A Calm Place in the Storm
Venerable Lama Karma Thinley Rinpoche (the Fourth Karma Thinleypa) is a recognised master in both the Karma Kagyu and Sakya schools of Tibetan Buddhism. he is one of the handful of remarkable teachers who first helped bring these teachings to the West, settling in Toronto, Canada, where he taught for over fifty years. Here, he distills the essence of the precious Buddhist teachings and path to enlightenment, and skillfully addresses some misconceptions. Dense with meaning and practical advice, like a delicious feast, these teachings provide invaluable support and guidance for the development and ripening of compassion and wisdom.Illustrations by Karma Thinley Rinpoche and Christopher Banigan.
Lay Zen in Contemporary Japan
This book explores the emergence and growth of Zen as a non-monastic spiritual practice in modern Japan. Focusing on several prominent lay Zen associations, most notably Ningen Zen, it explores different aspects of lay Zen as a lived religion, such as organization, ideology, and ritual. Through a combined approach utilizing Buddhist text, historical sources, and ethnographic fieldwork, it explains how laypeople have appropriated religious authority and tailored Zen teachings to fit their needs and the zeitgeist.Featuring the findings of three years of fieldwork, interviews, and archival research, the book comprehensively describes various Zen practices and explores their contemporary meaning and functions. It undermines the distinction between traditional or established Buddhism and the so-called New Religions, emphasizing instead the dynamic relations between tradition and interpretation.Written in accessible language and offering insightful analysis, this book brings to light the essential role of lay Zen associations in modernizing Zen within Japan and beyond. It will be of interest to scholars and students of religious studies, particularly those studying Buddhism, Japanese society, and culture.
Decolonising the Study of Religion
Decolonising the Study of Religion analyses historical and contemporary discussions in the study of religion and Buddhism and critically investigates representations, possibilities, and challenges of a decolonial approach, addressing the important question: who owns Buddhism?The monograph offers a case-based perspective with which to examine the general study of religion, where new challenges require reflection and prospects for new directions. It focuses on Buddhism, one religion which has been studied in the West for centuries. Building on postcolonial theories and supplemented with a critical analysis of identity and postsecular engagement, the book offers new possibilities and challenges to the study of religion. It critically investigates decolonisation in the study of religion, subscribing to a third way between 'objectivist' and 'subjectivist' positions.Analysing the postcolonial and decolonial critique of the study of religion, with a particular focus on Buddhist studies in the West and in Japan, this book will be of interest to researchers in the field of Religious Studies, Buddhism, Japanese religions, anthropology, Asian Studies and those interested in religion and decolonisation.
Voices of Siam
A rich compilation of teachings from revered Buddhist masters in Thailand's deep Theravada tradition. Accessible, inspiring, and readily applicable to contemporary life and meditation practice, this collection reveals Thai Buddhism to be a no-nonsense, practical spiritual path with an emphasis on personal experience, mindfulness, ethical conduct, and confronting the roots of one's suffering head-on. Translator Bruce Evans presents timeless Dhamma teachings from six of modern Thailand's great masters, skillfully conveying the unique voices of Chao Khun Upālī, Ajahn Buddhadāsa, Bhikkhu P. A. Payutto, Upāsikā Kee Nanayon, Ajahn Pramote, and Ajahn Paisal. Evans includes recollections of his monastic training as a young man with Ajahn Chah--one of modern Thailand's most renowned Buddhist teachers--and an alternative version of a canonical Buddhist text, the Girimānanda Sutta, that was first circulated in Thailand via palm-leaf manuscript. Spanning the twentieth and twenty-first centuries, Voices of Siam takes readers directly into the heart of the Thai Buddhist thought and practice.
