The Concise Oxford Dictionary of World Religions (520 page)

BOOK: The Concise Oxford Dictionary of World Religions
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Chao-chou Ts’ung-shen
or J
sh
J
shin
(778–897).
Leading Ch’an/
Zen
master in China. He had a profound experience of enlightenment when he was 18, which simply indicated to him that there was a way worth pursuing further (i.e. enlightenment is not an end, but a step on a path).
Chao-chou was especially important in showing how Ch’an and
Tao
relate together, opening the way to creative coexistence. His enlightenment is known as
funi daid
, ‘the nonduality of the great Tao’—which is a near synonym for the buddha-nature empty of self and differentiation.
Chaos
.
The primordial condition from which (or onto which) order is imposed, according to many religions, so that the cosmos can appear.
Chapter
.
The members of a Christian religious community or of any similar body. From the 9th cent. cathedrals often had separate ‘chapter houses’.
Charan p
hul
(Pañj
b
, ‘foot-initiation’). Hindu initiation ritual continued by Sikh
Gur
s
. Gur
Gobind Si
gh
replaced charan p
hul with
kha
e-d
-p
hul
, initiation with the
kha
on
Bais
kh

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