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With Karma 101, we'll turn this ancient Eastern doctrine on its head. Karma is notoriously vague concept; we'll outline the basics, debunk the mysteries surrounding it, and offer a kitschy but practical take on karma, including ways for readers to use it to their advantage - in this lifetime. Some of the tips offered include: Controlling your karma Deflecting other people's karma How to prevent coming back as a pauper in your next life Techniques to speed up karma Rooted in spirituality, this quirky introduction to karma is geared toward the armchair Buddhist. It is the only approach to this subject that isn't overly complex and esoteric. There's no need to wade through lengthy volumes of material-the essence of karma is within your grasp. Start practicing today!

Karma has become a household word in the modern world, where it is associated with the belief in rebirth determined by one’s deeds in earlier lives. This belief was and is widespread in the Indian subcontinent as is the word “karma” itself. In lucid and accessible prose, this book presents karma in its historical, cultural, and religious context. Initially, karma manifested itself in a number of religious movements—most notably Jainism and Buddhism—and was subsequently absorbed into Brahmanism in spite of opposition until the end of the first millennium C.E. Philosophers of all three traditions were confronted with the challenge of explaining by what process rebirth and karmic retribution take place. Some took the drastic step of accepting the participation of a supreme god who acted as a cosmic accountant, others of opting for radical idealism. The doctrine of karma was confronted with alternative explanations of human destiny, among them the belief in the transfer of merit. It also had to accommodate itself to devotional movements that exerted a major influence on Indian religions. The book concludes with some general reflections on the significance of rebirth and karmic retribution, drawing attention to similarities between early Christian and Indian ascetical practices and philosophical notions that in India draw their inspiration from the doctrine of karma.

Ouyi Zhixu (1599–1655) was an eminent Chinese Buddhist monk who, contrary to his contemporaries, believed karma could be changed. Through vows, divination, repentance rituals, and ascetic acts such as burning and blood writing, he sought to alter what others understood as inevitable and inescapable. Drawing attention to Ouyi's unique reshaping of religious practice, Living Karma reasserts the significance of an overlooked individual in the modern development of Chinese Buddhism. While Buddhist studies scholarship tends to privilege textual analysis, Living Karma promotes a balanced study of ritual practice and writing, treating Ouyi's texts as ritual objects and his reading and writing as religious acts. Each chapter addresses a specific religious practice—writing, divination, repentance, vows, and bodily rituals—offering first a diachronic overview of each practice within the history of Chinese Buddhism and then a synchronic analysis of each phenomenon through close readings of Ouyi's work. This book sheds much-needed light on a little-known figure and his representation of karma, which proved to be a seminal innovation in the religious thought of late imperial China.

What could be harder than facing your past? Try facing all of them at once! The redoubtable, indomitable, iconoclastic and just plain unusual Guinevere MacManus is up to the task. Along her journey to self-discovery she learns the meaning of love, sacrifice and redemption in this coming-of-age story for the New Age.

There’s no denying destiny . . . For too long, Benjamin Reese has masked his deadly skills and temper with loyalty and humor. A vampire-demon hybrid, he fiercely protects his family, guards his brothers, and destroys the enemy without mercy. But when he discovers one fragile, beautiful blonde—a woman once mated to a Kurjan, no less—every primal instinct he has buried for centuries roars to life. With the mating mark she roused on his hand entwining their fates, no one will prevent him from keeping her safe and making her his, forever . . . Or desire . . . Karma wishes she could remember her last name. Or if she even had one. All she has in this confusing new world is a desperate duty to save the innocent. That means destroying the dark, dangerous, and desirable Benjamin Reese and everything he loves—an impossible task even before his touch arouses a passionate hunger she can’t afford. She’s certain a deadly enemy watches her every move, but it’s not until Benny kisses her that she tastes true danger… “Spicy romantic interplay; highly recommended.” —Library Journal on Vampire’s Faith “Sizzling sex scenes and a memorable cast.” —Publishers Weekly on Claimed “A fast-paced, excitement-filled explosion of action. . .Zanetti keeps getting better.” –RT Book Reviews on Marked, 4.5 Stars Top Pick

Kumari's Karma takes place in Srilanka, then called Ceylon, in the 1960s, just twelve years after the country gained independence from Britain. A place in transition, Srilanka was torn between Western values, and Christian and traditional beliefs. The little fishing village of Malhena mirrors this transition, and is the background for a tender and tragic love affair between a young school girl, Kumari, and the Catholic parish priest. Their love transcends reincarnation, warnings given in dreams, and forbidden Christian beliefs. The novel gathers momentum when an exorcism misfires, and the devil takes possession of Yakka, Kumari's tyrannical father, making him fatally shoot his oldest daughter's suitor. While Yakka is in prison, the richest man in the village tries to seduce his wife, as the middle-aged police inspector woos Kumari. In distress, Kumari turns to the parish priest. One morning, the two disappear, as the novel comes to its astonishing conclusion. Doreen Perera was born in Srilanka, and grew up in a small village that had many colourful characters. The people there fascinated her so much that some inhabit her novel. Brought up Catholic, she also accepts traditional beliefs. Her father worked for an English company, so she was also brought up with an English influence. Perera earned a master's in social work from the University of Washington, and married a fellow student. She moved with him to Germany, where the couple had three children. Now widowed, she still lives in Germany and is a part-time English teacher. She dedicates this book to her partner.

Rickshaw's descent into the world of sensation and desire incurs mysterious nightmares all too real, starting with the obsessively expected death of his new fiance. Seeking help wherever he can find it, Rickshaw meets a blind fortuneteller who seems to know more about his destiny than anyone should. While fighting for his life and the life of his friends, our hero realizes all too late the bad karma of his ways. Only when Rickshaw loses touch with reality, when his loved ones and Jamayah face almost certain death, does his mentor appear. Together, they join forces with shamanic sorcerers in an attempt to reverse the deadly curse."

Immediate, illuminating, and hopeful: this is the key set of talks given by leading Zen Buddhist teacher Larry Ward, PhD, on breaking America’s cycle of racial trauma. As an 11-year-old child, Zen Buddhist teacher Larry Ward was shot at by the police for playing baseball in the wrong spot. As an adult, he experienced the trauma of having his home firebombed by racists. At Plum Village Monastery in France—the home in exile of his teacher, Vietnamese peace activist and Zen teacher Thich Nhat Hanh—Dr. Ward found a way to heal. In these short reflective essays, he offers his insights on the effects of racial constructs and answers the question: How do we free ourselves from our repeated cycles of anger, denial, bitterness, pain, fear, violence? “I am a drop in the ocean, but I’m also the ocean,” he says. “I’m a drop in America, but I’m also America. Every pain, every confusion, every good and every bad and ugly of America is in me. And as I transform myself and heal and take care of myself, I’m very conscious that I’m healing and transforming and taking care of America. I say this for American cynics, but this is also true globally. It’s for real.” Here, Ward looks at the causes and conditions that have led us to our current state and finds, hidden in the crisis, a profound opportunity to reinvent what it means to be a human being. This is an invitation to transform America’s racial karma.