Mahayana Buddhism

Mahayana Buddhism PDF Author: Paul Williams
Publisher: Routledge
ISBN: 1134250576
Category : Religion
Languages : en
Pages : 456

Get Book

Book Description
Originating in India, Mahayana Buddhism spread across Asia, becoming the prevalent form of Buddhism in Tibet and East Asia. Over the last twenty-five years Western interest in Mahayana has increased considerably, reflected both in the quantity of scholarly material produced and in the attraction of Westerners towards Tibetan Buddhism and Zen. Paul Williams’ Mahayana Buddhism is widely regarded as the standard introduction to the field, used internationally for teaching and research and has been translated into several European and Asian languages. This new edition has been fully revised throughout in the light of the wealth of new studies and focuses on the religion’s diversity and richness. It includes much more material on China and Japan, with appropriate reference to Nepal, and for students who wish to carry their study further there is a much-expanded bibliography and extensive footnotes and cross-referencing. Everyone studying this important tradition will find Williams’ book the ideal companion to their studies.

Mahayana Buddhism

Mahayana Buddhism PDF Author: Paul Williams
Publisher: Routledge
ISBN: 1134250576
Category : Religion
Languages : en
Pages : 456

Get Book

Book Description
Originating in India, Mahayana Buddhism spread across Asia, becoming the prevalent form of Buddhism in Tibet and East Asia. Over the last twenty-five years Western interest in Mahayana has increased considerably, reflected both in the quantity of scholarly material produced and in the attraction of Westerners towards Tibetan Buddhism and Zen. Paul Williams’ Mahayana Buddhism is widely regarded as the standard introduction to the field, used internationally for teaching and research and has been translated into several European and Asian languages. This new edition has been fully revised throughout in the light of the wealth of new studies and focuses on the religion’s diversity and richness. It includes much more material on China and Japan, with appropriate reference to Nepal, and for students who wish to carry their study further there is a much-expanded bibliography and extensive footnotes and cross-referencing. Everyone studying this important tradition will find Williams’ book the ideal companion to their studies.

Nagarjuna in Context

Nagarjuna in Context PDF Author: Joseph Walser
Publisher: Columbia University Press
ISBN: 0231506236
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 384

Get Book

Book Description
Joseph Walser provides the first examination of Nagarjuna's life and writings in the context of the religious and monastic debates of the second century CE. Walser explores how Nagarjuna secured the canonical authority of Mahayana teachings and considers his use of rhetoric to ensure the transmission of his writings by Buddhist monks. Drawing on close textual analysis of Nagarjuna's writings and other Buddhist and non-Buddhist sources, Walser offers an original contribution to the understanding of Nagarjuna and the early history of Buddhism.

Outlines of Mahaŷâna Buddhism

Outlines of Mahaŷâna Buddhism PDF Author: Daisetz Teitaro Suzuki
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category : Buddhism
Languages : en
Pages : 442

Get Book

Book Description


An Introduction to Mahāyāna Buddhism

An Introduction to Mahāyāna Buddhism PDF Author: William M McGovern
Publisher: Routledge
ISBN: 1136913149
Category : Reference
Languages : en
Pages : 244

Get Book

Book Description
William Montgomery McGovern’s Introduction to Mahayana Buddhism was one of the first books on Mahayana Buddhism written for a Western audience. It predates influential English language overviews of Buddhism by D. T. Suzuki, A. Watts, and W. Rahula. The author was born in New York City in 1897 and spent his latter teenage years (1914-1917) training at the Nishi Hongwanji Mahayana Buddhist monastery in Kyoto, Japan. He founded the Mahayana Association at age eighteen and edited and published the journal "Mahayanist" while completing his studies at the monastery. Introduction to Mahayana Buddhism was written as part of a thesis which secured him his Buddhist degree and an honorary ordination as a Buddhist priest. Intended as a simplified and introductory text for a lay audience, the book reflects the unique perspective of a Westerner trained in Japan at a time when Mahayana Buddhism was little known in the West. Referencing Buddhist literature, it gives a short history of Buddhism and the divergence of schools of Buddhist philosophy, introduces the four noble truths, the philosophy of Karma, the nature of Buddhahood, reincarnation and the road to nirvana, Buddhist cosmology, and psychological and philosophical elements of Buddhist teachings. Although the divisions of non Mahayana Buddhist sects and philosophy described may be considered dated, Introduction to Mahayana Buddhism remains significant for its historical value in presenting Eastern religious and philosophical thought to Westerners at a pivotal time in history.

