhism or Amidism, devotional sect of Mahayana Buddhism in China and Japan, centering on worship of the Buddha Amitabha. According to the Pure Land Sutras, composed in India in the 2d cent. AD, Amitabha vowed to save all sentient beings by granting them rebirth in his realm, the...
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