Here are posts labelled "500-999" on The Guide
Showing posts with label 500-999. Show all posts

The Tibetan Book of the Dead
(8th-14th centuries)



Image of The Bardo

Just the Facts:
  • Name: Bardo Thodol
  • Known as: The Tibetan Book of the Dead
  • Dates: 8th to 14th centuries; attributed to Padmasambhava (8th-century) and Karma Lingpa (1326–1386)
  • Place: Tibet
  • Language: Tibetan
  • What it is: A guide through the realms of consciousness encountered after death, the much-misunderstood "Bardo," the interval between death and the next rebirth.
  • Included in lists (What's This?): GC

Let's consider this a placeholder as I build out the site.
Once that's done, I'll be back to fill in the details--an essay,
links to online and Amazon books, and more. I'll be posting
updates on Facebook and Twitter. Follow along!

Until I get to it, there's always Wikipedia!

Icelandic sagas
(870-1056)



Grettir the outlaw ready to fight;
17th-century Icelandic manuscript

Just the Facts:
  • Name: Icelandic sagas
  • Place: Iceland
  • Dates: the "Saga Age" (870-1056)
  • Language: Icelandic
  • What they are: over 40 sagas from Iceland's "Saga Age" (870-1056) including Eiríks saga rauða (Saga of Erik the Red)

Let's consider this a placeholder as I build out the site.
Once that's done, I'll be back to fill in the details--an essay,
links to online and Amazon books, and more. I'll be posting
updates on Facebook and Twitter. Follow along!

Until I get to it, there's always Wikipedia!

Badi' al-Zaman al-Hamadani, Persian Man of Letters
(969-1007)



Scene from The Maqamat of al-Hamadani

Just the Facts:
  • Name: Badi' al-Zaman al-Hamadani
  • Birth: Unknown Date, 969, Hamadan, Iran
  • Death: Unknown Date, 1007, Herat, Afghanistan
  • Language: Persian
  • Who he was: Persian man of letters who wrote the Maqamat al-Hamadhani (The Maqamat of al-Hamadani), 52 stories about a rogue named Abu al-Fath al-Iskandari

Let's consider this a placeholder as I build out the site.
Once that's done, I'll be back to fill in the details--an essay,
links to online and Amazon books, and more. I'll be posting
updates on Facebook and Twitter. Follow along!

Until I get to it, there's always Wikipedia!

Atisha, Bengali Buddhist Master
(982-1054)




Just the Facts:
  • Name: Atisha
  • Birth: Unknown Date, 980, Bengal, Pala Empire
  • Death: Unknown Date, 1054, Lhasa, Tibet
  • Languages: Sanskrit, Tibetan
  • Who he was: Bengali Buddhist master who wrote Bodhipathapradipa (A Lamp for the Path to Enlightenment)

Let's consider this a placeholder as I build out the site.
Once that's done, I'll be back to fill in the details--an essay,
links to online and Amazon books, and more. I'll be posting
updates on Facebook and Twitter. Follow along!

Until I get to it, there's always Wikipedia!

Ibn Hazm, Andalusian Muslim Poet
(994-1064)




Just the Facts:
  • Name: Abū Muḥammad ʿAlī ibn Aḥmad ibn Saʿīd ibn Ḥazm
  • Known as: Ibn Hazm
  • Birth: November 7, 994, Córdoba, Caliphate of Córdoba (Spain)
  • Death: August 15, 1064, Montíjar, near Huelva, Taifa of Seville (Spain)
  • Language: Arabic
  • Who he was: Andalusian Muslim poet and philosopher who wrote Tawq al-Hamama (The Ring of the Dove)

Let's consider this a placeholder as I build out the site.
Once that's done, I'll be back to fill in the details--an essay,
links to online and Amazon books, and more. I'll be posting
updates on Facebook and Twitter. Follow along!

Until I get to it, there's always Wikipedia!

Ferdowsi, Persian Poet
(c. 940-1020)



Statue of Ferdowsi in Tehran

Just the Facts:
  • Name: Abu'l-Qasim Ferdowsi Tusi
  • Known as: Ferdowsi
  • Date: c. 940-c. 1020
  • Place: Iran
  • Language: Persian
  • Who he was: Persian poet; wrote the Shahnameh (Book of Kings), the national epic of Greater Iran
  • Included in lists (What's This?): LRP

Let's consider this a placeholder as I build out the site.
Once that's done, I'll be back to fill in the details--an essay,
links to online and Amazon books, and more. I'll be posting
updates on Facebook and Twitter. Follow along!

Until I get to it, there's always Wikipedia!

