[PDF/ePub] The Revolutionary Life Of Freda Bedi British Feminist Indian Nationalist Buddhist Nun Download Book

The Revolutionary Life of Freda Bedi

Posted on 2017 by Vicki Mackenzie

British Feminist, Indian Nationalist, Buddhist Nun

Author: Vicki Mackenzie

Publisher: Shambhala Publications

ISBN: 1611804256

Category: BIOGRAPHY & AUTOBIOGRAPHY

Page: 186

A fascinating biography of Freda Bedi, an English woman who broke all the rules of gender, race, and religious background to become both a revolutionary in the fight for Indian independence and then a Buddhist icon. aaaaaFreda Bedi (1911-1977) was one of the most remarkable and iconoclastic figures in Buddhism's movement to the West. Born in England, educated at Oxford, and married to a Sikh, she became a major force both in shaping modern-day Buddhism and Indian history. In her life she had many roles--political freedom fighter, spiritual seeker, scholar, professor, journalist, author, social worker, wife, and mother of four children (one of whom is a well-known actor).a a Vicki MacKenzie's lively biography captures what a trailblazer Bedi was in both the secular and spiritual realms. She studied meditation with Burmese meditation masters. She was the first English woman to be accepted by Gandhi into his elite band of Satyagrahi, delivering rousing speeches to thousands of Indians urging them to revolt, and then was imprisoned for subversion. She was asked by Nehru to help resettle Tibetan refugees, and she aided the Dalai Lama when he went into exile. Bedi established a school for young Tibetan lamas and also a nunnery, which still exists, to provide nuns equal religious opportunities. She was also the first woman, of any nationality, to receive the full Bikshuni ordination, making her the highest-ranking Tibetan Buddhist nun in India. aaaaMacKenzie, a well-known journalist in Britain, has forty years of experience writing about Buddhism in the West. For this book, she traced Bedi's footsteps and conducted many in-depth interviews with those who knew her, including friends, family, government officials, lamas, and nuns. She also drew heavily from Bedi's own writings, diaries, and recordings--all provided by Bedi's family--and the book includes many photographs.

The Revolutionary Life of Freda Bedi

Posted on 2017-03-28 by Vicki Mackenzie

British Feminist, Indian Nationalist, Buddhist Nun

Author: Vicki Mackenzie

Publisher: Shambhala Publications

ISBN: 0834840715

Category: Religion

Page: 208

A fascinating biography of Freda Bedi, an English woman who broke all the rules of gender, race, and religious background to become both a revolutionary in the fight for Indian independence and then a Buddhist icon. She was the first Western woman to become a Tibetan Buddhist nun—but that pioneering ordination was really just one in a life full of revolutionary acts. Freda Bedi (1911–1977) broke the rules of gender, race, and religion—in many cases before it was thought that the rules were ready to be challenged. She was at various times a force in the struggle for Indian independence, spiritual seeker, scholar, professor, journalist, author, social worker, wife, and mother of four children. She counted among her friends, colleagues, and teachers Mohandas Gandhi, Jawaharlal Nehru, Indira Gandhi, the Dalai Lama, Chögyam Trungpa Rinpoche, and many others. She was a woman of spiritual focus and compassion who was also not without contradictions. Vicki Mackenzie gives a nuanced view of Bedi and of the forces that shaped and motivated this complex and compelling figure.

Why Buddhism?

Posted on 2001-04-01 by Vicki Mackenzie

Westerners in Search of Wisdom

Author: Vicki Mackenzie

Publisher: Allen & Unwin

ISBN: 1741154278

Category: Body, Mind & Spirit

Page: 336

Why Buddhism? is a series of interviews through which Vicki McKenzie (author of Cave in the Snow) explores the reason for Buddhism's growing appeal in western society. Through personal examples, this book will reveal what Buddhism means to a wide range of people in the UK, Australia and US. The interviews are inspiring and informative, covering the process each person went through in becoming involved in Buddhism, as well as the effect it has had on their lives and any difficulties they've encountered. The subjects interviewed in Why Buddhism? range from the famous, like composer Phillip Glass, actor Tracy Mann, and author/teacher Robert Thurman, to the heroic, such as the nun who brings Buddhist teachings to hardened criminals in jail, the extraordinary - like the Buddhist diamond merchant, and the ordinary made remarkable - like the woman Queensland woman dying a good Buddhist death. Popular rather than scholarly in tone, Why Buddhism? should appeal to those of us who are keen to know more about a religion that is much talked about but little understood.

