- RELIGION: Buddhism: General (see also PHILOSOPHY
- RELIGION: Buddhism: History
- RELIGION: Buddhism: Sacred Writings
- An Early Tibetan Survey of Buddhist Literature
- This volume is a study and edition of Bcom Idan ral gri's (1227-1305) Bstan pa rgyas pa rgyan gyi nyi 'od. Likely composed in the last decades of the thirteenth century, this systematic list of Buddhist Sutras, Tantras, Shastras, and related genres translated primarily from Sanskrit and other Indic languages holds an important place in the history of Buddhist literature in Tibet.
- Hardcover 2009
- Barlaam and Ioasaph
- One of the best known examples of the hagiographic novel, this is the tale of an Indian prince who becomes aware of the world's miseries, is converted to Christianity by the monk Barlaam, founds a Christian kingdom, and spends his later years as a hermit in the desert. Not until the mid-nineteenth century was it fully recognized that this Greek romance is actually the legend of the Buddha in a Christianized version. D. M. Lang's Introduction traces the parallels between the two stories, notes the influences of the Manichaean creed, and discusses the importance of Arabic versions of the legend.
- Hardcover 1914
- Being a Buddhist Nun
- This book offers the first ethnography of Tibetan Buddhist society from the perspective of its nuns. Gutschow lived for more than three years among these women, collecting their stories, observing their ways, and studying their lives. This richly textured picture of the little known culture provides valuable insight into the relationship between women and religion in South Asia today.
- Hardcover 2004
- Bhaviveka and His Buddhist Opponents
Bhaviveka (ca. 500–560 ce) lived at a time of unusual creativity and ferment in the history of Indian Buddhist philosophy. Bhaviveka’s “Verses on the Heart of the Middle Way” (Madhyamakahrdayakarika˙) with their commentary, known as “The Flame of Reason” (Tarkajvala), give a unique and authoritative account of the intellectual differences that stirred the Buddhist community in this creative period. Bhaviveka and His Buddhist Opponents gives a clear and accessible translation of Chapters 4 and 5 of this text: the chapters on the Sravakas, or eighteen schools, and the Yogacaras, Bhaviveka’s most important Mahayana opponents. The book also contains a critical edition of the Sanskrit text of Bhaviveka’s verses and the Tibetan translation of the verses and commentary.
- Hardcover 2009
- A Bull of a Man
The androgynous, asexual Buddha of contemporary popular imagination stands in stark contrast to the muscular, virile, and sensual figure presented in Indian Buddhist texts. In this groundbreaking study of previously unexplored aspects of the early Buddhist tradition, John Powers skillfully adapts methodological approaches from European and North American historiography to the study of early Buddhist literature, art, and iconography, highlighting aspects of the tradition that have been surprisingly invisible in earlier scholarship.
- Hardcover 2009
- Charisma and Compassion
- Tzu-Chi (Compassion Relief) began as a tiny, grassroots women's charitable group; today in Taiwan it runs three state-of-the-art hospitals, a television channel, and a university. Based on extensive fieldwork in Taiwan, Malaysia, Japan, and the United States, this book explores the transformation of Tzu-Chi.
- Hardcover 2009
- The Dalai Lama at MIT
- Their meeting captured headlines; the waiting list for tickets was nearly 2000 names long. If you were unable to attend, this book will take you there. Including both the papers given at the conference, and the animated discussion and debate that followed, The Dalai Lama at MIT reveals scientists and monks reaching across a cultural divide, to share insights, studies, and enduring questions.
- Hardcover 2006 / Paperback 2008
- Death and Social Order in Tokugawa Japan
- During the Tokugawa period (1600-1868) every household was expected to be affiliated with a Buddhist temple, and every citizen had to be given a Buddhist funeral. These customs gave rise to the danka system of funerary patronage, which became a public institution when the shogunate adopted it as an effective means of controlling the populace. In this study, Hur follows the historical development of the danka system and details the social forces, political concerns, and religious beliefs that drove this "economy of death."
- Hardcover 2007
- Emplacing a Pilgrimage
- The sacred mountain oyama (literally, “Big Mountain”) has loomed over the religious landscape of early modern Japan.Ambros provides a narrative history of the mountain and its place in contemporary society and popular religion by focusing on the development of the oyama cult and its religious, political, and socioeconomic contexts.
- Hardcover 2008
- Evil and/or/as the Good
- "Other than the devil, there is no Buddha; other than the Buddha, there is no devil." The Chinese monk Siming Zhili (960-1028) uttered this remark as part of his justification for his self-immolation. An exposition of the intent, implications, and resonances of this one sentence, this book expands and unravels the context in which the seeming paradox of the ultimate identity of good and evil is to be understood. In analyzing this idea, Brook Ziporyn provides an overview of the development of Tiantai thought from the fifth through the eleventh centuries in China.
- Hardcover 2000
- Out of the Cloister
- This book demonstrates that representations of Buddhism by lay people underwent a major change during the T'ang-Sung transition. These changes built on basic transformations within the Buddhist and classicist traditions and sometimes resulted in the use of Buddhism and Buddhist temples as frames of reference to evaluate aspects of lay society. Buddhism, far from being pushed to the margins of Chinese culture, became even more a part of everyday elite Chinese life.
- Hardcover 2006
- Power of Place
Throughout Chinese history mountains have been integral components of the religious landscape. Early in Chinese history a set of five mountains were co-opted into the imperial cult and declared sacred peaks, yue, demarcating and protecting the boundaries of the Chinese imperium. James Robson’s analysis of these topics demonstrates the value of local studies and the emerging field of Buddho-Daoist studies in research on Chinese religion.
- Hardcover 2009
- The Power of the Buddhas
- Buddhism in medieval Korea is characterized as “State Protection Buddhism,” a religion whose primary purpose was to rally support (supernatural and popular) for and legitimate the state. This study is an attempt to specify Buddhism’s place in Koryo and to ascertain to what extent and in what areas Buddhism functioned as a state religion.
- Hardcover 2008
- Praying for Power
- Timothy Brook studies three widely separated and economically dissimilar counties. He draws on rich data in monastic gazetteers to examine the patterns and social consequences of patronage.
- Hardcover
- Rebuilding Buddhism
- Rebuilding Buddhism describes in evocative detail the experiences and achievements of Nepalis who have adopted Theravada Buddhism. This form of Buddhism was introduced into Nepal from Burma and Sri Lanka in the 1930s, and its adherents have struggled for recognition and acceptance ever since. Based on extensive fieldwork, interviews, and historical reconstruction, the book provides a rich portrait of the different ways of being a Nepali Buddhist over the past seventy years.
- Hardcover 2005 / Paperback 2007
- Sugata Saurabha
- The poem was composed by the greatest modern writer in Newari language, Hrdaya (1906– 1982), while he was imprisoned by the autocratic strongly pro-Hindu Rana regime that governed Nepal from the mid-nineteenth to the mid-twentieth century. In nineteen long cantos, the Sugata Saurabha tells of the life of the Buddha, following the traditional accounts, but situates it in the strongly local context of Newar and Nepali Buddhism.
- Hardcover 2008
- War and Faith
- During the sengoku era in Japan, warlords and religious institutions vied for supremacy, with powerhouses such as The Honganji branch of Jodo Shinshu Buddhism fanning violent uprisings of ikko ikki, bands of commoners fighting for various causes. Tsang delves into the complex relationship between these ikko leagues and the Honganji institution, arguing for a fuller picture of ikko ikki as a force in medieval Japanese history.
- Hardcover 2007