Titus Burckhardt

The Moroccan city of Fez, founded in the ninth century CE, is one of the most precious urban jewels of Islamic civilization. For more than 40 years Titus Burckhardt worked to document and preserve the artistic and architectural heritage of Fez in particular and Morocco in general. These newly translated lectures, delivered while Burckhardt was living and working in Fez, explore how the historic city can be preserved without turning it from a living organism into a dead museum-city, and how it can be adapted and updated using the values that gave birth to the city and its way of life. Aided by photographs and sketches made during the course of his lifetime, Burckhardt conveys what it means to be a living Islamic city.

The spiritual natures of man and woman come to expression in thought, art, craft, and many other domains: from the depths of their soul-spirit constitutions even to the clothes they wear. These natures manifest also in the fullness of love, even unto sexuality, which constitutes an essential and urgent topic of our times, and which harbors also a transcendent dimension, as this book shows. "Extremes meet," says the old adage: in this spirit, the heart of this book consists in showing how the "extremes" of flesh and spirit may join together in the sacralization of love. Providing clear points of reference for safe navigation of the moral wasteland of the modern world, the contributors to this book confront with discernment and courage contemporary views that can undermine the very foundations of civilization." There is perhaps no field more desacralized today than that of human love. The contemporary reader will discover in this volume of essays by Traditionalist authors a richness and a depth of view that counteracts the various forms of sexual reductionism of modernity."--Patrick Laude, author of the forthcoming Keys to the Beyond: Frithjof Schuon's Cross-Traditional Language of Transcendence"In this unique, fascinating work masters of the Perennial Philosophy such as Frithjof Schuon, Titus Burckhardt, and William Stoddart, together with a new generation of writers, present their insights and conclusions regarding the place of love and sexuality in our spiritual life."--Nuno Almeida, professor at the University of Lisbon"If, as has been said, virtue is the natural state of the soul as God intended it to be, the Fall is the accidental remoteness from such a state. Now, sapiential esoterism has always been there to restore this natural state, and the essays in this collection are aimed at just such a restoration."--Mehrdad M. Zarandi, editor of Science and the Myth of Progress"No topic could be more timely than that of sexuality, and none more misunderstood--for those who celebrate sexual aberrations in our time seem unaware that they are toying with the twin pillars upholding civilization. The contributors to this volume offer us an impressive array of the missing reference points that are almost unfindable elsewhere."--Mark Perry, author of The Mystery of Individuality: Grandeur and Delusion of the Human Condition

Was sind die Grundlagen, Lehren und Begrifflichkeiten der islamischen Mystik? Titus Burckhardt hat den Sufismus nicht nur intellektuell durchdrungen, sondern den Pfad der R ckkehr als Mitglied eines marokkanischen Derwischordens jahrzehntelang auch selbst beschritten. Daher ist diese meisterhafte Darstellung der spirituellen Essenz des Korans alles andere als eine trockene Abhandlung und langweilt nicht mit oberfl chlich Formalem oder akademischer Theorie. Der so brillante wie bescheidene Schweizer Mystiker f hrt die Leserinnen und Leser ohne Umschweife in die Grundz ge der sufischen Weltsicht ein und erkl rt anschaulich und berzeugend -- vor allem aus der Sicht des genialen Sufis Muhyiddin Ibn Arabi -- die Geist und Herz anregenden philosophisch-spirituellen Ideen von der Einheit des Seins, von der Sch pfung als Selbstoffenbarung Gottes und vom allheitlichen Menschen als Dessen potenziellem Ebenbild. Dabei zeigt er auch die inneren Ber hrungspunkte von Islam, Christentum und Judentum sowie Hinduismus und Buddhismus auf. Dass dieser Autor -- anders als viele wissenschaftliche Theoretiker -- tats chlich verstanden hat, wor ber er schreibt, bescheinigt die bekannte Islamgelehrte Annemarie Schimmel mit ihrem Lob: Burckhardt vereint eine tiefe spirituelle Einsicht mit der Liebe zum ewig Wahren. Seine Schriften zeigen, dass diese Wahrheit heute ebenso frisch ist wie vor Jahrtausenden und so lange bestehen wird, wie der Mensch sich nach dem G ttlichen Licht sehnt. Vollst ndig durchgesehene Neuausgabe mit ausf hrlichem Glossar s mtlicher im Text vorkommender arabischer W rter sowie einem detaillierten Begriffsregister. Dieses Werk war f r mich sehr bedeutsam, als ich es vor vierzig Jahren als junger Student entdeckte. Ich hatte die orientalische Standardliteratur ber den Sufismus gelesen und bildete mir ein, mich in dem Thema recht gut auszukennen. Dieses Buch bremste mich auf der Stelle ...] Besonders anregend bei meiner ersten Lekt re von Titus Burckhardts

