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Buddha's Doctrine and the Nine Vehicles: Rog Bande Sherab's Lamp of the Teachings
By: Jose Ignacio Cabezon
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Following the fall of the Tibetan empire and the ensuing "period of fragmentation," the twelfth and thirteenth centuries saw tremendous religious efflorescence in Tibet. Although the Tibetan scholars and adepts of this period continued to draw from the texts and practices of Indian Buddhism, they also began to craft distinctly Tibetan intellectual and spiritual traditions. Hundreds of important masters lived and worked during this time, some of whom founded institutions that still exist today. Equally important were the scholars who lived on the margins of institutionalized Buddhism, teachers and meditators whose works, despite their great creativity, never entered mainstream Tibetan Buddhism. Jose Cabezon offers a study of the life and most important extant work of one such figure, Rog Bande Sherab, also known as Rogben (1166-1244). Rogben studied under some of the greatest teachers of his day. An itinerant scholar and yogi, he devoted his life to collecting important textual cycles and meditation techniques. Rogben's most important work, The Lamp of the Teachings, cuts across the genres of history, doctrinal studies, and doxography. It is one of the earliest philosophically robust explanations of the "nine vehicle" system of the Ancient or Nyingma school of Tibetan Buddhism. The Buddha's Doctrine and the Nine Vehicles is the first scholarly study of Rog Bande Sherab, a pivotal figure in both the Pacification and Ancient traditions of Tibet, and one of the most original thinkers in Tibetan intellectual history.
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Little Buddhas: Children and Childhoods in Buddhist Texts and Traditions
Edited by Vanessa R. Sasson
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Consideration of children in the academic field of Religious Studies is taking root, but Buddhist Studies has yet to take notice. This collection is intended to open the question of children in Buddhism. It brings together a wide range of scholarship and expertise to address the question of what role children have played in the literature, in particular historical contexts, and what role they continue to play in specific Buddhist contexts today. Because the material is, in most cases, uncharted, all nineteen contributors involved in the project have exchanged chapters among themselves and thereby engaged in a kind of internal cohesion difficult to achieve in an edited project. The volume is divided into two parts. Part One addresses the representation of children in Buddhist texts and Part Two looks at children and childhoods in Buddhist cultures around the world. Little Buddhas will be an indispensable resource for students and scholars of Buddhism and Childhood Studies, and a catalyst for further research on the topic.
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Ajanta: Monumental Legacy
By: A.P. Jamkhedkar
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Situated about 106 kilometers from Aurangabad in Maharashtra, Ajanta rock cut caves are creations of about 700 years, roughly from 200 BC to AD 525. This glorious Buddhist art of the Deccan was discovered in 1819, and given a World Heritage status by UNESCO in 1983. The most striking characteristic of Ajanta art is that architecture, sculpture and painting--the three expressions of fine art--all articulate at one place. Ajanta paintings give us graphic insights into the history of Buddhism in India. The caves also help us reconstruct the interrelationship between such centers in Central Asia and China, as also those in Buddhist countries like Sri Lanka, Myanmar, Thailand, which have similar specimens, but from a later period.
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Anger; The Seven Deadly Sins
By: Robert Thurman
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Heated words, cool malice, deadly feuds, the furious rush of adrenaline-anger is clearly the most destructive of the seven deadly sins. It can ruin families, wreck one's health, destroy peace of mind and, at its worst, lead to murder, genocide, and war. In Anger, Robert A. F. Thurman, best-selling author and one of America's leading authorities on Buddhism and Eastern philosophy, offers an illuminating look at this deadliest of sins. In the West, Thurman points out, anger is seen as an inevitable part of life, an evil to be borne, not overcome. There is the tradition of the wrathful God, of Jesus driving the money-changers from the temple. If God can be angry, how can men rid themselves of this destructive emotion? Thurman shows that Eastern philosophy sees anger differently. Certainly, it is a dreadful evil, one of the "three poisons" that underlie all human suffering. But Buddhism teaches that anger can be overcome. Indeed, the defeat of anger is not only possible, but also the only thing worth doing in a lifetime. Thurman shows how to recognize the destructiveness of anger and understand its workings, and how we can go from being a slave to anger to becoming "a knight of patience." We discover finally that when this deadliest emotion is transmuted by wisdom, it can become the most powerful force in freeing us from human suffering. Drawing on the time-tested wisdom of Buddhism, Robert A. F. Thurman ranges from the individual struggle with anger to global crises spurred by dogmatic ideologies, religious fanaticism, and racial prejudice. He offers a path of calm understanding in a time of terrorism and war.
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Bodhicaryavatara
By: Shantideva / Crosby & Andrew Skilton tr.
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A Guide to the Buddhist Path to Awakening
Written in India in the early eighth century AD, Santideva's Bodhicaryavatara takes as its subject the profound desire to become a Buddha and save all beings from suffering. The person who enacts such a a desire is a Bodhisattva. Santideva not only sets out what the Bodhisattva must do and become, he also invokes the intense feelings of aspiration which underlie such a commitment, using language which has inspired Buddhists from his time to the present.
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Buddha, A Very Short Introduction
By: Carrithers
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In this valuable introduction, Mich'l Carrithers guides us through the complex and sometimes conflicting information that Buddhist texts give us about the life and teaching of the Buddha. He discusses the social and political background of India in the Buddha's time and traces the development of his thought. He also assesses the rapid and widespread assimilation of Buddhism and its contemporary relevance.
