Masao Abe (1915-2006) was a disciple of both Hisamatsu Shin’ichi and Nishitani Keiji, and maintained a close contact with D. T. Suzuki during the last ten years of Suzuki’s life.

His essay “God, Emptiness, and the True Self” The Buddha Eye.

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Abraham ben Samuel Abulafia was a Sicilian Kabbalist born in Saragossa, Spain in 1240. He is considered one of the most important, but also most complex, figures in Jewish mysticism. In his thirties, he immersed himself in the Sefer Yetzirah (Book of Creation) and began to teach a kind of Kabbalistic “Yoga” based upon the ontological value of Hebrew letters, numbers, and vowel points, as well as rigorous and moral ascesis or a practice of severe self-discipline or ascetism for spiritual reasons. He died sometime after 1291. Abraham ben Samuel Abulafia contributions can be found in the World Wisdom book, Pray Without Ceasing .

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Robert Aitken is one of the most widely respected Western teachers of Zen Buddhism. He first encountered Zen during World War II as a internee in a Japanese camp for enemy civilians in Kobe. Whilst in the camp he met and was much influenced by R.H. Blyth. Robert Aitken and his wife, Anne, founded the Diamond Sangha in Hawaii in 1959. Aitken-Roshi is the author of many articles and nine books, including Taking the Path of Zen (1985) and Original Dwelling Place: Zen Buddhist Essays (1996).

His contributions can be found in The Betrayal of Tradition: Essays on the Spiritual Crisis of Modernity edited by Harry Oldmeadow .

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His article “The Muslim World and Globalization: Modernity and the Roots of Conflict.” is featured in Islam, Fundamentalism, and the Betrayal of Tradition: Essays by Western Muslim Scholars

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Contributions from Shaykh Ahmad Al-‘Alawi can be found in the following World Wisdom books:

• The poem "Layla" in Music of the Sky: An Anthology of Spiritual Poetry
• "Treatise on the Invocation of The Divine Name" in Pray Without Ceasing: The Way of Invocation in World Religions

Ibn ‘Atâ’ Allâh Al-Iskandarî (1259-1309) was born in Alexandria. At age seventeen, he converted to tassawuf (Sufism), the mystical dimension of Islam. In 1287, he succeeded his master as head of Shâdhilî order. He devoted his life to teaching, spiritual direction, and writing. His contributions can be found in the World Wisdom book, Pray Without Ceasing

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His article "Every Branch in Me" is included in World Wisdom's anthology Every Branch in Me: Essays on the Meaning of Man . This anthology, whose title is taken from Mr. Almqvist's article, is is featured in World Wisdom's Perennial Philosophy series.

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Sri Anandamayi Ma (1896-1982) was one of the great Hindu saints of the 20th century. She was born in present-day Bangladesh. As a person of remarkable piety, sanctity, and wisdom, she came to the notice of both simple people and famous figures of India. During her long life, Anandamayi Ma traveled a great deal and assisted in the building or establishment of numerous ashrams and places of worship. Although born into a family that worshiped Vishnu, she became a devotee of Shiva. Her beatific presence and words of wisdom won her many followers and spread her renown. Many of Anandamayi Ma's sayings were written down and recorded in books.

The Essential Sri Anandamayi Ma is a concise and sensitive biography of Anandamayi Ma with important selections from her oral teachings, and many beautiful photos.

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David Appelbaum is a Professor of Philosophy at State University of New York at New Paltz and is the author of several books on spiritual philosophy including Gathering Sparks: Interviews from Parabola Magazine and The Shock of Love. A graduate of Harvard, Professor Appelbaum is also a former senior editor of Parabola. Appelbaum wrote the Foreword to Messenger of the Heart .

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Karen Armstrong is the internationally-renowned auther of numerous works including, Through the Narrow Gate (1980), an autobiographical account of her seven years as a Roman Catholic nun; Muhammad: A Biography of the Prophet (1992); A History of God (1993); Jerusalem: One City, Two Faiths (1996); The Battle for God ; and Buddha (2000). She teaches at the Leo Baeck College for the Study of Judaism, and in 1999 she received the Muslim Public Affairs Council Media Award.

Her article "Faith and Modernity" can be found in the The Betrayal of Tradition: Essays on the Spiritual crisis of Modernity edited by Kenneth (Harry) Oldmeadow.

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Osman Bakar is a scholar, teacher and writer. Dr. Bakar has written a dozen books and more than 100 articles on various aspects of Islamic thought and civilization, both classical and contemporary. He is one of the founding members and has also served as President of the Islamic Academy of Science of Malaysia. Dr. Bakar is currently Visiting Professor and Malaysia Chair of Islam in Southeast Asia at Georgetown University’s Center for Muslim-Christian Understanding. His essay "The Nature and Extent of Criticism of Evolutionary Theory" is included in the anthology Science and the Myth of Progress .

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Shojun Bando (1932-2004) was a Japanese scholar, author, translator, editor, and a revered Shin Buddhist priest. He was an influential figure, due in large part to his role in disseminating information on Shin Buddhism to the Western world. Rev. Bando taught for many years as Professor of Buddhism at Otani University in Kyoto, Japan. A prolific author on matters of Buddhism, he published many articles and books, including a contribution to the World Wisdom anthology on Shin Buddhism, Living in Amida’s Universal Vow: Essays in Shin Buddhism.

James Barr (1924-2006) was an author, seaman, navigator and practicing Buddhist whose article “Of Metaphysics and Polynesian Navigation” is included in Seeing God Everywhere. The article first appeared in Avaloka: A Journal of Traditional Religion and Culture.

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John Howard Benson was a noted graphic artist, calligrapher, stonecarver, author, and educator at the Rhode Island School of Design. With Arthur Graham Carey, he was the author of The Elements of Lettering. He died in 1956. Benson and Carey's essay, "The General Problem," is included in the anthology Every Man an Artist , edited by Brian Keeble .

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St. Bernardino of Siena, the “Apostle of Italy,” was born of noble parents at Massa, Italy, in 1380. He entered the Franciscan order in 1402 and became its vicar-general in 1437. He was the most famous preacher of his time and spoke in all parts of Italy with exceptional charisma. Three times he refused to become a bishop. He died in 1444. Six years later, he was canonized by Pope Nicholas V. Bernardino’s writings are, for the most part, formal treatises upon morality, asceticism, and mysticism. His contributions can be found in the World Wisdom book, Pray without Ceasing .

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World Wisdom has included essays by Wendell Berry in the following publications:

• The "Foreword" in God and Work: Aspects of Art and Tradition
• "Christianity and the Survival of Creation" in Seeing God Everywhere: Essays on Nature and the Sacred
• "Ignorance" in Science and the Myth of Progress
• "Two Economies" in Every Man An Artist: Readings In The Traditional Philosophy Of Art
• The "Foreword" in Of the Land and the Spirit: The Essential Lord Northbourne on Ecology and Religion

Mahmoud Bina was born in Tehran, Iran, in 1938. He received a doctorate in philosophy from the University of Göttingen, Germany, in 1969, and subsequently a master’s degree in mathematics from the University of Lausanne, Switzerland, in 1973. He taught a wide range of courses in mathematics as well as philosophy of science at Isfahan University of Technology, Iran, from 1977 until his retirement in 2006. Dr. Bina and his wife live in Isfahan, Iran.

Rodney Blackhirst lives in Bendigo, Australia, where he has lectured in Philosophy and Religious Studies at La Trobe University for the past decade. Dr. Blackhirst is a regular contributor to journals such as Sacred Web. Dr. Blackhirst’s article "Rudolf Steiner, Anthroposophy and Tradition" can be found in The Betrayal of Tradition: Essays on the Spiritual crisis of Modernity, edited by Harry Oldmeadow.

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Prof. Bloom's contributions to World Wisdom books include:

• The Shin Buddhist Classical Tradition: A Reader in Pure Land Teaching (vol 2) (editor)
• The Shin Buddhist Classical Tradition: A Reader in Pure Land Teaching (vol 1) (editor)
• The Essential Shinran: A Buddhist Path of True Entrusting (editor)
• Living in Amida’s Universal Vow: Essays on Shin Buddhism (editor)
• The essay "Shinran’s Vision of Absolute Compassion" in Living in Amida’s Universal Vow: Essays on Shin Buddhism
• The "Introduction" in Honen the Buddhist Saint: Essential Writings and Official Biography (edited by Joseph A. Fitzgerald)

Louis Brenner is Emeritus Professor of the History of Religion in Africa, School of Oriental and African Studies, University of London. He has published extensively on the history of Islam and of Muslim societies in West Africa, with special emphasis on the dynamics and transmission of Muslim thought and ideas, and on Sufism.