Genealogies of Mah?y?na Buddhism

Genealogies of Mah?y?na Buddhism PDF Author: Joseph G Walser
Publisher: Routledge
ISBN: 1317354583
Category : Religion
Languages : en
Pages : 336

Get Book

Book Description
Genealogies of Mahāyāna Buddhism offers a solution to the monumental problem that some have called the "holy grail" of Buddhist studies: the problem of the “origins” of Mahāyāna Buddhism. As much as it contributes to a theory of origins for religious studies and Buddhist Studies, the book argues that that it is the neglect of political power in the scholarly imagination of Buddhism in history that has made the origins of Mahāyāna an intractable problem. Walser challenges commonly-held assumptions, offering a fascinating new take on the genealogy of Mahāyāna that traces its doctrines of emptiness and mind-only from the present day back to the time before Mahāyāna was “Mahāyāna.” In situating such concepts in their political and social history across diverse regimes of power in Tibet, China and India, the book shows that what was at stake in the Mahāyāna championing of the doctrine of emptiness was the articulation and dissemination of court authority across the rural landscapes of Asia. This text will be will be of interest to undergraduate and postgraduate students and scholars of Buddhism, religious studies, history, and philosophy.

Figments and Fragments of Mahayana Buddhism in India

Figments and Fragments of Mahayana Buddhism in India PDF Author: Gregory Schopen
Publisher: University of Hawaii Press
ISBN: 9780824825485
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 408

Get Book

Book Description
In these articles, Gregory Schopen once again displays the erudition and originality that have contributed to a major shift in the way that Indian Buddhism is perceived, understood, and studied.

A History of Indian Buddhism

A History of Indian Buddhism PDF Author: Akira Hirakawa
Publisher: Motilal Banarsidass Publ.
ISBN: 9788120809550
Category : Buddhism
Languages : en
Pages : 436

Get Book

Book Description
This comprehensive and detailed survey of the first six centuries of Indian Buddhism sums up the results of a lifetime of research and reflection by one of Japan's most renowned scholars of Buddhism.

Empty Vision

Empty Vision PDF Author: David McMahan
Publisher: Routledge
ISBN: 1136857265
Category : Religion
Languages : en
Pages : 248

Get Book

Book Description
Visual metaphors in a number of Mahayana sutras construct a discourse in which visual perception serves as a model for knowledge and enlightenment. In the Perfection of Wisdom (Prajnaparamita) and other Mahayana literature, immediate access to reality is symbolized by vision and set in opposition to language and conceptual thinking, which are construed as obscuring reality. In addition to its philosophical manifestations, the tension between vision and language also functioned as a strategy of legitimation in the struggle of the early heterodox Mahayana movement for authority and legitimacy. This emphasis on vision also served as a resource for the abundant mythical imagery in Mahayana sutras, imagery that is ritualized in Vajrayana visualization practices. McMahan brings a wide range of literature to bear on this issue, Including a rare analysis of the lavish imagery of the Gandavyuha Sutra in its Indian context. He concludes with a discussion of Indian approaches to visuality in the light of some recent discussions of "ocularcentrism" in the west, inviting scholars to expand the current discussion of vision and its roles in constructing epistemic systems and cultural practices beyond its exclusively European and American focus.

Metaphysics and Mysticism in Mahāyāna Buddhism

Metaphysics and Mysticism in Mahāyāna Buddhism PDF Author: C. D. Sebastian
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category : Mahayana Buddhism
Languages : en
Pages : 356

Get Book

Book Description
An Analytical Study Of Uttaratantra That Brings Out The Metaphysical And Mystical Hearings Of Mahayana Buddhism - 8 Chapters - Bibliography - Glossary And Sanskrit Terms - Index.

Skilful Means

Skilful Means PDF Author: Michael Pye
Publisher: Routledge
ISBN: 1134380631
Category : Religion
Languages : en
Pages : 222

Get Book

Book Description
'Skilful Means' is the key principle of Mahayana, one of the great Buddhist traditions. First described in the Lotus Sutra, it originates in myths of the Buddha's compassionate plans for raising life from the ceaseless round of birth and death. His strategies or interventions are 'skilful means' - morally wholesome tricks devised for the purpose of enabling nirvana or enlightenment. Michael Pye's clear and engaging introductory guide investigates the meaning and context of skilful means in Mayahana Buddhist teachings, whilst tracing its early origins in ancient Japanese and Theravada thought. First published in 1978, and still the best explanation of the concept, it illuminates a core working philosophy essential for any complete understanding of Buddhism.