The Concise Oxford Dictionary of World Religions by John Bowker Page B

matter’). An embryo (Psalms 139. 16) or stupid person ( Avot 5. 9), and eventually a creature brought into being artificially through the use of God's name. At the outset, they are created as useful servants, but they use their great strength malignantly and get completely out of control.
     
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Golgotha (the place of Jesus' crucifixion) :
    see CALVARY .
     
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Gomel blessing
    (Heb., ha-Gomel , ‘he who bestows favours’). Jewish blessing offered in thanksgiving to God by one who has lived through a dangerous experience.
     
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Gomi(-no)-zen :
    see ICHIMI-ZEN .
     
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Gonsen-kan (form of kan in Rinzai) :
    see KAN .
     
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Good Friday .
    The Friday before Easter commemorating Jesus' crucifixion.
     
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Good Samaritan .
    The Samaritan in Jesus' parable (Luke 10. 30–7).
     
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Gopastami (cow festival) :
    see GO .
     
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Gore, Charles
    (1853–1932).
Anglican theologian and bishop of Oxford. As first principal of Pusey House, Oxford, later, as canon of Westminster and as bishop (of Worcester, and then of Birmingham), his writings, especially on Christian apologetic ( Belief in God , 1921; Belief in Christ , 1922; The Holy Spirit and the Church , 1924), were widely read. Of particular and far-reaching importance was his contribution to the establishment of the Community of the Resurrection, founded in 1892.
     
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Gorinsotoba
    (Jap., ‘sotoba [ stpa ] with five sections’). Tombs (which became common after the Kamakura period in Japan) with five stone sections, of different shapes, placed on top of each other.
     
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Gosla, Makkhali (founder) :
    see MAKKHALI .
     
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Gosan or Gozan .
    ‘Five mountains’ (Chin., wu-shan ), the federation of Ch’an/Zen monasteries, in groups of five, especially of Hangchou, Ming-chou, and then in Japan of Kamakura and Kyto. Because monasteries were often built on mountains, the word shan
(Jap., san or zan ) came to mean ‘monastery’.
     
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Gosan-bungaku
    (Jap., ‘five-mountain literature’). Collective term for writings from the gosan (federation) of Kyto, during the Muromachi period (1338–1573).
     
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Gose
    (Jap., ‘the hereafter’). The afterlife in general; in particular, birth after death in the domain of Amida .
     
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Goseki
    (Jap.), ‘Trace of enlightenment’ in Zen Buddhism, of one who has had some experience of enlightenment, but still carries, ‘the stench of enlightenment’, i.e. has not yet learned to live as though he might or might not have had such experience, since he should be totally detached from it.
     
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Goso Hen
    (Jap., for Wu-tsu Fa-yen): see KAN .
     
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Gosvamins (Hindu group concerned with aesthetics and religious experience) :
    see ABHINAVAGUPTA .
     
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Gosvms (disciples of Caitanya) :
    see CAITANYA .
     
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Gothic .
    An architectural style in N. Europe from early 12th cent. to 16th, and, as Gothic revival, in 19th cent. Thence it is applied to literature and religion to denote the opaquely mysterious—to some, grotesque.
     
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Gotra .
    (Skt., ‘cow-shed’, ‘assemblage’, ‘clan’). In India, the exogamous group of all persons (especially brahmans ) related by descent through the male line from a common male ancestor.
In Mahyna Buddhism the term is employed to denote categories of religious practitioners on the basis of psychological, spiritual, and intellectual capacity.
     
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Gott-trunckener mensch (‘God-intoxicated man’) :
    see SPINOZA .
     
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Govinda, Lama