The Concise Oxford Dictionary of World Religions (1886 page)

BOOK: The Concise Oxford Dictionary of World Religions
9.88Mb size Format: txt, pdf, ePub
Pumbedita
.
Centre of Jewish learning, 2nd–4th cents. CE. The
academy
at Pumbedita and the academy at
Sura
were together the centres of Jewish scholarship in Babylon.
Pu
savana
.
A Hindu ritual (
sa
sk
ra
) to ensure the birth of a male child—vital for the proper performance of funeral (
raddha
) rites.
Punabbhava
(P
li ‘again-becoming’), the Buddhist understanding of rebirth. Since there is no self or soul being reborn, ‘rebirth’ suggests too strong an understanding of what continues. Re-becoming simply affirms that there are continuities of consequence, in which a consciousness of what is happening (as in the case of humans) is a part of the process.
Punar
j
ti
(Skt., ‘rebirth’). Hindu belief that the process toward release (
mok
a
) requires many rebirths—perhaps as many as 84 million.

Other books

The Windvale Sprites by Crook, Mackenzie
Ride Hard by Evelyn Glass
Despair by Vladimir Nabokov
Summerset Abbey by T. J. Brown
Star Trek by Dayton Ward, Kevin Dilmore
Bitter Medicine by Sara Paretsky
Hacia rutas salvajes by Jon Krakauer
Just Tricking! by Andy Griffiths
A Question of Honor by Charles Todd