The Kathmandu Valley is the most populated region of Nepal, and the Newar, probable descendants of the Kirati who settled in the Valley in the first millennium BCE, have for centuries created the art featured in Celestial Realms. In additin to Hindu and Buddhist sculpture and paintings, tribal works from the middle hill region are also included, providing a contrast with Newar production.

Between AD 900-1600, the native peoples of the Mississippi River Valley and other areas of the Eastern Woodlands of the United States conceived and executed one of the greatest artistic traditions of the Precolumbian Americas. Created in the media of copper, shell, stone, clay, and wood, and incised or carved with a complex set of symbols and motifs, this seven-hundred-year-old artistic tradition functioned within a multiethnic landscape centered on communities dominated by earthen mounds and plazas. Previous researchers have referred to this material as the Southeastern Ceremonial Complex (SECC). This groundbreaking volume brings together ten essays by leading anthropologists, archaeologists, and art historians, who analyze the iconography of Mississippian art in order to reconstruct the ritual activities, cosmological vision, and ideology of these ancient precursors to several groups of contemporary Native Americans. Significantly, the authors correlate archaeological, ethnographic, and art historical data that illustrate the stylistic differences within Mississippian art as well as the numerous changes that occur through time. The research also demonstrates the inadequacy of the SECC label, since Mississippian art is not limited to the Southeast and reflects stylistic changes over time among several linked but distinct religious traditions. The term Mississippian Iconographic Interaction Sphere (MIIS) more adequately describes the corpus of this Mississippian art. Most important, the authors illustrate the overarching nature of the ancient Native American religious system, as a creation unique to the native American cultures of the eastern United States.

AN INSTANT NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER! Judy I. Lin, #1 New York Times bestselling author of A Magic Steeped in Poison, weaves a dreamy standalone romance about a talented musician swept away to the Celestial Realm by a handsome duke in Song of the Six Realms. Xue, a talented young musician, has no past and probably no future. Orphaned at a young age, her kindly poet uncle took her in and arranged for an apprenticeship at one of the most esteemed entertainment houses in the kingdom. She doesn’t remember much from before entering the House of Flowing Water, and when her uncle is suddenly killed in a bandit attack, she is devastated to lose her last connection to a life outside of her indenture contract. With no family and no patron, Xue is facing the possibility of a lifetime of servitude playing the qin for nobles that praise her talent with one breath and sneer at her lowly social status with the next. Then one night she is unexpectedly called to the garden to put on a private performance for the enigmatic Duke Meng. For a young man of nobility, he is strangely kind and awkward, and surprises Xue further with an irresistible offer: serve as a musician in residence at his manor for one year, and he’ll set her free of her indenture. But the Duke’s motives become increasingly more suspect when he and Xue barely survive an attack by a nightmarish monster, and when he whisks her away to his estate, she discovers he’s not just some country noble: He’s the Duke of Dreams, one of the divine rulers of the Celestial Realm. There she learns the Six Realms are on the brink of disaster, and incursions by demonic beasts are growing more frequent. The Duke needs Xue’s help to unlock memories from her past that could hold the answers to how to stop the impending war... but first Xue will need to survive being the target of every monster and deity in the Six Realms. Also by Judy I. Lin: A Magic Steeped in Poison A Venom Dark and Sweet

Bob describes the book as providing Christian solutions to overcoming obstacles like self doubts, anger, anxiety and addictions of all kinds. Discovering and adopting the good realms can prepare a reader to live a happy and productive life.

"In his most ambitious work yet, Shermer sets out to discover what drives humans' belief in life after death, focusing on recent scientific attempts to achieve immortality by radical life extentionists, extropians, transhumanists, cryonicists, and mind-uploaders, along with utopians who have attempted to create heaven on earth. For millennia, religions have concocted numerous manifestations of heaven and the afterlife, the place where souls go after the death of the physical body. Religious leaders have toiled to make sense of this place that a surprising 74% of Americans believe exists, but from which no one has ever returned to report what it is really like. Heavens on Earth concludes with an uplifting paean to purpose and progress and what we can do in the here-and-now, whether or not there is a hereafter" --

If I were a god, there would be no evil under the heavens!If I become a demon, I'll slaughter all the gods!I am a Fiendgod. There is no longer any difference between the heavens and the earth!Stepping into the sky to become a god, purgatory to become a devil, all within a single thought!

In the epic tale that spans across realms, Captain Arion Stormrider and Empress Seraphina embark on a perilous journey to protect the realms from impending darkness. Their quest leads them through treacherous lands, where they encounter mythical creatures, uncover ancient prophecies, and forge alliances with beings of immense power. Seraphina, a powerful empress, possesses a deep understanding of the magical arts. Driven by her sense of duty, she seeks to safeguard the realms from those who would misuse their power. Her fiery determination and unyielding spirit make her a formidable force to be reckoned with. Throughout their journey, they encounter dragons, the majestic beings whose power and wisdom hold the key to unlocking ancient secrets. They face off against formidable adversaries, including Empress Seraphina herself, whose ambitions threaten to tip the balance of power in the realms.

Heaven and Earth devils ran rampant, ghosts and bloodthirsty, and he was well-established in the world, cultivating heaven-defying techniques. A word could be spoken day and night, while a word could be spoken to cause stars to fall. His words were like a myriad of curses, and his gaze was like a curse. It could intimidate all worlds, and could end the lives of hundreds of millions of creatures. I want all the stars in the universe to be my eyes, I want all living things to understand my own will ... Zhou Qing.

One day, Li Hao suddenly discovered that there was a new, miraculous WeChat in his phone; it could actually connect to the Gods and Demons of the Three Realms! From then on, Li Hao spread the name of the auction to the rest of the Immortal Demon Realm!

"The Buddha of this era and the Buddhas of past eras have all taught only two kinds of truths, and nothing more than these. ‘I have taught the Dhamma that I myself have directly penetrated. All the Dhamma I taught between the day I became enlightened and the day I took final Nibbāna – all the Dhamma I have taught are true. There is nothing I have taught which is untrue.’ ‘I have not taught a Dhamma which you cannot practise. Sañjaya Belatthiputta replied, ‘All the wise will go to the Buddha. The fools will come to me. Do not worry.’ A person can poison others, but the Dhamma will never poison anyone. Depend on the Dhamma, then, and not on the person. Mentality does not originate in the brain. In fact, there is not the slightest trace of mentality in the brain."