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Buddhism in the Modern World: Adaptations of an Ancient Tradition
By: Steve Heine & Charles Prebish
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The history of Buddhism has been characterized by an ongoing tension between attempts to preserve traditional ideals and modes of practice and the need to adapt to changing cultural conditions. Many developments in Buddhist history, such as the infusion of esoteric rituals, the rise of devotionalism and lay movements, and the assimilation of warrior practices, reflect the impact of widespread social changes on traditional religious structures. At the same time, Buddhism has been able to maintain its doctrinal purity to a remarkable degree.
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Buddhism Omnibus, Comprising Gautama Buddha, The Dhammapada, and The Philosophy of Religion
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The three works brought together in this collection explore Buddhism as a rich source of literary legend, an austere ethical guide, and a contemporary philosophy very relevant in the modern world in view of the resurgence of interest in the Buddha and his philosophy. Matthew T. Kapstein in his Introduction provides a concise historical overview of Buddhism in India and the renewal of interest in the Buddha s teachings and also situates the works in their prope contexts.
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Buddhism, A Very Short Introduction
By: Keown
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This accessible volume covers both the teachings of the Buddha and the integration of Buddhism into daily life. What are the distinctive features of Buddhism? What or who is the Buddha, and what are his teachings? How has Buddhist thought developed over the centuries, and how can contemporary dilemmas be faced from a Buddhist perspective? Words such as "karma" and "nirvana" have entered our vocabulary, but what do they really mean? Keown has taught Buddhism at an introductory level for many years, and in this book he provides a lively, challenging response to these frequently asked questions.
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Buddhism: Introducing the Buddhist Experience
By: Mitchell, Donald W.
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Buddhism: Introducing the Buddhist Experience focuses on the depth of Buddhist experience as expressed in the teachings and practices of a wide array of its religious and philosophical traditions. Taking a broad and inclusive approach, this unique work spans over 2,500 years, featuring chapters on Buddhism's origins in India; Theravada and Mahayana Buddhism; and Buddhism in Southeast Asia, Tibet, China, Korea, and Japan. It also includes an extensive discussion of modern, socially engaged Buddhism and a concluding chapter on the spread of Buddhism to the West. Mitchell provides substantial selections of primary text material throughout that illustrate a great variety of moral, psychological, meditative, and spiritual Buddhist experiences.
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Buddhism: Origins, Beliefs, Practices, Holy Texts, Sacred Places
By: Eckel
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Founded on the Four Noble Truths and the Eightfold Path, the faith taught by Siddhartha Gautama (the Buddha, or Awakened One) spread rapidly across Asia and then across the globe, becoming one of the world's largest and most influential religions. Buddhism combines lavish colorful photography and an authoritative text to provide a sweeping survey of this rich and varied religious tradition.
Eckel begins with an engaging portrait of the Buddha (who predated Jesus by 500 years), an Indian prince's son who embarked on an epic journey of enlightenment and discovered a way of overcoming suffering. The authors trace the flowering of Buddhist schools in his wake, from the major groups (Mahayana, Theravada, Tantric) to the minor (such as the Pure Land sect in Japan). With helpful sidebars, boxed features, and numerous illustrations, they explain Tantric Mandalas (sacred circles), the Sutras (holy writings), the sacred landscape, celestial beings in some Buddhist mythology, the path to Nirvana, and much more. They also discuss Buddhist temples, forms of worship and meditation, the cycle of rebirth, and roles and relationships in the Buddhist community (including Theravada, Buddhism's stress on the importance of becoming a monk for at least part of life). A helpful map reveals the course of Buddhism's expansion throughout Asia.
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Buddhism: the Basics
By: Cathy Cantwell
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This volume collects essays by philosophers and scholars working at the interface of Western philosophy and Buddhist Studies. Many have distinguished scholarly records in Western philosophy, with expertise in analytic philosophy and logic, as well as deep interest in Buddhist philosophy. Others have distinguished scholarly records in Buddhist Studies with strong interests in analytic philosophy and logic. All are committed to the enterprise of cross-cultural philosophy and to bringing the insights and techniques of each tradition to bear in order to illuminate problems and ideas of the other. These essays address a broad range of topics in the philosophy of mind, philosophy of language, logic, epistemology, and metaphysics, and demonstrate the fecundity of the interaction between the Buddhist and Western philosophical and logical traditions.
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Buddhist Ethics: A Very Short Introduction
By: Damien Keown
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The latter half of the twentieth century witnessed a growing interest in Buddhism, and it continues to capture the imagination of many in the West who see it as either an alternative or a supplement to their own religious beliefs. Numerous introductory books have appeared in recent years to cater to this growing interest, but almost none devotes attention to the specifically ethical dimensions of the tradition. For various complex cultural and historical reasons, ethics has not received as much attention in traditional Buddhist thought as it has in the West. Written by Damien Keown, one of the few experts worldwide who specializes in the area, Buddhist Ethics illustrates how Buddhism might approach a range of contemporary morals ranging from abortion to euthanasia, sexuality to cloning, and even war and economics.
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Buddhist Philosophy: Essential Readings
By: William Edelglass and Jay Garfield
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The Buddhist philosophical tradition is vast, internally diverse, and comprises texts written in a variety of canonical languages. It is hence often difficult for those with training in Western philosophy who wish to approach this tradition for the first time to know where to start, and difficult for those who wish to introduce and teach courses in Buddhist philosophy to find suitable textbooks that adequately represent the diversity of the tradition, expose students to important primary texts in reliable translations, that contextualize those texts, and that foreground specifically philosophical issues.
