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The January-February-March, 2010 is unusually rich in compelling and enlightening articles. So, what's inside that so rich? 1. The 21st century's first major Hindu migration It's a little-know story, full of bad policies, forced resettlements, decades of right denied and spirits not broken. Follow the whole tale as some 60,000 Hindus, chased out of their native Bhutan, end up in refugee camps in Nepal for 19 years. Finally, they are offered a permanent home in the USA and elsewhere. Their arrival is seen as a major and positive event that will enrich Hinduism. Their challenges in the US are monumental, but after what they have been through one senses they will thrive, if Hindu communities continue to help them. 2. The mystical power of giving "Giving has the power to draw spiritual fulfillment and wealth into your life," explains publisher Satguru Bodhinatha Veylanswami in his editorial. He shares with us mystical laws about giving...

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Some 2500 years ago in ancient Northeast India, a young, brilliant and courageous man discovered the sublime answer to how the mind works and how to realise unconditioned happiness and bliss. For the next 45 years, he devoted his life to teaching the doctrine that helped bring unparalleled happiness, peace and relief to numerous people long after his death. In time stories began to emerge proclaiming his greatness and his near-divinity status. Over generations and into distant lands, those stories took on a life of their own. Eventually the real man is buried under a mountain of beautiful fantasies and magical tales. Scholars in Buddhist studies have never lost sight of the historical Buddha. There is a beautiful story to tell about the real man but the materials never quite made it to the mass market because academic books are generally hard to read and appreciate. This book seeks to bring the historical Buddha back into the popular psyche. That story is as intriguing, and is perhaps even more inspiring than the best fantasy story that had ever been woven....

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“Go now and wander for the welfare and happiness of many, out of compassion for the world, for the benefit, welfare and happiness of gods and men. Teach the Dhamma that is good in the beginning, good in the middle and good in the end, with the meaning and the letter. Explain a holy life that is utterly perfect and pure. There are beings with little dust in their eyes who will be lost through not hearing the Dhamma. Some will understand the Dhamma.”...

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Abbreviations for Pali Canon texts | i Map | ii Author’s request | iii Foreword | ix Life as a Layman | 1 From Home to Homelessness | 29 Enlightenment: Nibbana! Release! | 55 Legend of the Seven Weeks | 89 Unveiling Dhamma | 119 Spreading Dhamma |135 Reaching Out to the Lay Community | 159 Buddha's Foremost Lieutenants | 175 Return to Kapilavatthu |193 Glossary |229...

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In this book you can explore many fascinating subjects, including: Devil Worship ... Zombies ... Doomsday Cults ... Head Shrinkers ... Hungry Ghosts ... Fire Walking ... the Grim Reaper ... Witch Smellers ... Human Sacrifice ... Holy Mud ... Dervishes ... Sacred Mushrooms ... the Dance of Death ... Snake Handlers ... Sin Eaters ... Demonic Possession ... the Antichrist ... Golems ... the Temple of Rats ... Stoning the Devil ... Weeping Statues ... the Wandering Jew ... Incorruptible Bodies ... Ritual Crucifixions ... Ghouls ... Pillar Saints ... Prayer Wheels ... the Black Stone of Mecca ... Temple Virgins ... Towers of Silence ... the Devil's Mark ... Heavenly Omens ... Tiahuanaco ... the Ghost Dance ... Idol Worship ... and many more. The book also contains many interesting images, including reproductions of some famous works of art. This book is in the public domain. ...

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Introduction The Temple of Rats Jivaro Head Shrinkers Cargo Cults Self-Flagellation The Black Stone of Mecca Hungry Ghosts Witch Smellers Egyptian Crocodile Worship Christian Snake Handlers The Rope to Heaven The Scapegoat Gods in Human Form Devil Worship The Sex Slaves of Paradise Animal Sacrifice Human Sacrifice Self Mummification Zombies Incorruptible Bodies The Firebird Sacred Mushrooms Demonic Possession Towers of Silence The Ghost Dance Temple Virgins Chinese Dragons Baron Samedi The Devil's Mark The Assassins Religious Body Piercing Holy Mud The Book of Mormon Weeping Statues The Tree of Zaqqum Nukekubi The Giant Flying Head Crucifixion Re-enactments Ahimsa The Valkyries Heavenly Omens The Rapture Chinese Guardian Lions Religious Police Spirit Money Idol Worship The Antichrist Ghouls Monuments Built by a God Chosen People Sacred Cows The Wandering Jew The Thugee Stoning the Devil Original Sin Prayer Wheels Faith Healing The Cedar Tree of the End Naturist Religious Sects The Australian Fertility Stone Strange Mayan Creation Myth Sin Eaters The Dance of Death Holy L...

