Star Gazing Meditation
Linda Laurence
laurence at bishop.bishop.hawaii.org
Wed Feb 2 18:25:54 UTC 1994
I recall seeing a message about a Buddhist practice of observing stars,
either on INDOLOGY or BUDDHA-L. My attempts to keyword search the
archives of both groups failed to retrieve the message.
I'd appreciate receiving any information on the subject, for an
anthropologist using our library. Thanks in advance.
Linda Laurence
Catalog Librarian
Bishop Museum Library
P.O. Box 19000A
Honolulu, Hawaii 96817-0916
Phone: (808)848-4148
FAX: (808)941-8968
laurence at bishop.bishop.hawaii.org
> From mehta at macmail.mgmt.purdue.edu 2 1994 Feb U 10:43:28
Date: 2 Feb 1994 10:43:28 U
From: "Mehta, Shailendra" <mehta at macmail.mgmt.purdue.edu>
Subject: RE: Astronomical programs
Lars,
I include the following excerpt, (by Hal Perkins who was kind enough to share
his thoughts some months ago)
"The answer is Voyager II from Carina Software. It's about $100 from
the mailorder houses. It will do everything you mention and lots
more-- watch a solar eclipse from the moon, sit on pluto and watch the
voyager ships move out from the earth, just about anything you can
think of. Full set of coordinate displays, displays constellations,
planets, deep sky objects, etc. Particularly spectacular displays on
a medium to large color monitor.
There are cheaper astronomy programs out there, but none are in the
same class as Voyager. If you want something that will really get
students excited this is it."
Regards,
Shailendra Raj Mehta
mehta at mgmt.purdue.edu
_______________________________________________________________________________
Would anybody happen to have information about the following two programs:
EasyCosmos (for the PC)
Voyager 2 (for the Mac)
These programs are able to show the sky as it was at different times in
history. I would particularly like to know the name of the producer, price
and where they can be obtained, but information about the relative merit of
the two programs would also be appreciated.
Best regards,
Lars Martin
Lars Martin Fosse
Department of East European
and Oriental Studies
P. O. Box 1030, Blindern
N-0315 OSLO Norway
Tel: +47 22 85 68 48
Fax: +47 22 85 41 40
E-mail: l.m.fosse at easteur-orient.uio.no
> From mehta at macmail.mgmt.purdue.edu 3 1994 Feb U 10:34:33
Date: 3 Feb 1994 10:34:33 U
From: "Mehta, Shailendra" <mehta at macmail.mgmt.purdue.edu>
Subject: RE: Star Gazing Meditation
Sender: Alan.Thew at liverpool.ac.uk
[ this is a re-mail since the original was rejected. Please do not include
all mail headers of previous mail such as the message-id: field since these
are cross checked against previous mail items to prevent mail loops.
I have retained the orginal From: Date: and Subject: fields of the
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Alan Thew , List Admin ]
I had initiated this discussion of star gazing on the Indology net and there
were many messages in the thread. If you wish to get copies of them all, let me
know. For the moment I am including the most relevant message.
__________________________
To: Members of the list
Dear Shailendra,
In response to your question regarding available texts. There are no
translations published for many of these works, but I myself have
translated all the main texts concerning the "Chedika" (gcod) tradition
from the Tibetan for publication as a book in the near future along with
their most important commentaries. I am also trying to compare them with
materials still existing in other Indian languages. As to the
"Prajnaparamita-upadesa", I need to type-up and formalize it, but I would
be glad to share it with you and any other interested parties. Please give
me a few days and I will make it available. As to the other references to
Naths, I would have to consult my notebooks and field notes I collected on
Tantric Sects in the Indo-Tibetan regions. I also think if I can remember
when in Bali that the Saivo-Buddhist Tantric Brahmin priests also practice
a similar technique. This is one Sanskritic tradition many of us Indologist
fail to remember.
As to the Santimaha texts these are numerous and some can be found in
translation. These stem from the Bon and Buddhist traditions. If you want
more information on these texts, translations, etc. I can gladly supply
these. One that is very good can be found in the first and second issues of
"Kailasa: Journal for Himalayana Studies". In the second issue Per Kvaerne
the Norwegian Indo-Tibetologist translates an excellent text from the Bon
tradition in which "sky-gazing" is described in detail for an actual yogic
retreat. "Sky-gazing" is also described as one of the twenty-one sems.'dzin
("Ways of Holding the Mind") in the writings of gLong.chen.pa. Apparently
it originated from the Santimaha tantra called "Kun.byed rgyal-po'i mdo"
("The Sovereign All-Creating Mind"; Skt.
"Sarvadharma-santimaha-bodhicitta-kulaya-raja"). This work has been
translated by E.K. Dargyay with the above English title by SUNY press
(1992). There are numerous others. If fact this last summer in Virginia,
one of the high scholar/monks of the Bon tradition gave just such a retreat
on this practice in the Blue Ridge Mountains where a number of scholars and
practitioner attended.