Buddhist Philosophy fills that lacuna. It collects important philosophical texts from each major Buddhist tradition. Each text is translated and introduced by a recognized authority in Buddhist studies. Each introduction sets the text in context and introduces the philosophical issues it addresses and arguments it presents, providing a useful and authoritative guide to reading and to teaching the text. The volume is organized into topical sections that reflect the way that Western philosophers think about the structure of the discipline, and each section is introduced by an essay explaining Buddhist approaches to that subject matter, and the place of the texts collected in that section in the enterprise.
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Buddhist Saints in India
By: Ray
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A Study in Buddhist Values and Orientations
This study is the first comprehensive examination of the figure of the Buddhist saint in a wide range of Indian Buddhist evidence. Drawing on an extensive variety of sources, author Reginald Ray identifies the prototypical Buddhist saint as a "renunciant of the forest." This classical type, he argues, informs the major Buddhist saintly types and subtypes, including the buddha, pratyekabuddha, arhant, and bodhisattva.
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Consequences of Compassion: An Interpretation and Defense of Buddhist Ethics
By: Charles Goodman
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To many Westerners, the most appealing teachings of the Buddhist tradition pertain to ethics. Many readers have drawn inspiration from Buddhism's emphasis on compassion, nonviolence, and tolerance, its concern for animals, and its models of virtue and self-cultivation. There has been, however, controversy and confusion about which Western ethical theories resemble Buddhist views and in what respects. In this book, Charles Goodman illuminates the relations between Buddhist concepts and Western ethical theories. Every version of Buddhist ethics, says Goodman, takes the welfare of sentient beings to be the only source of moral obligations. Buddhist ethics can thus be said to be based on compassion in the sense of a motivation to pursue the welfare of others. On this interpretation, the fundamental basis of the various forms of Buddhist ethics is the same as that of the welfarist members of the family of ethical theories that analytic philosophers call 'consequentialism.' Goodman uses this hypothesis to illuminate a variety of questions. He examines the three types of compassion practiced in Buddhism and argues for their implications for important issues in applied ethics, especially the justification of punishment and the question of equality.
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Cult of Pure Crystal Mountain
By : Tony Huber
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Popular Pilgrimage and Visionary Landscape in Southeast Tibet
The Tibetan district of Tsari with its sacred snow-covered peak of Pure Crystal Mountain has long been a place of symbolic and ritual significance for Tibetan peoples. In this book, Toni Huber provides the first thorough study of a major Tibetan Buddhist pilgrimage center and cult mountain, and explores the esoteric and popular traditions of ritual there. The main focus is on the period of the 1940s and '50s, just prior to the 1959 Lhasa uprising and subsequent Tibetan diaspora into South Asia.
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Dalai Lama; A Biography
By: Claude Levenson
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Based partly on personal interviews, this is the story of the Dalai Lama's prodigious life--of how a lively child from a modest peasant family came to be recognized as the fourteenth reincarnation of the Buddha of Infinite Compassion. The book also portrays a vivid and important civilization based on an exuberant and sophisticated Buddhist tradition.
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Dhammapada: The Sayings of the Buddha
By: Carter & Palihawadana
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The Dhammapada, the Pali version of one of the most popular texts of the Buddhist canon, ranks among the classics of the world's great religious literature.
Like all religious texts in Pali, the Dhammapada belongs to the Thereva school of the Buddhist tradition, adherents of which are now found primarily in Kampuchea, Laos, Sri Lanka, and Thailand. Dhammapada, or "sayings of the dhamma," is taken to be a collection of the utterances of the Buddha himself. Taken together, the verses form a key body of teaching within Buddhism, a guiding voice along the struggle-laden path towards true enlightenment, or Nirvana. However, the appeal of these epithets of wisdom extends beyond its religious heritage to a general and universal spirituality.
This edition provides an introduction and notes which examine the impact that the text has had within the Buddhist heritage through the centuries.
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Dharmakirti's Theory of Inference
By: Rajendra Prasad
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In this rigorous study, Rajendra Prasad examines the system of inference developed by Dharmakirti, the celebrated seventh-century Buddhist logician. In a departure from the existing body of research on Dharmakirti, which is largely historical in nature, Prasad concentrates on an analysis of Dharmakirti's philosophy, specifically his theory of inference.
Prasad uses the tools of contemporary philosophical analysis to highlight the relevance of a classical theory in the world of modern formal logic. As a result, Dharmakirti's theory emerges as more than merely a self-contained phase in the evolution of Buddhist logic. Rather, it finds its place as part of a unified and continuing tradition of logical inquiry. Armed with a contemporary understanding of the distinction between epistemology and logic, Prasad isolates Dharmakirti's system of logic and demonstrates, with sharp conceptual clarity, its elegance and economy of construction, and also its shortcomings. This focus is enhanced by the author's reliance on the two texts that contribute most significantly to his analysis. These are Dharmakirti's Nyayabindu in which the logician's theory of inference is distilled and crystallized and Dharmottara's commentary on the Nyayabindu, the Nyayabindutika.
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Dispeller of Disputes: Nagarjuna's Vigrahavyavartani
By Nagarjuna
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Nagarjuna's Vigrahavyavartani is an essential work of Madhyamaka Buddhist philosophical literature. Written in an accessible question-and-answer style, it contains Nagarjuna's replies to criticisms of his philosophy of the "Middle Way." The Vigrahavyavartani has been widely cited both in canonical literature and in recent scholarship; it has remained a central text in India, Tibet, China, and Japan, and has attracted the interest of greater and greater numbers of Western readers.
