W numerze:
Anna Radziwiłł, Likantropia – próba wyjaśnienia genezy zjawiska.
Kazimiera Mikoś, Likantropia a nagualizm.
Kazimiera Mikoś, Przepiórczy makijaż azteckiego Xipe Toteka.
Piotr Grzegorz Michalik, Długi warkocz Xiwimeh. Konfuzje we współczesnym folklorze meksykańskim.
Wiesław Kurpiewski, Religia i filozofia sutr doskonałej mądrości buddyzmu mahajany.
Andrzej Nowicki, Hua shen. Chińskie boginie kwiaty.
Marcin Karas, Kościół palmariański – nowy ruch religijny w tradycyjnej formie.
Paweł M. Socha, Główne kategorie psychologii religii: próba uporządkowania (artykuł polemiczny).
Walery Litwinczuk, Wprowadzenie do bahaiznawstwa.
Radosław S. Czarnecki, Pluralizm cywilizacji islamu.
Henryk Machoń, Interdyscyplinarne sympozjum Projektu Rottendorfa, Hochschule für Philosophie, Monachium 15-16 maja 2009 r.
Walery Litwinczuk, Międzynarodowa konferencja naukowa Religioznawstwo w krajach postsowieckich (Mińsk, 21-22 II 2009).
Bożena Gierek, Bożena Prochwicz-Studnicka, Agata Świerzowska, Profesor Andrzej Flis (4 II 1953 – 10 V 2009).
Summaries:
Anna Radziwiłł
LYCANTHROPY
– AN ATTEMPT TO EXPLAIN THE ORIGIN OF THE PHENOMENON
The article deals with the phenomenon of lycanthropy, which is widely spread among many cultures including the contemporary ones. The main body of the article is devoted to the ancient mythical material of the Greeks, who were the first to write about lycanthropy, both in a critical way, or in contrast, by accepting it as a probable phenomenon. The Greek material is compared with ethnographic descriptions of belief in lycanthropy among tribal peoples. The article argues that the origin of belief in lycanthropy may be explained by the bond between man and nature, which is a belief so natural for tribal peoples. Nature for them was considered to be one homogeneous organism whose core constitutes one and unique substance or power, which is equally present in the living and the non-living world. The shapes and forms, which this substance or power takes, are a matter of secondary importance. Thus for the tribal mind, transformation of one being into another one is neither unusual nor exceeds the natural order.
Kazimiera Mikoś
LYCANTHROPY AND NAGUALISM
Nagualism (meaning the ability of a person to change into any kind of predatory animal) is usually treated as a type of lycanthropy in the wider sense of the term. The fact that terms like „werecats” (Germ. Werjaguare) or „werebirds” (Germ. Wervögel) which are derivations of the term „werewolf” are still in use testifies to the widespread attraction of these myths. The authoress, basing her argument on the latest findings about nagualism – primarily on the field research and analysis of Ulrich Kőhler – demonstrates that such an understanding of the aforementioned phenomenon does not comport with the latest findings on the topic. Having established the definition of nagualism in its original meaning, free from foreign influences, she confronted the central tenets of the Mesoamerican conception with those of lycanthropy in its wider use. In other words, she contrasted the nagual with the werewolf, pointing to the most important differences between them.
The article also contains methodological information about the sources of many longstanding confusion about nagualism and the knowledge and experiences gained through scientific study of this phenomenon for over 200 years. These experiences can be used in further research of lycanthropy, as well as other cultural phenomena in which the changing of a person into an animal plays an important role, e.g., the contamination of nagualism due to the influence of European ideas.
Kazimiera Mikoś
THE QUAIL MAKE -UP OF THE AZTEC DEITY XIPE TOTEC
Xipe Tótec („Our Lord the Flayed One”) is one of the most mysterious of the Mesoamerican deities. He is a polythetic being, however, the various traits associated with him usually do not appear together in descriptions or statues of this deity. This makes it difficult to identify unsigned representations, which are assumed to be of Xipe Totec. One of the commonest features found in representations of Xipe Totec, and therefore commonly used to identify the unsigned figures, are two vertical stripes running from the forehead down through the eyes and to the chin. There is no consensus on what the stripes represent. The most widespread interpretation found in literature concerning the topic is that the stripes are cuts incurred while flaying the victim or scars/suture on the mask, which was made from the skin.
