Sundiata Keita (Mandinka, Malinke: ;  1217–c. 1255, N'Ko spelling: ; also known as Manding Diara, Lion of Mali, Sogolon Djata, son of Sogolon, Nare Maghan and Sogo Sogo Simbon Salaba) was a prince and founder of the Mali Empire. He was also the great-uncle of the Malian ruler Mansa Musa, the wealthiest person of all time.

Written sources augment the Mande oral histories, with the Moroccan traveller Muhammad ibn Battúta (1304–1368) and the Tunisian historian ibn Khaldun (1332–1406) both having travelled to Mali in the century after Sundiata's death, and providing independent verification of his existence. The semi-historical but legendary Epic of Sundiata by the Malinké/Maninka people centers on his life. The epic poem is primarily known through oral tradition, transmitted by generations of Maninka griots (djeli or jeliw). The Manden Charter issued during his reign is listed by UNESCO as one of an intangible cultural heritage.

Epic of Sundiata

The oral traditions relating to Sundiata Keita were passed down generation after generation by the local griots (djeli or jeliw), until eventually their stories were put into writing. Sundiata was the son of Naré Maghann Konaté (variation: Maghan Konfara) and Sogolon Condé (variations: "Sogolon Kolonkan" or "Sogolon Kédjou", the daughter of the "buffalo woman", so-called because of her ugliness and hunchback). Sundiata was crippled from childhood and his mother (Sogolon) was the subject of ridicule among her co-wives. She was constantly teased and ridiculed openly for her son's disability. This significantly affected Sundiata and he was determined to do everything he possibly could in order to walk like his peers. Through this determination, he one day miraculously got up and walked. Among his peers, he became a leader. His paternal half-brother, Dankaran Touman, and Dankaran's mother, Sassouma Bereté, were cruel and resentful of Sundiata and his mother. Their cruelty escalated after the death of Naré Maghann (the king and father of Sundiata). To escape persecution and threats on her son's life, Sogolon took her children, Sundiata and his sisters, into exile. This exile lasted for many years and took them to different countries within the Ghana Empire and eventually to Mema, where the king of Mema granted them asylum. Sundiata was admired by the King of Mema for his courage and tenacity. As such, he was given a senior position within the kingdom. When King Soumaoro Kanté of Sosso conquered the Mandinka people, messengers were sent to go and look for Sogolon and her children, as Sundiata was destined to be a great leader according to prophecy. Upon finding him in Mema, they persuaded him to come back in order to liberate the Mandinkas and their homeland. On his return, he was accompanied by an army given to him by the King of Mema. The warlords of Mali at the time who were his age group included: Tabon Wana, Kamadia Kamara (or Kamadia Camara), Faony Condé, Siara Kuman Konaté and Tiramakhan Traore (many variations: "Trimaghan" or "Tiramaghan", the future conqueror of Kaabu). It was on the plain of Siby (var: Sibi) where they formed a pact brotherhood in order to liberate their country and people from the powerful Sosso king. At The Battle of Kirina, Sundiata and his allies defeated the Sosso king, and he became the first Emperor of the Mali Empire. He was the first of the Mandinka line of kings to adopt the royal title Mansa (king or emperor in the Mandinka language).

The Mandinka epic does not give us dates, but Arab and North African writers who visited the area about a century after the epic's events documented on paper some of the information, including dates and a genealogy. Conversely, the written sources left out other pieces of information that the oral tradition includes.

Sogolon Djata
Sundjata Keyita
Mari Djata or "Mārī-Djāta" (according to Ibn Khaldun in the late 14th century)
The Lion King
The proper English spelling of Sundiata's name is Sunjata, pronounced soon-jah-ta, approaching the actual pronunciation in the original Mandinka. The name Sogolon derives from his mother and Jata means lion. It is the traditional way of praising someone in some West African societies (Gambia, Senegal, Mali and Guinea in particular). The name Sundiata praises him through his mother which means "the lion of Sogolon" or "Sogolon's lion". The name Jata derives from Jara (lion). Jara and many of its variations such as jata, jala or jada are merely regional variations, from Gambia, Guinea or Mali, for instance. Sundiata's name is thus a derivation of his mother's name Sogolon (Son or its variation Sun) and Jata (lion).

Surname (Keita or Konaté?)

Some Bambaras and Mandinkas have proposed that the name Keita actually means inheritor (heir-apparent) in the Mandinka language, and that Sundiata's real surname is Konaté (French spelling in Mali) or Konateh, variations: Konate, Conateh (English spelling in the Gambia where the Mandinkas make up the largest ethnic group). It is proposed that Sundiata Keita's father, Naré Maghann Konaté, took the real family name Konaté while his successors were "Keitas in waiting" (heirs to the throne). The name Keita is a clan name rather than a surname. Although in some West African societies a clan can be similar to the family name (see Joof family), such similarities do not exist between the names Keita and Konaté. Both points of contention agree that Keita is not a real surname, but rather a royal name, in spite of the fact that Sundiata is referred to as Sundiata Keita in many scholarly works. At present, there is no consensus among the scholars regarding the name Sundiata Konaté.

Battle of Kirina

Delafosse previously proposed that, Soumaoro Kanté's grandfather with the help of his army and the Sosso nobility of Kaniaga captured what was left of the sacked Ghana Empire, and by 1180, Diara Kanté (var: Jara Kante), Soumaoro's father gained control of Koumbi Saleh, dethroned a Muslim dynasty and continued the Diarisso Dynasty (variation: Jariso or Jarisso) whose son (Soumaoro) went on to succeed him and launched an offensive against the Mandinkas. Delafosse's original work has been refuted and discarded by many scholars including Monteil, Cornevin, etc. There was no Diara Kanté in the oral sources. That was an addition by Delafosee which was contrary to the original sources.
The consensus is, in c. 1235, Sundiata who had survived one of Soumaoro's earlier raids went to war with the help of his allies against King Soumaoro of Sosso. Although a valiant warrior, Soumaoro was defeated at The Battle of Kirina (c. 1235). Soumaoro is regarded as one of the true champions of the Traditional African religion. According to Fyle, Soumaoro was the inventor of the balafon and the dan (a four-string guitar used by the hunters and griots). After his victory at Kirina, Sundiata took control of the former conquered states of the Sosso and appropriated privileges among those who participated in the defeat of Soumaoro. The former allies of Soumaoro were also later defeated, in particular the king of Jolof. Serer oral tradition speaks of a Serer king of Jolof, involved in the occult (just as Soumaoro), who was later defeated by Tiramakhan Traore (one of the generals of Sundiata) after Sundiata sent his men to buy horses in Jolof. It is reported that, when Sundiata sent his men to Jolof to buy horses in a caravan loaded with gold, the king of Jolof took all the gold and horses – known among some as "the robbery of the horses". In a revenge attack, Sundiata sent his general to Jolof to assassinate the king. It is believed that, it was probably this king of Jolof (known as Mansa Jolofing or Jolofing Mansa) who sided with Soumaoro at The Battle of Kirina and possibly belongs to the Ngom Dynasty of Jolof, the predecessors of the Diaw and Ndiaye Dynasties of Jolof. At present, little is known about the Ngom Dynasty of Jolof.

Niane has advanced the claim that, the Jolofing Mansa sided with Sumaguru [or Soumaoro] because "like him, he was hostile to Islam." He went on to state that:
"He [the King of Jolof] confiscated Diata's [Sundiata's] horses and sent him a skin, saying that he should make shoes out of it since he was neither a hunter nor a king worthy to mount a horse."Religion
In his piece in the General History of Africa, Volume 4, p. 133, Djibril Tamsir Niane alludes to Sundiata being a Muslim. According to Fage, there is nothing in the original epos that supports the claim. Sundiata is regarded as a great hunter and magician whose subjects predominantly adhered to traditional beliefs, as did Sundiata.Badru, Pade, The Spread of Islam in West Africa: colonization, globalization, and the emergence of fundamentalism, pp. 100-102, Edwin Mellen Press, 2006, . However, some of Sundiata's successors were Muslim, with Mansa Musa Keita being one of the most widely known. The explorer Ibn Battuta, who visited Mali during the reign of Sundiata's great-nephew Suleyman, claimed that Mansa Musa's grandfather was named Sariq Jata and had converted to Islam. This may be a reference to Sundiata, though if so Ibn Battuta was apparently mistaken about the genealogy, as Musa's grandfather was Sundiata's brother Mande Bory. Other medieval Arabic sources claim that a ruler before Sundiata named Barmandana was the first ruler of Mali to convert to Islam.

Some Muslim griots later added to the epic of Sundiata by claiming that Sundiata has "an ancestral origin among the companions of Muhammad in Mecca" (namely, Bilal Ibn Rabah) and speaks of himself as a successor to Dhu al-Qarnayn, a conqueror and king mentioned in the Quran, commonly regarded as a reference to Alexander the Great. Claims such as these are referred to by scholars like G. Wesley Johnson as nothing more than "Islamic legitimacy" - in African countries where Islam is now the predominant religion such as Senegal, and where Muslim griots try to link historical African figures to the prophet Muhammad either through a line of descent or by claiming that the ancestor of the historical figure belonged to Muhammad's tribe or was one of his followers (an attempt to distance them from their traditional African religious past).<ref>Johnson, G. Wesley, The emergence of Black politics in Senegal: the struggle for power in the four communes, 1900-1920, Hoover Institution on War, Revolution, and Peace (1971), p.10</ref> Although Sundiata was not a Muslim, it is clear that the original epic of Sundiata was later affected by what Ralph Austen calls "Islamicate" culture—that is, the integration of Islamic and Arab culture.