In The Dispeller of Disputes, Jan Westerhoff offers a clear new translation of the Vigrahavyavartani, taking current philological research and all available editions into account, and adding his own insightful philosophical commentary on the text. Crucial manuscript material has been discovered since the earlier translations were written, and Westerhoff draws on this material to produce a study reflecting the most up-to-date research on this text. In his nuanced and incisive commentary, he explains Nagarjuna's arguments, grounds them in historical and textual scholarship, and explicitly connects them to contemporary philosophical concerns.
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Dreaming the Great Brahmin, Tibetan Traditions of the Buddhist Poet-Saint Saraha,
by: Kurtis Schaeffer
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The book traces the complex history of Saraha's most important work, a collection of tantric poetry entitled the Treasury of Doha Verses. Schaeffer shows that the poetic and philosophical literature attributed to Saraha represents centuries of transmission and adaptation by scribes, translators, commentators, and Tibetan poets. The book also includes a full translation of the Treasury of Doha Verses and a rare Tibetan commentary.
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Empty Words: Buddhist Philosophy and Cross-Cultural Interpretation
By; Garfield, Jay L.
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Jay Garfield's magisterial translation of Nagarjuna's Mulamadhyamakakarika (The Fundamental Wisdom of the Middle Way) has established itself as the definitive edition of this foundational Indian Buddhist philosophical text. Nagarjuna is the founder - and his work the foundational text - of the Madhyamaka (or Middle Path) school of Mahayana Buddhism, which predominates in Tibet, China, Mongolia, Korea, Vietnam, and Japan. In this book, a companion and supplement to his translation and commentary, Garfield presents fourteen of his essays on Nagarjuna, Madhyamaka, Yogacara and related themes in Buddhist philosophy.
In this volume, Garfield supplements and extends his work on the Mulamadhyamakakarika . He then explores topics in Yogacara philosophy through the works of Vasubandhu and Sthiramati. These discussions focus on Buddhist accounts of the limits of thought and language, of causality, and of the structure of subjectivity. Garfield next addresses the connections and tensions between Buddhist ethics and the liberal democratic discourse of moral and political rights. He concludes by examining the moral and epistemological problems that arise in cross-cultural studies.
The culmination of a decade of research and writing, Empty Words adds new depth to our understanding of Buddhist thought, its relationship to western philosophy, and the nature of cross-cultural scholarship itself.
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Engaged Buddhism: The Dalai Lama's Worldview
By: Bharati Puri
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The Dalai Lama’s ethical teachings have gained recognition the world over. His actions and writings reflect a concern for combining ancient religious traditions with a religious cause, extending to the arena of international polticis and human relations.
Highlighting the relevance of traditional Budhist ideals of wisdom and compassion in modern social activism, Engaged Buddhism is a movement that seeks to synthesize philosophy and life. Arguably the most renowned of the Engaged Budhists, the Dalai Lama’s thought symbolizes a religious and ethical response to situations and the human condition.
One of the first books to analyse the conceptual foundations of the Dalai Lama’s thought, this volume elaborates on various issues such as his views on human rights, religion, non-viiolent conflict resolution, and the enviornment. Puri carries out an in-depth analysis of the Dalai Lama’s thought by categorizing it under various sub-themes. Allusions to other thinkers and writers draw parallels to the thought of the Dalai Lama, thus highlighting its eclectic dimensions.
The book includes an interview Puri had conducted personally with the Dalai Lama, a revealing first-hand account of his life and philosophy. Also included is comprehensive bibliography of works by and on the Dalai Lama.
This important volume will attract a wide audience of students and scholars across religion, philosophy, Buddhist studies, Tibetan studies, peace studies, and international relations. The lay reader too will find this an informative and a rewarding read.
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Foundations of Buddhism
By: Gethin
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Buddhism is a vast and complex religious and philosophical tradition with a history that stretches back over 2,500 years. In this book, Rupert Gethin investigates the common threads connecting diverse traditions of Buddhist thought and practice: the story of the Buddha, the scriptural tradition of his teachings, the four noble truths, monastic and lay ways of life, karma and rebirths, ethics, meditation, and philosophy. While concentrating on the formative phase of Buddhism in India, he also considers the ways in which these foundations have shaped the development of Buddhism beyond India and into the twentieth century.
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Four Illusions, Candrakirti's Advice for Travelers on the Bodhisattva Path
By: Candrakirti, Karen Lang, tr.
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Our Price: $30.00
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This book provides the first English translation of Candrakirti's commentary (ca. 6-7th century C.E.) on four illusions that prevent people from becoming Buddhas. Lang's translation captures the clarity of Candrakirti's arguments and the lively humor of the stories and examples he uses. Lang's introduction explores the range of Candrakirti's interests in religion, philosophy, psychology, politics, and erotic poetry.
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Fundamental Wisdom of the Middle Way
By: Nagarjuna / Garfield
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Nagarjuna's Mulamadhyamakakarika
The Buddhist saint Nagarjuna, who lived in South India in approximately the second CE, is undoubtedly the most important, influential, and widely studied Mahayana Buddhist philosopher. His many works include texts addressed to lay audiences, letters of advice to kings, and a set of penetrating metaphysical and epistemological treatises. His greatest philosophical work, the Mulamadhyamakakarika - read and studied by philosophers in all major Buddhist schools of Tibet, China, Japan, and Korea- is one of the most influential works in the history of Indian philosophy.
