The Concise Oxford Dictionary of World Religions (679 page)

BOOK: The Concise Oxford Dictionary of World Religions
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One of the earliest Buddhist literary compositions in the Avad
na style, being a collection of moral stories relating how good and evil deeds receive their appropriate retribution in the course of time.
Djinn
(fiery spirits in Islam)
:
see
JINN
.
Dmigs pa
(component in Tibetan Buddhist meditation)
:
D
(Jap.,
michi
or ‘way’; Chin.,
tao
). Used in Japan to identify some particular practice or discipline as religious; as a spiritual path. The term was borrowed out of similar usage in China (
tao
) and came to be associated not only with all the religions of Japan (e.g.
Shinto
as shin-d
or kami-no-michi, the ‘way of the
kami
’; Buddhism as
butsud
, or the ‘way of
buddha
’), but also the fine and the martial arts (e.g.
gad
/kad
, or the ‘way of flowers’ (
ikebana
);
chad
, of tea; and
kend
, of the sword). In general, an external skill is attained which helps the realization of an internal spiritual refinement. The room or hall where these are practised is known as d
j
.

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