The Concise Oxford Dictionary of World Religions (2303 page)

BOOK: The Concise Oxford Dictionary of World Religions
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, N
ti-
astras.
In Buddhism, sm
ti is the Skt. equivalent of
sati
, ‘mindfulness’: it is the meditational practice which observes closely and continuously what is going on in the interior life of the practitioner, especially the four mindfulnesses, the body (
kaya
), sensation (
vedan
), mind (
citta
), and the Buddha's way (
dharma
).
Sm
ti-upasth
na
(system of mediation in Buddhism):
Snake-handling
.
A practice in certain
Pentecostal
churches mostly in the mountains of the SE USA. It is inspired by the words in Mark 16. 17–18. Handling snakes while in an ecstatic state thus becomes a sign of one's faith and possession of the
Holy Spirit
. The American Civil Liberties Union has defended snake-handling religion as a test case of the constitutional right to freedom of religious belief.

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