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Haunting the Buddha; Indian Popular Religions and the Formation of Buddhism
By: Robert DeCaroli
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Indian Popular Religions and the Formation of Buddhism
Early European histories of India frequently reflected colonialist agendas. The idea that Indian society had declined from an earlier Golden Age helped justify the colonial presence. It was said, for example, that modern Buddhism had fallen away from its original identity as a purely rational philosophy that arose in the mythical 5th-century BCE Golden Age unsullied by the religious and cultural practices that surrounded it.
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Hidden History of the Tibetan Book of the Dead
By: Brian Cuevas
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Our Price: $50.00
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Over the years, The Tibetan Book of the Dead has inspired numerous commentaries, an illustrated edition, a play, a video series, and even an opera. Translators, scholars, and popular devotees of the book have claimed to explain its esoteric ideas and reveal its hidden meaning. Few, however, have uttered a word about its history. Bryan J. Cuevas seeks to fill this gap in our knowledge by offering the first comprehensive historical study of the Great Liberation upon Hearing in the Bardo, and by grounding it firmly in the context of Tibetan history and culture.
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Himalayan Hermitess, The Life of a Tibetan Buddhist Nun
By: Kurtis R. Schaeffer
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Himalayan Hermitess is a vivid account of the life and times of a Buddhist nun living on the borderlands of Tibetan culture. Orgyan Chokyi (1675-1729) spent her life in Dolpo, the highest inhabited region of the Nepal Himalayas. Illiterate and expressly forbidden by her master to write her own life story, Orgyan Chokyi received divine inspiration, defied tradition, and composed one of the most engaging autobiographies of the Tibetan literary tradition.
The Life of Orgyan Chokyi is the oldest known autobiography authored by a Tibetan woman, and thus holds a critical place in both Tibetan and Buddhist literature. In it she tells of the sufferings of her youth, the struggle to escape menial labor and become a hermitess, her dreams and visionary experiences, her relationships with other nuns, the painstaking work of contemplative practice, and her hard-won social autonomy and high-mountain solitude. In process it develops a compelling vision of the relation between gender, the body, and suffering from a female Buddhist practitioner's perspective.
Part One of Himalayan Hermitess presents a religious history of Orgyan Chokyi's Himalayan world, the Life of Orgyan Chokyi as a work of literature, its portrayal of sorrow and joy, its perspectives on suffering and gender, as well as the diverse religious practices found throughout the work. Part Two offers a full translation of the Life of Orgyan Chokyi. Based almost entirely upon Tibetan documents never before translated, Himalayan Hermitess is an accessible introduction to Buddhism in the premodern Himalayas.
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History as Propaganda: Tibetan Exiles versus the People's Republic of China
By: John Powers
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Despite Chinese efforts to stop foreign countries from granting him visas, the Dalai Lama has become one of the most recognizable and best loved people on the planet, drawing enormous crowds wherever he goes. By contrast, China's charismatically-challenged leaders attract crowds of protestors waving Tibetan flags and shouting "Free Tibet!" whenever they visit foreign countries. By now most Westerners probably think they understand the political situation in Tibet. But, John Powers argues, most Western scholars of Tibet evince a bias in favor of one side or the other in this continuing struggle. Some of the most emotionally charged rhetoric, says Powers, is found in studies of Tibetan history. History is viewed by both sides as crucial to their claims, and both invest a great deal of energy in producing works that purport to tell the "truth" about Tibet's past. Powers shows that the two sides' views are mutually incompatible and that both sides sincerely believe what they say. Both are operating within a particular psychological context in which certain assumptions guide their inquiry and predetermine their conclusions. Both are so thoroughly convinced of the utter rightness of their paradigms that they cannot even imagine that someone might sincerely hold the opposing view, and so they accuse their opponents of deliberately lying and covering up the "facts" and the "truth." Both reflect the vastly different cultural myths of the societies that produced them. Chinese sources begin with the notion that China is at the center of the world and is the only civilized society, with a mandate to rule over all other countries. Tibetan records are thoroughly infused with Buddhist imagery and presuppositions, and the underlying narrative is the diffusion and glorification of religion. Powers examines works on Tibetan history by Tibetan and Chinese authors that have been produced in English for Western consumption. He finds some of their claims absurd, others highly implausible, some humorous in an unintended way. Both narratives are fraught with internal contradictions and inconsistencies.
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History of the Buddha's Relic Shrine: A Translation of the Sinhala Thupavamsa
By: Bryan J Cuevas
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Our Price: $75.00
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Buddhist chronicles have long been a subject of central importance in the study of Buddhism. But while scholars have acknowledged the importance of Theravada chronicles for reconstructing the history of Buddhism and South Asia, they have relied almost exclusively on Pali works such as the Mahavamsa as sources of historical information. In this book Stephen Berkwitz offers the first complete English translation of the Buddhist chronicle called the Sinhala Thupavamsa, composed by Parakama Pandita in thirteenth-century Sri Lanka. One of the first Buddhist histories of its kind to be written in the language of Sinhala, this work represents a substantially longer and embellished version of an older Pali language work called the Thupavamsa. Unlike the Pali sources that were composed by elites for learned audiences throughout the Buddhist world, this text is an important example of the large number of Buddhist histories written in local languages for popular consumption.
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Inner Kalacakratantra: A Buddhist Tantric View of the Individual
By: Vesna Wallace
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Our Price: $99.00
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The Kalacakratantra, the latest and most comprehensive Buddhist Tantra available in its original Sanskrit, has never been the topic of a full scale scholarly study. This fascinating volume fills that gap, concentrating on the inner Kalackaratantra and discussing the nature of human beings.