Imperial Mali

After his victory at Kirina, Mansa Sundiata established his capital at Niani, near the present-day Malian border with Guinea. Assisted by his generals, Tiramakhan being one of the most prominent, he went on to conquer other states. The lands of the old Ghana Empire were conquered. The king of Jolof was defeated by Tiramakhan and his kingdom reduced to a vassal state. After defeating the former ally of Soumaoro, Tiramakhan ventured deep into present-day Senegal, the Gambia and Guinea Bissau and conquered them. Tiramakhan was responsible for the conquest of the Senegambia. In Kaabu (part of present-day Guinea Bissau), he defeated the last great Bainuk king (King Kikikor) and annexed his state. The great Kikikor was killed and his kingdom was renamed Kaabu. Sundiata was responsible for the conquest of Diafunu and Kita. Although the conquered states were answerable to the Mansa (king) of Mali, Sundiata was not an absolute monarch despite what the title implies. Though he probably wielded popular authority, the Mali Empire was reportedly run like a federation with each tribe having a chief representative at the court. The first tribes were Mandinka clans of Traore, Kamara, Koroma, Konde (or Conde), and of course Keita. The Great Gbara Assembly was in charge of checking the Mansa's power, enforcing his edicts among their people, and selecting the successor (usually the Mansa's son, brother or sister's son). The Empire flourished from the 13th to the late 14th century but began to decline as some vassal states threw away the yoke of Mali and regained their independence. Some of these former vassals went on to form empires of their own.

Death
The generally accepted death year of Mansa Sundiata Keita is c. 1255. However, there is very little information regarding his cause of death. Not only are there different versions, mainly modern, but Mandinka tradition forbids disclosing the burial ground of their great kings. According to some, he died of drowning while trying to cross the Sankarani River, near Niani. If one is to believe Delafosse, he was "accidentally killed by an arrow during a ceremony." Others have maintained that he was assassinated at a public demonstration, also known as a Gitten. At present, the generally accepted cause of death is drowning in the Sankarani River, where a shrine that bears his name still remains today (Sundiata-dun meaning Sundiata's deep water). His three sons (Mansa Wali Keita, Mansa Ouati Keita and Mansa Khalifa Keita) went on to succeed him as Mansas of the Empire. The famous and notably ostentatious West African ruler Mansa Musa was Sundiata Keita's great-nephew.

Legacy

A strong army was a major contributor to the success of Imperial Mali during the reign of Mansa Sundiata Keita. Credit to Mali's conquests cannot all be attributed to Sundiata Keita but equally shared among his generals, and in this, Tiramakhan Traore stood out as one of the elite generals and warlords of Sundiata's Imperial Mali. However, in a wider perspective of 13th century West African military history, Sundiata stood out as a great leader who was able to command the loyalties of his generals and army.

It was during his reign that Mali first began to become an economic power, a trend continued by his successors and improved on thanks to the ground work set by Sundiata, who controlled the region's trade routes and gold fields. The social and political constitution of Mali were first being codified during the reign of Mansa Sundiata Keita. Known as the Gbara and the Kouroukan Fouga, although not written and even subject to alterations in retelling and when they were first recorded in written form, they were part of the social and political norms of Mali. Many of these laws have been incorporated into the constitution of modern-day Mali.

Sundiata Keita was not merely a conqueror who was able to rule over a large empire with different tribes and languages, but also developed Mali's mechanisms for agriculture, and is reported to have introduced cotton and weaving in Mali. Towards the end of his reign, "absolute security" is reported to have "prevailed throughout his dominion."

From a global perspective, the Epic of Sundiata and the Mali Empire is taught in many schools, colleges and universities, not just in West Africa but in many parts of the World. Some scholars such as Ellen Snodgrass and others have observed similarities with the 13th-century Epic of Sundiata to Walt Disney's 1994 animated film The Lion King. Disney has maintained that the film was inspired by William Shakespeare's Hamlet.

1995 Burkinabe movie Keïta! l'Héritage du griot tells the legend of Sundiata Keita.

The video game Age of Empires II HD: The African Kingdoms contains a five-chapter campaign depicting Sundjata.

See also

Guinea Conakry
History of Guinea-Bissau
History of Mali
History of Senegal
History of the Gambia
Sosso people

References

Notes

Bibliography
Austen, Ralph A. "The Historical Transformation of Genres: Sunjata as Panegyric, Folktale, Epic, and Novel." Ralph A Austen (ed.), In Search of Sunjata: The Mande Oral Epic as History, Literature, and Performance (1999): 69–87.
Belcher, Stephen. Sinimogo, 'Man for tomorrow': Sunjata on the fringes of the Mande world. .Ralph A Austen (ed.), In Search of Sunjata: The Mande Oral Epic as History, Literature, and Performance (1999): 89-110.
Camara, Seydou. "The epic of Sunjata: structure, preservation and transmission." Ralph A Austen (ed.), In Search of Sunjata: The Mande Oral Epic as History, Literature and Performance (1999): 59–68.
Johnson, John William. "The dichotomy of power and authority in Mande society and in the epic of Sunjata." Ralph A Austen (ed.), In Search of Sunjata: The Mande Oral Epic as History, Literature and Performance (1999): 9-24.
McGuire, James R. 1999. Butchering Heroism?: Sunjata and the Negotiation of Postcolonial Mande Identity in Diabate's Le Boucher de Kouta.  In Search of Sunjata: The Mande Oral Epic as History, Literature and Performance, ed. by Ralph Austen, pp. 253–274. Bloomington, IN: Indiana University Press.
.
.
Snodgrass, Mary Ellen, Encyclopedia of the Literature of Empire, p. 77, Infobase Publishing, 2009, .
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Wilks, Ivor. "The History of the Sunjata Epic: A Review of the Evidence." Ralph A Austen (ed.), In Search of Sunjata: The Mande Oral Epic as History, Literature and Performance (1999): 25–58.

Further reading
.
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.
.
 (on the Kings of Mali)
.
 Johnson, John William. 1992. The Epic of Son-Jara: A West African Tradition. Bloomington: Indiana University Press.
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Newton, Robert C. 2006. Of Dangerous Energy and Transformations: Nyamakalaya and the Sunjata Phenomenon. Research in African Literatures Vol. 37, No. 2: 15–33.
. One of the first publications presenting a version of the Sundiata Epic.
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Published translations of the epic include D. T. Niane's prose version, Sundiata: An Epic of Old Mali (Harlow: Longman, 2006, 1994, c.1965: ), Fa-Digi Sisoko's oral version, Son-Jara: The Mande Epic (Bloomington, Ind.: Indiana University Press, 2003), Issiaka Diakite-Kaba's French-English diglot dramatized version Soundjata, Le Leon/Sunjata, The Lion (Denver: Outskirts Press and Paris: Les Editions l'Harmattan, 2010).

External links
The True Lion King of Africa: The Epic History of Sundiata, King of Old Mali
Background information on Sundiata Sections include Geography, Religion, Society & Politics

1217 births
1255 deaths
13th-century monarchs in Africa
Gambian royalty
History of Mali
Sundiata
People from the Mali Empire
Malian royalty
Mansas of Mali
Medieval legislators
Senegalese royalty

Sundiata Keita


Carl Erik Soya, (30 October 1896 – 10 November 1983), also known by the single appellation Soya, was a Danish author and dramatist. His works were often satirical provocations against double standards and dishonesty. In 1975, Soya received Denmark's foremost literary award, Grand Prize of the Danish Academy.

Early life
Carl Erik Martin Soya-Jensen was born in Copenhagen, Denmark on 30 October 1896, the son of the painter and professor Carl Martin Soya-Jensen. His parents died when he was a young boy. The inheritance he received provided Soya with financial independence and enabled him to pursue a career as a writer. In 1915, Soya entered the Metropolitan School in Copenhagen, and received his diploma the following year. He began his career as a freelance journalist for Vore Damer (Our Ladies) writing under the American pseudonyms Lillian D. Green, Martin Arrowhead, and Joseph W. French. In 1920, he changed his name to the single appellation, Soya.

Career
Soya published his first book in 1923 – a collection of philosophical stories titled Kvinderne i Persien (The Women of Persia) – which revealed his satirical style and quickly earned him a reputation as a provocateur. In 1929, Soya wrote his first stage play, Parasitterne (The Parasites), which was later produced at the Royal Danish Theatre in 1945.

Soya was the first Danish dramatist to attack fascism when he wrote the satirical farce Umbabumba skifter forfatning (Umbabumba changes its Constitution)  in 1935. Then during World War II, in 1942, he wrote En Gæst (A Guest) another sharp satire aimed against the German occupation of Denmark, for which he received a 60-day prison sentence. In 1943, he continued his attack with the satire Min Farmors Hus (made into the 1984 film My Granny's House), and again Soya was sent to prison by the German authorities. After his release from the Horserød Work Camp, Soya went to the State Ministry and slapped the National Censor Karl Eskelund across the face." He then fled to Sweden.

Soya was a prolific writer and published in a variety of forms including novels, short stories, poems, stage plays, teleplays and collections of aphorisms. Several of his works have been adapted to screen including the 1965 coming-of-age sex comedy Sytten (Erik Soya's '17') and the 1948 romantic drama Jenny and the Soldier which won the Bodil Award for Best Danish Film. During his life, Soya was supported by more than 20 grants and prizes. In 1975, Soya was awarded the Grand Prize from the Det Danske Academi, the foremost literary prize in Denmark.

Personal life
Soya was married in 1919 to Esther Sættem but they divorced two years later. He married a second time in 1925 with Agnes Augusta Zaar. He died on 10 November 1983 at the age of 87 and was buried in a common grave at Mariebjerg Church Cemetery in Gentofte, Denmark.