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Religion

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The Gospel of Matthew (Greek: Κατά Μαθθαίον or Κατά Ματθαίον, Kata Maththaion or Kata Matthaion; literally, according to Matthew) is a synoptic gospel in the New Testament, one of four canonical gospels. It narrates an account of the life and ministry of Jesus. It describes his genealogy, his miraculous birth and childhood, his baptism and temptation, his ministry of healing and preaching, and finally his crucifixion and resurrection. The resurrected Jesus commissions his Apostles to go and make disciples of all nations. (Summary from Wikipedia)...

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Religion

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The Epistle of Paul to the Romans , often shortened to Romans , is the sixth book in the New Testament. Biblical scholars agree that it was composed by the Apostle Paul, to explain that Salvation is offered through the Gospel of Jesus Christ. It is by far the longest of the Pauline epistles, and is considered his most important theological legacy....

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Religion

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Second Gospel or account of the ministry of Jesus of Nazareth in the New Testament of the Christian Bible. Commonly regarded as the first recorded gospel of Christ. (Summary by Simon)...

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History, Religion

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The Epistle of Paul to Philemon, usually referred to simply as Philemon, is a prison letter to Philemon from Paul of Tarsus. Philemon was a leader in the Colossian church. This letter, which is one of the books of the New Testament, deals with forgiveness....

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Ancient Texts, Religion

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Excerpt: Chapter 1. In the third year of the reign of Jehoiakim king of Judah came Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon unto Jerusalem, and besieged it -- 2. And the Lord gave Jehoiakim king of Judah into his hand, with part of the vessels of the house of God: which he carried into the land of Shinar to the house of his god; and he brought the vessels into the treasure house of his god -- 3. And the king spake unto Ashpenaz the master of his eunuchs, that he should bring certain of the children of Israel, and of the king?s seed, and of the princes; 4 Children in whom was no blemish, but well favoured, and skilful in all wisdom, and cunning in knowledge, and understanding science, and such as had ability in them to stand in the king?s palace, and whom they might teach the learning and the tongue of the Chaldeans....

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Essentially the sequel to The Life of St. Teresa, Teresa recounts the foundations of the Discalced Carmelite monasteries in Spain, both for men and women. This book tells of all the triumphs and troubles, and about the many people who helped her.(Introduction by Ann Boulais)...

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Religion, Philosophy

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Excerpt: Chapter 1. The Foreigner At Home. ?This is no my ain house; I ken by the biggin? o?t.? Two recent books* one by Mr. Grant White on England, one on France by the diabolically clever Mr. Hillebrand, may well have set people thinking on the divisions of races and nations. Such thoughts should arise with particular congruity and force to inhabitants of that United Kingdom, peopled from so many different stocks, babbling so many different dialects, and offering in its extent such singular contrasts, from the busiest over-population to the unkindliest desert, from the Black Country to the Moor of Rannoch. It is not only when we cross the seas that we go abroad; there are foreign parts of England; and the race that has conquered so wide an empire has not yet managed to assimilate the islands whence she sprang. Ireland, Wales, and the Scottish mountains still cling, in part, to their old Gaelic speech. It was but the other day that English triumphed in Cornwall, and they still show in Mousehole, on St. Michael?s Bay, the house of the last Cornish-speaking woman. English itself, which will now frank the traveller through the most of...

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Contents CHAPTER I: THE FOREIGNER AT HOME ..................................................................................... 5 CHAPTER II: SOME COLLEGE MEMORIES................................................................................ 14 CHAPTER III: OLD MORTALITY .................................................................................................. 20 CHAPTER IV: A COLLEGE MAGAZINE ...................................................................................... 28 CHAPTER V: AN OLD SCOTCH GARDENER ............................................................................. 36 CHAPTER VI: PASTORAL .............................................................................................................. 41 CHAPTER VII: THE MANSE .......................................................................................................... 48 CHAPTER VIII: MEMOIRS OF AN ISLET .................................................................................... 53 CHAPTER IX: THOMAS STEVENSON ? CIVIL ENGINEER...................................................... 58 CHAPTER X: TALK AND TALKERS ....................

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The Book of Lamentations is a series of mournful poems written by the Prophet Jeremiah as he saw the destruction of Jerusalem. Jeremiah laments the desolation of this once great city, as well as the condition of the people, many of whom were once surrounded by great wealth and honor. Jeremiah has been referred to by many as The Weeping Prophet, and this book merely confirms the sense of this title. (Summary by Mark Penfold)...

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Religion

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This account of the life of St. Ignatius, dictated by himself to Father Gonzalez, is a most valuable record of the great Founder of the Society of Jesus. It, more than any other work, gives an insight into the spiritual life of St. Ignatius. Few works in ascetical literature, except the writings of St. Teresa and St. Augustine, impart such a knowledge of the soul.The saint in his narrative always refers to himself in the third person, and this mode of speech has here been retained. Many persons who have neither the time, nor, perhaps, the inclination, to read larger works, will read, we trust, with pleasure and profit this autobiography. Ignatius, as he lay wounded in his brother's house, read the lives of the saints to while away the time. Touched by grace, he cried, What St. Francis and St. Dominic have done, that, by God's grace, I will do. May this little book, in like manner, inspire its readers with the desire of imitating St. Ignatius. This autobiography is a valuable key for the understanding of his Spiritual Exercises. It was kept in the archives for about 150 years (Summary from the preface)...

