[INDOLOGY] Visualisation of Buddha/Guru

[Howard Resnick]

Glad to help if I can. My impression from my own reading, and from MW, is that Aditya is not common as an adjective.  

As a further note on the Gita, I counted 40 instances in 24 verses where various verbs referring to seeing occur in Ch 11 alone.

Best,
Howard  


On Jan 21, 2014, at 8:57 AM, James Hegarty <hegartyjm at googlemail.com> wrote:

> Dear Howard,
> 
> This is very useful; especially as it emerges from a Hindu context. What do you make of Aditya-varna as an adjective? Is it common, in your experience? Feel free to ignore my impertinent further enquiries!
> 
> Thank you again,
> 
> James 
> 
>> On 21 Jan 2014, at 13:31, Howard Resnick <hr at ivs.edu> wrote:
>> 
>> Dear James,
>> 
>>   Bhagavad-gita prescribes a visualization of Krishna as “supreme divine person…with an inconceivable, sun-colored form” (Bg 8.8-9). And of course chapter 11 is extremely visual, using dozens of forms of various verbs meaning “to see,” all in regard to the visva-rupa.
>> 
>>   The Bhagavata-purana, which many date to the first millennium ce, is full of visualizations of various forms of Bhagavan, explicitly as meditation practice. The usual divine forms are the virad-rupa (cosmic form), four-handed Narayana, and two-handed Krishna.
>> 
>> Best
>> Howard
>> 
>>> On Jan 21, 2014, at 2:37 AM, James Hegarty <hegartyjm at googlemail.com> wrote:
>>> 
>>> Dear Colleagues,
>>> 
>>> Can anyone advise me as to how common visualisation of the Buddha or Guru is in Buddhist meditative practice?
>>> 
>>> Can anyone also suggest the period in which such practices were likely to have developed? It is not something I associate with Pali sources (but I am no Buddhologist).
>>> 
>>> I am particularly interested in materials that are likely to date to the first millennium of the common era.
>>> 
>>> If there are any striking examples of this practice in other early Indian religious traditions, I would also be grateful to hear of them.
>>> 
>>> With Thanks and Best Wishes,
>>> 
>>> James Hegarty
>>> Cardiff University
>>> UK
>>> 
>>> 
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>> 
> 
>