Sistema Regional de Información
en línea para Revistas Científicas de América Latina,
el Caribe, España y Portugal

Different from the global circulation of modern standardized products, the spreading of Chinese tea since ancient times has never been a simple matter of transportation and logistics. Material carriers, spreading routes, local integration, change of times... The interweaving of many factors leads to spontaneous balance between tea's commodity attributes and cultural labels. This paper focuses on the longitudinal spreading of tea, i.e., the morphological changes in the long history of China, and the horizontal spreading. The geographically horizontal spreading is focused on the Japanese tea ceremony and the Tea-horse Ancient Road as examples to illustrate the relevant issues.

Abstract: In China, the temples of various beliefs or religions form an important part of the sacred space. In this work, we intend to make an introduction to the temples of prehistoric beliefs, related to nature and ancestors, as well as those of the three main religions in that country, which are Taoism, Buddhism, and Confucianism. On the other hand, the location, the design, the history, the different models, and the consecrated deities of the temples are briefly exposed.

This paper intents to point out to a fundamental principle of Hindu metaphysics through the mythic language. This is the dynamics from Being to becoming and how it returns. This process is enabled through a complex course that interweaves reflections (chaya, pratibimba) descending from higher consciousness. In this progress, the psyche dimension (both cosmic and individual) arises in such a way that weakens itself in its dispersion. Although paradoxical as it might sound, it is from this level that, under certain conditions, emerges the possibility that enables the spiritual return in itself.

The sacred character that according to Taoist way of thinking is given to nature is the central axis of this investigation. We analyze the context in which this philosophy was developed and we present some of its fundamental principles, all this will be useful to understand how the sacralization process took place. We deal with all this in relation to paradigmatic cases of classical literature through allusions to nature and certain Chinese linguistic expressions of a Taoist nature that we also explain throughout our presentation.

This study explores how people with different cultural backgrounds comprehend diverse sacred spaces all over the world, from a cross-linguistic perspective. The challenges surrounding intelligibility relate to spatial resemblance, complexity of religion, as well as many obscure proper names. With the lexicalization of relevant religious concepts, “cultural synonyms” are generated. Through surveying the vocabulary within the domain of “TEMPLE” as an exemplification, the cultural synonymy of the Chinese lexicon in demonstrating spiritual intricacy has been elucidated. Based on the theory of “multi-competence”, a reasonable hypothesis on cross-culturally understanding the sacred space is proposed: Multicompetent individuals can have other comprehensions about sacred spaces when compared with monolinguals of either the native or the target language; A monolingual or a cross-cultural experiencer without knowledge of the regional language depends on translation to apprehend the sacred space, which may result in confusion; Deficient translations may also interfere with multicompetent individuals, while their linguistic awareness allows them more chances of differentiating cultural synonyms and accordingly clarification of any misguided perceptions.

The "policy of adaptation" was a peaceful way of spreading the doctrines of God. However, that strategy was not supported by all the missionaries in the East. In the specific case of China, Catholic Evangelization encountered enormous difficulties in the initial stage of the process. The main reasons of those difficulties were the uniqueness of Chinese culture and mentality and the complexity of ideological diffusion in such an immense country - a country with an absolutely centrist power. It should be also noted that the Jesuit missionaries who arrived in the land of Ming played a pioneering role in the scientific communication between China and the West.

Nothingness and emptiness are concepts that we can recognize as fundamental in Eastern philosophy, however, unlike the conceptions adopted in the West, in ancient Chinese thought –emphasizing Daoism (道教)– nothing was not thought as something with an ontological character, but as an indefinable previous state. In a similar way, empty space manifested itself in the arts as the representation of the place where changes and transformations of reality occurred, pointing to the ideal of the artist in allowing himself to flow during the creative process. In this way the absence was made present, approaching the origin of all things.

The Ainu are a group of populations settled on the Kamchatka Peninsula, on the island of Sakhalin, in the Kurils and in Hokkaidō. I will examine the Ainu of the island of Hokkaidō. During the Tokugawa (1603-1868) and Meiji (1868-1912) periods, the Japanese imposed reforms and forced assimilation, depriving them of their cultural heritage. Initially labeled as "last", over time the Ainu have been invited to folklore along with a slow restitution of their cultural tradition, albeit with some compromise. In this way, tourist centers have most likely become the main gateways to a universe still pervaded by mystery. This article explores the changes in religious tradition, starting with the cosmogonic world, passing through ceremonies in their most traditional form, to examining how such ceremonials have been transformed for tourism purposes.

'Norito, traducción y análisis de las plegarias sintoístas japonesas' contemplates the study of the prayers that so faithfully represent the spirit of Shinto 'the Way of kami', the religion of the County of the Rising Sun; through a drtailed translation in Spanish of four of them. That way, they can be easily read while serving as a vehicle to begin to understand Japanese spirituality. The norito are amazing pieces of Japanese literature, designed to be recited and sung in honor of the divinity to which they are adressed, often even in the name of the Emperor himself during the great festivities, so that they reach both the heart of the officiant and that of the kami. It will means all kind of blessings for the Japanese people, the 'sons of the Great Deity' and that at the same time allows, without a doubt, that there is a relationshipof such intimate coexistence with the Nature of the Japanese islands.

Philo in the treatise De vita contemplativa tells us about the daily life of a philosophical Jewish community composed of men and women, who live in retirement in a village on the outskirts of Alexandria, next to Lake Mareotis: the Therapeutai. In this article we intend to analyze the buildings of the mareotic village, the type of constructions that housed this congregation, its characteristics and its possible location. This study will provide us with a better understanding of the environment in which the Alexandrian Therapeutai developed their contemplative and philosophical activity, and the relationship of these buildings with their ascetic and philosophical vocation.