Cave In The Snow

Posted on 2008-12-26 by Vicki Mackenzie

Author: Vicki Mackenzie

Publisher: Bloomsbury Publishing USA

ISBN: 9781596918504

Category: Body, Mind & Spirit

Page: 256

This is the incredible story of Tenzin Palmo, a remarkable woman who spent 12 years alone in a cave 13,000 feet up in the Himalayas. At the age of 20, Diane Perry, looking to fill a void in her life, entered a monastery in India--the only woman amongst hundreds of monks---and began her battle against the prejudice that had excluded women from enlightenment for thousands of years. Thirteen years later, Diane Perry a.k.a. Tenzin Palmo secluded herself in a remote cave 13,000 feet up in the Himalayas, where she stayed for twelve years. In her mountain retreat, she face unimaginable cold, wild animals, floods, snow and rockfalls, grew her own food and slept in a traditional wooden meditation box, three feet square. She never lay down. Tenzin emerged from the cave with a determination to build a convent in northern India to revive the Togdenma lineage, a long-forgotten female spiritual elite. She has traveled around the world to find support for her cause, meeting with spiritual leaders from the Pope to Desmond Tutu. She agreed to tell her story only to Vicky Mackenzie and a portion of the royalties from this book will help towards the completion of her convent.

Child of Tibet

Posted on 2007 by Soname Yangchen,Vicki Mackenzie

The Story of Soname's Flight to Freedom

Author: Soname Yangchen,Vicki Mackenzie

Publisher: Piatkus Books

ISBN: 9780749951399

Category: Exiles

Page: 184

This book tells the remarkable story of Soname's triumph over adversity, told against the backdrop of a turbulent and dangerous Tibet. Soname was born in the harsh Tibetan countryside during the Chinese occupation. When she was just sixteen Soname risked death in a freedom trek across the Himalayas, finally arriving in Dharamsala, home in exile of the Dalai Lama. Even after managing to escape from Tibet, she faced further dangers and heartache in India, being forced by destitution to give her daughter away. Soname later managed to reach England, where she met and married an Englishman and came to live in Brighton. Her hidden talent was discovered when she sang a traditional Tibetan song at a wedding reception, unaware that a member of a famous band was a guest. Concerts followed. Tracing her long-lost daughter has long been Soname's preoccupation, and it is hoped that her daughter will finally join her in England later this year. Hers is a story of immense will, unbelievable courage and, above all, an indomitable soaring free spirit.

Dakini Power

Posted on 2013-04-09 by Michaela Haas

Twelve Extraordinary Women Shaping the Transmission of Tibetan Buddhism in the W est

Author: Michaela Haas

Publisher: Shambhala Publications

ISBN: 0834828375

Category: Religion

Page: 344

What drives a young London librarian to board a ship to India, meditate in a remote cave by herself for twelve years, and then build a flourishing nunnery in the Himalayas? How does a surfer girl from Malibu become the head of the main international organization for Buddhist women? Why does the daughter of a music executive in Santa Monica dream so vividly of peacocks one night that she chases these images to Nepal, where she finds the love of her life in an unconventional young Tibetan master? The women featured in Dakini Power—contemporary teachers of Tibetan Buddhism, both Asians and Westerners, who teach in the West—have been universally recognized as accomplished practitioners and brilliant teachers whose life stories demonstrate their immense determination and bravery. Meeting them in this book, readers will be inspired to let go of old fears, explore new paths, and lead the lives they envision. Featured here are: • Jetsun Khandro Rinpoche (This Precious Life) • Dagmola Sakya (Princess in the Land of Snows) • Jetsun Tenzin Palmo (Diane Perry) (Into the Heart of Life) • Pema Chödrön (Deirdre Blomfield-Brown) (When Things Fall Apart; Start Where You Are) • Khandro Tsering Chödron (most familiar to readers as the late aunt of Sogyal Rinpoche, author of The Tibetan Book of Living and Dying) • Thubten Chodron (Cherry Greene) (Buddhism for Beginners; Taming the Mind) • Karma Lekshe Tsomo (Patricia Zenn) (Buddhism Through American Women’s Eyes) • Chagdud Khadro (Jane Dedman) (P’howa Commentary; Life in Relation to Death) • Sangye Khandro (Nanci Gay Gustafson) (Meditation, Transformation, and Dream Yoga) • Roshi Joan Halifax (Being with Dying) • Lama Tsultrim Allione (Joan Rousmanière Ewing) (Women of Wisdom; Feeding Your Demons) • Elizabeth Mattis-Namgyel (The Power of an Open Question)