Brenner wrote the introduction to the World Wisdom title A Spirit of Tolerance: The Inspiring Life of Tierno Bokar by Amadou Hampâté Bâ. Dr. Brenner's book West African Sufi: The Religious Heritage and Spiritual Search of Cerno Bokar Saalif Tall is an excellent complement to A Spirit of Tolerance, providing much context, additional information, and insight on the life and teachings of Tierno Bokar.

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Elenita and Marina (Weatherly) Brown are the wife and eldest daughter respectively of noted scholar of American Indian spirituality, Joseph Epes Brown

Elentia is a renowned dancer, teacher and artist, and was married to Joseph Epes Brown for nearly 50 years. Marina is a professional artist and educator. She is also the author of several articles and is editing a forthcoming biography of the late Susie Walking Bear Yellowtail, the first American Indian Nurse and wife of the Crow Sun Dance chief Thomas Yellowtail .

They are the co-editors of The Spiritual Legacy of the American Indian: Commemorative Edition with Michael Fitzgerald

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The late Joseph Epes Brown was a professor of Religious Studies at the University of Montana. A renowned author in the fields of American Indian traditions and World Religions, Brown was one of the founders of Native American Studies and was largely responsible for bringing the study of these religious traditions into American higher education. His publications include The Sacred Pipe (1953), his famous recounting of the sacred rites of the Oglala Sioux.

Dr. Brown's work appears in the following World Wisdom books:

• The Spiritual Legacy of the American Indian (author)
• "On Being Human" in Every Branch in Me
• "Becoming Part of It" in Seeing God Everywhere

Titus Burckhardt (1908-1984) was one of the leading perennialist writers of the twentieth century. His writings showed remarkable scope. Burckhardt wrote on pure metaphysics, on tradition and modern science, on sacred art, on history and political science, and on various other aspects of traditional civilizations. Burckhardt was also a translator (from Arabic into French), an editor and publisher, and a respected consultant on restoring traditional cities to their former beautiful states. World Wisdom has published the following books by Burckhardt:

In addition, numerous Titus Burckhardt essays have appeared in various World Wisdom anthologies. Our free online Library has many essays and excerpts from Burckhardt's writings.

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Julia Cairns is a full-time fine artist and illustrator known for her colorful images and her joyous, whimsical style. In addition to creating illustrations for children’s books, Julia has exhibited her fine art in numerous shows and galleries. Ms. Cairns provided the distinctive illustrations for Spirit of the Cheetah: A Somali Tale (January 2021), written by Karen Lynn Williams and Khadra Mohammed. It is a Somali coming-of-age tale about a boy who needs to win a race but who must first discover how to capture the spirit of that fastest running animal on the planet in order to accomplish his goal.

Tantoo Cardinal is considered by many as the world's most widely recognized American Indian actress. Raised among the Cree, she turned her political activism into an acting career that has included roles as the knowing wife of the Medicine Man in "Dances With Wolves" (1990), the poignant childless companion of Rip Torn in "Where the Rivers Flow North" (1993) and the mother of Brad Pitt's wife in "Legends of the Fall" (1994).

Cardinal is the narrator of the World Wisdom documentary Native Spirit . Excerpts from an interview with her appear in Living in Two Worlds: The American Indian Experience.

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Arthur Graham Carey wrote extensively on the perennial understanding of art from a Roman Catholic perspective. Many of his lectures and essays appeared in the Catholic Art Quarterly (later Good Works); others were published as pamphlets. The publisher Sophia Perennis at Universalis of Ghent, NY, is currently preparing a collection of his works for publication. His article, "The General Problem," can be found in Every Man An Artist .

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Jane Fatima Casewit is a writer, translator, and educator who lives in Morocco. Her interests focus on comparative religion and traditionalist studies, particularly in the area of West African Islam and Sufism.

She has published several articles on gender in the light of tradition, including "Islamic Cosmological Concepts of Femininity," which can be found in The Betrayal of Tradition: Essays on the Spiritual Crisis of Modernity, edited by Kenneth (Harry) Oldmeadow. Mrs. Casewit also translated the French classic The Life and Teachings of Tierno Bokar by Amadou Hampaté Bâ for the World Wisdom edition, A Spirit of Tolerance: The Inspiring Life of Tierno Bokar.

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Mrs. Casey has been with World Wisdom since 1981, and in her capacity as editor she had the opportunity to meet frequently with Frithjof Schuon for the publication of many of his books in English translation. Her current responsibilities involve working with other translators and editors on the translation and cataloging of Schuon's correspondence and unpublished papers for the future use of interested readers and scholars.

Mrs. Casey is the editor of Light on the Ancient Worlds, published by World Wisdom. Light on the Ancient Worlds is the first in a new series of Frithjof Schuon's classical works which have been extensively revised and updated.

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Jennifer Casey is an independent film maker and director who has traveled extensively throughout the Plain Indians reservations. A former teacher, Mrs. Casey has met with numerous tribal leaders and Sun Dance chiefs.

Jennifer Casey is the director of the following World Wisdom documentaries: Native Spirit and The Sun Dance Way, and Frithjof Schuon: Messenger of the Perennial Philosophy. She also wrote and directed the 49-minute documentary Origins of the Perennialist School, which can be viewed on the World Wisdom website or on youtube.

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F. Clive-Ross was the founder, publisher and editor of the journal Studies in Comparative Religion and its predecessor Tomorrow. For nearly 20 years under Clive-Ross’ guidance, Studies was one of the predominant platforms for discussion of all issues to pertaining to comparative religious studies. Clive-Ross also founded the publishing house, Perennial Books Ltd, and was a trustee of the “World of Islam Festival”. He died in 1981.

World Wisdom has proudly sponsored a new beginning for Studies. All of the original issues are being placed on a custom website: www.studiesincomparativereligion.com. Mr. Clive-Ross's editorials appear in the compilations of Studies in Comparative Religion issues published by World Wisdom:

• Studies in Comparative Religion - Commemorative Annual Edition 1967 (editor)
• Studies in Comparative Religion - Commemorative Annual Edition 1968 (editor)
• Studies in Comparative Religion - Commemorative Annual Edition 1969 (editor)
• Studies in Comparative Religion - Commemorative Annual Edition 1970 (editor)

Cecil Collins, writer, teacher and artist explored many visions in his art. His major essay ‘The Vision of the Fool’ was first published in 1947. Mr. Collins had numerous exhibitions throughout his lifetime, including a major Retrospective Exhibition at the Tate Gallery, London in 1989. Another essay that he wrote, "Why does Art today lack inspiration?", is featured in Every Man An Artist .

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Brian Coman is a former research biologist who worked for the Department of Natural Resources and Environment in Victoria, Australia. As well as numerous scientific publications, he is the author of Tooth and Nail: The Story of the Rabbit in Australia (1999). He has also published a number of essays, mainly in Quadrant. Dr Coman is currently enrolled as a postgraduate research student at La Trobe University, Bendigo, where his doctoral thesis argues a defense of the Judeo-Christian tradition against the criticisms of contemporary ecological historians.

Dr Coman's article "Never say die ... without a cause" can be found in The Betrayal of Tradition , edited by Kenneth Oldmeadow.

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A. K. Coomaraswamy's writings available through World Wisdom include:

• The Wisdom of Ananda Coomaraswamy: Selected Reflections on Indian Art, Life, and Religion, edited by S. Durai Raja Singam and Joseph A. Fitzgerald (November 2011).
• The Essential Ananda K. Coomaraswamy, a unique collection of A. K. Coomaraswamys work edited by his son, Rama Coomaraswamy.
• Figures of Speech or Figures of Thought is a revised edition of his classic work on the philosophy of art.
• Numerous essays in World Wisdom's anthologies. Click here to see the entire list.
• Click here to see the list of articles (with links to them) by A. K. Coomaraswamy in our online library.
• There are also a number of articles about A. K. Coomaraswamy in World Wisdom's online library.

Dr. Rama P. Coomaraswamy (1929-2006), son of the renowned perennialist writer Ananda K. Coomaraswamy, was in his own right an important writer on traditionalist topics, especially regarding Christianity and the influx of modernistic ideas and practices in this ancient apostolic tradition.