A Calm Place in the Storm
Venerable Lama Karma Thinley Rinpoche (the Fourth Karma Thinleypa) is a recognised master in both the Karma Kagyu and Sakya schools of Tibetan Buddhism. He is one of the handful of remarkable teachers who first helped bring these teachings to the West, settling in Toronto, Canada, where he taught for over fifty years. Here, he distills the essence of the precious Buddhist teachings and path to enlightenment, and skillfully addresses some misconceptions. Dense with meaning and practical advice, like a delicious feast, these teachings provide invaluable support and guidance for the development and ripening of compassion and wisdom.Illustrations by Karma Thinley Rinpoche and Christopher Banigan.
Sakya Pandita
A set of classic biographies of Sakya Pandita--one of Tibet's greatest scholars and religious masters. Sakya Pandita Kunga Gyaltsen (1182-1251) was a renowned Tibetan polymath, scholar, statesman, and religious master, and remains one of the most famous and consequential figures in the history of Tibet. The three biographies included here contain fascinating firsthand accounts of key events in Sakya Pandita's life, covering his family ancestry, early education, interactions and ddebates with other sects, and travels to Mongolia and his diplomacy at the Mongol court, as well as a detailed account of the miraculous events that occurred in the last weeks of his life. These were written by three central figures of the Sakya tradition: Drogon Chogyal Phakpa (Lodro Gyaltsen) (1235-80), who was Sakya Pandita's nephew and religious successor; Gorampa Sonam Senge (1429-89), a renowned Sakya scholar and prolific author who served as the sixth abbot of Ngor Monastery; and Jamgon Ameshab (Ngawang Kunga Sonam) (1597-1659), who was the twenty-seventh throne holder of the Sakya order and one of the foremost Tibetan literary and historical scholars of his time. The translations demonstrate the unique compositional style of traditional Tibetan religious biography and contain many fascinating first-person accounts of what it was like to spend time in the presence of a great Buddhist master and statesman who lived one thousand years ago in the midst of one of Asia's most tumultuous periods.
Kalyāṇamitra, volume II
Kalyāṇamitra: A Model for Buddhist Spiritual Care presents research and analysis into the professional practice of Buddhist spiritual care based on the work of actual chaplains. Kalyāṇamitra is one of less than a dozen books about this young but growing profession, and the first to present a -comprehensive theory for Buddhist spiritual care.Kalyāṇamitra, Volume I, presents an overview of Buddhist chaplaincy with a comprehensive theoretical framework and model for Buddhist spiritual care. Together, the framework and model outline the stages of formation of a Buddhist chaplain, provide a heuristic for the praxis of spiritual care, and a guide to grounding Buddhist chaplaincy in the Dharma.Kalyāṇamitra, Volume II, focuses on the development of pragmatic skills through-out the education, training and internship of new Buddhist chaplains, as well as an overview of professional issues facing Buddhist chaplains in North America. Volume II builds on the theoretical framework and model presented in Volume I by placing the skills within their context and advancing a plan for the integration of the framework and model in Buddhist chaplaincy pedagogy.
Refuge
Though books on Buddhism may touch on the topic of refuge, they may not do so exclusively or in a broad way. In this book, the reader will find an elaborated discussion on refuge beginning with the foundation-what refuge really is and the purpose of taking refuge-and culminating in how to become a Buddhist through taking refuge ordination.We all seek happiness and wish to avoid suffering. But do we have a reliable guide who can show us the way to do this? Geshe Topgyal leads us to delve into three essential factors. The Dharma is the one that brings inner transformation through which we attain long-lasting joy and happiness. For this to happen is dependent on taking refuge in the Buddha as the supreme teacher of the unfailing Dharma, and the Sangha provides strong support for the inner strength needed to undertake this journey. The Buddha encouraged his students to investigate for themselves whether his teachings are reliable and true. Whether one is preparing to become a Buddhist, seeking to refresh and deepen one's refuge, or is simply interested in exploring the topic further, this book will serve as a valuable resource.
