Engaged Buddhists have attracted world-wide attention in the 21st century. They are carrying on non-violent struggles in different regions of the world, for promoting democracy, justice and human rights. Research scholars are interviewing them to elicit their views on questions related to the scope of their work as also the methods that they are employing to enhance the effectiveness of their struggles. This book provides answers to such questions that have been extracted from two of the main scriptures of Mahayana Buddhism viz. The Lotus Sutra and Shantidevas Bodhicaryavatara, which have inspired most of the engaged Buddhists. Relevant portions of the Sanskrittexts have been identified, and are reproduced here, along with their simple meaning in English. The pattern of presentation is similar to the authors earlier book The Social Role of the Gita: How and Why, which has won the hearts of Gandhian scholars. This presentation provides ample proof of similarity between the social message of Bhagavad Gita and of the two Mahayana-texts.

Social Message of Mahayana Buddhism, Satya & Urmila Agarwal, New Age Books, Paperback, 190 pp, $18.00

Satya P. Agarwal & Urmila Agarwal acquired expertise in social science research, at U.S. Universities, in the 1950s. After nearly four decades of inter-disciplinary study and applied research at the global level, they brought out the award-winning book The Social Role of the Gita: How and Why. Thus began a series of innovative research publications based on Sanskrit and Hindi texts.

Contents

	Preface	IX
	Acknowledgements	XI
1	The Purpose and Plan of the Book	1
2	Two Main Sources of the Social Message	5
3	Spiritual as well as Secular Aspects of the Message	13
4	Five Methods of Implementing the Message	61
5	Adaptation of the Message to Conditions in China	129
6	Nurturing and Development of the Message towards Success injapan	147
7	Challenges followed by Undaunted Work in Korea, Vietnam, and Taiwan	163
8	Mahayana Intermingled with other Doctrines in Nepal and Tibet	177
9	Summary of the Book and Concluding Remarks	183
	Select Bibliography	187
	Index	189