Dr. Coomaraswamy wrote what to our knowledge is the most detailed study of the modern changes to the Catholic rites and doctrines. This unrelenting analysis of the errors of modern insertions into Catholic tradition was originally published in 1972 but recently updated in a new edition in The Destruction of the Christian Tradition: Updated and Revised. He also collaborated with World Wisdom as the editor of The Essential Ananda K. Coomaraswamy; in addition, several of his important essays on Christianity, and Tradition, have been included in other World Wisdom collections.

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J. C. Cooper's writing is represented in “The Symbolism of the Taoist Garden” in Light from the East: Eastern Wisdom for the Modern West and “The Yin and the Yang in Nature” in Seeing God Everywhere: Essays on Nature and the Sacred. World Wisdom will publish a collection of her essays, along with beautiful Taoist art, in An Illustrated Introduction to Taoism, in 2010.

Vincent Cornell is a summa cum laude graduate of the University of California, Berkeley. He received his Ph.D. in Islamic Studies from the University of California, Los Angeles in 1989. Throughout the next decade, he taught at a number of prominent universities before becoming a Professor of History and Director of the King Fahd Center for Middle East and Islamic Studies at the University of Arkansas. His pre-modern interests cover the entire spectrum of Islamic thought from Sufism to philosophy and Islamic law. Mr. Cornell is the author of the foreword to The Path of Muhammad.

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His article "Towards a New Dreaming" can be found in The Betrayal of Tradition: Essays on the Spiritual Crisis of Modernity , edited by Harry Oldmeadow.

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For World Wisdom, Dr. Crithchlow has written the forewords to:

• Chartres and the Birth of the Cathedral (revised) (by Titus Burckhardt)
• The Foundations of Christian Art: Illustrated (by Titus Burckhardt, edited by Michael Fitzgerald)
• Art from the Sacred to the Profane: East and West (by Frithjof Schuon, edited by Catherine Schuon)

Stephen Cross is on the Academic Board of the Temenos Academy and writes and lectures on aspects of Indian and European thought. In 1976 he produced a widely seen television series, The Traditional World of Islam, working closely with Titus Burckhardt, S.H. Nasr and other perennialists. He is currently completing a study of Schopenhauer's philosphy in relation to Indian thought; earlier books include Elements of Hinduism and (as joint author) Inward Lies the Way: German Thought and the Nature of Mind.

Stephen Cross is the author of the article Coomaraswamy, St. Augustine, and the Perennial Philosophy, which appears in the World Wisdom title Crossing Religious Frontiers.

HH The Dalai Lama has contributed the following pieces to World Wisdom books (click here to read the articles below in our free online Library):

• "A Tibetan Buddhist Perspective on Spirit in Nature" in Seeing God Everywhere
• "A Wish for Harmony" in Light from the East
• The "Foreword" in Samdhong Rinpoche: Uncompromising Truth for a Compromised World

Rohit Dalvi is a scholar of Indian Metaphysics and philosophy. He has been educated in India, the United States and France. Dr. Dalvi is currently teaching at Brock University, Canada.

Dr. Dalvi co-edited with Eliot Deutsch the new edition of The Essential Vedanta: A New Source Book of Advaita Vedanta.

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Eliot Deutsch is an eminent philosopher, teacher, and writer. He has made important contributions to the understanding and appreciation of Eastern philosophies in the West through his many works on comparative philosophy and comparative aesthetics. Deutsch is Professor of Philosophy and Chair of the Department of Philosophy, University of Hawaii.

Prof. Deutsch's classic sourcebook on Advaita Vedanta has been put into a new edition with changes and additions as The Essential Vedanta: A New Source Book of Advaita Vedanta. Dr. Deutsch co-edited the book with Rohit Dalvi.

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Born in 1905, Heinrich Dumoulin was one of the world's foremost Zen scholars. Works previously translated into English include Buddhism in the Modern World, Zen Enlightenment, Zen Buddhism: A History; Volume 1 India and China and Zen Buddhism: A History; Volume 2 Japan.

Father Dumoulin is the author of Zen Buddhism: A History; Volume 1 India and China and Zen Buddhism: A History; Volume 2 Japan.

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Waleed El-Ansary is a scholar, researcher, and writer who focuses on Islamic and neoclassical economic theories and their implications for law and policy. He contributed the remarkable essay "The Economics of Terrorism: How bin Laden is Changing the Rules of the Game" in Islam, Fundamentalism, and the Betrayal of Tradition.

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Peter C. Erb is a professor in the Religion & Culture department at Wilfrid Laurier University in Waterloo, Canada. He received his B.A. from Wilfrid Laurier, his M.S.L. from the Pontifical Institute of Medieval Studies, Toronto University, and his Ph.D. from Toronto University. Dr. Erb contributed the foreword to The Quiet Way: Selections From The Letters of Gerhard Tersteegen .

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St. Jean Eudes (1601-1680) belonged to the “French School,” a movement for the renewal of religious life in the seventeenth century. Ordained in 1625, he founded the Order of Our Lady of Charity of the Refuge in 1641 and the Congregation of Jesus and Mary in 1643. His major contribution to the Church as a whole was his foundation of public devotion to the Sacred Heart. Eudes composed the mass and office of the Sacred Heart in 1668-1669, and a feast of the Sacred Heart was first celebrated by Eudist communities on 1672. He was canonized in 1925. St. Jean Eudes contributions can be found in the World Wisdom book, Pray without Ceasing .

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Antoine Faivre is Professor Emeritus of Religious Studies at the École Pratique des Hautes Études and Chair of the History of Esoteric Currents in Modern and Contemporary Europe (Sorbonne). Professor Faivre’s books in English include Access to Western Esotericism, The Golden Fleece and Alchemy, The Eternal Hermes,and Theosophy, Imagination, Tradition; he is editor (with Jacob Needleman) of Modern Esoteric Spirituality.

Prof. Faivre contributed the foreword to The Fullness of God: Frithjof Schuon on Christianity .

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John F. Finamore is Professor and Chair in the Department of Classics at the University of Iowa. His areas of research interest include Neoplatonic philosophy from Plotinus to Philoponus, Greek and Roman philosophy, and Roman poetry. His most recent publication is Iamblichus’ De Anima: Text, Translation, and Commentary (with J.M. Dillon). Dr. Finamore also serves as President of the U.S. Section of the International Society of Neoplatonic Studies and is Editor for book manuscripts in Neoplatonism for the Brill Press Series.

Prof. Finamore has written the foreword to The Golden Chain .

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Joseph Fitzgerald has authored or edited several books on diverse world religions and philosophy that have won more than ten awards, including the prestigious Benjamin Franklin Award. The subjects include Buddhism, Hinduism, the American Indians, Christianity, the ecological crisis and the Perennial Philosophy. Fitzgerald studied Comparative Religion at Indiana University, where he also earned a Doctor of Jurisprudence degree. He is an adopted grandson of Thomas Yellowtail, one of the most honored American Indian spiritual leaders of the last century. For more than thirty years, Joseph has traveled extensively throughout the American Indian, Oriental and Islamic worlds. He has edited the following books for World Wisdom:

The books that Judith Fitzgerald has edited, and designed, along with her husband Michael Fitzgerald are:

Bishop Thomas C Fouhy was born in New Zealand in 1908 and was ordained in 1943. He worked in Australia, New Zealand, Great Britain and the United States. He is the author of The Challenge of Truth and contributed to The Destruction of the Christian Tradition .

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Rodney Frey is an educator and writer on world religions, but particularly on North American Indian traditions. Prof. Frey explains that his professional interests center on "the role and the significance of the oral traditions, particularly as those traditions influence a people's relationships with their ‘landscape’ and mediate the impact of Euro-American changes." He is Professor of American Indian Studies and Anthropology at the University of Idaho. Prof. Rodney Frey wrote the foreword for Paul Goble's Tipi: Home of the Nomadic Buffalo Hunters .

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Mohandas K. Gandhi was born in India in 1869. He attended law school in London. His early career took him to Southern Africa where he worked unceasingly to improve the rights of immigrant Indians. It was there that he developed his notion of non-violent resistance against injustice, and he was frequently jailed as a result of the protests he led.

His contributions can be found in the World Wisdom book, Pray without Ceasing .

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Prolific sculptor, writer and letter-cutter, Eric Gill, designed a classic typeface which is still in use today. He was also instrumental in the artistic revival of masonry and stone-cutting in the early years of the twentieth century. Mr. Gill wrote numerous books on art and beauty that continue to inspire present-day letter-cutters.

Mr. Gill's essays, "The Four Causes" and ”Of Beauty”, can be found in Every Man an Artist edited by Brian Keeble .