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Making of Buddhist Modernism
By: David L. McMahan
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A great deal of Buddhist literature and scholarly writing about Buddhism of the past 150 years reflects, and indeed constructs, a historically unique modern Buddhism, even while purporting to represent ancient tradition, timeless teaching, or the "essentials" of Buddhism. This literature, Asian as well as Western, weaves together the strands of different traditions to create a novel hybrid that brings Buddhism into alignment with many of the ideologies and sensibilities of the post-Enlightenment West.
In this book, David McMahan charts the development of this "Buddhist modernism." McMahan examines and analyzes a wide range of popular and scholarly writings produced by Buddhists around the globe. He focuses on ideological and imaginative encounters between Buddhism and modernity, for example in the realms of science, mythology, literature, art, psychology, and religious pluralism. He shows how certain themes cut across cultural and geographical contexts, and how this form of Buddhism has been created by multiple agents in a variety of times and places. His position is critical but empathetic: while he presents Buddhist modernism as a construction of numerous parties with varying interests, he does not reduce it to a mistake, a misrepresentation, or fabrication. Rather, he presents it as a complex historical process constituted by a variety of responses -- sometimes trivial, often profound -- to some of the most important concerns of the modern era.
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Managing Monks: Administrators and Administrative Roles in Indian Buddhist Monasticism
By: Jonathan A. Silk
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The paradigmatic Buddhist is the monk. It is well known that ideally Buddhist monks are expected to meditate and study -- to engage in religious practice. The institutional structure which makes this concentration on spiritual cultivation possible is the monastery. But as a bureaucratic institution, the monastery requires administrators to organize and manage its functions, to prepare quiet spots for meditation, to arrange audiences for sermons, or simply to make sure food, rooms, and bedding are provided. The valuations placed on such organizational roles were, however, a subject of considerable controversy among Indian Buddhist writers, with some considering them significantly less praiseworthy than meditative concentration or teaching and study, while others more highly appreciated their importance. Managing Monks , as the first major study of the administrative offices of Indian Buddhist monasticism and of those who hold them, explores literary sources, inscriptions and other materials in Sanskrit, Pali, Tibetan, and Chinese in order to explore this tension and paint a picture of the internal workings of the Buddhist monastic institution in India, highlighting the ambivalent and sometimes contradictory attitudes toward administrators revealed in various sources.
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Moonshadows: Conventional Truth in Buddhist Philosophy
By: "The Cowherds"
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The doctrine of the two truths - a conventional truth and an ultimate truth - is central to Buddhist metaphysics and epistemology. The two truths (or two realities), the distinction between them, and the relation between them is understood variously in different Buddhist schools; it is of special importance to the Madhyamaka school. One theory is articulated with particular force by Nagarjuna (2nd C CE) who famously claims that the two truths are identical to one another and yet distinct. One of the most influential interpretations of Nagarjuna's difficult doctrine derives from the commentary of Candrakarti (6th C CE). In view of its special soteriological role, much attention has been devoted to explaining the nature of the ultimate truth; less, however, has been paid to understanding the nature of conventional truth, which is often described as "deceptive," "illusion," or "truth for fools." But because of the close relation between the two truths in Madhyamaka, conventional truth also demands analysis. Moonshadows , the product of years of collaboration by ten cowherds engaged in Philosophy and Buddhist Studies, provides this analysis. The book asks, "what is true about conventional truth?" and "what are the implications of an understanding of conventional truth for our lives?" Moonshadows begins with a philosophical exploration of classical Indian and Tibetan texts articulating Candrakati's view, and uses this textual exploration as a basis for a more systematic philosophical consideration of the issues raised by his account.
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Nagarjuna's Madhyamaka: A Philosophical Investigation
By: Jan Westerhoff
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The Indian philosopher Acarya Nagarjuna (c. 150-250 CE) was the founder of the Madhyamaka (Middle Path) school of Mahayana Buddhism and arguably the most influential Buddhist thinker after Buddha himself. Indeed, in the Tibetan and East Asian traditions, Nagarjuna is often referred to as the "second Buddha."
This book presents a survey of the whole of Nagarjuna's philosophy based on his key philosophical writings. His primary contribution to Buddhist thought lies in the further development of the concept of nullunyata or "emptiness." For Nagarjuna, all phenomena are without any svabhava, literally "own-nature" or "self-nature," and thus without any underlying substance. Particular emphasis is put on discussing Nagarjuna's thinking as philosophy . The present discussion shows how his thoughts on metaphysics, epistemology, the self, language, and truth present a unified theory of reality with considerable systematic appeal.
Jan Westerhoff offers a systematic account of Nagarjuna's philosophical position. He reads Nagarjuna in his own philosophical context, but he does not hesitate to show that the issues of Indian and Tibetan Buddhist philosophy have at least family resemblances to issues in European philosophy. This fascinating and much-needed analysis of one of India's most important philosophers is sure to interest and enlighten students of Buddhism and the European tradition alike.
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Navel of the Demoness: Tibetan Buddhism and Civil Religion in Highland Nepal
By: Charles Ramble
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Our Price: $89.00
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This groundbreaking study focuses on a village called Te in a "Tibetanized" region of northern Nepal. While Te's people are nominally Buddhist, and engage the services of resident Tibetan Tantric priests for a range of rituals, they are also exponents of a local religion that involves blood sacrifices to wild, unconverted territorial gods and goddesses. The village is unusual in the extent to which it has maintained its local autonomy and also in the degree to which both Buddhism and the cults of local gods have been subordinated to the pragmatic demands of the village community.