The Roots of Goodness
Learn to nurture the eight qualities of an extraordinary person within yourself through the wisdom of Zen master Dōgen. The Buddha taught that every person is capable of greatness by practicing eight key qualities in their life, from having few desires and not engaging in useless arguments to knowing what is enough. These timeless teachings were later expanded upon by the prolific thirteenth-century Zen master Eihei Dōgen in his final teaching before his death--values that, despite their age, perennially ring true. In The Roots of Goodness, the late Japanese Zen teacher Kōshō Uchiyama R繹shi bridges the gap between the eras of these ancient masters and today, delivering insightful, relatable, and rich commentary that brings these eight qualities into focus and directly applies them to the complexities of modern life. Translator Daitsū Tom Wright, a longtime student of Uchiyama, provides a full translation of Dōgen's original work as well as a faithful translation of Uchiyama's commentary, supplemented with a historical background of Dōgen, an exploration of how the teaching of the eight qualities impacted Uchiyama's life and work, and a personal introduction that grounds the importance of this teaching in modernity. This book seamlessly weaves together ancient wisdom with Uchiyama's beloved humor and style, offering a path for using these qualities to more fully embrace Buddhist practice and answer the age-old question: How does one become a truly good person?
Secrets of the Kuji
This is a reprint and translation of Secrets of Kuji, an illustrated guide to the magic known also known as the Nine Seals. This book was published in 1787 and begins by discussing the origins of the Kuji and then proceeds to describe how it can be used to banish evil, cure illnesses and beset your enemies.The author studied Kaga-Iga Ryu Ninpo 加賀伊賀流忍法 a school of Ninjutsu that was a combination of Iga School combined with martial arts of Kaga Domain.The book is reprinted in its entirety with an English translation.
A New Buddhist Movement I
The first of two volumes entitled A New Buddhist Movement, this collection chronicles Sangharakshita's unfolding vision of the Dharma between 1965 and 2009. Underlying all these writings is what Sangharakshita calls 'the essence' of his teaching, the necessity of human spiritual development, and its process through a series of stages drawn from the Buddhist tradition. Part 2 of the volume continues this theme in articles and interviews first published in The Buddhist, the FWBO Newsletter, and other publications, as the movement he founded grew steadily from its first stirrings in a tiny London basement to embrace five continents of the globe. More recent teachings include four previously unpublished talks given between 2007 and 2009.
See the Divine Light
The writer of this publication is born in Copenhagen, Denmark, in 1962. He gives a firsthand personal insight of his conscious direct realization of his nature of mind achieved under meditation "seeing the divine light". He considers himself as a layman yogi practitioner within the Vajrayana Buddhism. It's a testimony published for inspiration.
How Joyous Effort Works
Troy, a young man in his early twenties who has struggled with substance abuse and a quick-fisted temper, seeks to extinguish his habits of the past under the guidance of a Buddhist sage. Continuing his journey with the theme of the previous three books: "When the student is ready the master appears," it's in the thick of a New England summer when Troy meets Jules, a wise teacher and a master luthier (builder of string instruments). Using the luthiers' skills as metaphor and meditative support, Jules guides Troy as he takes on the challenge of integrating the deeper points of the Buddhist view with every aspect of his own life. This includes navigating the death of his uncle, and balancing his spiritual practice with his relationship with Maggie, a young art student who works with him at the local diner. As Troy strives to truly comprehend what it means to develop wisdom, equanimity, and compassion, will he be able to gain mastery over his inner demons when things go dreadfully wrong? This touching story of Troy's journey presents one of the world's most profound teachings on compassion and wisdom. Set in present day New England where the characters' ordinary lives and challenges are recognizable as being similar to our own, we find that it is not necessary to be Buddhist to benefit from the teachings in this story.
Full Circle
Full Circle is a selection of spiritual talks on collective awakening from a Zen perspective. The talks were given by Anne Seisen Saunders, Roshi at Sweetwater Zen Center over a period of five years until 2024.