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Paul Goble is an award-winning author and illustrator of over 30 children's books. Goble's life-long fascination with Native Americans of the plains began during his childhood when he became intrigued with their spirituality and culture. His illustrations accurately depict Native American clothing, customs and surroundings in brilliant color and detail. Goble researches ancient stories and retells them for his young audience in a manner sympathetic to Native American ways. Mr. Goble has authored or contributed to the following World Wisdom titles:

• Red Cloud’s War: Brave Eagle’s Account of the Fetterman Fight (author/illustrator)
• Horse Raid: The Making of a Warrior (author/illustrator)
• Custer’s Last Battle: Red Hawk’s Account of the Battle of the Little Bighorn (author/illustrator)
• The Man Who Dreamed of Elk-Dogs (author/illustrator)
• The Woman who Lived with Wolves & Other Stories from the Tipi (author/illustrator)
• The Boy and His Mud Horses: And Other Stories from the Tipi (author/illustrator)
• The Earth Made New: Plains Indian Stories of Creation (author/illustrator)
• Tipi: Home of the Nomadic Buffalo Hunters (author/illustrator)
• All Our Relatives: Traditional Native American Thoughts about Nature (author/illustrator)
• The "Foreword" to The Gospel of the Redman: Commemorative Edition, by Ernest Thompson Seton
• "Remembering Marco Pallis" in The Way and the Mountain: Tibet, Buddhism, & Tradition, by Marco Pallis

Ernst Hoffman was born in Saxony in 1898. He studied architecture and philosophy at Freiburg University where he also developed his interests in painting and archaeology. In 1928 Hoffmann entered the Sangha and moved to the Island Hermitage in Ceylon where he took the name Anagarika Govinda. Several years later he committed himself to the Tibetan tradition and spent thirty years in the sub-continent before moving to the USA. Lama Govinda died in 1985. He was the author of many works on Tibetan Buddhism and of The Way of the White Clouds (1966) an account of his pilgrimage through central and Western Tibet.

Lama Govinda's article "The Fate of Tibet" can be found in The Betrayal of Tradition: Essays on the Spiritual Crisis of Modernity , edited by Kenneth (Harry) Oldmeadow.

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George Bird Grinnell (1849-1938) was a historian, naturalist, explorer, sportsman, and conservationist. He wrote several landmark books on the Pawnee, Blackfoot and Cheyenne peoples, having lived with and befriended the last generation to have known the glorious freedom of the buffalo days. His work is the focus of the fully illustrated title The Cheyenne Indians, which features over 100 photos and illustrations.

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Ishwar Harris is a professor of religion specializing in Eastern Religions, an expert on India’s culture and civilization, an author of books and articles, and a musician. Prof. Harris has devoted his career to studying Eastern religions, particularly Zen Buddhism. He currently teaches at the College of Wooster in Ohio. Prof. Harris has had extensive contact with Keido Fukushima, head abbot of the famous Tofukuji Monastery in Kyoto, and has written a book about him, The Laughing Buddha Of Tofukuji: The Life Of Zen Master Keido Fukushima , published by World Wisdom.

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Gray Henry lectures and writes on the spirituality of the world's sacred traditions and has published in this field for many years. Founder and trustee of the Islamic Texts Society and former director of Quinta Essentia Publications, she currently directs Fons Vitae Press and is a consulting editor for Parabola. Recently, she produced the video “The Sacred Name and the Heart's Celestial Garden: The Universal Use of the Rosary”.

At the "Paths to the Heart" Conference held at the University of South Carolina, Ms. Henry presented a paper on “Beads of Faith: St Seraphim of Sarov in Sufic Perspective”, which can be found in Paths to the Heart .

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John Herlihy was born into an Irish-American family in Boston, Massachusetts. Herlihy completed studies at a Paulist seminary. He works in Abu Dhabi at the University of Science, Technology and Research as a special advisor to the President. In addition to writing for such traditional journals as Sacred Web and Sophia, his publications include In Search of the Truth, Veils and Keys to Enlightenment, Modern Man at the Crossroads, and Near and Distant Horizons, all of which reflect upon the disparity between modernity and tradition and the pursuit of spirituality in today’s anti-spiritual world. He is also the author of Borderlands of the Spirit: Reflections on a Sacred Science of Mind and Wisdom’s Journey: Living the Spirit of Islam in the Modern World. Mr Herlihy is also the editor of The Essential René Guénon: Metaphysics, Tradition and the Crisis of Modernity.

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Gustie Herrigel spent many years in Japan with her husband Eugen Herrigel, the author of Zen in the Art of Archery — to which her own Zen in the Art of Flower Arrangement is a companion volume. Her article "The Substance of the Teaching" appears in Light From The East: Modern Western Encounters with Eastern Traditions .

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Hônen is the twelfth-century patriarch of Japanese Amidism, or the School of the Pure Land (Jôdo-Shû). His focus on the practice of nembutsu, or invocation of the Name of Amida, gave rise to the most popular form of Buddhism in Japan through the work of his disciple Shinran and the School of True Pure Land (Jôdo-Shin-Shû). His teachings are the focus of Honen The Buddhist Saint: Essential Writings And Official Biography (World Wisdom, 2006). Hônen's writing, "The buddha of boundless light & taking refuge in the right practice" is included in Pray Without Ceasing .

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Victor Sogen Hori received his doctoral degree in philosophy from Stanford University in 1976 and that same year was ordained a Zen monk in Kyoto. After devoting the next thirteen years to training at monasteries in Japan, he returned to the academic life in 1990. He is currently professor of Japanese religions in the Faculty of Religious Studies, McGill University.

Professor Hori is also the author of several books on Buddhism as well as the foreword to Heinrich Dumoulin’s Zen Buddhism: A History; Japan Volume 2.

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Dr. Âke Hultkrantz was recognized as a major authority on Native American religions and shamanism. He was a professor of religion at the University of Stockholm, Sweden. During the years 1948 and 1958, Professor Hultrkrantz conducted field work at the Wind River reservation, which resulted in his ground-breaking book, Native American Religions of North America: The Power of Visions and Fertility.

He contributed the introduction to The Spiritual Legacy of the American Indian: Commemorative Edition With Letters While Living with Black Elk . Âke Hultkrantz died in October, 2006.

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Toshihiko Izutsu was Professor Emeritus at Keio University in Japan and an outstanding authority in the metaphysical and philosophical wisdom schools of Islamic Sufism, Hindu Advaita Vedanta, Mahayana Buddhism (particularly Zen), and Philosophical Taoism.

Dr. Izutsu's essay "Creation According to Ibn ‘Arabî" is one of those included in the anthology Seeing God Everywhere: Essays on Nature and the Sacred .

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William J. Jackson is Professor Emeritus at IUPUI, where he taught courses in Comparative Religion in the Department of Religious Studies for 25 years. He served as the first Lake Scholar at the Lake Family Institute on Faith and Giving, Philanthropic Studies Center, IUPUI, from 2005 to 2008, and published The Wisdom of Generosity: A Reader in American Philanthropy (2008). He has published several books about South Indian religious culture, including Tyagaraja—Life and Lyrics, and Songs of Three Great South Indian Saints, and Vijayanagara Visions (all published by Oxford University Press). He is also the author of a book entitled Heaven’s Fractal Net: Retrieving Lost Visions in the Humanities (2008), about the symbolic meanings of fractal-like geometrical patterns found in the world’s cultures. He is currently working on a book exploring the “cultural DNA of America,” the deep stories, symbols, emblems, values and aspirations which have been formative and influential in American life.

Prof. Jackson is the editor of the forthcoming World Wisdom title, The Power of the Sacred Name.

Sri Swaminathan (born at Villipuram on May 20, 1894) was taken to Kalavai in his 13th year, when he was studying at Tindivanam, to be initiated into ascetic order and ordained as the 68th Acharya of the Kanchi Kamakoti Mutt. He was given the sanyasa name Sri Chandrasekharendra Saraswati.

He was affectionately called "Mahaswamigal" and "Walking God". His foremost concern was preservation of the Vedas, tradition and dharma. He advocated simplicity, shunned pomp, ostentation and extravagance. His exposition of Vedanta, sastras, and the dharmic duties attracted scholars and laymen alike, from far and wide.

Jagadguru His Holiness Sri Chandrasekharendra Saraswathi Swamigal is the author of the World Wisdom title Introduction to Hindu Dharma (2008).