The authoress analyzes various written records which mention Xipe Totec’s face, claiming that those records should be taken into consideration first when trying to decipher the meaning of the marks on his face. The references do not support the „scars theory. They do, however, directly mention of make-up depicting the markings of quail, which is interpreted differently by translators and publishers of the original texts. The authoress tries to understand why there are different interpretations of the meaning of the make-up depicting quail, and what it actually is. The main source of knowledge for all who attempt to interpret the meaning
of the stripes on Xipe Totec’s face are the writings of the distinguished Mesoamerican scholar Eduard Seler (1849-1922). Seler, who first came up with the “scars theory”, did not connect the stripes with the make-up depicting quail. He thought that the latter was done by painting the face brown. The authoress asserts that the essence of the quail face painting, as some researchers have observed, boils down to marking on the face a „quail pattern” or eye stripes characteristic of this bird, probably one of the subspecies of Colinus virginianus.
Piotr Grzegorz Michalik
THE LONG PLAIT OF XIWIMEH.
CONFUSION IN CURRENT MEXICAN FOLKLORE
Among the characters that appear in current Mexican folktales from the Zongolica mountains
in Mexico, the most prominent are the xiwimeh. They are usually represented as women with very long hair who fly in the form of fireballs and who guard the treasure in the caves. However, the tale of xiwimeh can be presented through varying and often contradictory variations. Placing the myth of xiwimeh in the context of other narratives from this region, as well as the neighboring region of Puebla can help to clear the confusion. The functions and attributes of xiwimeh are similar to those of the chaneque dwarfs in the náhuatl culture, as well as to those of the witch from the Puebla culture and various aspects of the Mesoamerican
nagual complex.
Wiesław Kurpiewski
RELIGION AND PHILOSOPHY IN THE PRAJNAPARAMITA SUTRAS
The article has twofold aims: exposition of Prajńâpâramita religion and philosophy and an outline of the idea of bodhisattva. This is done based on Prajńâpâramita Sutras, mainly Ašþasâhasrikâ Prajñâpâramita sutra (Ašţa), Ašţadaśa Prajńâpâramita sűtra (Ašţadaśa) and Prajńâpâramita Hĺdaya Sűtra (Hĺdaya).
The Prajńâpâramita is a religion understood not in the sense of faith, but as religious wisdom. In the Sutras wisdom (prajńâ) is presented as unfathomable (gambhîrâ), immeasurable (aprameyâ) and unlimited (asamkhyeyâ). Its main object is the absolute reality (paramârtha-satya). Prajńâpâramita leads people to liberation, as its goal is freedom. This is why Prajńâpâramita is depicted as omniscience (sarvâkârajńâna) – knowledge of the saintly ones.
Prajńâpâramita philosophy is primarily the study of emptiness (śűnyatâ) within the context of the extensive teachings and practices of bodhisattva on the path to enlightenment. This is philosophy of the real – of absolute reality. Such philosophy is, in its field of interests and views, determined only by its subject, not by circumstances of place and time. Special attention is paid to emptiness (śűnyatâ) of all phenomena (dharma). Prajńâpâramita philosophy has also surprising epistemic, psychological as well as soteriological implications.
Prajńâpâramita philosophy finds also its own fulfilment and its own limit. But this does not mean the end of philosophy. One can say that philosophy – the love of wisdom goes beyond its original goal and becomes the wisdom to love.
As Prajńâpâramita has many aspects and dimensions, it is also presented as ‘Mother of buddhas and bodhisattvas (prajńâpâramita tathâgatânâô janayitrî). In the Sutras, special attention is paid to the idea of bodhisattva, and how to become bodhisattva. On this pathway, together with the concept of emptiness (śűnyatâ), the idea of universal compassion (karuňâ) is important. The way of bodhisattva (mârga) means spiritual transformation and this is essentially transformation of consciousness.
Andrzej Nowicki
HUA SHEN : CHINESE FLOWER GODDESSES
The Chinese story Hongloumeng is considered to be one of the greatest works of world literature. The story portrays two forms of dendranthropy, which state that some creatures can have two natures: a plant nature (flower, weed, tree), a second human nature, and perhaps also a third (thing) and fourth (divine).
The main character of the story is a lytanthropic being, the Rock of Shi, who became a human being (the original title of the story was the Story of the Rock, and the main event of the story was the love of the Man-Rock to the Plant Hong Zhu who became a girl – the poetess Lin Daiyu – and was also the goddesses of two rivers, the Xiao and Xiang. The family chose a different wife for the boy, and Lin Daiyu died of sorrow).
One of the characters in the story is the chambermaid Qingwen who, having been hurt by her mother Baoyu, dies and then turns into a plant, the Furong (Hibiscus). The most noteworthy part of the story is its poetic aspect. The story contains over 200 beautiful poems written by girls who formed the Wild Apple Tree Poets Society, known as HAITANG. They are erganthropic beings who when die, and then turn into the poems they themselves wrote. Qingwen also turns into what she has embroidered. This is what constitutes the cultural immortality expressed in Hongloumeng with the words: wu zai ren wang („even when people are no longer present, their works survive”).