Awards and grants
Soya was the recipient of numerous monetary prizes. Among his greatest awards were a knighthood in the Order of the Dannebrog in 1948, the 1971 Ingenio et Arti Medal and the 1975 Grand Prize from The Danish Academy.

 1931 Emma Bærentzen Grant
 1937 Astrid Goldschmidt Grant
 1940 Holger Drachmann Grant
 1940 The Ancker Grant
 1945 Jeanne and Henri Nathansen Grant
 1947 Otto Benzon Writer's Grant
 1947 Holberg Medal
 1948 Order of the Dannebrog
 1949 Henrik Pontoppidan Memorial Grant
 1950 Herman Bang Memorial Grant
 1952 Tørsleff & Co Literary Honor
 1954 Jeanne and Henri Nathansen Memorial Grant
 1956 Colleague Prize for Blodrødt og blegrødt
 1961 Adam Oehlenschläger Grant
 1962 Alexander Foss Award
 1963 Jeanne and Henri Nathansen Memorial Grant
 1968 Johannes Ewald Grant
 1971 Ingenio et Arti Medal
 1971 Otto Rung Writer's Grant
 1975 The Danish Academy Grand Prize
 1978 Adam Oehlenschläger Grant

Bibliography

Kvinderne i Persien og andre Æventyr (1923) (short stories)
Parasitterne (1929) (stageplay)
Ganske almindelige mennesker (1930) (short stories)
Jeg kunne nemt ta' 100 Kroner (1931) (novella)
Hvem er jeg? eller Naar Fanden gi'r et Tilbud (1932) (stage play)
Umbabumba skifter forfatning (1933) (stage play)
Den leende Jomfru (1934) (stage play)
Lord Nelson lægger Figenbladet eller En Nat i et Vokskabinet (1934) (stage play)
Fristelsen (1935) (stage play)
Handlingen foregår i Danmark (1936) (short stories)
Avner for Vinden (1937) (stage play)
Maalet, Troen og Synspunktet. Det nye Spil om Enhver (1938) (stage play)
Min høje Hat (1939) (stage play)
Brudstykker af et Mønster (1940) (stage play; filmed in 1947 as Jenny and the Soldier)
Smaa venlige Smaafisk (1940) (short stories)
En Gæst (1941) (novel)
Min farmors hus (1943)  (novel; filmed in 1984) aka ''Grandmother's House"
To Traade (1943) (stage play)
30 Aars Henstand (1944) (stage play)
 33 Kunstnerportrætter (1945)
Indfald og udfald  (1945) (collection of aphorisms)
Efter (1947) (stage play; Filmed in 1948 as 3 År Efter (Three Years Later))
Mani (1947) (screenplay)
Frit Valg (1948) (stage play)
Hjerte og smerte (1949) (poems)
Løve med korset (stage play)
Tanker om kvinder, kærlighed og det (1953) (collection of aphorisms)
Sytten I-III (1953) (novel; Filmed in 1965 as 17) aka Seventeen: Parts One, Two and Three
Blodrødt og blegrødt (1955) (short stories)
Lommeuld. 344 indfald og udfald (1955) (collection of aphorisms)
I den lyse nat (1956) (stage play)
Petersen i Dødsriget (1957) (stage play)
Vilhelms bibel. 586 indfald og udfald (1957) (collection of aphorismsr)
Parasitterne (1958) (teleplay)
Tilegnet Boccaccio. Syv pornografiske fortællinger (1959) (novel; filmed in 1970 as Bedroom Magic; filmed in 1972 as Bedside Head)
De sidste. 661 indfald og udfald (1960) (collection of aphorisms)
Platinkorn eller De allersidste. 339 indfald og udfald (1963) (collection of aphorisms)
En tilskuer i Spanien. Fire breve fra Ibiza (1963)
Familien Danmark (1964) (stage play)
Vraggods (1965) (stage play)
Tilegnet Gud. Syv brutale fortællinger  (1966)
Afdøde Jonsen (1966) (Filmed in 1969 as Damernes Ven (The Ladies' Friend))
Bare en tagsten (1966) (Filmed in 1967 as A Bump on the Head and Soya's Tagsten)
Brevet. Et levnedsløb fortalt for TV i fem afdelinger (1966) (television)
Lutter øre (1968) (stageplay)
Familien Kristensen (1970) (stageplay)
Potteskår (1970) (memoirs)
Mazurka på sengekanten (1970) (screenplay...aka Bedroom Magic)
Åndværkeren (1972) (memoirs)
Ærlighed koster mest (1975) (memoirs)

Notes

Further reading
Den Danske Film Database (In Danish)

External links

Det Danske Fiminstitut

Danish satirists
1896 births
1983 deaths
Recipients of Ingenio et Arti
Danish resistance members
Recipients of the Grand Prize of the Danish Academy
Danish male dramatists and playwrights
20th-century Danish dramatists and playwrights
20th-century Danish male writers
Burials at Mariebjerg Cemetery

Carl Erik Soya


South Brighton railway station is a former railway station on the Seaford line in Adelaide, South Australia. It was located about 15.8 kilometres from Adelaide station. The station closed in 1976, and was demolished shortly after, A newer station was built 200 metres to the south of that station in the same year. The old subway that went below the old station was in use until the early 1990s, but has now been filled in and replaced with a ground level passenger walkway. Adjacent to the old station is a disused delicatessen (now residential) building that served the station's passengers, and then the local population until the early 1990s.

References
Thompson MH. "The Goodwood - Brighton - Willunga line." ARHS bulletin, 336, October, 1965.

Disused railway stations in South Australia
Railway stations closed in 1976

South Brighton railway station, Adelaide


The Church of Our Lady of the Scapular–St. Stephen is a Roman Catholic parish church in the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of New York, located at 149 East 28th Street between Third and Lexington Avenues in the Rose Hill neighborhood of Manhattan, New York City. It was established in the 1980s when the parish of the Church of Our Lady of the Scapular of Mount Carmel was merged into the parish of the Church of St. Stephen the Martyr. In January 2007, it was announced by the Archdiocese of New York that the Church of the Sacred Hearts of Mary and Jesus, located at 307 East 33rd Street, was to be merged into Our Lady of the Scapular–St. Stephen, then, in November 2014, the Archdiocese announced that the Church of Our Lady of the Scapular–St. Stephen was one of 31 neighborhood parishes which would be merged into other parishes. Our Lady of the Scapular–St. Stephen was to be merged into the Church of Our Saviour at 59 Park Avenue.

St. Stephen the Martyr
The parish of St. Stephen the Martyr was formed in 1848 and was originally located on Madison Avenue. A temporary church was erected and dedicated by then Bishop John Hughes on December 23, 1849. In 1853 the property was purchased by the New York and Harlem Railroad and a new church was built on 28th Street and opened March 5, 1854. The first pastor was Rev. Jeremiah W. Cummings. One of the parishioners around that time was Orestes Brownson. In an article on "Vocations to the Priesthood" that the plain spoken Cummings contributed to "Brownson's Review" of October, 1860, he severely criticized the management and mode of instruction in Catholic colleges and seminaries which he styled "cheap priest-factories". This aroused a bitter controversy, and brought out one of the noted essays by Archbishop Hughes, his "Reflections on the Catholic Press". "Under the administration of Dr. Cummings St. Stephen's, which he had completed in March, 1854, became the most fashionable and most frequented church in New York, its sermons and music making it a local attraction." During the 1860s St. Stephen's was one of the largest and most influential Catholic congregations in New York.

Cummings died in January 1866 after a long illness that incapacitated him for active service. He was succeeded by assistant pastor Rev. Edward McGlynn. Future Bishop of Buffalo, Charles H. Colton's first assignment after his ordination in 1876 was as a curate at Stephen's. He remained there for ten years, his duties including the chaplaincy at Bellevue. In 1879, Charles Edward McDonnell, (later Bishop of Brooklyn) was also curate at St. Stephen's.

No less plain spoken than his predecessor, Rev. McGlynn was reprimanded by Archbishop John McCloskey, who required McGlynn to refrain from defending in public the views of Henry George, which some considered bordering on socialism. McGlynn subsequently ran afoul of Archbishop Michael Corrigan for McGlynn's open endorsement of George's mayoral campaign. In January 1877, Corrigan removed McGlynn from the pastorate of St. Stephen's for insubordination. Father Colton became pastor in February 1877 and founded the parish school. On June 10, 1903, Colton was appointed the fourth Bishop of Buffalo. He was succeeded by Thomas Francis Cusack, auxiliary bishop of New York, who served as pastor of St. Stephen's Church from 1904 to July 5, 1915, when he was named Bishop of Albany. At that time, the parish maintained the Presentation Day Nursery on East 32nd St., which allowed mothers to work; and St. Stephen's Inn at East 31st St., an affordable residence for young working women. Fr. Francis Cummings became pastor in 1919; he installed electric lighting in the church.

The Carmelites took over administration of the parish in 1988. In 1990, the parish of Our Lady of the Scapular merged with the parish of St. Stephen the Martyr.

Church of St. Stephen the Martyr
The parish's current church, the Romanesque Revival style, was designed by noted architect James Renwick, Jr., who also designed St. Patrick's Cathedral and Grace Church. The façade has rounded arches for the entrance and windows. The building was extended north to 142 East 29th Street in 1865 by architect Patrick Charles Keely.   The church includes forty-three interior murals by the artist Constantine Brumidi, who also provided murals in the U.S. Capitol, as well as a painting of the Crucifixion above the high altar, also by Brumidi. The stained glass windows are by Meyer of Munich.

On March 2, 1916, Spanish poets Juan Ramón Jiménez (Nobel Prize in Literature in 1956) and Zenobia Camprubí got married in this church. Their six-month stay in the United States is in the origin of Jiménez's book Diario de un poeta recién casado (1917), which was an inflection point for his poetry and for Spanish contemporary poetry.

