The Concise Oxford Dictionary of World Religions (2561 page)

BOOK: The Concise Oxford Dictionary of World Religions
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Ullambana
(from Skt.,
avalambana
, ‘hanging down’). Rituals performed to save deceased people from torments after death—such as being suspended upside down. In China, Ullambana is held on the fifteenth day of the seventh month to help hungry ghosts (
preta
): offerings of food and wealth (often in paper or representational form) are made to succour them. In Japan, Urabon (or more simply Bon) is held on 15 July or 15 Aug.
Ultimate concern:
Ultimate salvation
(in contrast to proximate):
Ultramontanism
(Lat.,
ultra montes
, ‘beyond the mountains’, i.e. the Alps). A movement emphasizing the pre-eminence of Roman authority in the Church. It was opposed from the 17th cent. onwards to
Gallicanism
in France, Josephinism in Austria, and similar attempts elsewhere to promote the development of national churches independent of Roman, but under state, control. In the 19th cent., ultramontanism was closely associated with support for the
papacy's
temporal power, and for the doctrine of papal
infallibility
.
Um
.
Non-Vedic Hindu goddess, first mentioned in
Kena Upani
ad
, where she mediates between Brahm
and other gods.

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