I hope this information will help.
Sincerely Yours,
Dwight A. Tkatschow
Ritsumeikan Institute
University of British Columbia
P.S. Most of the "Chedika" (gcod) texts in Tibetan are found in the
multi-volume collection of tantric precepts called, "gDams.ngag.mdzod"
("The Treasury of Tantric Precepts") Vol.IX, Delhi edition, 1971. It
contains both translations of Indian texts and indigenious Tibetan
commentaries and liturgical practices, etc.
********(Please post on the list for all interested parties to
read)************
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Comment: Indology mailing list
Date: Mon, 25 Oct 93 15:53:40 GMT
Originator: indology at liverpool.ac.uk
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From: dwight at unixg.ubc.ca (Dwight A.Tkatschow)
To: Members of the list <indology at liverpool.ac.uk>
Subject: RE: Available texts on "Sky-gazing"To: Members of the list
Dear Shailendra,
In response to your question regarding available texts. There are no
translations published for many of these works, but I myself have
translated all the main texts concerning the "Chedika" (gcod) tradition
from the Tibetan for publication as a book in the near future along with
their most important commentaries. I am also trying to compare them with
materials still existing in other Indian languages. As to the
"Prajnaparamita-upadesa", I need to type-up and formalize it, but I would
be glad to share it with you and any other interested parties. Please give
me a few days and I will make it available. As to the other references to
Naths, I would have to consult my notebooks and field notes I collected on
Tantric Sects in the Indo-Tibetan regions. I also think if I can remember
when in Bali that the Saivo-Buddhist Tantric Brahmin priests also practice
a similar technique. This is one Sanskritic tradition many of us Indologist
fail to remember.
As to the Santimaha texts these are numerous and some can be found in
translation. These stem from the Bon and Buddhist traditions. If you want
more information on these texts, translations, etc. I can gladly supply
these. One that is very good can be found in the first and second issues of
"Kailasa: Journal for Himalayana Studies". In the second issue Per Kvaerne
the Norwegian Indo-Tibetologist translates an excellent text from the Bon
tradition in which "sky-gazing" is described in detail for an actual yogic
retreat. "Sky-gazing" is also described as one of the twenty-one sems.'dzin
("Ways of Holding the Mind") in the writings of gLong.chen.pa. Apparently
it originated from the Santimaha tantra called "Kun.byed rgyal-po'i mdo"
("The Sovereign All-Creating Mind"; Skt.
"Sarvadharma-santimaha-bodhicitta-kulaya-raja"). This work has been
translated by E.K. Dargyay with the above English title by SUNY press
(1992). There are numerous others. If fact this last summer in Virginia,
one of the high scholar/monks of the Bon tradition gave just such a retreat
on this practice in the Blue Ridge Mountains where a number of scholars and
practitioner attended.
I hope this information will help.
Sincerely Yours,
Dwight A. Tkatschow
Ritsumeikan Institute
University of British Columbia
P.S. Most of the "Chedika" (gcod) texts in Tibetan are found in the
multi-volume collection of tantric precepts called, "gDams.ngag.mdzod"
("The Treasury of Tantric Precepts") Vol.IX, Delhi edition, 1971. It
contains both translations of Indian texts and indigenious Tibetan
commentaries and liturgical practices, etc.
********(Please post on the list for all interested parties to
read)************
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id <08916-0 at mailhub.liverpool.ac.uk>; Mon, 25 Oct 1993 15:53:45 +0000
Message-Id: <9310251545.***@unixg.ubc.ca>
Comment: Indology mailing list
Date: Mon, 25 Oct 93 15:53:40 GMT
Originator: indology at liverpool.ac.uk
Reply-To: indology at liverpool.ac.uk
Sender: indology at liverpool.ac.uk
X-ListProcessor-Version: 5.5 -- UNIX ListProcessor by Anastasios Kotsikonas
From: dwight at unixg.ubc.ca (Dwight A.Tkatschow)
To: Members of the list <indology at liverpool.ac.uk>
Subject: RE: Available texts on "Sky-gazing"
_______________________________________________________________________________
From: indology at liverpool.ac.uk on Thu, Feb 3, 1994 10:25 AM
Subject: Star Gazing Meditation
To: Members of the list
I recall seeing a message about a Buddhist practice of observing stars,
either on INDOLOGY or BUDDHA-L. My attempts to keyword search the
archives of both groups failed to retrieve the message.
I'd appreciate receiving any information on the subject, for an
anthropologist using our library. Thanks in advance.
Linda Laurence
Catalog Librarian
Bishop Museum Library
P.O. Box 19000A
Honolulu, Hawaii 96817-0916
Phone: (808)848-4148
FAX: (808)941-8968
laurence at bishop.bishop.hawaii.org
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