Talking with the dead was all the rage in the United States in much of the 19th century. Famous mediums attracted huge, and paying, audiences who wanted to communicate with their dearly departed. And the late 19th to early 20th centuries may have been the Golden Age of Séances, in both North America and Europe. The reasons for the heightened interest in talking with the dead are complex, but one was the rise of scientific discovery. For example, fossils were... Read more
Christian mysticism flourished in 13th century Europe. Many of the 13th century mystics were Beguines, whom I wrote about in the last post. Beguines were laywomen who wore habits and lived lives dedicated to charity, chastity, austerity, and piety. But they did so without joining the formal nuns’ orders. This gave them a bit more independence from the patriarchal Church than they would have had as nuns. Many of these mystics are identified today as part of a particular school... Read more
Beguines were women of medieval Europe — and later — who dedicated themselves to charity, chastity, poverty, and piety. They wore habits and usually lived together in communities called béguinages. But they were not nuns. They did not join any official religious order of the Catholic Church, and they were free to walk away from the religious life whenever they wished. The origin of the name Beguine has been lost. Beguines were part of a larger religious movement of the... Read more
The Mirror of Simple Souls is a classic work of medieval Christian mysticism that was lost for centuries. The book was originally written in Old French in about 1290 or so, possibly a few years later. It became popular and was translated into several languages. But Church authorities disapproved of it. The Inquisition burned every copy it could find and burned the author at the stake as well. The book was forgotten. But a few translations, copied without the author’s... Read more
Heracles was a hero of ancient Greek mythology. He’s better known to most of us by his Roman name, Hercules. Hercules was a favorite subject of Greek and Roman art. His muscular likeness was so widespread in the ancient world that it influenced Buddhist temple art in far-away China and Japan. This is the story of how Hercules reached Japan. This story begins with Alexander the Great (356–323 BCE), king of Macedonia. Before Alexander was born, Macedonia had conquered Greece... Read more
Tibet’s declaration of independence is a statement released by His Holiness the Thirteenth Dalai Lama, Thubten Gyatso (1876–1933), on February 13, 1913. In this statement the Dalai Lama said that Tibet’s long-standing relationship with China had been one of priest and patron, between Tibetan Buddhism and the succession of Qing emperors, not with the nation of China. With the fall of China’s last imperial dynasty and the establishment of the Republic of China, “the patron-priest relationship has faded like a... Read more
Britain invaded Tibet in 1903. The British did not intend to conquer Tibet but to warn Russia to stay out of it. British troops left Tibet in September 1904, believing they had made their point. But though this may be just a footnote of history, I say it’s a story worth telling. It reveals much about human nature, hubris, greed, confirmation bias, and the state of the world during a turbulent time. The invasion was not Tibet’s first encounter with... Read more
The government of China is in possession of a particular golden urn. This urn, it is alleged, is essential to choosing the tulku, or rebirth, of a Dalai Lama. You may be hearing a lot about the urn within the next few years. The Fourteenth Dalai Lama, His Holiness Tenzin Gyatso, is 87 years old. With all sincere wishes for his good health and long life, it must be acknowledged that he doesn’t have a lot of years left. And... Read more
China’s claim to Tibet as a territory of the People’s Republic of China (PRC) is an ongoing controversy. According to China, the invasion of Tibet by PRC troops in 1950 was not an invasion but a liberation. China and Tibet have been one nation since the 13th century, according to China. As you might have heard, Tibetans tend to see things differently. A large part of China’s claim to Tibet involves the lineage of Dalai Lamas. The last post, on... Read more
The Sixth Dalai Lama, Tsangyang Gyatso (1683–1706) didn’t want the job. He was enthroned as the Dalai Lama at age 16, but he wanted only to be a teenager. He renounced monastic vows and preferred to spend evenings in taverns with his friends to studying Buddhist philosophy. Today he is sometimes called the Playboy Dalai Lama. But the Sixth Dalai Lama’s life story is more of a tragedy than a joke. The existence of the Sixth Dalai Lama was a... Read more
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