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Born in Scotland, in 1872, Edward Johnston abandoned his early studies in medicine at Edinburgh University in order to pursue an interest in calligraphy. He was appointed by W. R. Lethaby to teach Lettering and Illumination at the newly formed Central School of Arts and Crafts in London in 1898. Around this time he began his research into letter forms in early manuscripts in the British Museum. He published his Writing & Illuminating, & Lettering in 1906, a legendary manual that has not been out of print since. He almost single-handedly revived the use of the broad-edged pen and both inspired and taught most of the early twentieth-century calligraphers and letter designers at his classes at the Central School and later at the Royal College of Art in London. He designed the famous sans serif alphabet used on the London Underground system. He was awarded the CBE in 1939, and died in 1944.

Johnston's essay "Formal Penmanship Defined by the Thing" is included in Every Man An Artist .

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William Johnston was born in 1925. A Jesuit priest, Johnston has focused on building contemplative bridges between Buddhism and Christianity in both his pastoral teaching and his writings. His books, including Christian Zen and The Inner Eye of Love, refer to the universal vocation of mysticism. In later life, Professor Johnston was based at Sophia University in Tokyo, where he taught courses on mysticism and meditation. His contributions can be found in the World Wisdom anthology, Pray Without Ceasing . Rev. William Johnston died in 2010.

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Master wood-engraver David Jones, was also a poet and essayist who produced some of the finest wood-engravings ever seen. His poem, In Parenthesis, was praised as one of the greatest English literary works produced after World War I. Mr. Jones also produced a magnificent series of colored inscriptions which were unique in lettering history that are still highly valued today. His article, "Art and Sacrament," can be found in Every Man an Artist .

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Kabīr was an Indian mystic born around 1440. He is widely recognized as a saint among Hindus, Muslims, and Sikhs. According to hagiographic accounts, his mother became pregnant after visiting a Hindu shrine. Upon delivery the child was given up for adoption and Kabîr was raised among a Muslim community of weavers. His spiritual perspective belongs to bhakti, the devotional longing for union with God. This perspective can be found expressed in his fresh, accessible poetry, the greatest of which is collected in the work, Bijak. His contributions can be found in the World Wisdom anthology, Pray Without Ceasing .

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Ibrahim Kalin is Assistant Professor of Islamic Studies at the College of the Holy Cross where he teaches courses on Islam, Islamic philosophy and theology, Sufism, Islam and the West, and Islam in the modern world. He is a recipient of the Center for Theology and Natural Sciences (CTNS) Science and Religion Course Program Award, 2002. His publications include articles on Islamic philosophy, Islamic science, and Western perceptions of Islam, and he has translated a number of Islamic philosophical texts from Arabic into English.

Kalin contributed the article "Roots of Misconception: Euro-American Perceptions of Islam Before and After September 11" to the World Wisdom anthology Islam, Fundamentalism, and the Betrayal of Tradition: Essays by Western Muslim Scholars .

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Philip Kapleau was, until his death in 2004, one of the West’s most authoritative teachers of Zen. He underwent thirteen years of training in Japan before establishing the Rochester Zen Centre in upstate New York. He wrote many influential books on Zen practice, including The Three Pillars of Zen and Zen: Dawn in the West. His article "The Private Encounter with the Master" appears in Light From The East: Modern Western Encounters with Eastern Traditions .

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Mr. Keeble has contributed the following to World Wisdom books:

Bernard Philip Kelly (1907–1958) was an English Catholic author whose thinking has been regarded as neo-scholastic and traditionalist (i.e. in the current of René Guénon). Kelly’s writings were especially concerned with the recalling of contemporary Christian thought to Thomism, and with the provision of a traditional and scholastic critique of the modern world. He also endeavored to prepare the ground for a sound Christian approach to the Eastern religions and in this regard corresponded regularly with perennialist author Ananda K. Coomaraswamy. Kelly contributed to Religion of the Heart, edited by S.H. Nasr and William Stoddart . Another article by Bernard Philip Kelly, "A Christian Approach to the Non-Christian Religions," appears in Ye Shall Know the Truth , published by World Wisdom.

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Peter Kingsley is an internationally renowned expert on the philosophical and mystical roots of the Western tradition, especially in Parmenides and Empedocles. Kingsley works with the sacred tradition that gave birth to the western world. His revolutionary understanding of the history as well as the destiny of western civilization has changed many people on the deepest level — transforming their awareness not only of who they are but also of their purpose in the modern world. He works closely with Native American elders as well as representatives of other spiritual traditions, and is an honorary professor at both Simon Fraser University in British Columbia and the University of New Mexico. He lives with his wife Maria in North Carolina. For further information visit www.peterkingsley.org.

Kingsley contributed the artcile "The Path of the Ancients: A Sacred Tradition Between East and West" to the forthcoming World Wisdom book, Crossing Religious Frontiers.

Kenneth Kraft is Professor of Religion Studies at Lehigh University, specializing in Japanese Zen and the new field of engaged Buddhist studies. In 1984–85, he was a postdoctoral fellow at Harvard University’s Reischauer Institute of Japanese Studies. At Lehigh, he has served as Chair of the Religion Studies department and as director of the College Seminar Program. Kraft has also taught at the University of Pennsylvania, Swarthmore College, and the Stanford University Japan Center in Kyoto.

Prof. Kraft has written a new foreword to John C.H. Wu's classic work, The Golden Age of Zen: Zen Masters of the T'ang Dynasty .

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M. Ali Lakhani graduated from Cambridge University before moving to Vancouver where he has practiced as a trial lawyer for 25 years. In 1998, he founded the traditionalist journal, Sacred Web, with the aim of identifying the first principles of traditional metaphysics and promoting their application to the contingent circumstances of modernity. The bi-annual journal has included contributions by many leading traditionalists. In the words of Professor Nasr, "Along with Sophia, Sacred Web is the most important journal in the English language devoted to the study of tradition."

Patrick Laude is a writer, editor, professor, and researcher in the fields of language, literature, symbolism, and mysticism. He is a professor at Georgetown University, currently at their School of Foreign Service in Qatar. Laude's writings have been published in the US and Europe in numerous journals. Dr. Laude's extensive contributions to World Wisdom include:

Henri Le Saux (Swami Abhishiktananda), 1910-1973, was a French Benedictine monk, author, and a "bridge between Hindu and Christian spirituality." In 1948 he moved to India and assisted in establishing a Christian ashram in southern India. He was later associated with Father Bede Griffiths at Saccidananda Ashram. Abhishiktananda spent the later years of his life as a wandering monk, eventually founding a hermitage on the banks of the Ganges in the Himalayas.

Books containing Le Saux's work include:

• A Christian Pilgrim in India: The Spiritual Journey of Swami Abhishiktananda, by Harry Oldmeadow
• "The Prayer of the Name" in Pray Without Ceasing, edited by Patrick Laude
• "Awareness and Return" in Not of This World: Treasures of Christian Mysticism, edited by James Cutsinger
• "Sannyasa" in Light from the East: Eastern Wisdom for the Modern West, edited by Harry Oldmeadow
• "The Depth Dimension" in Crossing Religous Frontiers

Leach contributed his essay, "Integration", for the book Every Man An Artist .

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Lev Gillet (pseudonym “a monk of the Eastern Church”) was a monk of both the Western Church’s Benedictine order and of the Eastern Church. Born in 1893, in Isère, France, his early life included service in World War I and university study of philosophy and psychology. Later in life, his work as a priest and scholar would take him across Europe and to the Near East. After entering the Orthodox Church, he was rector of the first French language Orthodox parish in Paris. Lev Gillet was also considered a pioneer of ecumenical and inter-religious dialogue. He died in 1980. His contributions can be found in the World Wisdom anthology, Pray Without Ceasing .

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C.S. Lewis was born in Belfast, Ireland on November 29, 1898. He was attending Oxford college in 1917 when he joined the British army to fight in World War One. In 1925, he became Fellow of Language and Literature at Oxford. Author of the famous Narnia chronicles, as well as numerous books about Christianity, his writings have been some of the most read books of all time. Lewis became a Professor of Medieval and Renaissance literature at Cambridge University. He died in 1963. Among his works, Lewis contributed to Ye Shall Know the Truth , published by World Wisdom.

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Martin Lings (1909-2005) was a leading member of the “Traditionalist” or “Perennialist” school and an acclaimed author, editor, translator, scholar, Arabist, and poet whose work centers on the relationship between God and man through religious doctrine, scripture, symbolism, literature, and art. He was an accomplished metaphysician and essayist who often turned to the world’s great spiritual traditions for examples, though he is probably best known for his writings on Islam and its esoteric tradition, Sufism.