6 Myths We Live by
Buddhist wisdom for everyday problems rooted in Buddhist philosophy and meditation, 6 Myths We Live By shows us how to uncover our misperceptions and leads us on a path to self-development. The truth is you probably believe all sorts of myths, but you don't even know it. To escape any hardship, any suffering or discomfort, we all believe myths about how the world works and how we live in that world. In 6 Myths We Live By, therapist and longtime Buddhist practitioner Karuna Cayton guides us through six common myths that may give us comfort, but actually only perpetuate our problems: the myth of reality; the myth of identity; the myth of permanence; the myth of randomness; the myth of happiness; the myth of only living once. Cayton takes us through each of these myths using real-world examples and draws upon Buddhist principles, philosophy, psychology, and meditation practices to show how we can wake up to reality. By planting a seed of doubt about the beliefs that we've always thought were true, we can open our eyes and deepen our relationship with the way we see our life, our potential, and the nature of our struggles and achievements.
The Perfection of Wisdom Tradition
The foremost translator of Perfection of Wisdom literature from Tibetan today presents three foundational works that formed the basis for the Tibetans' study of Mahayana scripture and the bodhisattva path. The perfection of wisdom (prajnaparamita) is a key element of the path in Mahayana Buddhism. Wisdom here is the transcendent wisdom of a bodhisattva who has penetrated the nature of reality, the emptiness (shunyata) of all things. Sutras that take the Perfection of Wisdom as their name emerged in the centuries before and after the start of the Common Era and became foundational for the nascent Mahayana. These include the well-known Heart Sutra and Diamond Cutter Sutra as well as the Perfection of Wisdom sutras in eight thousand and a hundred thousand lines. Study of the Perfection of Wisdom sutras in Tibet has historically been through commentaries on the Ornament for the Clear Realizations (Abhisamayalamkara), a short verse distillation in eight chapters attributed to Maitreya that was expanded in India by such figures as Asanga, Haribhadra, and Arya-Vimuktisena. The three works in the present volume reflect the diversity of the Tibetan commentarial tradition on these Indian works. Ngok Loden Sherab's (1057-1109) Topical Summary marks the beginning in Sangphu Monastery of the most influential Perfection of Wisdom commentarial tradition. Ngok's short work leads the reader briskly through the Abhisamayalamkara's seventy topics, presenting what would become the standard framework for explaining the Perfection of Wisdom in Tibet. The entirety of Haribhadra's Vivrti commentary has been embedded in Ngok's text. Gyaltsab Darma Rinchen's (1364-1432) Way to Practice the Sequence of Clear Realizations, structured as a defense of the meditation system set forth by his guru Tsongkhapa in the Great Treatise on the Stages of the Path to Enlightenment, links the stages of the path expanded into the seventy topics with the actual practices of an accomplished yogi. Working outward from the middle of the Abhisamayalamkara's fourth chapter, it explains how the Perfection of Wisdom is integrated into a total and complete meditational practice for the attainment of buddhahood. The great Drukpa Kagyu scholar Kunkhyen Pema Karpo's (1527-92) Sacred Words of Lord Maitreya is the most detailed and systematic of the three works, supplementing explanations of the Perfection of Wisdom based on the Abhisamayalamkara with verses from the Mahayanasutralamkara (Ornament for the Mahayana Sutras) and the Uttaratantra (Sublime Continuum). This work as presented here includes within it a complete translation of the Abhisamayalamkara's eight chapters.
Elucidating the Intent
The Buddha's final pronouncement on how to understand precisely the entirety of his teachings on key elements of meditative practice, the role of language in metaphysical insight, and the nature of enlightenment itself. Elucidating the Intent (Arya-samdhinirmocana-nama-mahayana-sutra) is a foundational text in the East Asian and Indo-Tibetan Buddhist canons that reveals vitally important points of practice and philosophy. Over eight chapters of deepening profundity, the Buddha dispels the confusion of his interlocutors on the fundamental aspects of meditation and liberation, making this a text treasured across these Buddhist traditions. With perfect precision, the Buddha clarifies his teachings, particularly those related to the nature of existence that he had propounded in the Perfection of Wisdom literature. Whereas in other teachings the Buddha elaborated extensive ethical principles for both monastics and laypersons, therein he declared all existent things to lack any essential nature or characteristic, which seemed to undermine these very principles. So, these interlocutors plead, elucidate the intent of these teachings. In so doing, the Buddha explains exactly how to balance the twin elements of Buddhist concern over the millennia: how to maintain intense meditative practice, disposition of universal compassion, and infallible ethics while simultaneously unraveling self-grasping habit patterns. Perfectly balanced, the Buddha explains, these two constitute the path to enlightenment. This text, then, could not be more critical to all Buddhist traditions, which is why it has remained a jewel for scholars and practitioners. Combining philological and philosophical accuracy in light of recent international scholarship, Gregory Forgues's rendering marks a significant advance over prior translations. This new rendering, with a brief introduction and extensive glossary, introduces a new generation of scholars and practitioners to its rich offerings.