Murasaki Shikibu, Japanese Novelist and Poet
(c. 973/978-c. 1014/1031)



Lady Murasaki draws inspiration from the moon

Just the Facts:
  • Name: Murasaki Shikibu
  • Known as: Lady Murasaki
  • Dates: Born: Unknown Date, c. 973 or 978; Died: Unknown Date, c. 1014 or 1031
  • Place: Kyoto, Kyoto Prefecture, Japan
  • Language: Japanese
  • Who she was: Japanese novelist, poet, and lady-in-waiting; wrote Genji Monogatari (Tale of Genji); Murasaki Nikki (Lady Murasaki's Diary)
  • Included in lists (What's This?): LRP; GC

Let's consider this a placeholder as I build out the site.
Once that's done, I'll be back to fill in the details--an essay,
links to online and Amazon books, and more. I'll be posting
updates on Facebook and Twitter. Follow along!

Until I get to it, there's always Wikipedia!

Sei Shonagon, Japanese Court Lady
(c. 966-1017/1025)




Just the Facts:
  • Name: Sei Shonagon
  • Date: 966-1017 or 1025
  • Place: Japan
  • Language: Japanese
  • Who she was: Japanese court lady who wrote Makura no Soshi (The Pillow Book), observations on life at court
  • Included in lists (What's This?): LRP

Let's consider this a placeholder as I build out the site.
Once that's done, I'll be back to fill in the details--an essay,
links to online and Amazon books, and more. I'll be posting
updates on Facebook and Twitter. Follow along!

Until I get to it, there's always Wikipedia!

Li Yu, Chinese Emperor and Poet
(c. 937-978)




Just the Facts:
  • Name: Li Yu
  • Birth: August 15, c. 937, Nanjing, China
  • Death: Unknown Date, 978, Kaifeng, China
  • Language: Chinese
  • Who he was: Chinese emperor and poet; wrote works in various forms and styles; some were composed in exile after the fall of his ineptly-governed kingdom (one of the last gasps of the glorious Tang); titles include "Alone Up the Western Tower" and the prose-ish "Dirge for the Zhaohui Queen Zhou"

Let's consider this a placeholder as I build out the site.
Once that's done, I'll be back to fill in the details--an essay,
links to online and Amazon books, and more. I'll be posting
updates on Facebook and Twitter. Follow along!

Until I get to it, there's always Wikipedia!

Michitsuna no Haha, Japanese Minor Noblewoman
(c. 935-995)




Just the Facts:
  • Name: Michitsuna no Haha
  • Known as: "Mother of Michitsuna"
  • Date: c. 935-995
  • Place: Japan
  • Language: Japanese
  • Who she was: Japanese minor noblewoman who wrote Kagero Nikki (The Mayfly Diary, or The Gossamer Years)

Let's consider this a placeholder as I build out the site.
Once that's done, I'll be back to fill in the details--an essay,
links to online and Amazon books, and more. I'll be posting
updates on Facebook and Twitter. Follow along!

Until I get to it, there's always Wikipedia!

Ki no Tsurayuki, Japanese Poet and Diarist
(872-945)




Just the Facts:
  • Name: Ki no Tsurayuki
  • Birth: Unknown Date, 872, Japan
  • Death: June 30, 945, Japan
  • Language: Japanese
  • Who he was: Japanese poet and diarist who compiled the Kokin Wakashu (Collection of Japanese Poems of Ancient and Modern Times); wrote Tosa Nikki (Tosa Diary)

Let's consider this a placeholder as I build out the site.
Once that's done, I'll be back to fill in the details--an essay,
links to online and Amazon books, and more. I'll be posting
updates on Facebook and Twitter. Follow along!

Until I get to it, there's always Wikipedia!

Beowulf, Old English Saga
(8th century)



Beowulf and the dragon

Just the Facts:
  • Name: Beowulf
  • Date: 8th century
  • Place: Emgland
  • Language: Old English/Anglo-Saxon
  • What it is: Old English saga in which a Swedish hero comes to the aid of the Danes in slaying the monster Grendel and his mother; later, as an aged king, he slays a dragon, which in dying slays him in turn; probably the oldest long poem in English
  • Included in lists (What's This?): HC; Bloom; GC

Let's consider this a placeholder as I build out the site.
Once that's done, I'll be back to fill in the details--an essay,
links to online and Amazon books, and more. I'll be posting
updates on Facebook and Twitter. Follow along!

Until I get to it, there's always Wikipedia!

Magha, Indian Poet
(7th or 8th century)



Shishupala loses his head

Just the Facts:
  • Name: Magha
  • Date: 7th or 8th century
  • Place: India
  • Language: Sanskrit
  • Who he was: Indian poet who wrote Shishupala Vadha (The Slaying of Shishupala), one of the (five or six) Mahakavya, in which a wicked king is beheaded by his cousin, the Lord Krishna

Let's consider this a placeholder as I build out the site.
Once that's done, I'll be back to fill in the details--an essay,
links to online and Amazon books, and more. I'll be posting
updates on Facebook and Twitter. Follow along!

