Buddhist Traces in Song Daoism: A Case From Thunder-Rite (Leifa) Daoism

After the turn of the first millennium the Chinese religious landscape had developed to a degree that the production of hybrid Buddho-Daoist ritual texts was a widespread phenomenon. With the rise of a Daoist trend referred to as Thunder Rites (leifa 雷法), which matured during the mid- to late-Song 宋 Dynasty (960–1279) and did not solely pertain to any particular branch of Daoism, a new type of (often Buddho-Daoist) ritual practice had emerged, largely exorcistic in nature, that would eventually be incorporated into classical Daoist traditions. Practitioners of Thunder Rites were either members of the established Daoist orthodoxy or itinerant thaumaturges, referred to as ritual masters (fashi 法師). Buddhist Esoteric knowledge in the Song Dynasty was so wide-spread that it did not only find its way from “court to country”, but even back to court again—namely through Thunder Rite ritual masters like Wang Wenqing, who acted as the imperial preceptor of Emperor Huizong and in whose hybrid Buddho-Daoist productions of ritual texts the Buddhist traces had become almost invisible

Chinesische Chan- und tibetische rDzogs chen-Lehre : eine komparatistische Untersuchung im Lichte des philosophischen Heilskonzeptes ‚Nicht-Vorstellen‘ anhand der Dunhuang-Dokumente des chinesischen Chan-Meister Wolun und des Werkes <i>bSam gtan mig sgron</i> des tibetischen Gelehrten gNubs chen Sangs rgyas ye shes

In der vorliegenden Arbeit werden zwei buddhistische Traditionen betrachtet, die in der Entwicklung des Buddhismus in Zentralasien und Tibet zwischen dem 7. und 9. Jahrhundert eine entscheidende Rolle spielten: der chinesische Chan-Buddhismus und die tibetische rDzogs chen-Lehre. Gerade terminologische Ähnlichkeiten beider Traditionen, die sich aus der Natur der Sache ergeben, einen unmittelbaren Weg des Erkennens im buddhistischen Heilsgeschehen zu betonen, und besondere historische Ereignisse gaben in der tibetischen Tradition Anlaß zu heftigen doktrinären Auseinandersetzungen und Spekulationen darüber, ob die rDzogs chen-Lehre vom chinesischen Chan- Buddhismus beeinflußt worden sei oder gar hier ihre Ursprünge habe. Derartige Diskussionen sind deshalb auch eingebettet in eine sich über mehrere Jahrhunderte erstreckende und kulturübergreifende Diskussion über polare Ansichten im buddhistischen Erkenntnisprozeß: (1) die Methode des unmittelbaren, direkten Erkennens auf dem buddhistischen Erlösungsweg und (2) die des mittelbaren Erkennens über graduelles Kultivieren. Diese Auseinandersetzung um die polaren Strömungen spielte sowohl in der Entwicklung des chinesischen Chan-Buddhismus als auch in der des frühen tibetischen Buddhismus eine entscheidende Rolle. In der vorliegenden Studie wird exemplarisch der im Dunhuang-Gebiet in Zentralasien verbreitete Chan- Buddhismus anhand der Lehre Meister Woluns (ca. 545-626) veranschaulicht. Die Inhalte der rDzogs chen-Lehre werden entsprechend der Ausführungen des von gNubs chen Sangs rgyas ye shes im 9. Jahrhundert verfaßten Werkes bSam gtan mig sgron [Leuchte des Auges der Meditation] dargestellt. Als gedanklicher Knotenpunkt, welcher beide Lehrsysteme in dieser frühen Zeit zu verbinden schien, wird das philosophische Heilskonzept ,Nicht- Vorstellen‘ (wu fenbie, rnam par mi rtog pa) interpretiert, so daß sich schließlich eine Gegenüberstellung der beiden Traditionen aus dem Verständnis von ,Nicht-Vorstellen‘ ergibt

Efecto de la adición del absorbedor UV (Tinuvin 234) sobre la calidad del aceite de soja en envases de polietileno tereftalato (PET)