Chronicles of Love and Death

Posted on 2011-05-01 by Norma Levine

My Years with the Lost Spiritual King of Bhutan

Author: Norma Levine

Publisher: N.A

ISBN: 9789937506489

Category: Bhutan

Page: 300

The Life of Buddhism

Posted on 2000 by Frank Reynolds,Jason A. Carbine

Author: Frank Reynolds,Jason A. Carbine

Publisher: Univ of California Press

ISBN: 9780520223370

Category: Religion

Page: 230

Bringing together 15 essays by international Buddhist scholars, this book offers a distinctive portrayal of the life of Buddhism. The contributors focus on a range of religious practices across the Buddhist world, from New York to Tibet.

Interconnected

Posted on 2017-02-28 by Ogyen Trinley Dorje Karmapa

Embracing Life in Our Global Society

Author: Ogyen Trinley Dorje Karmapa

Publisher: Simon and Schuster

ISBN: 1614294127

Category: Psychology

Page: 264

Plucked from a humble nomad family to become the leader of one of Tibet’s oldest Buddhist lineages, the young Seventeenth Karmapa draws on timeless values to create an urgent ethic for today’s global community. We have always been, and will always be, interconnected—through family, community, and shared humanity. As our planet changes and our world grows smaller, it is vital we not only recognize our connections to one another and to the earth but also begin actively working together as interdependent individuals to create a truly global society. The Karmapa, Ogyen Trinley Dorje, is uniquely positioned to guide us in this process. Drawing on years of intensive Buddhist training and a passionate commitment to social issues, he teaches how we can move from a merely intellectual understanding to a fully lived experience of connection. By first seeing, then feeling, and finally living these connections, we can become more effective agents of social and ethical change. The Karmapa shows us how gaining emotional awareness of our connectedness can fundamentally reshape the human race. He then guides us to action, showing step by step how we can change the way we use the earth’s resources and can continue to better our society. In clear language, the Karmapa draws connections between such seemingly far-flung issues as consumer culture, loneliness, animal protection, and self-reliance. In the process, he helps us move beyond theory to practical and positive social and ethical change.

The Life of My Teacher

Posted on 2017-07-11 by Dalai Lama

A Biography of Kyabjé Ling Rinpoché

Author: Dalai Lama

Publisher: Simon and Schuster

ISBN: 1614293325

Category: Biography & Autobiography

Page: 480

The Sixth Ling Rinpoch� (1903-83) was a towering figure in Tibetan Buddhism. Combining great learning with great humility, he was ordained by the Thirteenth Dalai Lama and went on to serve as the head of the Geluk tradition and as the senior tutor to the present Dalai Lama. In temperament and wisdom, he was a singular influence on the Dalai Lama's spiritual development, and he became a steadying presence for His Holiness during the chaotic changes that defined the Tibetan experience of the twentieth century, with the invasion of their county by Communist forces and the subsequent rebuilding of their culture in India. Ling Rinpoch�'s extensive travels among exiled communities abroad and across India buoyed the spirits of the Tibetan diaspora, and the training and activities of this consummate Buddhist master, here told in the Dalai Lama's own words, will inspire and amaze. Fiftyfive colour and seventyfive blackandwhite archival photos bring the text to life.

A Plea for the Animals

Posted on 2016-10-04 by Matthieu Ricard

The Moral, Philosophical, and Evolutionary Imperative to Treat All Beings with Compassion

Author: Matthieu Ricard

Publisher: Shambhala Publications

ISBN: 0834840545

Category: Nature

Page: 352

Every cow just wants to be happy. Every chicken just wants to be free. Every bear, dog, or mouse experiences sorrow and feels pain as intensely as any of us humans do. In a compelling appeal to reason and human kindness, Matthieu Ricard here takes the arguments from his best-sellers Altruism and Happiness to their logical conclusion: that compassion toward all beings, including our fellow animals, is a moral obligation and the direction toward which any enlightened society must aspire. He chronicles the appalling sufferings of the animals we eat, wear, and use for adornment or "entertainment," and submits every traditional justification for their exploitation to scientific evidence and moral scrutiny. What arises is an unambiguous and powerful ethical imperative for treating all of the animals with whom we share this planet with respect and compassion.

