The Concise Oxford Dictionary of World Religions (2243 page)

S
tra of the Mindfulness of True Dharma, tr. by Pajñaruci,
c.
540 CE. It expounds the causes leading to the six lower domains of appearance (
rokud
): hell, hungry spirits, animals,
asuras
, humans, heavenly beings. It encourages escape from them.

 
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see
ART
(Ch’an/Zen).

 
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Shofar
.

An animal horn (now traditionally a ram's horn) blown during Jewish rituals. The shofar is first mentioned in Exodus 19. 16 at Mount Sinai. Today, it is blown daily from 2 Elul until the end of Rosh ha-Shanah and again at the end of the last service on Yom Kippur (
Day of Atonement
). According to
Maimonides
, the reason for sounding the shofar is to ‘arouse you from your slumbers, to examine your deeds, to return in repentance and to remember your Creator’.

 
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see
FESTIVALS AND FASTS
.

 
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