Yoga of the Natural State
Experience for the first time in English the aural lineage of the Great Perfection Dzogchen tradition, expertly brought to life by the practitioner and translator Acarya Malcolm Smith. Longchen Rabjam, or Longchenpa as he is popularly known, stands as one of the great Nyingma masters of Tibetan Buddhism, producing a wealth of texts in the Dzogchen, or Great Perfection, tradition. This volume presents eight texts found in two collections of Longchenpa's writings--the Lama Yangtig and the Zabmo Yangtig. These texts record a special experiential tradition of Great Perfection teachings by Chetsun Seng矇 Wangchuk transmitted to a single student in the eleventh century, a tradition passed down mouth-to-ear, one student at a time, until it was set down in writing by Longchenpa in the mid-fourteenth century. While Longchenpa's writings on the Seventeen Tantras are widely known, his writings on the Dzogchen aural lineage have received little attention, even though Tibetan histories show that it is the aural lineage that ensured the survival of the Great Perfection lineage. With this book of translations, we now have for the first time in English these records of the most important aural lineage in the Great Perfection tradition. Unlike the arcane and difficult textual tradition associated with the Seventeen Tantras, the aural lineage teachings are experiential, easy to understand and practice, straightforward, and written in relatively simple language rich with similes and metaphors. The eight texts included in Yoga of the Natural State concern all aspects of the Great Perfection teaching, ranging from how to practice the preliminary practices, how the Great Perfection is introduced to qualified students, how to correctly practice view, meditation, and conduct, how to attain the state of liberation in this life, and how to recognize and attain liberation in the bardos. Yoga of the Natural State: The Dzogchen Aural Lineage is an invaluable addition to the library of anyone interested in Great Perfection theory and practice.
Just Awakening
Just Awakening uncovers a forgotten philosophy of social democracy inspired by Yogācāra, an ancient, nondualistic Buddhist philosophy that claims everything in the perceptible cosmos is mere consciousness and consists of multiple karmically connected yet bounded lifeworlds. This Yogācāra social philosophy emerged in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries among Chinese intellectuals who struggled against the violent Social Darwinist logic of the survival of the fittest. Its proponents were convinced that the root cause of crisis in both China and the West was epistemic--an unexamined faith in one common, objective world and a subject-object divide. This dualistic paradigm, in their view, had dire consequences, including moral egoism, competition for material wealth, and racial war. Yogācāra insights about plurality, interdependence, and intersubjectivity, however, had the capacity to awaken the world from these deadly dreams. Jessica X. Zu reconstructs this account of modern Yogācāra philosophy, arguing that it offers new vocabularies with which to reconceptualize equality and freedom. Yogācāra thinking, she shows, diffracts the illusions of individual identity, social categories, and material wealth into aggregated, recurring karmic processes. It then guides the reassembly of a complex society through nonhierarchical, noncoercive, and collaborative actions, sustained by new behavior patterns and modes of thought. Demonstrating why Chinese Buddhist social philosophy offers powerful resources for social justice and liberation today, Just Awakening invites readers to think with modern Yogācāra philosophers about other ways of building egalitarian futures.
