An introduction to religious and spiritual experience

Gita
) 29, 54, 145
Bhakti
, devotion to one god 38, 53
Bible 145
accuracy of record 20
biographical portraits 1
birds and nature, St Francis 228
Black Elk (Oglala Sioux Tribe) North 
America 86, 159
Blackmore, Susan, on dying 
brain 162–3
Blavatsky, Helena 44–5 
Isis Unveiled
 45
The Secret Doctrine
 45
blessing 66–7
Bodh Gaya 71
Bodhi Tree (Tree of Enlightenment) 32
Bodhisattva of Compassion 5, 213
Bojaxhiu, Gonxa Agnes (Mother 
Teresa) 206
Bonhoeffer, Dietrich 196, 207–8
Book of Revelation, Bible 142
Boyle, Jimmy, IRA prisoner 224
Bragg, Melvyn, out of body 
experience 154–5
Brahma Baba 40
Brahma Kumaris, female movement 
40, 66
Brahma Kumaris World Spiritual 
University (BKWSU) 40
Brahman, consciousness 28
Brahmanas 
(hidden teachings) 28
Brahmo Dharma
 41
Brahmo Samaj 40–1
Brahms symphony, religious 
experience 7
brain
source of religious experience 254
study of 238
brain-imaging techniques 238, 254
Branch Davidians 142–3
Braybrooke, Marcus
Faith and Interfaith in a Global 
World
 24
A Heart for the World
 24
breaking of bread 54
Bridgers, Lynn, religious 
experience 244
Buber, Martin, Jewish philosopher 
of religion 245
Buddha 18, 148, 171
born in India 31–2
Four Noble Truths 32
no writing 20
Buddhism 
Aung San Suu Kyi’s belief 217
Christianity and 189–91
of Japan 54
meditation 63–4
no killing of sentient beings 106
Buddhist Lamas, reincarnation 147
Buddhist Pali canon on marble 
slabs 222–3
Buddhist texts, written by followers
Buddhist Vesak Day 55
burial of dead, not done by 
Zoroastrians 30
Butler-Evans, Kenneth, paintings 222
Caddy, Peter and Eileen, Findhorn 
Community 70, 107–8
Canterbury Cathedral 72
Capra, Fritjof, 
The Tao of Physics
 50–1
Carpenter, Joseph Estlin 102–3
cat’s behaviour at times of death 185
Catholic high school students, 
Australia 95
CE (Common Era) 4
Chad Varah 196, 208–10
chanting 74, 110
charismatic churches, power of 143
charitable organizations 2
charities 223– 6
childhood brainwashing 2
childhood, spiritual experiences 93–7
China 2
research on spiritual 
experiences 234–5
Chinese New Year 55
choosing of Dalai Lama 213–14
Chopra, Deepak, 
How to Know 
God
 51, 59
Christian Ascension 148

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Index
277
Christian evangelicalism, conversion 
to, Wilberforce 202
Christian humanism 25
Christian Parapsychology 166–7
Christian Science 43
Christianity 19, 35–6 
founded by Jesus, a Jew 22
growth away from Judaism 36
missionary’s experience 85–6
teacher in India, Mother Teresa 206
worship 54
Christmas 54, 55
Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day 
Saints 44
Church of Scientology 43
churches, and mystical experiences 244
clairvoyance 14
Clapton, Eric, rock star 196, 218
Cloud of Unknowing
 62
communal settings for religious 
experience 110
communication with God 50
communist countries 2
compassion 3
concentration camps 210
‘Confessing Church’, against 
Nazism 207
Confucianism 32, 33
consciousness 
after clinical death 17
reality of 238–9
studies 238–9 
contemplation 62–3
conversion 99–102
conversion experiences 244
Judaism to Christianity 101–2
Cornwell, John,