The 29th Street facade is fully developed. The church underwent restoration in 1949.  The connected school building on 28th Street was built c.1902, designed by Elliot Lynch, and a rectory was built on the 29th Street side in 1956, designed by the firm of Knappe & Johnson.

This church is not operational since its merging in 2014.

St. Stephen Parish School
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Mahāmudrā (Sanskrit: महामुद्रा, , contraction of ) literally means "great seal" or "great imprint" and refers to the fact that "all phenomena inevitably are stamped by the fact of wisdom and emptiness inseparable". Mahāmudrā is a multivalent term of great importance in later Indian Buddhism and Tibetan Buddhism which "also occurs occasionally in Hindu and East Asian Buddhist esotericism."

The name also refers to a body of teachings representing the culmination of all the practices of the New Translation schools of Tibetan Buddhism, who believe it to be the quintessential message of all of their sacred texts. The practice of Mahāmudrā is also known as the teaching called "Sahajayoga" or "Co-emergence Yoga". In Tibetan Buddhism, particularly the Kagyu school, Sahaja Mahāmudrā is sometimes seen as a different Buddhist vehicle (yana), the "Sahajayana" (Tibetan: lhen chig kye pa), also known as the vehicle of self-liberation.

Jamgon Kongtrul, a Tibetan nonsectarian (Rime) scholar, characterizes mahāmudrā as the path to realizing the "mind as it is"  (Tibetan: sems nyid) which also stands at the core of all Kagyu paths. He states, "In general, Mahāmudrā and everything below it are the 'mind path' " (Tibetan: sems lam). Mahāmudrā traditionally refers to the quintessence of mind itself and the practice of meditation in relation to a true understanding of it.

History

The usage and meaning of the term mahāmudrā evolved over the course of hundreds of years of Indian and Tibetan history, and as a result, the term may refer variously to "a ritual hand-gesture, one of a sequence of 'seals' in Tantric practice, the nature of reality as emptiness, a meditation procedure focusing on the nature of Mind, an innate blissful gnosis cognizing emptiness nondually, or the supreme attainment of buddhahood at the culmination of the Tantric path."

According to Jamgon Kongtrul, the Indian theoretical sources of the mahāmudrā tradition are Yogacara and tathagatagarbha (buddha-nature) texts such as the Saṃdhinirmocana Sūtra and the Mahāyānottaratantraśāstra. The actual practice and lineage of mahāmudrā can be traced back to wandering mahasiddhas (great adepts) during the Indian Pala Dynasty (760-1142), beginning with the 8th century siddha Saraha.

Saraha's Dohas (songs or poems in rhyming couplets) are the earliest mahāmudrā literature extant, and promote some of the unique features of mahāmudrā such as the importance of pointing-out instruction by a guru, the non-dual nature of mind, and the negation of conventional means of achieving enlightenment such as samatha-vipasyana meditation, monasticism, rituals, tantric practices and doctrinal study in favor of more the direct methods of mahāmudrā 'non-meditation' and 'non-action'. These teachings also became the wellspring for the body of instructions eventually known as the mind teachings of Tibet associated with mahāmudrā of the Kagyu lineages. Later Indian and Tibetan masters such as Padmavajra, Tilopa, and Gampopa incorporated mahāmudrā into tantric, monastic and traditional meditative frameworks.

Etymology in the tantras

It has been speculated that the first use of the term was in the c. 7th century Mañjuśrīmūlakalpa, in which it refers to a hand gesture.

The term is mentioned with increasing frequency as various Buddhist tantras developed further, particularly in the Yogatantras, where it appears in Tattvasaṁgraha (Compendium of Reality) and the Vajraśekhara (Vajra-peak). In these sources, "mahāmudrā" also denotes a hand gesture, now linked to three other hand mudrās—the action (karma), pledge (samaya), and dharma mudrās—but also involves "mantra recitations and visualizations that symbolize and help to effect one's complete identification with a deity's divine form or awakening Mind (bodhicitta)."

In Mahāyoga tantras such as the Guhyasamāja tantra, mahāmudrā "has multiple meanings, including a contemplation-recitation conducive to the adamantine body, speech, and Mind of the tathāgatas; and the object—emptiness—through realization of which 'all is accomplished,'" and it is also used as a synonym for awakened Mind, which is said to be "primordially unborn, empty, unarisen, nonexistent, devoid of self, naturally luminous, and immaculate like the sky."

The idea of "mahāmudrā" emerges as a central Buddhist concept in the Anuttarayoga Tantras (also known as Yoginītantras) like the Hevajra, Cakrasaṁvara, and Kālacakra.

According to Roger Jackson, in these tantras, mahāmudrā has multiple referents. It can refer to completion stage practices which work with forces in the subtle body (sūkṣma śarīra) to produce a divine form and "a luminous, blissful, nonconceptual gnosis." In this context, it is seen as the highest practice which transcends and perfects all previous ones and leads to a direct realization of the nature of mind. In the context of sexual yoga, mahāmudrā can also refers to a yogi's female consort. Furthermore, the term mahāmudrā can also refer to the ultimate truth and the ultimate realization (mahāmudrā-siddhī) in Buddhist tantra. As such, it is the "great seal" which marks all phenomena, i.e. Suchness (tathata), emptiness, the "unchanging bliss beyond object and subject, shape, thought, or expression".

The tantric scholar Aryadeva summarises the meaning of mahāmudrā as: "the discussion of how to attain mahāmudrā entails methods for meditating on Mind itself as something having voidness as its nature".

According to Reginald Ray, the term Mudrā denotes that in an adept's experience of reality, each phenomenon appears vividly, while the term Mahā ("great") refers to the fact that it is beyond concept, imagination, and projection.

Indian sources

All of the various Tibetan mahāmudrā lineages originated with the Mahasiddhas of medieval India (c. 8th to 12th centuries). The earliest figure is the tenth century poet yogi Saraha, and his student Nagarjuna (this tantric figure not to be confused with the earlier philosopher Nagarjuna). Saraha's collections of poems and songs, mostly composed in the apabhramsa language are the earliest Indian sources for mahāmudrā teachings, aside from the Buddhist tantras.

Other influential Indian mahasiddhas include Tilopa, his student Naropa and Naropa's consort Niguma. Tilopa's Ganges Mahāmudrā song is a widely taught short mahāmudrā text. Niguma is an important source for the Shangpa Kagyu lineage.

Tilopa's pupil Maitripa (c.  1007–1085) became the principal master of mahāmudrā in India during his time and most lineages of mahāmudrā are traced from Maitripa. Maitripa was a very influential figure of the eleventh century, a scholar and tantrika who widely taught the Ratnagotravibhāga, a text which is widely seen as bridging the sutric Mahayana and Anuttarayogatantra views. He composed commentaries on the buddhist dohas, and his works include a collection of 26 texts on "non-conceptual realization" (amanasikara), which are a key Indian source of mahāmudrā teachings that blend sutra and tantra, and teach an instantaneous approach to awakening.

Maitripa described mahāmudrā as follows:Mahāmudrā, that which is unified and beyond the mind, is clear yet thoughtless, pervasive, and vast like space. Its aspect of great compassion is apparent yet devoid of any nature. Manifesting clearly like the moon in water; It is beyond all terms, boundaries or center. Polluted by nothing, it is stainless and beyond hope and fear. It cannot be described, like the dream of a mute.One of Maitripa's students was the Kadam scholar Atisha, who taught mahāmudrā to his pupil Dromtönpa (1004–63) who decided not to make mahāmudrā a part of the Kadam tradition. Another pupil of Maitripa, Marpa Lotsawa, also introduced mahāmudrā to Tibet and his disciple Milarepa is also a central figure of this lineage. Another important figure in the introduction of mahāmudrā to the area is Vajrapani, yet another student of Maitripa. His student, Asu, also was a teacher of Rechungpa (1084-1161), one of Milarepa's pupils.

Gampopa, a key figure of the Kagyu school, refers to three important cycles of Indian texts which discuss Mahāmudrā as his main sources:

 "The Seven [or eight] Siddhiḥ Texts" (Saptasiddhiḥ, Tib. Grub pa sde bdun), which include Padmavajra's Guhyasiddhi and Indrabhuti's Jñanasiddhi.
 "The Cycle of Six Heart Texts" or "Six works on essential meaning" (Snying po skor drug), including Saraha's Dohakosha and Nagarjunagarbha's Caturmudraniscaya.
 Maitripa's "Cycle of Teachings on Non-Cognition" (Yid la mi byed pa 'i chos skor).

This classification existed since the time of Butön Rinchen Drup (1290-1364).

Indian sources of mahāmudrā were later compiled by the seventh Karmapa Chödrak Gyatso (1454- 1506) into a three-volume compilation entitled The Indian Mahāmudrā Treatises (Tib. Phyag rgya chen po 'i rgya gzhung). This compilation includes the above three collections, along with the Anavilatantra and texts that teach a non-tantric "instantaneous"approach to the practice by an Indian master named Sakyasribhadra.

Tibetan traditions

Mahāmudrā is most well known as a teaching within the Kagyu school of Tibetan Buddhism. However the Gelug and Sakya schools also practice mahāmudrā. The Nyingma school and Bon practise Dzogchen, a cognate but distinct method of direct introduction to the principle of śūnyatā. Nyingma students may also receive supplemental training in mahāmudrā, and the Palyul Nyingma lineage preserves a lineage of the "Union of mahāmudrā and Ati Yoga" originated by Karma Chagme.