Charles Ramble draws on extensive fieldwork, as well as 300 years' worth of local historical archives (in Tibetan and Nepali), to re-examine the subject of confrontation between Buddhism and indigenous popular traditions in the Tibetan cultural sphere. He argues that Buddhist ritual and sacrificial cults are just two elements in a complex system of self-government that has evolved over the centuries and has developed the character of a civil religion.
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New Buddhism: The Western Transformation of an Ancient Tradition
By: Coleman
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The New Buddhism sheds new light on this recent evolution of Buddhist practice in the West. After briefly recounting the beginnings and spread of Buddhism in the East, Coleman chronicles its reinterpretation by key Western teachers in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries, ranging from the British poet Sir Edwin Arnold to the Beat writer Alan Watts. Turning to the contemporary scene, he finds that Western teachers have borrowed liberally from different Buddhist traditions that never intersect in their original contexts. Men and women practice together as equals; ceremonies and rituals are simpler, more direct, and not believed to have magical effects. Moreover, the new Buddhism has made the path of meditation and spiritual awakening available to everyone, not just an elite cadre of monks. Drawing on interviews with noted teachers and lay practitioners, as well as a survey completed by members of seven North American Buddhist centers, Coleman depicts the colorful variety of new Buddhists today, from dilettantes to devoted students and the dedicated teachers who guide their spiritual progress. He also details the problems that have arisen because of some Western influences--especially with regard to gender roles, sex, and power.
Exploring the appeal of this exotic faith in postmodern society and questioning its future in a global consumer culture, The New Buddhism provides a thorough and fascinating guide to Western Buddhism today
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New Physics and Cosmology; Dialogues with The Dalai Lama
By: Arthur Zajonc
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What happens when the Dalai Lama meets with leading physicists and a historian? This book is the carefully edited record of the fascinating discussions at a Mind and Life conference in which five leading physicists and a historian (David Finkelstein, George Greenstein, Piet Hut, Arthur Zajonc, Anton Zeilinger, and Tu Weiming) discussed with the Dalai Lama current thought in theoretical quantum physics, in the context of Buddhist philosophy. A contribution to the science-religion interface, and a useful explanation of our basic understanding of quantum reality, couched at a level that intelligent readers without a deep involvement in science can grasp. In the tradition of other popular books on resonances between modern quantum physics and Zen or Buddhist mystical traditions--notably The Dancing Wu Li Masters and The Tao of Physics, this book gives a clear and useful update of the genuine correspondences between these two rather disparate approaches to understanding the nature of reality.
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Nietzsche and Buddhism: A Study in Nihilism and Ironic Affinities
By: Morison
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Robert Morrison offers an illuminating comparative study of two linked and interacting traditions that have had great influence in twentieth century thought: Buddhism and the philosophy of Nietzsche. Nietzsche saw a direct historical parallel between the cultural situation of his own time and of the India of the Buddha's age: the emergence of nihilism as a consequence of loss of traditional belief. Nietzsche's fear, still resonant today, was that Europe was about to enter a nihilistic era in which people, no longer able to believe in the old religious and moral values, would feel themselves adrift in a meaningless cosmos where life seems to have no particular purpose or end. Though he admired Buddhism as a noble and humane response to this situation, Nietzsche came to think that it was wrong in not seeking to overcome nihilism, and constituted a threat to the future of Europe. It was in reaction against nihilism that he forged his own affirmative philosophy aiming at the transvaluation of all values.
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Ocean of Reasoning: A Great Commentary on Nagarjuna's Mulamadhyamakakarika
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A Great Commentary on Nagarjuna's Mulamadhyamakakarika
Tsong kha pa (14th century) is arguably the most important and influential philosopher in Tibetan history. An Ocean of Reasoning is the most extensive and perhaps the deepest extant commentary on Nagarjuna's Mulamadhyamakakarika (Fundamental Wisdom of the Middle Way), and it can be argued that it is impossible to discuss Nagarjuna's work in an informed way without consulting it.
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Oxford Dictionary of Buddhism
By: Damien Keown
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An authoritative, wide-ranging, and accessible reference
With over 2,000 wide-ranging entries, this dictionary is the most up-to-date and comprehensive of its kind. Written by a leading expert in the field and incorporating research by regional specialists, this new dictionary covers both historical and contemporary issues in Buddhism and includes all Buddhist schools and cultures.
Elegantly illustrated with line drawings of religious structures, iconography, and ritual objects, The Dictionary of Buddhism includes entries on the history and doctrines of the major Buddhist schools, information on the spread of Buddhism in Asia and the West, and coverage of issues of contemporary concern such as human rights, abortion, euthanasia, and the role of women in Buddhist teachings. An ultimate reference, the dictionary also contains appendices that include a chronology of important dates, a guide to canonical scriptures, and a pronunciation guide for difficult names and terms. Beliefs, doctrines, major teachers and scholars, place names, and artifacts are all covered in a clear and concise style making The Dictionary of Buddhism an invaluable source for anyone seeking information on Buddhism, from students of religion and related disciplines to practicing Buddhists.