Just Awakening
Just Awakening uncovers a forgotten philosophy of social democracy inspired by Yogācāra, an ancient, nondualistic Buddhist philosophy that claims everything in the perceptible cosmos is mere consciousness and consists of multiple karmically connected yet bounded lifeworlds. This Yogācāra social philosophy emerged in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries among Chinese intellectuals who struggled against the violent Social Darwinist logic of the survival of the fittest. Its proponents were convinced that the root cause of crisis in both China and the West was epistemic--an unexamined faith in one common, objective world and a subject-object divide. This dualistic paradigm, in their view, had dire consequences, including moral egoism, competition for material wealth, and racial war. Yogācāra insights about plurality, interdependence, and intersubjectivity, however, had the capacity to awaken the world from these deadly dreams. Jessica X. Zu reconstructs this account of modern Yogācāra philosophy, arguing that it offers new vocabularies with which to reconceptualize equality and freedom. Yogācāra thinking, she shows, diffracts the illusions of individual identity, social categories, and material wealth into aggregated, recurring karmic processes. It then guides the reassembly of a complex society through nonhierarchical, noncoercive, and collaborative actions, sustained by new behavior patterns and modes of thought. Demonstrating why Chinese Buddhist social philosophy offers powerful resources for social justice and liberation today, Just Awakening invites readers to think with modern Yogācāra philosophers about other ways of building egalitarian futures.
Inexplicable Joy
A personal exploration of the Heart Sutra by NYT bestselling author and Buddhist teacher Susan Piver"A very helpful practical guide to reading, reciting, and contemplating the Heart Sutra... [that] opens up space for personally exploring this text that is both celebrated and enigmatic." -Karl Brunnh繹lzl, author of The Heart Attack SutraRight now countless humans are reciting the Heart Sutra-no matter when "right now" happens to be. This ancient, essential Buddhist text carries with it a mystery of origin and a myriad of versions for consideration. The longest is 100,000 lines. The one contemplated in Inexplicable Joy is 43 lines. The ultimate is no lines at all. Just one syllable: AH.The Heart Sutra is multi-layered, sacred, and sometimes impenetrable. It also lays out the path to full enlightenment. In Inexplicable Joy, Susan Piver shares her intimate, poignant understanding of this formidable text. She discusses the inner meaning and timeless qualities of the Heart Sutra. Breaking down each of its 43 lines, Piver explains how it is practiced, and offers suggestions for bringing it into our lives-while keeping all of its mysteries intact."In Inexplicable Joy, we are invited into an intimate relationship with The Heart Sutra-one of the most mysterious, deep and powerful spiritual texts in human history. Drawing on her decades-long love relationship with this scripture, Susan Piver points to ultimate truth with a wonderful freshness and vitality." -Tara Brach, best-selling author of Radical Acceptance and Trusting the Gold
Understanding Karma and Rebirth
Understanding Karma and Rebirth A Buddhist Perspective Rebirth and reincarnation have been generally accepted realities in the East since ancient times. There, the question is typically not whether there will be another life, but rather what form it will take. The West, conversely, has its own religious and secular beliefs which usually exclude the possibility of another life - at least not in this world or in this manner. A common Western perspective is that annihilation is inevitable: 'When you're dead, you're dead!'However, whether East or West, until one awakens to the truth, one remains caught in cultural conditioning and personal beliefs. Buddhism focuses on becoming aware of what life actually is, rather than being blinded by beliefs and conditioning.The Buddha saw life as a flowing procession of conditions, events and circumstances, with one thing leading to another without beginning or end - timeless and limitless. He recognised that our aware aspect - that which sees and knows - is never born and never dies. He spoke of directly 'seeing' into the nature of existence, beyond words and intellect.This book explores the underlying message of understanding the cause-and-effect process - the nature of karma and rebirth - and what lies behind it. Diana St Ruth emphasises that Buddhism is a personal journey of discovery involving seeing through one's own delusions. She guides readers progressively towards awareness, mental clarity and understanding.