Dr. Lings co-edited The Underlying Religion (2007) with Clinton Minnar. This book is a survey of central perennialist ideas and authors. Dr Lings contributed the following essays to various World Wisdom books:

Arvol Looking Horse was born on the Cheyenne River Reservation in South Dakota. At the age of 12, he was given the responsibility of becoming the 19th Generation Keeper of the Sacred White Buffalo Calf Pipe, the sacred pipe of the Lakota, Dakota and Nakota Nations. He is widely recognized as a chief and the spiritual leader of all three branches of the Sioux tribe.

Arvol Looking Horse is the author of White Buffalo Teachings and a guest columnist for Indian Country Today. A tireless advocate of maintaining traditional spiritual practices, Chief Looking Horse is the founder of the Big Foot Riders, a group which memorializes the massacre of Big Foot's band at Wounded Knee. He lives on the Cheyenne River Reservation in South Dakota.

Film interviews with Arvol Looking Horse on spirituality, tribal history, and advice for American Indian youth are a featured part of the documentary film and DVD on the Sun Dance entitled Native Spirit: The Sun Dance Way . An illustrated book, Native Spirit: The Sun Dance Way, by Thomas Yellowtail, also features the words of Arvol Looking Horse.

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Alexis York Lumbard is a busy mother and a gifted author of children’s books. Her newest book for World Wisdom (through the Wisdom Tales imprint) is Pine and the Winter Sparrow, illustrated by Beatriz Vidal. It is a beautiful retelling (with beautiful illustrations, too!) of a Native American story about the generosity of a tree to a suffering bird. Angels, Lumbard's previous book, is a small, but very poetical and colorful book for small children. The award-winning Angels was illustrated by the well-known artist Flavia Weedn. Alexis York Lumbard’s first book, the award-winning The Conference of the Birds (also a Wisdom Tales book), retells an ancient classic in a poetic way that is accessible to children. The art found throughout the book comes from the well-known illustrator, Demi.

Dr. Joseph Lumbard has edited the award-winning book Islam, Fundamentalism, and the Betrayal of Tradition (revised edition) for World Wisdom.

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An essay from Oren Lyons, "Our Mother Earth," is included in Seeing God Everywhere: Essays on Nature and the Sacred .

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Dr. Shaykh Abdul Mabud is the Director General of the Islamic Academy in Cambridge, England. A graduate of the University of Cambridge, Dr. Mabud also has a Masters degree from the University of Rajshahi, Bangladesh. He is the editor of Muslim Education Quarterly, and has written several books. He is the director of a major research project on curriculum and textbooks at the primary and secondary levels in Bangladesh and has also worked with other Muslim organizations both in England and abroad. Dr. Mabud lives in Cambridge.

Dr. Mabud wrote the foreword to The Path Of Muhammad: A Book On Islamic Morals And Ethics , by Imam Birgivi interpreted by Shaykh Tosun Bayrak .

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Angus Macnab was a gifted translator of Latin and Greek poetry, but as a profession he chose teaching. Mr. Macnab’s interest in Spain began in 1936, and after World War II he learned Spanish and decided to make Spain his home. In 1938, under the influence of G.K Chesterton and Hilaire Belloc, Angus Macnab embraced neo-scholasticism and traditional Catholicism.

Angus Macnab's article, "The Monk and the Caliph," appears in Ye Shall Know the Truth: Christianity and the Perennial Philosophy, and two chapters of his fascinating book Spain under the Crescent Moon are included in Sufism: Love and Wisdom.

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Chaitanya Mahaprabhu was born in West Bengal, India in 1486. Although he was also known as a scholar, he is chiefly remembered for having revitalized the bhakti movement (path of love) in India by gathering thousands of devotees together to play musical instruments and chant the names of Krishna. He is also said to have defeated Buddhist scholars by the strength of his arguments. Mahaprabhu died at the age of forty-eight. He left eight verses, known as the Shikshashtaka, which summarize his teachings.

His contributions can be found in the World Wisdom book, Pray Without Ceasing .

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Ramana Maharshi was born in 1879 near Madurai in Southern India. In the summer of 1896, upon a sudden outburst of fear of death, he experienced a spiritual awakening that made him realize that he was none other than Atman. Soon thereafter, he left for the sacred mountain of Arunachala, in the vicinity of which he spent ten years living in temples and caves, meditating and pursuing spiritual purification, and maintaining the disciplines of silence and non-attachment. Ramana laid emphasis on the method of inquiry into the nature of the Self, best expressed by the question, “who am I?” He developed cancer and died in April 1950. His life is the subject of Timeless in Time: Sri Ramana Maharshi. Sri Ramana Maharshi's article "Advaita and Japa" in Pray Without Ceasing: The Way Of The Invocation In World Religions .

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Rebecca Manring (Ph.D., University of Washington) is an Assistant Professor of India Studies and Religious Studies at Indiana University in Bloomington. A researcher of religious groups in northeastern India, Dr. Manring 's Reconstructing Tradition: Advaita Acarya and Gaudiya Vaisnavism at the Cusp of the Twentieth Century has been published by Columbia University Press. She has also completed the preservation and cataloguing of the private literary manuscript collection of the late Sukumar Sen (1900-1992), who was an outstanding linguist and Bengali literary scholar. Professor Manring’s next project will focus on sectarian Sanskrit grammars.

Dr. Manring has contributed the foreword to World Wisdom’s The Essential Swami Ramdas .

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Vandana Mataji is a nun who heads the Christian ashram Jiva Dhara, in Rishikesh, at the foothills of the Himalayas. She studied history, politics, and Indian classical music, but her main objective as a teacher in Bombay is to promote an integration of Hinduism into Christian spirituality. She regularly spends six months of the year in the Himalayas for her spiritual exercises and has emphasized the role of japa-yoga as a spiritual bridge between Hinduism and Christianity. Her contributions can be found in the World Wisdom anthology, Pray Without Ceasing.

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Donald McLeod Matheson (1896-1979) was a translator of Traditionalist/Perennialist works. He is best known for his translations, from the original French to English, of some books of Frithjof Schuon and Titus Burkhardt. Matheson also wrote several essays for the influential journal Studies in Comparative Religion. His article “Knowledge and KNOWLEDGE” appears in Science and the Myth of Progress.

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Bishop Robert McKenna was initially a Dominican monk who objected to the changes in the beliefs and practice of the Church that were introduced by Vatican II and its aftermath. He was associated with the Orthodox Roman Catholic Movement – a group of 14 priests who shared similar attitudes, from its inception. Due to his refusal to say the new mass or Novus Ordo Missai, he was forced to leave the Dominican monastery. McKenna then established himself in Monroe, Connecticut and was consecrated a Bishop by Gerard de Laurier. McKenna has also ordained several priests who left the Novus Ordo Church and functions as a parish priest in Connecticut.

His foreword can be found in The Destruction of the Christian Tradition .

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John R. McRae is a Professor of East Asian Buddhism and the author of Seeing Through Zen and The Northern School and the Formation of Early Ch'an Buddhism (Studies in East Asian Buddhism, No 3). He has taught at both Indiana and Cornell Universities, and is currently a lecturer at Komazawa University in Tokyo. Professor McRae wrote the introduction for Zen Buddhism: A History; India and China Volume I .

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Dr. Joe Medicine Crow (1913-2016) was the Crow Tribal Historian and the oldest living man of the Crow tribe. In 1939, he was the first member of the Crow tribe to obtain a master’s degree. Dr. Medicine Crow was a guest speaker at Little Bighorn College, the Custer Battlefield Museum, and several other colleges throughout the nation. Joe Medicine Crow received the Presidential Medal of Freedom, the nation's highest civilian honor, on August 12, 2009. He lived on the Crow Reservation in Lodge Grass, Montana, until his death on April 3, 2016.

His books include, A Handbook of Crow Indian Laws and Treaties, and From the Heart of the Crow Country. Dr. Medicine Crow's contributions to World Wisdom books include:

Click here to watch videos featuring Joe Medicine Crow.

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The writings of Thomas Merton can be found in the following World Wisdom books:

• "The Buddha Figures at Polonnaruwa" and "Gandhi and the One-Eyed Giant" in Light from the East
• The "Introduction" to The Golden Age of Zen
• Correspondence with Lord Northbourne in Of the Land and the Spirit

Jean-Louis Michon was a traditionalist French scholar who specialized in Islam in North Africa, Islamic art, and Sufism. His works include Le Soufi marrocain Ahmad Ibn 'Ajiba and L'Autobiographie (Fahrasa) du Soufi marrocain Ahmad Ibn 'Ajiba (1747-1809). He wrote numerous articles appearing in several languages, and translated the Holy Koran into French.

