The Concise Oxford Dictionary of World Religions (1559 page)

(Gk.,
mitra
, ‘turban’). The head-dress of a Christian bishop, worn on liturgical or ceremonial occasions.

 
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Mi-tsung
.

‘School of Secrets’,
Tantric
school of Chinese Buddhism. It was brought to China from India in the 8th cent. CE, by three masters, including
ubh
karasimha who translated the
Mah
vairocana-s
tra
, which became the basic text. The teaching was transmitted orally, to protect it, and was taken to Japan by
Kukai
, where it is known as
Shingon
.

 
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Mit
k
.

Korean for
Maitreya
, the future Buddha.

 
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(Heb., ‘commandment’). Jewish commandment, ritual duty, or good deed. The
rabbis
categorized the mitzvot (pl.) into
mitzvot de-oraita
(‘the biblical commandments’) and the
mitzvot de-rabbanan
(‘the rabbinic commandments’). All male Jews are expected to keep the mitzvot from the age of 13, while females are exempted from time-bound affirmative commandments. There are 613 mitzvot in
Torah
(
taryag mitzvot
), of which 365 are prohibitions (one for each day of a solar year), and 248 are positive (one for each limb of the human body). To these E. Fackenheim added a 614th: see
HOLOCAUST
.

 
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