Buddhist Dream Yoga
An instructional presentation of exercises rooted in the tradition of Dzogchen for enhancing self-awareness and developing clarity within sleep and dream states throughout all moments of the day and night. In Buddhist Dream Yoga, Ch繹gyal Namkhai Norbu gives instructions for developing clarity within the sleep and dream states. He goes beyond the practices of lucid dreaming that have been popularized in the West by presenting methods for guiding dream states that are part of a broader system for enhancing self-awareness called Dzogchen. In this tradition, the development of lucidity in the dream state is understood in the context of generating greater awareness for the ultimate purpose of attaining liberation. Also includes: Specific methods for engaging with dreams and practices to help maintain one's focus throughout both day and night Additional material from a profound and personal Dzogchen book written by Ch繹gyal Namkhai Norbu over many years A text written by Jamgon Mipham, the nineteenth-century master of Dzogchen, which offers additional insights into this extraordinary form of meditation and awareness
Kings of Oxen and Horses
For centuries in China, people beseeched deities to protect the draft animals on which they relied. Across social classes--from peasants plowing the fields to merchants transporting goods through soldiers riding into battle--animals were essential to daily life and so took on a central place in the religious imagination. Prayers and rituals for animal well-being were most frequently addressed to the Horse King, divine protector of horses, donkeys, and mules, or the Ox King, who watched over oxen and buffaloes. Kings of Oxen and Horses is a history of these two gods: their myths, their rituals, and their worshipers. It examines the place of draft animals in Chinese and Buddhist religious traditions and, in so doing, sheds new light on human interaction with nonhuman animals more broadly. Meir Shahar traces the history of the Horse and Ox Kings from late imperial China back to ancient India, revealing the long-term Buddhist influence on Chinese rural religion. He explores the myth of the draft animal as incarnate god, showing how Buddhism transmitted a belief in the sanctity of cattle and a taboo on beef from India to China. Shahar considers the ties between humans and their animal companions through the prism of religious practice, and he draws illuminating comparisons to other world religions. Bridging the gap between animal studies and religious studies, this book is a major contribution to both.
Kings of Oxen and Horses
For centuries in China, people beseeched deities to protect the draft animals on which they relied. Across social classes--from peasants plowing the fields to merchants transporting goods through soldiers riding into battle--animals were essential to daily life and so took on a central place in the religious imagination. Prayers and rituals for animal well-being were most frequently addressed to the Horse King, divine protector of horses, donkeys, and mules, or the Ox King, who watched over oxen and buffaloes. Kings of Oxen and Horses is a history of these two gods: their myths, their rituals, and their worshipers. It examines the place of draft animals in Chinese and Buddhist religious traditions and, in so doing, sheds new light on human interaction with nonhuman animals more broadly. Meir Shahar traces the history of the Horse and Ox Kings from late imperial China back to ancient India, revealing the long-term Buddhist influence on Chinese rural religion. He explores the myth of the draft animal as incarnate god, showing how Buddhism transmitted a belief in the sanctity of cattle and a taboo on beef from India to China. Shahar considers the ties between humans and their animal companions through the prism of religious practice, and he draws illuminating comparisons to other world religions. Bridging the gap between animal studies and religious studies, this book is a major contribution to both.
The Teachings for Victory, vol. 1 (16pt Large Print Format)
Addressing questions such as What constitutes a meaningful life? and What is true happiness?, this guide to Nichiren Buddhism presents the spiritual practice as a teaching of hope that can answer these and other important questions of modern life. Buddhist teacher Daisaku Ikeda offers insights into four of Nichiren's revolutionary letters-each intended to bring out the inherent potential within each individual-and brings the message of the missives to life for a contemporary readership. Readers will not only learn about the exceptional life and times of Nichiren, they will also discover a philosophy of inner transformation that will help them find deep and lasting happiness for themselves and for others. This is the only book that offers commentaries on the writings of the 13th-century teacher Nichiren, one of the most important Japanese Buddhist teachers in the Mahayana tradition.
