This collection of essays in honor of the late Luis Gomez, explores the narrative strategies of Buddhist sutras, and ways of reading them, that reveal their transformative dimensions. By attending to the language of the sutras and how they are told, the essays gathered in this volume open new fields of study for individual sutras, while developing more general approaches to reading these texts. It should be of interest to all students of the Buddhist sutras.

The Language of the Sutras: Essays in Honor of Luis Gomez, Natalie Gummer (Editor), Mangalam Press, Paperback, 408 pages, $35.00

Natalie Gummer is Professor of Religious Studies at Beloit College in Beloit, Wisconsin, where she has taught since 2001. She graduated with a PhD from Harvard University in Buddhist Studies in 2000. Her research, published in several journal articles and book chapters, examines textual practices in premodern Mahayana Buddhist literary cultures, especially ritual uses of texts, oral performance, and translation. She also explores how Mahayana literature might offer us critical purchase on a range of contemporary ethical and philosophical debates. She is currently completing a monograph on performativity and embodiment in Mahayana sutras.

CONTENTS: The Language of the Sutras
Foreword: Learning from Luis Gomez as a Reader of Buddhist Sutras CHARLES HALLISEY	vii
Acknowledgments	xxi
Introduction NATALIE GUMMER	1
A Narratological Reading of the Angulimala-sutra (Majjhima-nikaya 86) BRUNO GALASEK-HUL	17
Buddhas and Body Language: The Literary Trope of the Buddha's Smile DAVID V. FIORDALIS	59
Transforming Through Words: Sudhana's Experience in the Gandavyuha-sutra XI HE	105
The Lotus Sutra and the Art of Seduction ALAN COLE	147
Orality and Creativity in Early Buddhist Discourses: Stock Formulas as an Aspect of the Oral Textual Culture of Early Buddhism EVIATAR SHULMAN	187
Speech Without Conceptualization: Language and Samadhiraja-sutra's Role in the Prasannapada SHENGHAI LI	231
Second Thought, Best Thought? On Error, Correction, and the Transmission of Tradition RICHARD NANCE	263
Sutra Time NATALIE GUMMER	293
Bibliography	339
Contributors	383