Kagyu tradition

Gampopa Sönam Rinchen (1079-1153), a Kadam monk who was a student of the lay tantric yogi Milarepa, is a key figure in the Kagyu tradition. He is responsible for much of the development of Kagyu monastic institutions and for recording the teachings of the lineage in writing. He synthesized the Mahayana Kadam teachings with the tantric teachings he received from Milarepa and developed a unique system of mahāmudrā which he often taught without tantric empowerment, relying instead on guru yoga.

Mahāmudrā is defined by Gampopa as "the realization of the natural state as awareness-emptiness, absolutely clear and transparent, without root". Gampopa also states that mahāmudrā is "the paramita of wisdom, beyond thought and expression." Gampopa taught mahāmudrā in a five part system to his disciples, one of his most well known disciples, Phagmo Drupa (1110-1170) became a very successful teacher who continued to teach this five part system and eight "junior" kagyu lineages are traced to him. This "Five-Part Mahāmudrā" system became one of the main ways that Mahāmudrā was transmitted in Kagyu lineages after Gampopa.

The tradition which follows Gampopa is called Dakpo Kagyu. A key Mahāmudrā author of this tradition is Dakpo Tashi Namgyal, well known for his Mahāmudrā: The Moonlight. Karma Kagyu Karmapas like the ninth Karmapa Wangchuk Dorje also composed important Mahāmudrā texts. A development of these later mahāmudrā writers is the integration of the common Mahayana teachings on samatha and vipasyana as preliminaries to the practice of mahāmudrā.

Three types of teaching
The Kagyu lineage divides the mahāmudrā teachings into three types, "sutra mahāmudrā," "tantra mahāmudrā," and "essence mahāmudrā," in a formulation that appears to originate with Jamgon Kongtrul. Sutra mahāmudrā, as the name suggests, draws its philosophical view and meditation techniques from the sutrayana tradition. Tantric mahāmudrā employs such tantric techniques as tummo, dream yoga, and ösel, three of the Six Yogas of Naropa. Essence mahāmudrā is based on the direct instruction of a qualified lama, known as pointing-out instruction.

As a path beyond sutra and tantra
Kagyu lineage figures such as Gampopa presented a form of mahāmudrā that was said to transcend the vehicles of sutrayana and vajrayana. According to Karl Brunnholzl, Gampopa saw mahāmudrā as a third path that was neither sutra nor tantra which he called "the path of prajña" and "the path of suchness," and which "relies on blessing and is for those who are intelligent and of sharp faculties." Brunnholzl adds that for Gampopa, the mahāmudrā path of "taking direct perceptions as the path" relies on introduction by a genuine guru to the luminous dharmakaya and thus:Through having been taught an unmistaken instruction of definitive meaning like that, one then takes native mind as the path, without separating the triad of view, conduct, and meditation in terms of this connate mind about which one has gained certainty within oneself. Gampopa also stated that mahāmudrā was "the highest path that actually transcends both sutra and tantra." Brunnholzl further states that "In practice, most of Gampopa's preserved teachings consist primarily of sutra-based instructions and then conclude with Mahāmudrā, either not teaching the path of mantra at all or mentioning it only in passing."

The Kagyu tradition bases their mahāmudrā teachings on the works of Indian mahasiddhas like Saraha and Maitripa. According to Klaus-Dieter Mathes,

Dr. Mathes investigated the practice described in these mahāmudrā works and found that it is not necessarily Tantric. In Saraha's dohās, it is simply the realization of Mind's co-emergent nature with the help of a genuine guru. Maitrīpa (ca. 1007– 085) uses the term mahāmudrā for precisely such an approach, thus employing an originally Tantric term for something that is not a specifically Tantric practice. It is thus legitimate for later Kagyupas to speak of Saraha's mahāmudrā tradition as being originally independent of the Sūtras and the Tantras. For Maitrīpa, the direct realization of emptiness (or the co-emergent) is the bridging link between the Sūtras and the Tantras, and it is thanks to this bridge that mahāmudrā can be linked to the Sūtras and the Tantras. In the Sūtras it takes the form of the practice of non-abiding and becoming mentally disengaged, while in the Tantras it occupies a special position among the four mudrās.

The Kagyu teachings of mahāmudrā became a point of controversy. The possibility of sudden liberating realization and the practice of mahāmudrā without the need for tantric initiation was seen as contrary to the teachings of the Buddhist tantras and as being just a form of Chinese Chan (Zen) by certain critics. However, Dakpo Tashi Namgyal explicitly reaffirms that a tantric empowerment is not, in and of itself, a requirement for the path of liberation. He writes, "(Gampopa) did not make the esoteric empowerment a prerequisite for receiving the Mahāmudrā teachings. He spoke about the method of directly guiding the disciple toward the intrinsic reality of the mind…if one follows venerable Gampopa's system in elucidating Mahāmudrā alone, it is not necessary …." In addition, he notes certain "…followers of this meditative order (who later) adapted Mahāmudrā to the practice of esoteric tantra", which typically relies on empowerments.

Kagyu mahāmudrā lineages
Khedrup Gelek Pelzang, 1st Panchen Lama identified a number of mahāmudrā lineages, according to their main practices for achieving mahāmudrā. In his teachings on the First Panchen Lama's root text and auto-commentary the 14th Dalai Lama delineated the Kagyu practice lineages as follows:

 The Karma Kagyu "Simultaneously Arising as Merged" tradition - This is the tradition introduced by Gampopa with a main practice of the Six Yogas of Naropa.
 The Shangpa Kagyu "Amulet Box" tradition - This tradition came from Khyungpo Naljor and its main practice is the Six yogas of Niguma.
 The Drikung Kagyu "Possessing Five" tradition - Jigten Gonpo founded the school and mahāmudrā lineage whose main practice is known as the fivefold mahāmudrā consisting of refuge and bodhicitta, deity yoga, guru yoga, mahamudra meditation, and dedication of merit.
 The Drukpa lineage "Six Spheres of Equal Taste" tradition - Tsangpa Gyare founded this tradition which encompasses a range of practices, including the Six Yogas of Naropa.
 The Dagpo Kagyu "Four Syllables" tradition - This is the tradition that derives from Maitripa. The four syllables are a-ma-na-si which make up the Sanskrit word meaning 'not to take to mind' and passed through the Dagpo Kagyu branches, i.e. any that descend from the teachings of Tilopa rather than those of Niguma, which in practice means all but the Shangpa Kagyu.

Sakya mahāmudrā
Following the great Sakya exegete and philosopher Sakya pandita (1182-1251), mahāmudrā in the Sakya school is seen as the highest tantric realization, which means that mahāmudrā practice is only taken on after having been initiated into tantric practice and practicing the creation and completion stages of deity yoga. In his "A Clear Differentiation of the Three Codes" (Sdom gsum rab dbye), Sakya Pandita criticized the non-tantric "sutra" mahamudra approaches of the Kagyu teachers such as Gampopa who taught mahāmudrā to those who had not received tantric initiations and based themselves on the Uttaratantrasastra. He argued that the term mahāmudrā does not occur in the sutras, only in the highest class of tantras and that only through tantric initiation does mahāmudrā arise: "Our own Great Seal consists of Gnosis risen from initiation." According to Sakya Pandita, through the four empowerments or initiations given by a qualified guru, most practitioners will experience a likeness of true mahāmudrā, though a few rare individuals experience true mahāmudrā. Through the practice of the creation and completion stages of tantra, the tantrika develops this partial understanding of bliss and emptiness into a completely non-dual gnosis, the real Mahamudra, which corresponds to the attainment of the Path of Seeing, the first Bodhisattva bhumi.

In Sakya, this insight known as mahāmudrā is described variously as "the unity of lucidity and emptiness, the unity of awareness and emptiness, the unity of bliss and emptiness" and also "the natural reality (chos nyid gnyug ma) which is emptiness possessing the excellence of all aspects."

Gelug tradition

The Gelug school's mahamudra tradition is traditionally traced back to the school's founder Je Tsongkhapa (1357- 1419), who was said to have received oral transmission from Manjushri, and it is also traced to the Indian masters like Saraha through the Drikung Kagyu master Chennga Chokyi Gyalpo who transmitted Kagyu Mahamudra teachings (probably the five-fold Mahamudra) to Tsongkhapa. Jagchen Jampa Pal (1310-1391), a holder of the 'jag pa tradition of the Shangpa teachings, was also one of the teachers of Tsongkhapa.

However, a specifically "Gelug" Mahamudra system was only recorded at the time of Lobsang Chökyi Gyaltsen, 4th Panchen Lama (sometimes named the "1st Panchen Lama", 1570–1662), who wrote a root Mahamudra text on the "Highway of the Conquerors: Root Verses for the Precious Geden [Gelug] Kagyu [Oral] Transmission of Mahāmudrā" (dGe-ldan bka'-brgyud rin-po-che'i phyag-chen rtsa-ba rgyal-ba'i gzhung-lam) and its auto commentary (the Yang gsal sgron me, "Lamp re-illuminating Mahamudra"), which is still widely taught and commented upon. Before this work, Gelug writings on Mahamudra tended to follow orthodox Kagyu teachings. This text and its auto commentary have become a central work on Mahamudra in the Gelug school. The current 14th Dalai Lama and Lama Yeshe are some of the modern Gelug figures which have written commentaries on this key Gelug Mahamudra text.

The Panchen Lama Chökyi Gyaltsen, himself was influenced by Kagyu teachings, and wished to imitate great siddhas like Milarepa and Sabaripa. He names various Mahamudra and Dzogchen lineages in his text, and comes to the conclusion that "their definitive meanings are all seen to come to the same intended point." Chökyi Gyaltsen also sides with the Kagyu school against Sakya, arguing that there is a sutra level of Mahamudra. However, in his account, sutra Mahamudra is particularly associated with a gradual path and his presentation of insight practice (vipasyana) is uniquely Gelug.

