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One of the finest German medieval epic poems, The Lay of the Nibelungs is perhaps best known now as one of the principal sources for Wagner’s four-part music drama The Ring of the Nibelung. It is easy to see how Wagner was enthralled by the story and the poetry for the power of the tale drives the narrative: intense love, loyalty, jealousy, murder, duty, honour and massacre are all interwoven into a classic.

Theravada, Tibetan and Zen may be the most well-known forms of Buddhism in the West, but in many parts of the East it is the Pure Land schools which dominate. Though their roots are clearly embedded in the initial teachings of the historical figure of Shakyamuni, the richly devotional nature of Pure Land Buddhism lends a unique character to its approach and practice.

In 1604, King James I of England authorized that a new translation of the Bible into English be started. It was finished in 1611, just 85 years after the first translation of the New Testament into English appeared (Tyndale, 1526). The Authorized Version, or the King James Version, quickly became the standard for English-speaking Protestants. Its flowing language and prose rhythm has had a profound influence on the literature of the past 400 years.

Jay was a sweet, bright high school student who cared about his grades and his friends. He had ambitions. He was happy. And he thought he could handle anything. He was wrong. When Jay falls in with a crowd that's dabbling in drugs and the occult, he finds himself in over his head and doing things he never thought possible.

As with Volume 1, Volume 2 follows the traditional ordering of the individual works in the Khuddaka Nikāya, which makes for a curious, but invigorating collection. The first two texts, Therīgāthā and Theragāthā, present the traditional histories of the bhikkhunīs (nuns) and bhikkhus (monks) of the Buddha’s time. In each case, their biographies (written centuries later by Dharmapāla who had access to sources now lost) lead to verses ascribed to the real individuals on gaining nibbāna. Here are fascinating glimpses of life at the time of the Buddha.

Anonymous is back with the intoxicating, darkly dangerous, and wildly addictive sequel to his New York Times bestselling debut novel Diary of an Oxygen Thief. Picking up the story where it left off, the controversial protagonist of cult classic Diary of an Oxygen Thief retools his advertising...

For eight weeks in 1945, as Berlin fell to the Russian army, a young woman kept a daily record of life in her apartment building and among its residents. The anonymous author depicts her fellow Berliners in all their humanity, as well as their cravenness, corrupted first by hunger and then by the Russians. A Woman in Berlin tells of the complex World War II relationship between civilians and an occupying army and the shameful indignities to which women in a conquered city are always subject—the mass rape suffered by all, regardless of age or infirmity.

In time for the 2020 presidential election, Anonymous returns to expand on their "must read" (Time), #1 bestselling behind-the-scenes "scathing portrait" (USA Today) of the Trump presidency with new words of warning for Americans everywhere. On September 5, 2018, the New York Times published a...

"The Three Little Pigs" is a very funny and famous fairytale featuring anthropomorphic pigs who build three houses of different materials. The story begins with the title characters being sent out into the world by their mother, to "seek out their fortune". The first little pig builds a house of straw, but a wolf blows it down and eats him. The second pig builds a house of furze sticks, which the wolf also blows down and eats him. Each exchange between wolf and pig features ringing proverbial phrases, namely: "Little pig, little Pig, let me come in." "No, no, not by the hair on my chinny chin chin." "Then I'll huff, and I'll puff, and I'll blow your house in." The third pig builds a house of bricks. This little pig is very smart, and the end is a big surprise for everyone.

“In the fairy tales about father–daughter incest—‘The Girl Without Hands,’ ‘Thousand Furs,’ the original ‘Cinderella,’ ‘Donkey Skin,’ and the stories of Saint Dymphna, patron saint of incest survivors—the daughters are all as you would expect them to be: horrified by...

The Holy Quran is comprised of 114 suwar (plural of surah, or chapter), each divided into verses. The shortest surah (Al-Kawthar) has only three verses while the longest (Al-Baqarah) contains 286 verses.

The Khuddaka Nikāya is different in character from the other four Nikāyas of the Sutta Pitaka in the Theravada Pāli Canon in that rather than being a single work it is, as its customary translation ‘Minor Anthologies’ suggests, a collection of independent works.

Finalist for an Audie Award in Memoir One of the New York Times' 20 Books to Read in 2020 "Unforgettable...Behind her brilliantly witty and uplifting message is a remarkable vulnerability and candor that reminds us that we are not alone in our struggles—and that we can, against all odds, get...

These three sutras are the most important texts for the Chan (Chinese) and Zen (Japanese) Buddhist traditions, though they are very different in character and provenance. The Diamond Sutra (Vajracheddikā Prajña Pārāmitā Sutra in Sanskrit) has the distinction of being 'the earliest complete survival of a dated (11 May 868) printed book’. It was found in the Dunhuang Caves in China in 1900. The title, Diamond Cutter, outlines its purpose, which is to cut through ignorance to attain to perfect wisdom or ultimate reality.

《一千零一夜》是阿拉伯民间故事集。宰相的女儿山鲁佐德用讲述故事的方法吸引国王，她的故事一直讲了一千零一夜，国王终于被感动，与她白首偕老。…… 《一千零一夜》是阿拉伯民間故事集。宰相的女兒山魯佐德用講述故事的方法吸引國王，她的故事一直講了一千零一夜，國王終於被感動，與她白首偕老。

《周易》是一部是建立在阴阳二元论基础上对事物运行规律加以论证和描述的中国古哲学书籍。…… 《周易》是一部建立在陰陽二元論基礎上對事物運行規律加以論證和描述的中國古哲學書籍。

In this, the final volume in Dharma Audiobooks’ compilation of the Principal Texts of the Khuddaka Nikāya, the major work, and in some ways the most unusual, is Milinda’s Questions. For while the other two, the Buddhavaṃsa and the Cariyāpitaka, may date from the early years of Buddhism, there is no doubt that Milinda’s Questions comes from a later period.

The unbelievable account of life as a hitman from a man who has been doing it for decades. Hitmen commit heinous crimes virtually every day of the week and, in most instances, we don't even realise. I've been a killer for hire for more than twenty years now, but life as a fulltime professional...

Los salmos son un conjunto de cinco libros de poesía religiosa hebrea que forma parte del Tanaj judío y del Antiguo Testamento. Está incluido entre los llamados Libros Sapienciales.

"El Libro Egipcio de los muertos" es el nombre moderno de un texto funerario del Antiguo Egipto que se utilizó desde el comienzo del Imperio nuevo hacia el 1550 a. C. hasta el 50 a. C. El nombre egipcio original es traducido por los egiptólogos como "Libro de la salida al día". El texto consiste en una serie de conjuros mágicos destinados a ayudar a los difuntos a superar el juicio de Osiris, asistirlos en su viaje a través de la Duat, el inframundo, y viajar al Aaru, en la otra vida.