Marcin Karas
THE PALMARIAN CATHOLIC CHURCH:
A NEW RELIGOUS MOVEMENT IN TRADITIONAL FORM
Origins: The Palmarian Church as a religious group was established in 1975 at a small village, El Palmar de Troya, near Seville (Spain), by former taxi-driver Clemente Domínguez y Gómez and his adherents. Gomez claimed that the Holy Virgin Mary appeared to him at a small shrine with a message about a crisis in the Church. According to the supposed apparitions the group around Gomez founded a Catholic Order of Carmelites of the Holy Face.
In 1976 the late Vietnamese Roman Catholic Archbishop Ngo Dinh Thuc ordained six lay members of the group to the priesthood and to the episcopate without permission of the hierarchy of the Roman Catholic Church. Thuc and the bishops he consecrated were excommunicated by Pope Paul VI. After the death of the Pope Paul VI (1978) Gomez set up his own, separated Palmarian Church with its Holy See in Seville claiming he had been mystically crowned Pope by Jesus Christ as Pope Gregory XVII.
Sources: Palmarian publications are printed in several languages, including English and Polish. Primary among them are documents of the Palmarian Council and some creeds. Doctrine: The Holy See of Palmar de Troya has declared many new dogmas, according to received apparitions and visions. Of special importance is the dogma of the real presence of the Virgin Mary in the sacred host and the bodily assumption into heaven of St. Joseph. Palmarians have their own version of the Holy Bible with large dogmatic commentary. Liturgy: the Palmarian Church has essentially reformed the Roman Catholic liturgy, and the Palmarian Mass was reduced to almost solely the words of Consecration with some other prayers and with the rite of Holy Communion. All the profound reforms made by Gregory XVII allow us to state that the Palmarian Chuch is a new religious movement with traditional religious practices and its own organization.
Paweł M. Socha
MAIN CATEGORIES OF THE PSYCHOLOGY OF RELIGION:
AN ATTEMPT AT CLARIFICATION
(POLEMICAL PAPER)
The main categories of the psychology of religion should be continuously clarified in order to adjust them to the actual progress of knowledge. There are several new proposals to understand them. First in this regard is that the term “religion” should mean precisely religion as the historical, social, and cultural phenomenon, while the term “religiousness” should mean religion’s subjective representations and the experiences of an individual relating to religion.
Moreover, following Flournoy’s principle on the exclusion of transcendence, one must assume that a researcher cannot prove the existence of the supernatural. Second, the meaning of „religion” should not be too much inclusive, otherwise it becomes vague and theoretically
useless. Third, the term „religiousness”, when consistently related to „religion”, is sufficiently outlined as a factual and religiously attributed experience. On the other hand, „religiousness” can never be confused with a term „faith,” which meaning is much wider. The previous is rather a phenomenon, while the latter is an elementary mental process having
many appearances; one of which is „religiousness”. Finally, there is the fundamental difference between the terms „religiousness” and „spirituality.” Spirituality is proposed to be understood as any process of coping with existential situations; whereas, „religiousness” refers only to the most widespread forms of such coping. The core of the highest forms of spirituality is mysticism.
Walery Litwinczuk
AN INTRODUCTION TO BAHA’I STUDIES
The aim of the paper is to present the Bahá’í Studies, which concentrate on scientific research on the Bahá’í religion. In the first section special attention is given to the object, methodology and the status of the Bahá’í Studies, which in their nature are interdisciplinary. Indeed, Bahá’í Studies draw on knowledge of other scientific disciplines such as philosophy and the social and humanistic sciences, but most of all, they are in the domain of religious studies. While the Bahá’í Studies are well established in the Western academic world, they are practically not much pursued in Eastern Europe; hence this gap was explored in the second part of the paper. The author points out to the fact that there are hardly any Bahá’í Studies specialists in post-Soviet countries. In this regard, there are neither scientific associations nor even the proper knowledge to deal with linguistic problems, stereotypes, and myths associated with the Bahá’í Faith.
In the final section of the paper the author outlines some development perspectives for the Bahá’í Studies in Eastern Europe. Since the Bahá’í Faith crossed the Russian frontier in the middle of 19th Century, the Russian Federation could now became the place for establishing a center for the Bahá’í Studies in the post-Soviet space.
Edited and translated by Stanisław A. Wargacki
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