Home > Books > Books, Commentaries, Texts, by Tibetan & Indian Buddhist Masters of the Past > Books by Nagarjuna > Nagarjuna in Context: Mahayana Buddhism and Early Indian Culture By: Joseph Walser
	Our Price: $49.50 Author: Joseph Walser Format: Hardcover ISBN: 9780231131643 Product Code: 13419 Qty:

Description Contents   Nagarjuna, one of India's greatest philosophers, is the most influential thinker in the Mahayana Buddhist tradition. While his philosophy has been the subject of numerous studies and translations, Joseph Walser provides the first examination of Nagarjuna's life and writings within the social, religious, and institutional contexts of the early history of Buddhism. Walser locates Nagarjuna's second-century writings at a critical juncture in the development and spread of Mahayana Buddhism. At this time, Mahayanist writings and teachings were regarded with great suspicion, and its followers were subject to legal censure. Walser explores how Nagarjuna's writings, including his most famous works, The Jeweled Garland and Foundational Stanzas, established a connection between the authority of the existing Buddhist canon and Mahayana teachings. In doing so, Nagarjuna was able to demonstrate the legality of Mahayana interpretation within the strictures of Buddhist monastic law. This established a place for Mahayana in the Buddhist tradition and insured the reproduction and transmission of the sect's central texts. Walser's analysis draws on close readings of Nagarjuna's texts, particularly their treatment of the "three baskets" of the Buddhist canon: Vinaya (Buddhist monastic law), Sutra (the sermons of the Buddha), and Abhidharma (Buddhist sectarian treatises). Walser also examines how the philosopher forged alliances with the laity and other Buddhist textual analysis that proved pivotal in insuring the survival of Mahayana teachings. In addition to his analysis of Nagarjuna's writings, Walser explores a range of Buddhist and non-Buddhist sources, as well as art historical and epigraphic evidence to offer a creative and original contribution to the understanding of Nagarjuna and the early history of Buddhism. Nagarjuna in Context, Joseph Walser, Columbia University, Hardcover, 2005, 369 Pages, $49.50 Acknowledgments Introduction 1. Locating Mahayana 2. Locating Nagarjuna 3. Mahayana and the Constraints of Monastic Law 4. Mahayana Sutras as Monastic Property 5. On the Parasitic Strategies of Mahayana 6. Abhidharma and Sectarian Identity 7. Nagarjuna and the Abhidharma Conclusion: Toward the Outline of a Career Appendix: The Authorship of the Ratnava Notes Bibliography

Share your knowledge of this product with other customers... Be the first to write a review

Browse for more products in the same category as this item: Books > Books, Commentaries, Texts, by Tibetan & Indian Buddhist Masters of the Past > Books by Nagarjuna Books & Publications > Books by Title A-Z Books Books > Books, Commentaries, Texts, by Tibetan & Indian Buddhist Masters of the Past Books & Publications