An important new book unlocking the words of the Buddha contained in the vast Tibetan canon, one of the main scriptural resources of Buddhism.

In the forty-five years the Buddha spent traversing northern India, he shared his wisdom with everyone from beggar women to kings. Hundreds of his discourses, or sutras, were preserved by his followers, first orally and later in written form. Around thirteen hundred years after the Buddha's enlightenment, the sutras were translated into the Tibetan language, where they have been preserved ever since. To date, only a fraction of these have been made available in English. Questioning the Buddha brings the reader directly into the literary treasure of the Tibetan canon with thoroughly annotated translations of twenty-five different sutras. Often these texts, many translated here in full for the first time, begin with an encounter in which someone poses a question to the Buddha.

Peter Skilling, an authority on early Buddhist epigraphy, archaeology, and textual traditions, has been immersed in the Buddhist scriptures of diverse traditions for nearly half a century. In this volume, he draws on his deep and extensive research to render these ancient teachings in a fresh and precise language. His introduction is a fascinating history of the Buddhist sutras, including the transition from oral to written form, the rise of Mahayana literature, the transmission to Tibet, the development of canons, and a look at some of the pioneers of sutra study in the West.
Questioning the Buddha: A Selection of Twenty-Five Sutras, Peter Skilling, Wisdom Publications, Paperback, 680 pp, $39.95

Peter Skilling is a Buddhist researcher, translator, and lecturer on subjects ranging from history and philosophy to art, archaeology, and epigraphy. At present he is a special lecturer at Chulalongkorn University in Bangkok, where he is based. He has published widely and has been visiting professor at leading universities around the world such as Harvard and Oxford. His fields of interest include the history of South Asian and Southeast Asian Buddhism and the development of Mahayana thought.

CONTENTS: Questioning the Buddha
Foreword by Dzongsar Jamyang Khyentse			xi
Preface			xv
Introduction
	1.	Prologue	3
	2.	Canon Formation	11
	3.	Vaitulya/Mahayana Dharmaparyas	47
	4.	In Praise of the Buddha	67
	5.	The Structure of This Book	97
	6.	Style and Content: The Tribulations of Translation	143
	7.	Reading the Dharmaparayayas	153
The Translations
I.	DOGMA, DHARMA, AND RITUAL
	1.	Four Dharmas Not to Be Taken for Granted Caturdharmaka-sutra	163
	2.	The Benefits of Giving Dananusamsanirdesa	171
	3.	The Exposition of Four Dharmas Caturdharmanirdesa	181
	4.	The Merit of the Three Refuges Trisaranagamana	189
	5.	Four Dharmas Never to Be Abandoned Caturdharmaka-sutra	199
	6.	Advice for Bodhisatva Dharmaketu Dharmaketu-sutra	207
	7.	Advice for Bodhisatva Jayamati Jayamati-sutra	213
	8.	Sutra Comparing Bodhicitta to Gold Suvarna-sutra	221
	9.	Bodhisatva Maitreya's Question about the Gift of Dharma Maitreya-pariprccha	227
	10.	Four Summaries of the Dharma Spoken to the Naga King Sagara Sagaranagaraja-pariprccha	235
	11.	The Stanza of Dependent Arising Pratityasamutpada-sutra	247
	12.	The Heart Formula of Dependent Arising Pratityasamutpadahrdaya	269
II.	MARVELOUS CHILDREN, WOMEN, AND GODS
	13.	Prediction of the Boy Brahmasri's Future Buddhahood Brahmasri-vyakarana	277
	14.	Ksemavati's Prediction to Future Buddhahood Ksemavati-vyakarana	285
	15.	The City Beggar Woman Nagaravalambika-sutra	297
	16.	An Old Woman's Questions about Birth and Death Mahallika-pariprccha	315
	17.	The Questions of Srimati the Brahman Woman Srimatibrahmani-pariprccha	331
	18.	The Questions of the Laywoman Gangottara Gangottara-pariprccha	341
	19.	Brahma Sahampati's Question Brahma-pariprccha	353
III.	CONVERSATIONS WITH KINGS
	20.	Advice to King Prasenajit Rajavavadaka-sutra	373
	21.	Passage to the Next Life Bhavasamkranti	393
	22.	Instructions for King Bimbisara Rajadesa-sutra	409
	23.	Instructions for King Udayana Rajadesa-sutra	429
IV.	THE RANGE OF THE BUDDHAS
	24.	Buddhas as Rare as a Grain of Golden Sand Suvarnabalukopama-sutra	439
	25.	Predictions on the Eve of the Great Final Nirvana Mahaparinirvanasutra	451
Appendixes
	1.	Vacillations of Dating	469
	2.	Conventions	481
	3.	Tibetan Titles	495
	4.	Tibetan Concordances	499
	5.	Chinese Parallels	505
Abbreviations			509
Notes			511
Bibliography			585
Index			642
About the Author			655