The Concise Oxford Dictionary of World Religions (430 page)

Bossey
.

An
ecumenical
institute near Geneva in Switzerland, run by the World Council of Churches.

 
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Bo Tree
,
Bodhi Tree

(Skt.,
bodhi
, ‘enlightenment’). The tree (
ficus religiosa
) under which the
Buddha
is believed to have gained enlightenment. Situated in Bodhgaya, Bihar, the present tree is not particularly large and is unlikely to be the original.
It became customary to plant a Bodhi Tree (a cutting when possible), usually surrounded by a low railing, in the courtyard of a
vih
ra
to signify the presence of the
Dharma
, and this practice continues to the present day.

 
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Boxer Rebellion
.

A major anti-foreign uprising in north China in 1899–1900 by a Chinese secret society known to Westerners as the ‘Boxers’. The I-ho ch'uan, or ‘Righteous and Harmonious Fists’, was a secret religious society associated with the
Eight-Trigram Society
. It was noted for its practice of the old-style Chinese callisthenics, the movements of which suggested to Westerners the name ‘Boxers’. With court patronage, they destroyed churches and foreign residences, murdered missionaries and Chinese Christians, and attacked foreign legations. In Aug. 1900, a large allied Western force defeated the Boxers. The Boxer Rebellion thus ended with an even further debilitated Ch'ing dynasty and, consequently, new popular support for the radicals' call for a republican revolution and a new China.

 
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(to be distinguished from
Brahman
or its alternative Brahma). In Hinduism, a post-
Vedic
deity. Brahm
is the god of creation and first in the Hindu triad of Brahm
,
Vi
u
and
iva
. He is represented as red in colour, with four heads and four arms, the hands holding, respectively, a goblet, a bow, a sceptre, and the
Vedas
. Today Brahm
is seldom worshipped, and his shrines are few; only two major temples in India are dedicated to him: one at Pushkar, near Ajmere, the other at Khedbrahm
. Nevertheless, Brahm
does figure in both Buddhism and Jainism.