Four-Session Guru Yoga by Miky Dorje

Posted on 2013-02-12 by Khenpo Karthar Rinpoche

Khenpo Karthar Rinpoche's Commentary Based on the Commentary by Karma Chakme Rinpoche

Author: Khenpo Karthar Rinpoche

Publisher: N.A

ISBN: 9781934608364

Category: Religion

Page: 87

The Four-Session Guru Yoga that we practice, composed by the Eighth Karmapa Miky Dorje, was based on an earlier guru yoga found in the writings of Lama Shangtsalpas (Lord Gampopas disciple), secret teachings that were sealed by command seal. Miky Dorje used this as the basis for his composition. There is a commentary on this practice written by the Ninth Gyalwang Karmapa Wangchuk Dorje, which is impracticably long. Chakme Rinpoche wrote his commentary because until that time there was no easily accessible commentary for doing Four-Session Guru Yoga. Chakme Rinpoche’s commentary presents the meditations and visualizations to be done at the various sections of the text. Includes the sadhana of Four-Session Guru Yoga by Miky Dorje and a CD with Khenpo Karthar Rinpoche chanting the sadhana. Thangka on front cover: The Eighth Gyalwang Karmapa Miky Dorje, Eastern Tibet 1800–1899, ground mineral pigment on cotton, from the collection of the Rubin Museum of Art, courtesy of the Shelley and Donald Rubin Foundation.

Set Free

Posted on 2017-04-10 by Emma Slade

A Life-Changing Journey from Banking to Buddhism in Bhutan

Author: Emma Slade

Publisher: Summersdale Publishers LTD - ROW

ISBN: 1786851512

Category: Travel

Page: 320

‘The man with the gun pushed me down onto the carpet. I tried to cower to make my body curl smaller, instinctively covering my head. ‘Oh God, please don’t kill me.’ My words clung to my teeth and now my whole body was so cold. All I had left were these words. ‘Please. Please don’t kill me. Jesus. God. Please.’ I wanted to live and I knew it with absolute certainty. I don’t want to die.’ Emma Slade was a high-flying debt analyst for a large investment bank, when she was taken hostage in a hotel room on a business trip to Jakarta. She thought she was lucky to come out of it unscathed, but over the ensuing weeks and months, as the financial markets crashed, Emma became her own distressed asset as the trauma following the event took hold. Realising her view on life had profoundly changed she embarked upon a journey, discovering the healing power of yoga and, in Bhutan, opening her eyes to a kinder, more peaceful way of living. From fast-paced City life to the stillness of Bhutan’s Himalayan mountains, ‘Set Free’ is the inspiring true story of Emma’s astonishing life lived to extremes and all that that entails: work, travel, spirituality, Buddhism, relationships, and the underlying question of what makes a meaningful life.

Tibetan Clothing and Jewellery

Posted on by Gina Corrigan

Nomads and Farmers of Amdo and Kham

Author: Gina Corrigan

Publisher: N.A

ISBN: 9781898113584

Category:

Page: N.A

A remarkable book, dedicated to the intricacies of Tibetan costume This book takes a textile-centric viewpoint, but also branches out into the lives of local Tibetan people who share their stories through interviews Exploring the vast range of materials and techniques used in the making of Tibetan clothing and ornaments, this book takes a closer, more intimate look at the different cultural groups within this diverse country, discussing how national costume relates to their everyday life. The technical approach will appeal to spinners, weavers, felt makers, braiders, embroiderers, jewellers and costume enthusiasts. The book will also interest many general readers in Europe and America who are fascinated by the aura of the Tibetan Region; the lifestyle of the people who live amongst Tibet's high peaks, emerald forests, and stunning lakes command world-wide interest. Richly illustrated with the author's evocative contemporary high quality photographs, dating from the mid 1980s, this book is a visual journey into the heart of the country. It documents the people, and their costumes and related crafts, focussing on the historical Tibetan regions of Amdo and Kham. Tibetan Clothing and Jewellery is unique in its reflection of historical material. It combines this academic knowledge base with original observations and wide-ranging interviews with nomads and farmers, all of which centre around costumes locally possessed and worn by Tibetans today."