Yongdzin Yeshe Gyaltsen (also known as Khachen Yeshe Gyaltsen, tutor of the 8th Dalai Lama, 1713–93) composed a commentary on Chökyi Gyaltsen's Mahamudra text, entitled "The Lamp of the Clear and Excellent Path of the Oral Tradition Lineage" (Yongs-'dzin ye shes rgyal mtshan). He also comments on Mahamudra in the context of Lama Chopa Guru Yoga.

The modern Tibetan teacher Thubten Yeshe explains: "Mahāmudrā means absolute seal, totality, unchangeability. Sealing something implies that you cannot destroy it. Mahāmudrā was not created or invented by anybody; therefore it cannot be destroyed. It is absolute reality".

Practices and methods
A common schema used in the Kagyu school is that of Ground (buddha-nature, emptiness), Path (practice) and Fruition mahāmudrā (Buddhahood). The advice and guidance of a qualified teacher (lama) or guru is considered to be very important in developing faith and interest in the Dharma as well as in learning and practicing mahāmudrā meditation. Most often mahāmudrā (particularly essence mahāmudrā) is preceded by meeting with a teacher and receiving pointing-out instruction. Some parts of the transmission are done verbally and through empowerments and "reading transmissions." A mahāmudrā student typically goes through various tantric practices before undertaking the "formless" practices described below; the latter are classified as part of "essence mahāmudrā."

Ngondro are the preliminary practices common to both Mahāmudrā and Dzogchen traditions and include practices such as contemplating the "four thoughts that turn the mind", prostrations, and guru yoga. According to one scholar, most people have difficulty beginning directly with formless practices and lose enthusiasm doing so, so the tantric practices work as a complement to the formless ones. Others develop a sincere and strong interest in the mahāmudrā teachings on the nature of mind, but find themselves quite resistant to the path of tantra and its empowerments. Regardless of how one proceeds, it is regarded to be of great benefit to study and practice in reliance upon the lineage's treasured quintessential instructions.

A Meditation Guide for Mahāmudrā summarizes a typical oral introduction to ground, path, and fruition mahāmudrā:Mahāmudrā is regarded by the Tibetan Kagyu lineage to be the heart essence of all of the teachings of the Buddha. Mahāmudrā also stands for the essence of mind-itself. The true nature of the mind is called the ground of our existence or ground mahāmudrā. Path mahāmudrā begins with recognition of this essence (Tibetan: ngo bo) and continues as progress is made at stabilizing this recognition. When the recognition of mind-as-it-is (Tibetan: sems nyid) becomes completely part of our condition, without wavering (Tibetan: yengs med), and we bring forth effective means of freeing sentient beings from ignorance and suffering, then this is referred to as fruition mahāmudrā.

Another way to divide the practice of mahāmudrā is between the tantric mahāmudrā practices and the sutra practices. Tantric mahāmudrā practices involves practicing deity yoga with a yidam as well as subtle body practices like the six yogas of Naropa and can only be done after empowerment. After the preliminary practices, the Kagyu school's sutra mahāmudrā practice is often divided into the ordinary or essential meditation practices and the extraordinary meditation practices. The ordinary practices are samatha (calming) and vipasyana (special insight). The extraordinary practices include "formless" practices like 'one taste yoga' and 'non-meditation'. The tradition also culminates with certain special enlightenment and post-enlightenment practices.

According to Reginald Ray, the "formless" practices, also called "Essence mahamudra," is when "one engages directly in practices of abandoning discursive thinking and resting the mind in the clear, luminous awareness that is mahamudra." The reason that preparatory practices and "form" practices like deity yoga and vipasyana are needed is because formless practices are quite difficult and subtle, and most practitioners are not able to enter into the simple essence of mind successfully without considerable mental preparation.

Four yogas and five paths
In the Dagpo Kagyu tradition as presented by Dagpo Tashi Namgyal, Mahāmudrā is divided into four distinct phases known as the four yogas of mahāmudrā (S. catvāri mahāmudrā yoga, ). They are as follows:

 one-pointedness (S. ekāgra, T. རྩེ་གཅིག་ rtse gcig);
 simplicity (S. niṣprapānca, T. སྤྲོས་བྲལ་ spros bral), "free from complexity" or "not elaborate;"
 one taste (S. samarasa, T. རོ་གཅིག་ ro gcig);
 non-meditation (S. abhāvanā, T. སྒོམ་མེད་ sgom med), the state of not holding to either an object of meditation nor to a meditator. Nothing further needs to be 'meditated upon' or 'cultivated' at this stage.

These stages parallel the four yogas of Dzogchen semde. The four yogas of mahāmudrā have been correlated with the Mahāyāna five paths (S. pañcamārga), according to Tsele Natsok Rangdrol (Lamp of Mahāmudrā):

Outer and inner preliminary practices: the path of accumulation
One-pointedness: the path of application
Simplicity: the path of seeing and most of the path of meditation (bhūmis one through six)
One taste: the last part of the path of meditation, most of the path of no-more-learning (bhūmis seven through nine)
Nonmeditation: the last part of the path of no-more learning (tenth bhūmi) and buddhahood (bhūmis eleven through thirteen)

Dakpo Tashi Namgyal meanwhile in his Moonlight of Mahāmudrā correlates them as follows:

Outer and inner preliminary practices and one-pointedness: the path of accumulation
Simplicity: the path of application
One taste: the paths of meditation & no-more-learning
Nonmeditation: the path of no more learning & buddhahood.

According to Je Gyare as reported by Dakpo Tashi Namgyal (Moonlight of Mahāmudrā):

One-pointedness: paths of accumulation and application
Simplicity: path of seeing (first bhūmi)
One taste: paths of meditation and part of the path no-more-learning (bhūmis two through eight)
Nonmeditation: rest of path of no-more-learning, buddhahood (bhūmis nine through thirteen)

According to Drelpa Dönsal as reported by Dakpo Tashi Namgyal (Moonlight of Mahāmudrā):

One-pointedness: paths of accumulation and application
Simplicity: path of seeing (first bhūmi)
One taste: paths of meditation and no-more-learning (bhūmis two through ten)
Nonmeditation: buddhahood (bhūmis eleven through thirteen)

Ordinary meditation practices
As in most Buddhist schools of meditation, the basic meditative practice of mahāmudrā is divided into two approaches: śamatha ("tranquility","calm abiding") and vipaśyanā ("special insight"). This division is contained in the instructions given by Wangchuk Dorje, the ninth Karmapa, in a series of texts he composed; these epitomize teachings given on mahāmudrā practice.

Śamatha

Often associated with the yoga of one-pointedness, mahāmudrā śamatha contains instructions on ways to sit with proper posture, called the seven point posture of Vairocana. The mahāmudrā shamatha teachings also include instructions on how to work with a mind that is beset with various impediments to focusing, such as raising the gaze when one feels dull or sleepy, and lowering it again when one feels overly excited. Two types of mahāmudrā śamatha are generally taught: śamatha with support and śamatha without support.

Mahāmudrā śamatha with support involves the use of an object of attention to which the meditator continually returns his or her attention. Wangchuk Dorje mentions that one can use a wide variety of supports, visual objects like a candle flame, but also sounds, a smell, etc.

One of the main techniques involved in Mahāmudrā śamatha with support is mindfulness of breathing (Sanskrit: ānāpānasmṛti; Pali: ānāpānasati). Mindfulness of breathing practice is considered to be a profound means of calming the mind to prepare it for the stages that follow. For the Kagyupa, in the context of mahāmudrā, mindfulness of breathing is thought to be the ideal way for the meditator to transition into taking the mind itself as the object of meditation and generating vipaśyanā on that basis. The contemporary Kagyu/Nyingma master Chogyam Trungpa, expressing the Kagyu Mahāmudrā view, wrote, "your breathing is the closest you can come to a picture of your mind. It is the portrait of your mind in some sense... The traditional recommendation in the lineage of meditators that developed in the Kagyu-Nyingma tradition is based on the idea of mixing mind and breath."

Śamatha without support or objectless meditation refers to resting the mind without the use of a specific focal point or object of concentration. According to Reginald Ray, in this practice "the eyes are open and one gazes straight ahead into space, directing one's mind to nothing at all."

In Gelug sutra mahāmudrā, the śamatha techniques are similar to the Kagyu presentation.

Vipaśyanā
The detailed instructions for the insight practices are what make Mahāmudrā (and Dzogchen) unique in Tibetan Buddhism. In Mahāmudrā vipaśyanā, Wangchuck Dorje gives ten separate contemplations that are used to disclose the essential mind within; five practices of "looking at" and five of "pointing out" the nature of mind. They all presume some level of stillness cultivated by mahāmudrā shamatha. In retreat, each contemplation would typically be assigned specific time periods.

The five practices for "looking at" the nature of the mind are as follows:
 Looking at the settled mind. One repeatedly looks at the mind's still state, possibly posing questions to arouse awareness, such as "what is its nature? It is perfectly still?"
 Looking at the moving or thinking mind. One tries to closely examine the arising, existence, and ceasing of thoughts, possibly posing oneself questions so as to better understand this process, such as "how does it arise? What is its nature?"
 Looking at the mind reflecting appearances. One looks at the way in which phenomena of the external senses occur in experience. Usually, a visual object is taken as the subject. One repeatedly looks at the object, trying to see just how that appearance arises in the mind, and understand the nature of this process. One possibly asks questions such as "what is their nature? How do they arise, dwell, and disappear? Is their initial appearance different from how they eventually understood?"
 Looking at the mind in relation to the body. One investigates questions such as "what is the mind? What is the body? Is the body our sensations? What is the relation of our sensations to our mental image of our body?"
 Looking at the settled and moving minds together. When the mind is still, one looks at that, and when the mind is in motion, one looks at that. One investigates whether these two stages are the same or different, asking questions such as "if they are the same, what is the commonality? If different, what is the difference?"

