Glossary

A form of portraying bodhisattvas [q.v.] with one foot on the floor and the other placed upon the opposite knee, while the finger of one hand rests against the cheek or head.

In Christianity [q.v.], one of the 12 disciples of Jesus [q.v.].

Plainchant is a type of music used in Christian worship where religious texts are sung to a single unaccompanied line.

Polycarp (69–155) was Christian [q.v.] bishop (q.v.) of Smyrna in the eastern Mediterranean. According to later records, he died a martyr [q.v.], bound and burned at the stake, then stabbed when the fire failed to consume his body.

In Christianity [q.v.], the Roman Governor who gave the order for Jesus [q.v.] to be crucified.

Shōtoku Taishi (572–622) was son of the Japanese Emperor Yōmei (用明天皇, r. 585–587, 31st monarch) and was active in the spread of Buddhism [q.v.] in Japan.

In a Christian context, a monastery [q.v.] headed by a Prior or Prioress.