Mary Midgley was Professor of Philosophy at Newcastle University and is the author of numerous works exploring the history and philosophy of modern science. Her special interests include the development of moral principles concerned with the welfare of non-human species.

Her article "Putting Nature in Her Place" can be found in the anthology, The Betrayal of Tradition: Essays on the Spiritual Crisis of Modernity , edited by Harry Oldmeadow It comes from one her best known works, Science as Salvation (1992). Her most recent work is Science and Poetry.

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Khadra Mohammed is the co-author, along with Karen Lynn Williams, of Spirit of the Cheetah: A Somali Tale (January 2021). Julia Cairns contributed the delicate and vibrant illustrations. The book is a Somali coming-of-age tale about a boy who needs to win a race but who must first discover how to capture the spirit of that fastest running animal on the planet, the cheetah, in order to accomplish his goal.

Giovanni Monastra is the Managing Director of INRAN which is the National Research Institute for Food and Nutrition in Italy. Prior to this, he did research work in the laboratories of a pharmaceutical company, carrying out scientific studies mainly in the field of immunological drugs. He is the author of many articles and two books, one on the origin of life (Le origini della vita, 2000), with several criticisms of Darwinism, and the second on transgenic food, in which he presents arguments against genetic engineering (Maschera e volto degli OGM, 2002).

Giovanni Monastra is the author of the foreword to Science and the Myth of Progress , edited by Merhahd Zarandi .

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Fuad S. Naeem is a Pakistani scholar now residing in the U.S. where he is pursuing a Ph.D. in the Islamic Studies program at Duke University. He has an M.A. in Hinduism and Islam from the George Washington University and is a specialist in the Islamic intellectual trends of the Indian subcontinent. His fields of interest include later Islamic philosophy and Sufism, and the encounter between Islam and modernity.

Naeem's article "A Traditional Islamic Response to the Rise of Modernism" appears in the anthology Islam, Fundamentalism, and the Betrayal of Tradition: Essays by Western Muslim Scholars .

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Born in Arthamur, Andhra Pradesh, India, Professor M. Narasimhachary earned his Ph.D. in Sanskrit from the University of Madras, under the guidance of Dr V. Raghavan. His PhD thesis was entitled Contribution of Sri Yamunacharya to Visishtadvaita. He was Assistant Professor of Sanskrit and Research Director at Vivekananda College, Madras, then Reader in Sanskrit at the University of Madras, Chennai, and then he founded and chaired the Department of Vaishnavism at the University of Madras. He has been a Visiting Professor at the Universiti Malaya, Kuala Lumpur, and at Mercyhurst College, Erie, Pennsylvania, and a Visiting Academic at the Centre for Hindu Studies, Oxford University, UK, as well as a Visiting Fellow at the School of Indological Studies at Mahatma Gandhi Institute, Moka, Mauritius.

Prof. Narasimhachary wrote the foreword to the upcoming World Wisdom title, The Power of the Sacred Name.

Sri A.R. Natarajan is the President of the Ramana Maharshi Centre for Learning and the Bhagavan Sri Ramana Maharshi Research Centre, Bangalore. He is also the Vice-President of the Ramana Kendra, Delhi. His earlier works are commentaries on Sat-Darshanam, Selections from Ramana Gita, and Upadesa Saram, covering the core of the Maharshi's Teachings. He is the author of Timeless in Time: Sri Ramana Maharshi .

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English Orientalist, lecturer in Persian and Sir Thomas Adams professor of Arabic at Cambridge university, Reynold A. Nicholson was a foremost scholar in the field of Islamic literature and mysticism.

World Wisdom published his celebrated book, The Mystics of Islam in the Fall of 2002 as part of the Spiritual Classics series.

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Lord Northbourne's essential writings are collected in Of the Land and the Spirit. His other contributions to World Wisdom's books include:

Ramakrishna Paramahamsa is the best-known saint of nineteenth century India. Ramakrishna took on ritual and mythical roles, identifying with the gods from Indian holy books. His intuition of the validity of different approaches to the worship of God and the religious paths led him to practice both Christianity and Islam during periods of his life. He died in 1886. His contributions can be found in the World Wisdom anthology, Pray Without Ceasing .

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John Paraskevopoulos is an executive officer with the Australian Department of Foreign Affairs in Canberra. He studied philosophy at the University of Melbourne before receiving ordination in the Pure Land tradition of Mahayana Buddhism in Kyoto in 1994. He is the author of several articles on Shin Buddhism and a contributor to Sacred Web. His article, "The Absolute in the Mahayana and the Pure Land Way" appears in >Light from the East: Eastern Wisdom for the Modern West .

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Dr. Pease's contributions to World Wisdom projects include:

• The “Introduction” in The Essential Charles Eastman (Ohiyesa)
• The “Foreword” in The Spirit of Indian Women
• Comments in the section "Conversations With Native Elders" in Native Spirit: The Sun Dance Way
• Videotaped interviews in Native Spirit and The Sun Dance Way (2-disc DVD set)

Barbara Perry's (1923-2015) introduction to Art from the Sacred to the Profane: East and West , is a reflection of her years of association with the major Perennialist figure Frithjof Schuon, and displays her in-depth knowledge of his influences, his writings, and his own paintings. Mrs. Perry, along with her late husband Whitall Perry, was also acquainted with the great early Traditionalist thinker on arts, Ananda K. Coomaraswamy, with René Guénon, and with almost all of the other central figures from the formative years of this school of thought. Barbara Perry helped interpret Perennialist ideas to many people all over the world for over half a century.

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Mark Perry is an author and professional translator. Although of American parents, he was born in Cairo, Egypt, in 1951 and raised in Switzerland close to Frithjof Schuon. He is the son of eminent American Perennialist author Whitall Perry. He is the author of the book On Awakening and Remembering (Fons Vitae, 2000). Perry is currently in the process of updating the translations of all of Frithjof Schuon’s books from the original French into the English language, and has also translated a large number of Schuon’s French and German letters. Perry has authored a book for World Wisdom, The Mystery of Individuality: Grandeur and Delusion of the Human Condition, that was published in 2012.

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According to Harry Oldmeadow , Whitall Perry (1920 – 2005) was "the most authoritative traditionalist of American background." Many researchers, editors, and authors whose works delve into the fields of comparative religion, philosophy, metaphysics, or spirituality have used Whitall Perry's A Treasury Of Traditional Wisdom as an essential reference tool since its publication in 1971. It is a magisterial compendium of spiritual doctrine spanning ail history and every spiritual tradition. Perry also contributed to the book, Ye Shall Know the Truth .

Whitall Perry's early intellectual interests included Platonism and Vedanta, and he traveled extensively in the Middle and Far East both before and after World War II with a brief interlude of study at Harvard University. He was one of several Harvard students who came under Ananda Coomaraswamy's influence in the 1940s.

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Doctor, humanist and scholar, Duke Alberto Denti di Pirajno, worked in Italy's former North African colonies as described in his books A Cure for Serpents and Ippolita. He died in 1968. He contributed to Ye Shall Know the Truth .

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Alberto Vasconcellos Queiroz was born and raised in the Brazilian city of Santos, the largest seaport in Latin America. He studied psychology at the Pontifical Catholic University in São Paulo where he graduated as a professional psychologist. After graduating, he moved to the city of São José dos Campos, where he began his career working in industry. He soon turned to the public sector, initially as a psychologist in residential care units, and later as a municipal administrator. He is now an assistant to the Mayor’s Office, with special responsibility for educational projects.

Alberto Vasconcellos Queiroz is the co-editor of Remembering in a World of Forgetting: Thoughts on Tradition and Postmodernism, a collection of the writings by William Stoddart, and he contributed the "Foreword" to Men of a Single Book: Fundamentalism in Islam, Christianity, and Modern Thought, by Mateus Soares de Azevedo.

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Kathleen Raine (1908-2003) was an internationally recognized English poet, critic, and scholar specializing in the poets William Blake and W. B. Yeats. She was the founder of the Temenos Academy, an organization that advocates the primacy of the Imagination and which promulgates a traditional view of the arts and crafts in Britain. In addition to her many seminal works on the Romantic poet William Blake (such as Blake and Antiquity, 1979; Golgonooza, City of the Imagination: Last Studies in William Blake, 1991; Blake and Tradition, 2002), other of her more representative publications include Defending Ancient Springs (1985) and Yeats the Initiate (1986).

