The Concise Oxford Dictionary of World Religions (695 page)

 
Back
  -  
 
New Search

D
shti-prav
da-a
ga
:

see
A
GA
.

 
Back
  -  
 
New Search

(1455–1570).
Tibetan, best-known as one of the ‘holy fools’ of Tibet. He was trained in the Drugpa school of the
Kagyüpa
, but he adopted the ascetic life of a wanderer, which was nevertheless demonstrated in consumption of beer and women—in a quasi-Tantric style of non-attachment even in action. He is believed to be the reappearance in bodily form of Saraha and
avaripa, two
mah
siddhas
.

 
Back
  -  
 
New Search

(Arab., Dur
z). Members of a religious group numbering about half a million, mainly in S. Lebanon, SW Syria, and Hawran district of Israel/N. Palestine. A closely knit community, mainly landowners and cultivators, the Druzes practise a secret religion which conceals doctrines and practices from the uninitiated, a fact which has prevented until modern times a clear understanding of its origins, doctrines, and practices.
The Druze religion was derived from
Ism
‘
l
ya
, and was established in the 11th cent. in Cairo, Egypt, around the cult of the F
imid
Khal
fa
al-
kim (disappeared in 1021 (AH 411)). Al-
kim was first recognized as incarnate reason by al-Daraz
, from whom the name Druze derives. The two most sacred books of the Druzes are
Al-Naqd al-Khafi
(Copy of the Secret) by
amza b. ‘Al