Columbia Encyclopedia

Search results

500 results found

Asian drama

(Encyclopedia)Asian drama, dramatic works produced in the East. Of the three major Asian dramas—Sanskrit, Chinese, Japanese—the oldest is Sanskrit, although the dates of its origin are uncertain. See also Sansk...

Taoism

(Encyclopedia)Taoism däuˈĭzəm [key], refers both to a Chinese system of thought and to one of the four major religions of China (with Confucianism, Buddhism, and Chinese popular religion). Religious Taoism a...

Sufism

(Encyclopedia)Sufism so͞oˈfĭzəm [key], an umbrella term for the ascetic and mystical movements within Islam. While Sufism is said to have incorporated elements of Christian monasticism, gnosticism, and Indian m...

Zen Buddhism

(Encyclopedia)Zen Buddhism, Buddhist sect of China and Japan. The name of the sect (Chin. Ch'an, Jap. Zen) derives from the Sanskrit dhyana [meditation]. In China the school early became known for making its centra...

Southeast Asian languages

(Encyclopedia)Southeast Asian languages, family of languages, sometimes also called Austroasiatic, spoken in SE Asia by about 80 million people. According to one school of thought, it has three subfamilies: the Mon...

Central Asian Republics

(Encyclopedia)Central Asian Republics, the countries of Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, and Uzbekistan. Constituent republics of the former Union of Soviet Socialist Republics, they all achieved i...

Munda languages

(Encyclopedia)Munda languages mo͝onˈdə [key], group of languages generally regarded as a subfamily of the Southeast Asian family of languages. See Southeast Asian languages. ...

Mon-Khmer languages

(Encyclopedia)Mon-Khmer languages mōn-kəmârˈ [key], group of languages frequently considered as a subfamily of the Southeast Asian family of languages. See Southeast Asian languages. ...

de Bary, Wm. Theodore

(Encyclopedia)de Bary, Wm. Theodore băˈrē [key], 1919–2017, American scholar of Asian cultures, b. Bronx, N.Y., as William Theodore De Bary (he formally changed to Wm. to distinguish himself from his like-name...
 

Browse by Subject