Kathleen Raine's contributions to World Wisdom books include:

• "The Underlying Order: Nature and the Imagination" in Seeing God Everywhere
• "India and the Modern World" in The Betrayal of Tradition
• "The Vertical Dimension" in Every Man An Artist

Feisal Abdul Rauf is the Imam of Masjid al-Farah in New York City and founder of the American Sufi Muslim Association (ASMA) Society. He is also a co-founder of the Cordoba Initiative, a multi-faith effort to help heal the relationship between the Muslim world and America. He is the author of the best selling book, What’s Right with Islam: A New Vision for Muslims and the West, and often appears in print and broadcast media as an authentic interpreter of Islam. Fiesal Abdul Rauf wrote the foreword to upcoming World Wisdom book The Universal Spirit of Islam .

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Samdhong Rinpoche is the fifth reincarnation of that title in the Tibetan Buddhist tradition. He holds a Doctorate in Buddhist sciences from the University of Drepung in Tibet. In 1959, Rinpoche fled to India along with His Holiness the Dalai Lama. In India he served as a teacher to monks in exile and was appointed director of the Central Institute for Higher Tibetan Studies. On July 29, 2001, Rinpoche was named Kalon Tripa, or Prime Minister of the Tibetan Exile Government, the first political leader to be directly elected by the people in exile. The World Wisdom book Samdhong Rinpoche Uncompromising Truth for a Compromised World: Tibetan Buddhism and Today's World is a unique series of in-depth dialogues with him and which covers a broad range of topics, including how the world came to follow a destructive path of unprincipled pragmatism and compromise, and what we can do to remedy it.

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Donovan Roebert is the founder and coordinator of the South African Friends of Tibet. Born in East London, South Africa, he is a painter whose works are sold internationally. A devoted practitioner of Mahayana Buddhism for over a decade, he has also written several religious and philosophical articles on reconciling new physics and the neurosciences with the subjective human religious experience. He lives in Broederstroom, South Africa. He is the editor of Samdhong Rinpoche Uncompromising Truth for a Compromised World: Tibetan Buddhism and Today's World.

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Vincent Rossi is Director of Education for the American Exarchate of the Jerusalem Patriarchate of the Orthodox Church. He also serves as the U.S. Director of the U.K.-centered Religious Education and Environment Programme. Author of two books and nearly a hundred articles on theology, spirituality, and the environment, he was the founder and for twelve years the editor of the journal Epiphany.

World Wisdom has published his article "Presence, Participation, Performance: The Remembrance of God in the Early Hesychast Fathers" presented at the "Paths to the Heart" Conference held at the University of South Carolina on October. This article appeared in Paths to the Heart .

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Theodore Roszak is a philosopher, social commentator, novelist and teacher who held positions at Stanford, San Francisco State and California State Universities. He is currently Professor of History and Director of the Ecopsychology Institute at California State University, Hayward. Among his many well-known works are The Making of a Counter Culture (1969), Where the Wasteland Ends (1972), The Cult of Information (1994) and Ecopsychology (1995).

Roszak's article "Descartes' Angel" can be found in the World Wisdom book, The Betrayal of Tradition , edited by Harry Oldmeadow.

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Father Lorenzo Sales, born in 1892, was an Italian missionary priest. During the African colonial war (1915-1918), Sales served as a military chaplain to Kenyan indigenous troops. He wrote several books on Canon Alllamano, the founder of the Consolata missionary societies. However, he is best known for having served as the spiritual director of Sister Maria Consolata of the Convent of the Sacred Heart of Moriondo Moncalieri. He died in 1972. His contributions can be found in the World Wisdom anthology, Pray Without Ceasing .

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Dorothy Sayers (1893-1957) was an Anglo-Irish novelist, playwright, critic and theological commentator. As well as achieving popularity with novels, detective stories and plays she was widely respected for her translations of Tristan, The Divine Comedy and The Song of Roland. Throughout her life she took a close interest in ecclesiastical and theological developments and was a sharp and perceptive critic of many contemporary follies.

Dorothy Sayers' article "Why Work?", originally given as a lecture in Eastbourne, April 1942 can be found in the anthology, The Betrayal of Tradition .

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Leo Schaya was a writer in the Traditionalist/Perennialist school. He was particularly known for his writings on Jewish esoterism, with his book The Universal Meaning of the Kabbalah (1958) being one of the best known and often-quoted works in that field; however, he also was at home in the area of Sufi metaphysical interpretation. World Wisdom has published a collection of Schaya’s seminal work on his central theme, titled Universal Aspects of the Kabbalah and Judaism (2014), which includes some previously unpublished material.

Leo Schaya's essay "Creation, the Image of God" is one of the articles collected in the anthology Seeing God Everywhere: Essays on Nature and the Sacred . Another essay, "On the Name "Allah" is included in Sufism: Love and Wisdom . An online sample of his writing, the essay "The Eliatic Function" (about the esoteric function of the prophet Elijah), which appeared in the important traditionalist journal Studies in Comparative Religion, can be read if you click here.

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Professor Annemarie Schimmel wrote several pieces that have appeared in World Wisdom books:

• The "Foreword" in Understanding Islam, a classic book by Frithjof Schuon
• The "Foreword" in Frithjof Schuon's books of poetry

Click here to go to Prof. Annemarie Schimmel's writing on Frithjof Schuon's poetry.

E. F. Schumacher worked as an economic advisor to the British Control Commission charged with rebuilding the German economy after World War II. Later, he held other prestigious positions as an economic planner and consultant. It was E. F. Schumacher who developed many of the principles that have since come to be known as "appropriate technology": earth- and user-friendly technology matched to the scale of community life. Schumacher's famous book Small Is Beautiful: Economics As If People Mattered (1973) reflects these insights and has guided many people to re-examine societal, and personal, choices regarding modern life.

From the E. F. Schumacher book Small is Beautiful World Wisdom has included the "Epilogue" in our collection Science and the Myth of Progress .

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• "The Logic of Mystery and the Necessity of Faith" in The Betrayal of Tradition
• "Withdrawal, Extinction, and Creation: Christ’s Kenosis in Light of the Judaic Doctrine of Tsimtsum and the Islamic Doctrine of Fana" in The Essential Sophia.
• "'Made in the Image': Schuon’s Theomorphic Anthropology" in Sacred Web 20

Co-founder of the Boy Scouts of America, naturalist, author, and painter Ernest Thompson Seton, was born in England in 1860. His stories and paintings of wildlife are standard works on nature study and wood lore for boys and girls that continue to be used today. Author of over 50 books, Mr. Seton's message that nature is a very good thing is more relevant than before today. He died in 1946.

He is the author of The Gospel of the Redman: Commemorative Edition .

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Arvind Sharma was born in Varanasi, India. He was the first Infinity Foundation Visiting Professor of Indic Studies at Harvard University and succeeded Wilfred Cantwell Smith to the Birks Chair of Comparative Religion at McGill University in Montreal, Canada. He has published over fifty books and five hundred articles in the fields of comparative religion, Hinduism, Indian philosophy and ethics, and the role of women in religion.

Arvind Sharma is the author of A Guide to Hindu Spirituality . He also wrote the foreword to the anthology The Essential Ananda K. Coomaraswamy , edited by Rama P. Coomaraswamy .

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The World Wisdom publication Seeing God Everywhere includes the beautiful piece "O Hanami: Flower Viewing" by Hari Prasad Shastri.

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Philip Sherrard was an English author and scholar educated at Cambridge. Among the works for which he is best known is his collaboration in the complete translation of the Philokalia. The combination of his interests in metaphysics, theology, art and aesthetics led to his participation in the review Temenos, of which he was one of the founders in 1980. He was also recognized as a leading voice in situating modern attitudes and behaviors regarding the environment within a Christian framework. He passed away in 1995.

His essay "Christianity and the Religious Thought of C. G. Jung" is included in the anthology Science and the Myth of Progress . His article "Epilogue" can be found in the anthology, The Betrayal of Tradition .

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Gôjun Shichiri was born in 1836. He lived at Hakata, in southwestern Japan. Shichiri was a very influential and popular propagator of the Tariki way (the way of the “Other”) of Amidism. D.T. Suzuki tells the story of Shichiri’s house being burgled: the thief, upon being arrested, later converted because of the deep impression left upon him by the saintly man. Shichiri was also a scholar and a prolific writer. He died in 1900. His contributions can be found in the World Wisdom anthology, Pray Without Ceasing .

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