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Perceiving Reality: Consciousness, Intentionality, and Cognition in Buddhist Philosophy
By: Christian Coseru
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Situated about 106 kilometers from Aurangabad in Maharashtra, Ajanta rock cut caves are creations of about 700 years, roughly from 200 BC to AD 525. This glorious Buddhist art of the Deccan was discovered in 1819, and given a World Heritage status by UNESCO in 1983. The most striking characteristic of Ajanta art is that architecture, sculpture and painting--the three expressions of fine art--all articulate at one place. Ajanta paintings give us graphic insights into the history of Buddhism in India. The caves also help us reconstruct the interrelationship between such centers in Central Asia and China, as also those in Buddhist countries like Sri Lanka, Myanmar, Thailand, which have similar specimens, but from a later period
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Pointing at the Moon: Buddhism, Logic, Analytic Philosophy
By: Jay L Garfield (Author), Tom J.F. Tillemans (Author), Mario D'Amato (Author)
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This volume collects essays by philosophers and scholars working at the interface of Western philosophy and Buddhist Studies. Many have distinguished scholarly records in Western philosophy, with expertise in analytic philosophy and logic, as well as deep interest in Buddhist philosophy. Others have distinguished scholarly records in Buddhist Studies with strong interests in analytic philosophy and logic. All are committed to the enterprise of cross-cultural philosophy and to bringing the insights and techniques of each tradition to bear in order to illuminate problems and ideas of the other. These essays address a broad range of topics in the philosophy of mind, philosophy of language, logic, epistemology, and metaphysics, and demonstrate the fecundity of the interaction between the Buddhist and Western philosophical and logical traditions.
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Rediscovering the Buddha - Legends of the Buddha and Their Interpretation
By: Hans Penner
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Hans Penner takes a new look at the classic stories of the life of the Buddha. In the first part of the book, he presents a full account of these stories, drawn from various texts of Theravada Buddhism, the Buddhism of South and Southeast Asia. Penner allots one chapter to each of the major milestones in Buddha's life, with titles such as: Birth and Early Life, Flight from the Palace, Enlightenment and Liberation, Last Watch and Funeral. In the process, he brings to the fore dimensions of the myth that have been largely ignored by western scholarship. In Part II, Penner offers his own original interpretations of the legends. He takes issue with Max Weber's assertion that "Buddhism is an other-worldly ascetic religion," a point of view that remains dominant in the received tradition and in most contemporary studies of Buddhism. His central thesis is that the "householder" is a necessary element in Buddhism and that the giving of gifts, which creates merit and presupposes the doctrine of karma, mediates the relation between the householder and the monk. Penner argues that the omission of the householder - in his view one-half of what constitutes Buddhism as a religion - is fatal for any understanding of Buddha's life or of the Buddhist tradition. This boldly revisionist and deeply learned work will be of interest to a wide range of scholarly and lay readers.
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Sanchi
By: Dhavalikar
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Part of the Monumental Legacy series, this well illustrated and well informed book explains in lucid language the historical background and architecture of the Buddhist monuments of Sanchi. This book, with its section on practical information, is a comprehensive guide for the discerning tourist as well as scholars.
Sanchi , Dhavalikar, OUP, Hardcover, 136 pp.
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Self, No Self?: Perspectives from Analytical, Phenomenological, and Indian Traditions
By: Roger R. Jackson
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The nature and reality of self is a subject of increasing prominence among Western philosophers of mind and cognitive scientists. It has also been central to Indian and Tibetan philosophical traditions for over two thousand years. It is time to bring the rich resources of these traditions into the contemporary debate about the nature of self. This volume is the first of its kind. Leading philosophical scholars of the Indian and Tibetan traditions join with leading Western philosophers of mind and phenomenologists to explore issues about consciousness and selfhood from these multiple perspectives. Self, No Self? is not a collection of historical or comparative essays. It takes problem-solving and conceptual and phenomenological analysis as central to philosophy. The essays mobilize the argumentative resources of diverse philosophical traditions to address issues about the self in the context of contemporary philosophy and cognitive science. Self, No Self? will be essential reading for philosophers and cognitive scientists interested in the nature of the self and consciousness, and will offer a valuable way into the subject for students.
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Serene Compassion: A Christian Appreciation of Buddhist Holiness
By: Denise Lardner Carmody and John Tully Carmody
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In Serene Compassion John and Denise Carmody provide an accessible overview and evaluation of Buddhist thought and practice from a Christian point of view. They find that Buddhism is, in many ways, an ideal complement and companion to Christianity. To show why, the Carmodys focus on Buddhist ideas about holiness - comprising such virtues as purity, devotion, orderliness, compassion, and wholeheartedness - and reveal how they compare to similar values in traditional Christianity.
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Six Perfections: Buddhism & the Cultivation of Character
By: Dale Wright
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Here is a lucid, accessible, and inspiring guide to the six perfections--Buddhist teachings about six dimensions of human character that require "perfecting": generosity, morality, tolerance, energy, meditation, and wisdom. Drawing on the Diamond Sutra, the Large Sutra on Perfect Wisdom , and other essential Mahayana texts, Dale Wright shows how these teachings were understood and practiced in classical Mahayana Buddhism and how they can be adapted to contemporary life in a global society. What would the perfection of generosity look like today, for example? What would it mean to give with neither ulterior motives nor naivete? Devoting a separate chapter to each of the six perfections, Wright combines sophisticated analysis with real-life applications. Buddhists have always stressed self-cultivation, the uniquely human freedom that opens the possibility of shaping the kind of life we will live and the kind of person we will become. For those interested in ideals of human character and practices of self-cultivation, The Six Perfections offers invaluable guidance.
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