Education About Asia: Online Archives

Web Gleanings: Religion in Asia

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BUDDHISM

SITE: BUDDHIST TEXTS
URL: http://www.interlog.com/~klima/toronto.html

A huge number of articles in four categories: “Information for the Curious” has introductory writings about Buddhist practices, Zen terminology, hand gestures, and the basic tenets of Buddhism. “Meditation” is a collection of texts by a wide range of authors dealing with mindfulness, how to breathe, the art of attention, mind training, zazen and so forth. There is a section of primary texts— Heart Sutra, Metta Sutta, the Dhammapada, and other canonical texts. The fourth category is a collection, arranged alphabetically, of essays, talks, and other texts on Buddhism.

SITE: BUDDHANET
URL:http://www2.hawkesbury.uws.edu.au/BuddhaNet/budnetp.htm
An attractive and informative site from the University of Western Sydney. One finds the basic concepts, many meditation techniques, a dictionary of terms and ideas, and a large downloadable file library of Buddhist texts. The BuddhaZine contains art images, a tour of the wheel of life, and various articles.

SITE: BUDDHIST STUDIES AND THE ARTS
URL: www.artsci.wustl.edu/~rrscott/
An excellent annotated list of links to Buddhist sites.

SIKHISM

SITE: THE SIKHISM HOME PAGE
URL: http://www.sikhs.org/
This is a well-organized site, accompanied by illustrations and photographs. There is information on the principles of Sikhism, the gurus, the gurdwaras (temples), important dates, saints, ceremonies, and even audio prayers. A glossary of terms, explanations of Sikh names and emblems, as well as links to many other resources about Sikhism on the WWW, are also offered on this site.

SITE: ON-LINE SIKHISM QUICK REFERENCE ENCYCLOPEDIA
URL: http://www.scit.wlv.ac.uk/~cm6453/encyclopedia.html
Short definitions, descriptions and explanations of terms, people, and places associated with the Sikh religion. A text-only reference arranged alphabetically.

HINDUISM

SITE: HINDU SCRIPTURES REFERENCE CENTER
URL: http:/www.hindunet.org/scriptures/
Part of the Global Hindu Electronic Network, the entire Devanagari and transliterated text of the Ramayana and Mahabharata can be accessed. There are links to other sites for versions of scriptures, such as a poetic rendering of the Bhagavad Gıta. Other areas of the Global Hindu Electronic Network have a melange of information on a variety of topics, including Hindu organizations, temples, and news.

SITE: HINDU TANTRIK HOME PAGE
URL: http://www.hubcom.com/tantric/
A collection of yantra, mantra, tantra, as well as texts on the siddhas and yogis of the Natha sampradaya and images of tantric kula devas and devis. There are also meditations, a glossary, an extensive bibliography, and links to other sites.

CONFUCIANISM

SITE: FOUR CONFUCIAN TEXTS
URL: http://www2.gol.com/users/acmuller/contao/conftext.htm
Translations of Analects of Confucius, Great Learning, Doctrine of the Mean, and Mencius by A. Charles Muller of Toyo Gakuen University.

TAOISM

SITE: THE I CHING ON THE NET
URL: http://www.pacificcoast.net/~wh/Index.html
Maintained by Gregory Whincup, author of Rediscovering the ‘I Ching’, this site has an introduction to the I Ching, translations, links to commentaries on the I Ching, and to software, freeware, and shareware.

ISLAM

SITE: THE ISLAM PAGE
URL: http://www.wam.umd.edu/~ibrahim/
Resources of every description about Islam. The Holy Qur´an can be read in English, in Arabic script, in German, Spanish, and other languages. There is an extensive section on Hadith literature, articles about fundamental beliefs, prayers, rituals, family, and morality. There are links to entire pamphlets, to calligraphic images, to a glossary, and Urdu and Swahili dictionaries. In addition, there are links to newsgroups and journals dealing with Islam.

SITE: ISLAM: QIBLA AT PENN
URL: http://qibla.msa.upenn.edu/
The core of this site is the collection of searchable texts and databases, the Alim Online. Among the offerings are various translations of the Qur’an, a transliteration of the Qur’an, Islamic biographies, an Islamic dictionary, and an Islamic chronology.

SHINTO

SITE: SHINTO —THE JAPANESE HEART
URL: http://pweb.in.aix.or.jp/~life_create/shinto.html
A tour of a shinto shrine, accompanied by concise, simple explanations and photographs. A good introduction for a high school student.

As always, the summaries of the Web pages cited in this column are meant to stimulate further and deeper exploration of the topic, both on the World Wide Web and beyond.