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Biography, Religion

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Who you believe in and what you believe is the most important matter in life. In a morally troubled world, how powerful a hold does religion have? Are you confused about religious ambiguity, love of money, love of power, sexual immorality, art? Reading The Brass Bed and other Stories may help, then again it may just raise more questions....

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The Salesman Alabaster Easter The Albatross Cafe She wore clover . . . Tabula Rasa The Two Men The Dancer

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Zakat "Alms giving": The third of high grade of seeing by God's light. - Islamisation of economic growth, welfare And moral aspects through: Zakah-distribution - Deriving the percentage of Al-Zakat from the verses of God's Noble Book. - Alms of fast breaking...

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K.R.Narayanan was a lauded hero and a distinguished victim of his Dalit background. Even in an international platform when he was on an official visit to Paris, the media headlines blazed, ‘An Untouchable at Elysee’. He was visibly upset and it proved that a Dalit who rose up to such heights was never spared from the pangs of outcaste-ness and untouchability, which is based on birth. Thus, if the erstwhile first citizen of India faces such humiliation, what will be the plight of the last man who is a Dalit? As one of the world’s largest socio-economically oppressed, culturally subjugated and politically marginalized group of people, the 138 million Dalits in India suffer not only from the excesses of the traditional oppressor castes, but also from State Oppression— which includes, but is not limited to, authoritarianism, police brutality, economic embargo, criminalization of activists, electoral violence, repressive laws that aim to curb fundamental rights, and the non-implementation of laws that safeguard Dalit rights. The Dalits were considered untouchable for thousands of years by the Hindu society until the Constitution of India...

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THE TWENTY-FIRST BOOK OF THE HOLY BIBLE CONTAINING THE OLD AND NEW TESTAMENTS TRANSLATED OUT OF THE ORIGINAL TONGUES AND WITH THE FORMER TRANSLATIONS DILIGENTLY COMPARED & REVISED SET FORTH IN 1611 AND COMMONLY KNOWN AS THE KING JAMES VERSION...

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Excerpt: Chapter 1. The words of the Preacher, the son of David, king in Jerusa lem -- 2. Vanity of vanities, saith the Preacher, vanity of vanities; all is vanity -- 3. What profit hath a man of all his labour which he taketh under the sun -- 4 One generation passeth away, and another generation cometh: but the earth abideth for ever -- 5. The sun also ariseth, and the sun goeth down, and hasteth to his place where he arose -- 6. The wind goeth toward the south, and turneth about unto the north; it whirleth about continually, and the wind returneth again according to his circuits....

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The miserly Ebenezer Scrooge is a cold-hearted man of business and has little time for the good humor and charity of the Christmas season. But that's about to change. A visit from his deceased business partner sets in motion a night in which Scrooge is visited by the ghosts of Christmas past, present, and future. Will his listen to their messages? Will he heed their warnings? Ebenezer Scrooge is about to take a Christmas journey that he won't soon forget. (Summary by Kyle Munley)...

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Adventure, Fairy tales, Horror/Ghost stories, Instruction, Religion, Short stories

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Originally modeled on the Psalms and other poetic passages (commonly referred to as canticles) in the Scriptures, Christian hymns are generally directed as praise and worship to the monotheistic God. Many refer to Jesus Christ either directly or indirectly. Since the earliest times, Christians have sung psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, both in private devotions and in corporate worship (Matthew 26:30; 1 Cor 14:26; Ephesians 5:19; Colossians 3:16; James 5:13; cf. Revelation 5:8-10; Revelation 14:1-5). One definition of a hymn is ...a lyric poem, reverently and devotionally conceived, which is designed to be sung and which expresses the worshipper's attitude toward God or God's purposes in human life. It should be simple and metrical in form, genuinely emotional, poetic and literary in style, spiritual in quality, and in its ideas so direct and so immediately apparent as to unify a congregation while singing it. (Summary by Wikipedia)...

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Music, Poetry

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“Now I have said again and again (and I shall continue to say again and again on all the most inappropriate occasions) that we must hit Capitalism, and hit it hard, for the plain and definite reason that it is growing stronger. Most of the excuses which serve the capitalists as masks are, of course, the excuses of hypocrites. They lie when they claim philanthropy; they no more feel any particular love of men than Albu felt an affection for Chinamen. They lie when they say they have reached their position through their own organising ability. They generally have to pay men to organise the mine, exactly as they pay men to go down it. They often lie about the present wealth, as they generally lie about their past poverty. But when they say that they are going in for a constructive social policy, they do not lie. They really are going in for a constructive social policy. And we must go in for an equally destructive social policy; and destroy, while it is still half-constructed, the accursed thing which they construct.” (Summary from Gilbert Keith Chesterton, d. 1936)...

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Essay/Short nonfiction, Humor, Religion