In this work, the effect of the addition of the UV absorber Tinuvin 234 on the quality of soybean oil packaged in PET bottles stored at ambient temperature for 6 months under fluorescent light (634 lux). Along this period determinations were made of: peroxide value (PV), free fatty acids (FFA), specific extinction at 232 and 270 nm (EE) and sensorial evaluation (SE). The analysis of variance and resistance between the linear coefficients of each treatment indicates that significant difference does not exist (pEn este trabajo, se investigó el efecto de la adición del absorbedor de UV Tinuvin 234 sobre la calidad de aceite de soja envasado en PET y almacenado bajo luz fluorescente (634 lux) y temperatura ambiente (25 °C) durante 6 meses. La evaluación del aceite se realizó mediante las determinaciones del: Índice de peróxido (IP), Ácidos grasos libres (AGL), Coeficiente de extinción específica a 232 y 270 nm (EE) y evaluación sensorial (AS). El análisis de varianza y de contraste entre los coeficientes lineales de cada tratamiento indica que no existe diferencia significativa (

Combined fit to the spectrum and composition data measured by the Pierre Auger Observatory including magnetic horizon effects

The measurements by the Pierre Auger Observatory of the energy spectrum and mass composition of cosmic rays can be interpreted assuming the presence of two extragalactic source populations, one dominating the flux at energies above a few EeV and the other below. To fit the data ignoring magnetic field effects, the high-energy population needs to accelerate a mixture of nuclei with very hard spectra, at odds with the approximate E$^{-2}$ shape expected from diffusive shock acceleration. The presence of turbulent extragalactic magnetic fields in the region between the closest sources and the Earth can significantly modify the observed CR spectrum with respect to that emitted by the sources, reducing the flux of low-rigidity particles that reach the Earth. We here take into account this magnetic horizon effect in the combined fit of the spectrum and shower depth distributions, exploring the possibility that a spectrum for the high-energy population sources with a shape closer to E$^{-2}$ be able to explain the observations

Studies of the mass composition of cosmic rays and proton-proton interaction cross-sections at ultra-high energies with the Pierre Auger Observatory

In this work, we present an estimate of the cosmic-ray mass composition from the distributions of the depth of the shower maximum (Xmax) measured by the fluorescence detector of the Pierre Auger Observatory. We discuss the sensitivity of the mass composition measurements to the uncertainties in the properties of the hadronic interactions, particularly in the predictions of the particle interaction cross-sections. For this purpose, we adjust the fractions of cosmic-ray mass groups to fit the data with Xmax distributions from air shower simulations. We modify the proton-proton cross-sections at ultra-high energies, and the corresponding air shower simulations with rescaled nucleus-air cross-sections are obtained via Glauber theory. We compare the energy-dependent composition of ultra-high-energy cosmic rays obtained for the different extrapolations of the proton-proton cross-sections from low-energy accelerator data

Study of downward Terrestrial Gamma-ray Flashes with the surface detector of the Pierre Auger Observatory

The surface detector (SD) of the Pierre Auger Observatory, consisting of 1660 water-Cherenkov detectors (WCDs), covers 3000 km2 in the Argentinian pampa. Thanks to the high efficiency of WCDs in detecting gamma rays, it represents a unique instrument for studying downward Terrestrial Gamma-ray Flashes (TGFs) over a large area. Peculiar events, likely related to downward TGFs, were detected at the Auger Observatory. Their experimental signature and time evolution are very different from those of a shower produced by an ultrahigh-energy cosmic ray. They happen in coincidence with low thunderclouds and lightning, and their large deposited energy at the ground is compatible with that of a standard downward TGF with the source a few kilometers above the ground. A new trigger algorithm to increase the TGF-like event statistics was installed in the whole array. The study of the performance of the new trigger system during the lightning season is ongoing and will provide a handle to develop improved algorithms to implement in the Auger upgraded electronic boards. The available data sample, even if small, can give important clues about the TGF production models, in particular, the shape of WCD signals. Moreover, the SD allows us to observe more than one point in the TGF beam, providing information on the emission angle