This edited collection of Titus Burckhardt's most important writings on the sacred art of the Hindu, Buddhist and Taoist traditions, is lavishly illustrated throughout with 140 superb examples of Oriental art, architecture, statuary and painting. Also included in this volume are several fascinating chapters by Burckhardt on the symbolism of chess, the sacred mask, water, the mirror and the dragon and serpent. FOUNDATIONS OF ORIENTAL ART & SYMBOLISM will prove to be a fitting companion volume to Burckhardt's award-winning The Foundations of Christian Art. Titus Burckhardt (1908-1984) was a leading member of the "Perennialist" or "Traditionalist" school of comparative religious thought associated with René Guénon, Ananda Coomaraswamy and Frithjof Schuon; he was, also, an acknowledged expert on the sacred art of the traditional worlds of both the East and West.

A colored window onto the lofty intellectual and spiritual climate that conceived the marvel that is Gothic architecture. It features a new appendix with three sections, a Foreword, and 25 fresh illustrations.

Called the "definitive book on Islamic Art" by S. H. Nasr, this beautifully illustrated masterpiece is presented in a revised, full colour, commemorative edition containing 285 new colour photos and a new Introduction. Burckhardt provides an in-depth analysis of Islamic architecture, from Spain and Morocco to Persia and India and examines Koranic calligraphy and illumination, arabesque, carpets, rugs, Persian miniatures, and much more.

Titus Burckhardt (1908-1984) was a leading member of the "traditionalist" or "perennialist" school of comparative religious thought, well-known for its espousal of the "transcendent unity of religions." Burckhardt was also an expert on Islam, Islamic arts and crafts and its spiritual dimension, Sufism. It was his first-hand knowledge of Sufism that qualified him to undertake pioneering and authoritative translations of Sufi classics by renowned authors such as Ibn al-Arabi, Abd al-Karim al-Jili and Mulay al-Arabi ad-Darqawi. Burckhardt's little masterpiece, INTRODUCTION TO SUFI DOCTRINE, first published in French in 1959, is a distillation of the essence of Sufism, presenting its central doctrines and methods to a Western audience in a highly intelligible form.

The art historian and philosopher of religion, Titus Burckhardt (1908-1984), was one of the 20th century's most renowned experts on the art of many traditional worlds as well as the religions that illuminated the art of the civilisations which flowered from them. This book takes the reader on a pilgrimage through the history of Christian art, focusing especially upon its architecture, iconography, illumination and the arts and crafts guilds but always returning to the fundamental genius of Christianity which gave meaning to the art. Through a luminous interplay of Titus Burckhardt's text and carefully selected illustrations, this book becomes a work of art in itself, inviting the reader to taste and see the glories of the artistic and spiritual heritage of Christianity, a legacy which has had an inestimable impact upon all Western thought and culture.

This book is the much-anticipated collection of writings from Titus Burckhardt, one of the great Perennialist authors of the 20th century, edited by the world's foremost expert on the Burckhardt body of works, William Stoddart. Burckhardt's writings are characterized by (1) a profound grounding in the Perennial Philosophy and integral metaphysics, (2) a remarkable history of contacts with traditional peoples and their civilizations, (3) a true artist's knowledge of and love for traditional art, (4) a scholar's knowledge of diverse source materials not accessible to most modern seekers, and (5) a gifted teacher's ability to make all of these things understandable and of deep interest to readers. This collection will bring together many of Burckhardt's most representative writings that will amply demonstrate these qualities. The editor of the collection, Dr. William Stoddart, is himself a writer within the Perennialist school, and is perhaps best known for his concise outlines of many the world's great religious traditions as well as for his many excellent translations into English of many of the works of Schuon and Burckhardt.

This text provides a study of the art of the world's great religions: Buddhism, Christianity, Hinduism, Islam and Taoism. It illustrates the unanimity of traditional forms and symbols and explains how sacred art can be identified by style and method.

Titus Burckhardt was Swiss and an eminent member of the traditionalist school. He is perhaps best known to the English-speaking public as the author of the following books: Sacred Art in East and West; Siena, City of the Virgin; Moorish Culture in Spain; and Alchemy: Science of the Cosmos, Science of the Soul. A generation ago, he won much acclaim for producing and publishing the first successful, full-scale facsimiles of the Book of Kells and other ancient manuscripts. In more recent years, he acted as a specialist advisor to UNESCO, with particular reference to the preservation of the unique architectural heritage of Fez, which was then in danger. The present volume is a complete collection of Burckhardt's essays, originally published in a variety of German and French journals. They range from modern science in its various forms, through Christianity and Islam, to symbolism and mythology. It is a rich collection. Burckhardt blends an accessible style with a penetrating insight. He interprets the metaphysical, cosmological, and symbolic dimensions of these sacred traditions from the perspective of timeless, spiritual wisdom.