The practices for "pointing out the nature of mind" build on these. One now looks again at each of the five, but this time repeatedly asks oneself "What is it?" In these practices, one attempts to recognize and realize the exact nature of, respectively:
 The settled mind,
 The moving or thinking mind,
 The mind reflecting appearances,
 The relation of mind and body,
 The settled and thinking mind together.

The above practices do not have specific "answers"; they serve to provoke one to scrutinize experience more and more closely over time, seeking to understand what is really there.

Gelug sutra Mahāmudrā, as presented by Chökyi Gyaltsen, practices a unique Gelug style of doing vipaśyanā, based primarily on Gelug Madhyamaka. According to Roger Jackson:

In an actual meditation session, this involves, first of all, analyzing whether the meditator who has achieved tranquil equipoise actually can be found in an ultimate sense. Seeking the meditator both within and apart from the various elements, one encounters the meditator nowhere; seeking ultimacy in phenomena (dharmas), one encounters it nowhere. Thus, one comes to abide in a space-like awareness of the void nature of both the person and dharmas. Next (or, alternatively) one examines more carefully whether the mind itself can be found in an ultimate sense: it is discovered to have the conventional nature of a flow of awareness and clarity, but no ultimacy, no true existence. In short, one should recognize that any existent that arises, whether an object of the mind or the mind itself, is merely conceptual, is void and—as Chos rgyan quotes his guru, Sangs rgyas ye shes, as saying—"When . . . you are equipoised one-pointedly on that, marvelous!" (GBZL: 4a; trans. Dalai Lama and Berzin: 100; YSGM: 30b). In the period between meditation sessions (rjes thob), one should see all appearances as deceptive (sgyu ma), as existing differently than they appear, but one must at the same time recognize that their ultimate voidness does not preclude their conventional functioning, any more than conventional functioning gives them true existence.

Extraordinary meditation practices
The practice of ordinary meditation eventually leads one to the yoga of simplicity, which according to Gampopa, is "understanding the essential state of that awareness [of one-pointedness] as nonarising [emptiness], which transcends conceptual modes of reality and unreality." One sees all phenomena just as they are, non-conceptually, beyond extremes of existence and non-existence.

One taste
According to Gampopa the yoga of one taste is "understanding diverse appearances as being one, from the standpoint of their intrinsic nature."

Phagmo Drupa says: By meditating on the one taste of all things, the meditator will cognize the one taste of all these things. The diversity of appearances and nonappearances, mind and emptiness, emptiness and non-emptiness, Are all of one taste, undifferentiable in their intrinsic emptiness. Understanding and lack of understanding are of one taste; Meditation and nonmeditation are nondifferentiable; Meditation and absence of meditation are unified into one taste; Discrimination and lack of discrimination are one taste In the expanse of reality.

Non-meditation
Gampopa states that non-meditation is "an unceasing realization of the union of appearance and its intrinsic emptiness."

Phagmo Drupa says: By perfecting this [nonmeditation] stage the meditator attains naked, unsupported awareness. This nondiscriminatory awareness is the meditation! By transcending the duality of meditation and meditator, external and internal realities, the meditating awareness dissolves itself into its luminous clarity. Transcending the intellect, it is without the duality of meditation and post-meditation. Such is the quintessence of mind.

Main source texts
The major source texts for the Indo-Tibetan Mahamudra tradition found in the Tibetan Buddhist canon (editions: D = Derge Kanjur, Q = Qianlong Kanjur, P = Peking Kanjur) include the following:

Indian works
The Ratnagotravibhaga and associated commentaries
Saraha's Dohas and other poetry (circa 8th century CE).
Tilopa's (988–1069) Ganges Mahamudra  and Treasury of Songs
"The Seven [or eight] Siddhiḥ Texts" (Saptasiddhiḥ, Tib. Grub pa sde bdun):
Padmavajra's Guhyasiddhi (Q306 1, D2217);
Anangavajra's Prajñopayaviniscayasiddhi (Q3062, D22 l 8);
Indrabhuti's Jñanasiddhi (Q3063, D22 1 9);
Laksmi's Advayasiddhi (Q3064, D2220);
Ulavajra's Vyaktabhavasiddhi;
Darika's Mahaguhyatattvopadesa (Q3065, D222 1);
Sahajayogini Cinta's Vyaktabhavanugatatattvasiddhi (Q3066, D2222);
Dombhi Heruka's Sahajasiddhi (Q3067, D2223).
 "The Cycle of Six Heart Texts" or "Six works on essential meaning" (Snying po skor drug):
Saraha's Dohakosagiti (D 2224, p 3068)
Nagarjuna's Caturmudranvaya (D 2225, P 3069)
Aryadeva's Cittavaranavisodhana (D 1 804, P 2669)
Divakaracandra's Prajñajñanaprakasa (D 2226, P 3070)
Sahajavajra's Sthitisamasa (D 2227, P 307 1)
Kotali's Acintyakramopadesa (D 2228, P 3072).
Maitripa's cycle of [26] texts on non-conceptual realization (amanasikara).

Tibetan works
Milarepa's The Hundred Thousand Songs
Gampopa (1079–1153) – Numerous texts of the Dags po 'i bka ' 'bum (Manifold Sayings of Dagpo)
Phagmo Drupa (1110–1170) – Verses on the Fivefold Path
Jigten Sumgon (1143–1217) –The Source of the Jewels of Experience and Realization, The Ocean-Like Instruction on the Five Parts and Song of the Five Profound Paths of Mahamudra
Rangjung Dorje, 3rd Karmapa Lama  (1284–1339) – Aspiration Prayer of Mahāmudrā
Khedrup Gelek Pelzang, 1st Panchen Lama (1385–1438 CE) –  A Root Text for the Precious Gelug/Kagyü Tradition of Mahamudra
Gyalwang Kunga Rinchen (1475–1527)  – Clarifying the Jewel Rosary of the Fivefold Profound Path
Lobsang Chökyi Gyaltsen, 4th Panchen Lama (1570–1662) – Highway of the Conquerors
Wangchuk Dorje, 9th Karmapa Lama (1556–1603) – Pointing Out the Dharmakaya (); An Ocean of the Definite Meaning () and Eliminating the Darkness of Ignorance
Tsele Natsok Rangdröl – Lamp of Mahāmudrā
Kunkhyen Pema Karpo (1527–1592 CE) – Practice Guidelines of the Simultaneous School of Mahamudra, The Oral transmission of the Six Cycles of Same Taste: Rolled into a ball [Path walking] instructions and "Mind Harvest", An instruction on the Five-Part Mahamudra
Dagpo Tashi Namgyal (16th century) – Clarifying the Natural State and Moonlight of Mahāmudrā
Karma Chagme (1613–1678) – Meaningful to Behold
Situ Panchen (1700–1774) – Commentary on the Third Karmapa's Mahamudra Prayer
Jamgon Kongtrul (1813–1899) – A Treasury of Instructions and Techniques for Spiritual Realization and Torch of certainty

Six Words of Advice

Tilopa was a Bengali mahasiddha who developed the mahāmudrā method around 1,000 C.E. Tilopa gave Naropa, his successor, a teaching on mahāmudrā meditation called the Six Words of Advice.

In the following chart a translation is given of the Tilopa's Six Words of Advice.

See also

Notes

References

Further reading
 Barth, Peter (1993). Piercing the Autumn Sky: A Guide to Discovering the Natural Freedom of Mind. Forewords by Thrangu Rinpoche and Khenpo Könchog Gyaltsen. Petaluma: Lame Turtle Press. , . (Italian edition:  La Naturale Libertà della Mente, Roma: Ubaldini Editore, 1995. )
 Chagmé, Karma (2009). a Spacious Path to Freedom: Practical Instructions on Union of Mahamudra and Atiyoga. Commentary by Gyatrul Rinpoche. Translated by A. Wallace. Ithaca: Snow Lion.
Dzogchen Ponlop Rinpoche, "Three Classifications of Mahamudra"
 Garchen Rinpoche (1997). Mahamudra Teachings. Translation by Khenpo Könchog Gyaltsen. Beach Books.
 Namgyal, Dakpo Tashi (2004). Clarifying the Natural State. North Atlantic Books. ,

 Ray, Reginald (2000). Indestructible Truth: The Living Spirituality of Tibetan Buddhism. Boston: Shambhala. ,

Thrangu Rinpoche (2004), Essentials of Mahamudra: Looking Directly at the Mind, Wisdom Publications.
Traleg Kyabgon (2003), Mind at Ease: Self-Liberation through Mahamudra Meditation, Shambhala.
Wangchug Dorje, "Mahamudra: The Ocean of True Meaning", transl. Henrik Havlat.

External links

 Mahamudra Meditation Guide
 Mahamudra on Study Buddhism
 Teachings related to the Mahamudra Curriculum (By Kunzig Shamar Rinpoche)

Buddhist philosophical concepts
Tibetan Buddhist practices
Tantric practices
Nonduality

Mahamudra


Grimoald Alferanites was the prince of Bari from 1121 to 1132.

After a civil war broke out in Bari, Risone, the archbishop of the city, was murdered (1117) and the princess of Taranto, Constance of France, was imprisoned at Giovinazzo (1119) by Grimoald and Alexander, Count of Conversano. Pope Callistus II intervened to procure the release of Princess Constance in 1120, who recognised her captor in his later titles. During this conflict, Grimoald was elected ruler in 1121, in opposition to William II, Duke of Apulia, the proper legal suzerain of Bari. He first used the title dominus or dominator, as in barensium dominator in October 1121. In June 1123, a Byzantine-inspired blue diploma with gold script calls him Grimoaldus Alferanites gratia Dei et beati Nikolai barensis princeps.