Until I get to it, there's always Wikipedia!

Liu Zongyuan, Chinese Writer and Poet
(773-819)




Just the Facts:
  • Name: Liu Zongyuan
  • Birth: Unknown Date, 773, Yongji, Shanxi, China
  • Death: Unknown Date, 819, Liuzhou, China
  • Language: Chinese
  • Who he was: Chinese writer and poet who wrote Yongzhou Ba Youji (Eight Records of Excursions in Yongzhou) (one of the "Eight Great Prose Masters of the Tang and Song")

Let's consider this a placeholder as I build out the site.
Once that's done, I'll be back to fill in the details--an essay,
links to online and Amazon books, and more. I'll be posting
updates on Facebook and Twitter. Follow along!

Until I get to it, there's always Wikipedia!

Kukai (Kobo Daishi), Japanese Monk
(774-835)




Just the Facts:
  • Name: Kukai
  • Known as: Kobo Daishi
  • Birth: July 27, 774, Zentsuji, Kagawa Prefecture, Japan
  • Death: April 22, 835, Mount Koya, Koya, Wakayama, Wakayama Prefecture, Japan
  • Language: Japanese
  • Who he was: Japanese monk and founder of Shingon Buddhism; fifty religious works, including Attaining Enlightenment in This Very Existence; The Meaning of Sound, Word, Reality; Meanings of the Word Hum

Let's consider this a placeholder as I build out the site.
Once that's done, I'll be back to fill in the details--an essay,
links to online and Amazon books, and more. I'll be posting
updates on Facebook and Twitter. Follow along!

Until I get to it, there's always Wikipedia!

Ise Monogatari (Tales of Ise)
(Heian Period, 794-1185)



A scene from Ise Mongatari

Just the Facts:
  • Name: Ise Monogatari
  • Known as: Tales of Ise
  • Dates: Heian Period, 794-1185
  • Place: Japan
  • Language: Japanese
  • What it is: Japanese poems and narratives from the Heian Period, exploring nature, life at court, culture, and love and relationships

Let's consider this a placeholder as I build out the site.
Once that's done, I'll be back to fill in the details--an essay,
links to online and Amazon books, and more. I'll be posting
updates on Facebook and Twitter. Follow along!

Until I get to it, there's always Wikipedia!

Konjaku Monogatarishu (Tales of Times Now Past)
(Heian Period, 794-1185)



Sarugami (a wicked monkey spirit which is
defeated by a dog) from the Konjaku Monogatarishu

Just the Facts:
  • Name: Konjaku Monogatarishu
  • Known as: Tales of Times Now Past
  • Date: late Heian Period, 794-1185
  • Place: Japan
  • Language: Japanese
  • What it is: Japanese story anthology containing over 1,000 tales from India, China and Japan

Let's consider this a placeholder as I build out the site.
Once that's done, I'll be back to fill in the details--an essay,
links to online and Amazon books, and more. I'll be posting
updates on Facebook and Twitter. Follow along!

Until I get to it, there's always Wikipedia!

Hitopadesha, Indian Fables
(800-950)



Animals of the Hitopadesa, from
Sir Edwin Arnold's 1861 translation

Just the Facts:
  • Name: Hitopadesha
  • Date: 800-950
  • Place: India
  • Language: Sanskrit
  • What it is: Indian fables, attributed to a "Narayana," who is otherwise unknown

Let's consider this a placeholder as I build out the site.
Once that's done, I'll be back to fill in the details--an essay,
links to online and Amazon books, and more. I'll be posting
updates on Facebook and Twitter. Follow along!

Until I get to it, there's always Wikipedia!

Linji Yixuan, Chinese Chan (Zen) Monk
(Unknown Date-866)




Just the Facts:
  • Name: Linji
  • Also known as: Rinzai (in Japanese)
  • Date: Unknown Date-866
  • Place: China
  • Language: Chinese
  • Who he was: Chinese Chan (Zen) monk and patriarch who wrote The Record of Lin-chi

Let's consider this a placeholder as I build out the site.
Once that's done, I'll be back to fill in the details--an essay,
links to online and Amazon books, and more. I'll be posting
updates on Facebook and Twitter. Follow along!

Until I get to it, there's always Wikipedia!

Du Fu, Chinese "Poet Historian"
(712-770)




Just the Facts:
  • Name: Du Fu
  • Date: 712-770
  • Place: China
  • Language: Chinese
  • Who he was: Chinese "poet historian"; nearly 1500 poems with titles like "To My Retired Friend Wei" and "Reply to a Friend's Advice"

Let's consider this a placeholder as I build out the site.
Once that's done, I'll be back to fill in the details--an essay,
links to online and Amazon books, and more. I'll be posting
updates on Facebook and Twitter. Follow along!

Until I get to it, there's always Wikipedia!