The Flower of Chinese Buddhism (16pt Large Print Format)
Beginning with the introduction of the religion into China, this chronicle depicts the evolution of Buddhism. The career and achievements of the great Kumarajiva are investigated, exploring the famed philosophical treatises that form the core of East Asian Buddhist literature. Providing a useful and accessible introduction to the influential Tien-t'ai school of Buddhism in Japan as well as the teachings of the 13th-century monk Nichiren, this examination places special emphasis on the faith of the Lotus Sutra and the major works of masters such as Hui-su, Chih-i, and Chanjan. From the early translations of the Buddhist scriptures to the persecution of the T'ang dynasty, this exploration illuminates the role of Buddhism in Chinese society, and by extension, in humanity in general.
Buddhist-Inflected Sovereignties Across the Indian Ocean
Buddhist-Inflected Sovereignties across the Indian Ocean draws attention to the varied, historically contingent, and sometimes competing, arguments for and about sovereignty that operated in the Pali arena during the first half of the second millennium AD. It was a time of expanding interaction within the Indian Ocean just prior to Portuguese colonial presence in Southern Asia. Developing a linked series of case studies and examining territories now subsumed within the nation-states of Sri Lanka, Burma/Myanmar, and Thailand, Blackburn examines sovereign arguments expressed textually, as well as in the built environment, by persons with an interest in the teachings and institutions associated with Gotama Buddha. These cases show that no single model of Buddhist-inflected sovereignty dominated the Pali arena during this time, and that there was no stable vision of "Buddhist kingship." Rather, over time, there was an accrual of possible models and pathways for argumentation about how sovereigns could and should relate to buddha-sāsana. Taking inspiration from diverse sources transmitted through multiple forms and media, arguments for and about sovereignty in the Pali arena were contested and rapidly changing. As the Indian Ocean increasingly shaped the flow of people, objects, and ideas, more peoples and territories participated in the Pali arena, attracted by its intellectual and aesthetic resources. Drawing on extensive scholarship and a wide range of multilingual source materials from premodern Sri Lanka, Burma, Thailand, and Cambodia, Anne M. Blackburn develops innovative conclusions about the relationships between textuality, sovereignty, maritime connectivity, and material culture in each of these areas. The book contributes simultaneously to several fields of study: the intellectual history of Southern Asia, literary and historical scholarship on Buddhism, and historical studies of the Indian Ocean. By offering accessible yet in-depth analysis, Buddhist-Inflected Sovereignties across the Indian Ocean connects research fields and introduces new interpretive possibilities for the study of sovereignty, politics, premodern textual cultures, and Buddhism.
The Path to Freedom
The Vimuttimagga (Volume 2), the "Path to Freedom" is a Theravāda Buddhist manual on the path leading to nibbāna, the ultimate freedom from all mental bondage, that is reached through the practice of virtue, concentration and wisdom. The emphasis of the manual is on concentration or meditation and it contains detailed explanations of all of the traditional Buddhist meditation topics. The manual was composed by the Buddhist monk Upatissa as a guide for those who wish to practise this path. Along with its successor, the larger and more scholastic Visuddhimagga, it is the only known ancient Buddhist manual that is solely dedicated to the cultivation of the path and that gives such detailed, systematic and sometimes unique instructions. The original Pāli text of the Vimuttimagga, probably composed in Sri Lanka in the 3rd or 4th century CE, is lost and the treatise now only survives as a 6th century Chinese translation and partially in Tibetan translations. Besides the first complete English translation of the Chinese text of this important work, as well as a translation of the Tibetan quotations from it, this book also contains an extensive introduction discussing the contents, history and other aspectsof the Vimuttimagga. ________________________Bhikkhu N. Nyanatusita (P.D.H. Prins) is a Buddhist monk ordained in Sri Lanka, where he studied Pali and Theravāda Buddhism. Since 2005 he hasbeen the editor of the Buddhist Publication Society. He has authored a book on the Bhikkhupātimokkha and has also written articles about Pāli texts and manuscripts, Chinese translations of Vinaya texts, and the Prātimokṣasūtra.