In May 1122, he entered into an alliance with the Republic of Venice. In October 1127, he was drawn to the side of Roger II of Sicily in his claim to the Apulian succession. However, in 1129, Grimoald and several other notable barons in Apulia flew into revolt after the papal approval of Roger's title by Pope Honorius II. With a fleet of sixty ships, George of Antioch blockaded the Bariot harbour and besieged Grimoald for months from Spring to August, when the prince finally gave in. Nevertheless, Grimoald was granted a full pardon from Roger and confirmed in his own chosen princely title. When, the next year (1130), Roger sought the royal title, receiving an honour higher than that of prince (as the rulers of Capua and Bari held) was one of his many motives.

Joined with Tancred of Conversano, an old ally and renegade, Grimoald rose up in revolt in 1131 and captured the port of Brindisi at Christmastime. It took until May 1132, after astronomic omens and papal urgings, for Roger to leave comfortable Sicily to go and deal with insurrection in Apulia. A brief siege convinced the Bariots to give up their prince and Grimoald and his whole family were given over on the city's surrender. The deposed prince was brought with his family to prison in Sicily and Tancred was only forgiven on condition he leave on Crusade. Grimoald was replaced by Roger's own son, Tancred.

According to Falco of Benevento, Grimoald was a vir mirabilis et bellicosi spiritus and Orderic Vitalis calls him liberalem et strenuum virum.  It seems, from the dating of the events, that the prince of Bari who rescued the saintly Giovanni di Matera from prison and then demanded that the holy man give an account of his theology to prove its orthodoxy was Grimoald. He was known to have tight control over his own churches and was a great patron of the Church of Saint Nicholas which housed the relics of Saint Nicholas, whom he championed as a Bariot patron saint, as seen in his official title.

Sources

Norwich, John Julius. The Normans in the South 1016-1130. Longman: London, 1967.
Norwich, John Julius. The Kingdom in the Sun 1130-1194. Longman: London, 1970.
Caravale, Mario (ed). Dizionario Biografico degli Italiani. Rome, 2003.

12th-century Lombard people
Lombard warriors

Grimoald, Prince of Bari


Petri TTL was a manual 35 mm SLR camera with TTL metering. It was built by Petri Camera Company, Japan, from 1974. It is unknown when the production stopped.

Features
The Petri TTL was a no-frills and very conservative camera. It was  quite big and of heavy, all-metal construction. The only 'luxury' item found on the camera was a self-timer.

The camera was fully manual, with a built-in CdS light meter. The battery was only for the metering circuit. The user needed to push a button on the front of the camera to close the aperture, and then set the aperture ring on the lens to a value where the meter needle would fit inside a marker ring. After this, the user could let go of the button, and have full light in the viewfinder to compose the picture.
On release of the shutter, the aperture would close to the correct setting.

As soon as the film was wound forwards, the light meter would switch on. It was not possible to switch it off manually, so the only way to conserve battery would be to delay advancing the film until the next exposure. It was not possible to attach a winder or motor to the camera.

The shutter was a horizontal cloth-curtain focal-plane shutter with a speed range of 1/1 to 1/1000 second. As it was fully mechanical, the camera could be used even if the battery was dead. Flash sync was set for 1/60 second.

The release button was placed in an uncommon spot, halfway down the front of the camera. If the user used the middle finger for the shutter release, it was possible to have an unusually solid grip on the housing.

For reasons unknown, it did not activate the self-timer: the timer had a separate release button that became available when the self-timer arm was cocked. Even with the self-timer ready, the camera could be used in the normal mode.

There were a wide range of lenses, bellows and other accessories available, both from Petri and from third-party producers.

References
 Anonymous. "Petri TTL instruction book" ©Petri Camera Company, inc.

Cameras by type
SLR cameras
Products introduced in 1974

Petri TTL


Hermann N. Mückler (Hermann Mueckler, born 8 March 1964 in Vienna, Austria) is an Austrian anthropologist and political scientist, specialized on the Asia-Pacific region, with a focus on Oceania (Pacific Islands), especially Fiji, Melanesia, and Polynesia.

Biography
Born in Vienna of Austrian-Moravian ancestry, Hermann Mückler studied anthropology and political science at the University of Vienna. He received a PhD in 1997 with a thesis on "Taukei und Vulagi; Reasons for political instability in Fiji. Culture change, ethnic conflicts and the importance of the chiefly system; the Fijian perspective" (original in German). His habilitation took place in 2001 with a thesis "Finis Tui Viti? Transformation and decay of traditional structure of power in Fiji as a consequence of internal and outside dynamics" (original in German). Two books in German language published in 1998 and 2001 about political developments in Fiji attracted wide attention and led him to be estimated as one of the leading experts about Fiji and the surrounding regions in Europe. Since 1987 extended travel and field work in the Asia-Pacific region. In 1994 starting as University Assistant, he became University Professor in 2001. From 2004 to 2008 he was Vicedean of the Faculty of Social Sciences of the University of Vienna. In 1996 he founded the Austrian-South Pacific Society (Österreichisch-Suedpazifische Gesellschaft, OSPG), the one and only scientific institution dealing with the Pacific islands in Austria, and in 2002, together with Prof. Erich Lehner from the Univ. of Technology, Vienna, the Institute for Comparative Research in Architecture (ICRA). Hermann Mückler is Chief-Editor of the book series "Novara - Contributions to Research on the Pacific" and project coordinator of "Escape to the South Seas? Austrian emigration to New Zealand and the Pacific Islands".

Academic Positions
 Univ. Professor (ao) (since 2001)
 President of the Austrian-South Pacific Society (OSPG) (since 1996)
 Vice-President of the Institute for Comparative Research in Architecture (ICRA) (since 2002)
 Vice-President of the Anthropological Society of Vienna (since 2003)
 Director of the Studies Programme Office (since 2006)
 Vice-Dean of the Faculty of Social Sciences, Univ. of Vienna (2004–2008)
 President/Chairman of the European Society for Oceanists (ESfO) (1999–2002)
 Chief-Editor of the "Wiener Ethnohistorischen Blätter" (2000–2004)
 Chief-Editor of the publication series "Novara – Beiträge zur Pazifikforschung"
 Co-Editor of the "Journal of Comparative Cultural Studies" (JCCS)
 Guest lectures and chairs in Brunel, Mainz, Paris, Zürich, Bayreuth, Ljubljana, etc.
 Member of several boards and academic institutions

Scientific Focus
 Peace and Conflict Studies
 Ethnohistory, Historical Anthropology
 Political Anthropology
 Migration
 Colonialism
 Social aspects of indigenous architecture
 Anthropological interpretation of historical sources
 Specialized on the region Asia-Pacific, Oceania, Melanesia, Polynesia, Fiji, South-East Asia, Indian Ocean, Central Europe.

Selected publications
 Hermann Mückler, Werner Zips, Manfred Kremser (Hrsg.): Ethnohistorie. Empirie und Praxis. Wien 2006: Wiener Universitätsverlag.
 Hermann Mückler: Unwanted Neighbours: Implications, Burdens and the Instrumentalization of Migration: Relations between American Samoa and the Republic of Samoa. In: Ferro, Katarina u. Margot Wallner (eds.): Migration Happens. Reasons, Effects and Opportunities of Migration in the South Pacific. Novara, Vol. 4 (6), Hamburg/Münster: Lit-Verlag, S.63-81
 Hermann Mückler: Republic of Palau, Federated States of Micronesia, Cook Islands, American Samoa, Marshall Islands. In: Gieler, Wolfgang/Kemal, Inal/Claudio Kullmann (Hrsg.): Foreign Policy of States. A Handbook of World Affairs. Istanbul 2005: Tassam Publications.
 Erich Kolig, Hermann Mückler (eds.): Politics of Indigeneity in the South Pacific. Recent Problems of Identity in Oceania. Hamburg 2002: LIT-Verlag.
 Hermann Mückler: Back to the Chessboard: The Coup and the Re-Emergence of Pre-colonial Rivalries in Fiji. In: Kolig/Mückler (eds.): Politics of Indigeneity in the South Pacific. Hamburg: LIT-Verlag, S. 143-158
 Ferdinand Karl, Hermann Mückler: Oasen der Südsee: Die größten Kleinststaaten der Welt. Ostmikronesien: Marshall-Inseln, Gilbert-Inseln, Nauru. Gnas 2002: Weishaupt Verlag.
 Hermann Mückler: Fidschi. Das Ende eines Südseeparadieses. Wien 2001: Promedia Verlag.
 Hermann Mückler: Melanesien in der Krise. Ethnische Konflikte, Fragmentierung und Neuorientierung. Wien 2000: Univ. Wien.
 Hermann Mückler: Fidschi. Zwischen Tradition und Transformation. Frankfurt/Main 1998: IKO-Verlag.
 Andre Gingrich, Hermann Mückler: An encounter with recent trends in German-speaking Anthropology; Review Article on the September 1995 meeting in Vienna. In: Social Anthropology, Vol.5, Part 1, S.83-90, Cambridge 1997.

External links
 E-portfolio Hermann Mückler
 Inst. f. Ethnologie, Kultur- und Sozialanthropologie
 Literatur von und über Hermann Mückler im Katalog der Deutschen Nationalbibliothek
 Österreichisch-Südpazifische Gesellschaft, OSPG
 Novara-Beiträge zur Pazifikforschung

Austrian anthropologists
Austrian people of Moravian-German descent
Writers from Vienna
1964 births
Living people

Hermann Mückler