Comprehensive and coherent, this guide to a complex system of Buddhism is so authoritative that it has been employed in the instruction of Buddhist priests. Readers will find that it offers the keys to the essentials of Mahayana Buddhism, a liberal and theistic branch of the faith practiced chiefly in China and Japan.

Translated by the distinguished scholar Teitaro Suzuki, the text discusses how humans can transcend their finite state to partake in the life of the infinite. Practices and techniques to assist believers in the awakening and growth of faith appear here, in addition to the most developed form of tathagata-garbha, or Buddha-matrix teachings. This accessible work was written specifically for those who prefer a brief and pithy presentation to extensive discourse.

The Awakening of Faith, Asvaghosa, Dover Publications, Paperback, 192 pp, $11.95

Ashvaghosha (born 80 CE?, Ayodhya, India-died 150?, Peshawar) was a philosopher and poet who is considered India�s greatest poet before Kalidasa (5th century) and the father of Sanskrit drama; he popularized the style of Sanskrit poetry known as kavya. Ashvaghosha was born a Brahman. Legend obscures the man, but it is known that he was an outspoken opponent of Buddhism until, after a heated debate with a noted Buddhist scholar on the relative merits of Hinduism and Buddhism, he accepted the value of Buddhism and became a disciple of his erstwhile opponent.

CONTENTS: The Awakening of Faith
Introduction		1
	Date	2
	Nativity and Peregrination	17
	Appellations	20
	Conversion	24
	Lists of Patriarchs	32
	As an Artist	34
	Works in Chinese Translations	36
	Chinese Translations of the "Discourse on the Awakening of Faith"	38
	Outlines of the "Discourse on the Awakening of Faith"	41
Adoration		46
Discourse		48
I.	Introductory	49
II.	General Statement	52
III.	The Explanation	55
IV.	Practice of Faith	127
V.	Benefits	146
Glossary		151
Index		155