The Concise Oxford Dictionary of World Religions (2258 page)

see
SHOU-SHAN SHENG-NIEN
.

 
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Shwedagon Pagoda
.

Major
pagoda
in Burma. It is set on a hill in Rangoon, and its present form is a consequence of many extensions and rebuildings after earthquakes. Many of the additional buildings, and the elaborate gold decoration, are a result of
merit-seeking
gifts, especially from the rulers of Burma.

 
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see
USURY
.

 
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(Xi’an, ‘Western Peace’). Major Chinese city (capital of Shaanxi province), frequently the capital of China, near which (30 km. to the east) the vaults of the Terracotta Warriors were discovered in 1974. When the Emperor Qin Shi Huangdi unified China in 221 BCE, he established his capital to the east of Sian and began to build a magnificent palace on the site of present-day Sian: it was then known as Chang'an. The warriors were discovered in his tomb—more than 8,000 in number. Sian also contains the Big Wild Goose Pagoda, in imitation of a pagoda of the same name in India: the name is derived from a time when some starving Buddhist monks prayed for food and a wild goose fell out of the sky. In gratitude, they buried the goose instead of eating it, and built a temple on the spot. It is one of the oldest (originally built in 652) buildings in China (restored during the 1950s). The Little Goose Pagoda (707–9) was early destroyed in war; the rebuilt Pagoda was damaged by earthquake in the 16th cent., but was repaired and reopened in 1977.

 
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Sibylline Oracles
.

A collection of prophetic oracles in fourteen books by Jewish and Christian authors. Their dates are disputed, but probably range from the late 2nd to the 4th cents.

 
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(Lat., ‘men armed with curved daggers’). Jewish resistance fighters against the Romans in the 1st cent. CE. According to
Josephus
, the Sicarii assassinated the
high priest
, Jonathan, and held the fortress of Masada in 70 CE.

 
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