Taming The Tiger

Posted on 2011-05-31 by Akong Tulku Rinpoche

Tibetan Teaching For Improving Daily Life

Author: Akong Tulku Rinpoche

Publisher: Random House

ISBN: 1446459764

Category: Religion

Page: 208

TAMING THE TIGER is based on twenty years Buddhist teaching in the West and aims to help anyone seeking the truth about suffering and happiness. The first part of the book deals with topics such as Impermanence, The Right Motivation, Facing the Situation, Body, Speech and Mind, Compassion, and Mindfulness. The second part is devoted to exercises, meditations and relaxation techniques for body and mind, including Feeling, Openness, Taking Suffering, Bringing the Buddha to Life and Universal Compassion. The exercises, designed to provide a base of self-knowledge, mind-therapy and self-healing have also been found beneficial in therapy workshops and in the treatment of psychological problems. TAMING THE TIGER comes from the Samye-Ling Tibetan Centre in Eskdalemuir, Scotland. This long-established community is well-known for its Buddhist teachings and for helping to preserve Tibetan culture. It is also increasingly renowned for its therapy courses and humanitarian activities. In 1992, Samye-Ling bought Holy Island as a retreat centre.

Reborn in the West

Posted on 1996-04-02 by Vicki Mackenzie

The Reincarnation Masters

Author: Vicki Mackenzie

Publisher: Da Capo Press

ISBN: 9781569248041

Category: Religion

Page: 215

Reborn in the West is an enthralling odyssey which seeks to uncover the mysteries behind reincarnation. Among the wealth of information that currently fuels the reincarnation debate, there is one story that towers above the rest. For the first time 'reincarnation masters' are appearing in the West - men and women who through profound meditation techniques can steer their consciousness at the time of death to the precise rebirth of their choice. Having reached this ultimate spiritual achievement, they elect to come back to earth for one reason only - to help all humanity attain the same freedom as themselves. Vicki Mackenzie goes in search of these spiritual adepts. She discovers who these reincarnates are, how they are identified, and what their mission is. En route she also encounters those leading the way in Western research into the phenomenon of past lives.

Reincarnation

Posted on 1989 by Vicki Mackenzie

The Boy Lama

Author: Vicki Mackenzie

Publisher: Bloomsbury Publishing

ISBN: 9780747503804

Category: Lamas

Page: 183

The story of a two-year old boy, Osel Hita Torres, who was recognized by the Dalai Lama as the reincarnation of Lama Yeshe, a prominent Tibetan lama who died in California in 1984. The book follows Osel from his birth to the present and also examines Lama Yeshe and his ideas about reincarnation.

Dakini's Warm Breath

Posted on 2002 by Judith Simmer-Brown

The Feminine Principle in Tibetan Buddhism

Author: Judith Simmer-Brown

Publisher: Shambhala Publications

ISBN: 157062920X

Category: Religion

Page: 432

The primary emblem of the feminine in Tibetan Buddhism is the dakini, ot "sky-dancer", a semiwrathful spirit-woman who manifests in visions, dreams and meditation experiences. Judith Simmer-Brown, an accomplished scholar and an experienced practitioner of Tibetan Buddhism, demonstrates how the dakini symbolises levels of Tibetan Buddhism, demonstrates how the dakini symbolises levels of spiritual realisation: the sacredness of the body, the profound meeting point of bidy and mind meditation, the visionary realm of ritual practice, and the empty, spacious qualities of the mind itself.

The Saffron Road

Posted on 2016-04 by Christine Toomey

A Journey with Buddha's Daughters

Author: Christine Toomey

Publisher: N.A

ISBN: 9781846274930

Category: Religion

Page: 370

A brief meeting with a Buddhist nun in India made a deep impression on Christine Toomey. It sent her on a two year, 60,000-mile odyssey to learn more about the contemporary women choosing in their thousands to become part of a long tradition of female spirituality that stretches back through the centuries and now embraces the radical possibility that the next Dalai Lama could be female.In The Saffron Road, Toomey follows in the footsteps of earlier generations of Buddhist nuns to trace the routes by which the philosophy has spread from a solitary order in a remote area of India in the 5th century BC, via 1950s San Francisco where Zen was popularised by the Beat generation, to the globally-renowned practitioners of mindfulness of today. Beginning her journey in the Himalayas, close to the birthplace of the Buddha, Toomey travels from Nepal, to India, through Burma, Japan and on to North America and Europe, along the way visiting contemporary nunneries to meet the women who practise there. Amongst those she talks to are a group of "kung fu" nuns, an acclaimed novelist, a princess, a concert violinist, a former BBC journalist, and a one-time Washington political aide. Through these conversations, the daily reality of the Buddhist existence is gradually revealed, together with the diverse spiritual paths leading these women towards nirvana.Combining travelogue, history, interviews and personal reflection, The Saffron Road opens the door to a rarely glimpsed world of ritual, discipline and enlightenment.