Buddhist Scriptures as Literature

Buddhist Scriptures as Literature PDF Author: Ralph Flores
Publisher: SUNY Press
ISBN: 9780791473405
Category : Religion
Languages : en
Pages : 236

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Book Description
Looks at a variety of Buddhist sacred writings as literature and includes insights from literary theory.

Buddhist Scriptures as Literature

Buddhist Scriptures as Literature PDF Author: Ralph Flores
Publisher: SUNY Press
ISBN: 9780791473405
Category : Religion
Languages : en
Pages : 236

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Book Description
Looks at a variety of Buddhist sacred writings as literature and includes insights from literary theory.

Readings of the Platform Sutra

Readings of the Platform Sutra PDF Author: Morten Schlütter
Publisher: Columbia University Press
ISBN: 0231500556
Category : Religion
Languages : en
Pages : 233

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Book Description
The Platform Sutra comprises a wide range of important Chan/Zen Buddhist teachings. Purported to contain the autobiography and sermons of Huineng (638–713), the legendary Sixth Patriarch of Chan, the sutra has been popular among monastics and the educated elite for centuries. The first study of its kind in English, this volume offers essays that introduce the history and ideas of the sutra to a general audience and interpret its practices. Leading specialists on Buddhism discuss the text's historical background and its vaunted legacy in Chinese culture. Incorporating recent scholarship and theory, chapters include an overview of Chinese Buddhism, the crucial role of the Platform Sutra in the Chan tradition, and the dynamics of Huineng's biography. They probe the sutra's key philosophical arguments, its paradoxical teachings about transmission, and its position on ordination and other institutions. The book includes a character glossary and extensive bibliography, with helpful references for students, general readers, and specialists throughout. The editors and contributors are among the most respected scholars in the study of Buddhism, and they assess the place of the Platform Sutra in the broader context of Chinese thought, opening the text to all readers interested in Asian culture, literature, spirituality, and religion.

Buddhist Literature as Philosophy, Buddhist Philosophy as Literature

Buddhist Literature as Philosophy, Buddhist Philosophy as Literature PDF Author: Rafal K. Stepien
Publisher: State University of New York Press
ISBN: 1438480725
Category : Religion
Languages : en
Pages : 455

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Book Description
Can literature reveal reality? Is philosophical truth a literary artifice? How does the way we think affect what we can know? Buddhism has been grappling with these questions for centuries, and this book attempts to answer them by exploring the relationship between literature and philosophy across the classical and contemporary Buddhist worlds of India, Tibet, China, Japan, Korea, and North America. Written by leading scholars, the book examines literary texts composed over two millennia, ranging in form from lyric verse, narrative poetry, panegyric, hymn, and koan, to novel, hagiography, (secret) autobiography, autofiction, treatise, and sutra, all in sustained conversation with topics in metaphysics, ethics, aesthetics, and the philosophies of mind, language, literature, and religion. Interdisciplinary and cross-cultural, this book deliberately works across and against the boundaries separating three mainstays of humanistic pursuit—literature, philosophy, and religion—by focusing on the multiple relationships at play between content and form in works drawn from a truly diverse range of philosophical schools, literary genres, religious cultures, and historical eras. Overall, the book calls into question the very ways in which we do philosophy, study literature, and think about religious texts. It shows that Buddhist thought provides sophisticated responses to some of the perennial problems regarding how we find, create, and apply meaning—on the page, in the mind, and throughout our lives.

The Emergence of Buddhist American Literature

The Emergence of Buddhist American Literature PDF Author: John Whalen-Bridge
Publisher: State University of New York Press
ISBN: 1438426593
Category : Religion
Languages : en
Pages : 271

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Book Description
The encounter between Buddhism and American literature has been a powerful one for both parties. While Buddhism fueled the Beat movement's resounding critique of the United States as a spiritually dead society, Beat writers and others have shaped how Buddhism has been presented to and perceived by a North American audience. Contributors to this volume explore how Asian influences have been adapted to American desires in literary works and Buddhist poetics, or how Buddhist practices emerge in literary works. Starting with early aesthetic theories of Ernest Fenollosa, made famous but also distorted by Ezra Pound, the book moves on to the countercultural voices associated with the Beat movement and its friends and heirs such as Ginsberg, Kerouac, Snyder, Giorno, Waldman, and Whalen. The volume also considers the work of contemporary American writers of color influenced by Buddhism, such as Maxine Hong Kingston, Charles Johnson, and Lan Cao. An interview with Kingston is included.

Popular Buddhist Texts from Nepal

Popular Buddhist Texts from Nepal PDF Author: Todd T. Lewis
Publisher: SUNY Press
ISBN: 9780791446119
Category : Religion
Languages : en
Pages : 260

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Book Description
Drawing on textual and anthropological research, this book demonstrates how popular ritual texts and stories have shaped the religion and culture of the only surviving Mahayana Buddhist society, the Newars of Kathmandu.

Buddhist Literature of Ancient Gandhara

Buddhist Literature of Ancient Gandhara PDF Author: Salomon Richard
Publisher: Simon and Schuster
ISBN: 1614291853
Category : Religion
Languages : en
Pages : 479

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Book Description
Discover the fascinating history of a long-hidden Buddhist culture at a historic crossroads. In the years following Alexander the Great’s conquest of the East, a series of empires rose up along the Silk Road. In what is now northern Pakistan, the civilizations in the region called Gandhara became increasingly important centers for the development of Buddhism, reaching their apex under King Kaniska of the Kusanas in the second century CE. Gandhara has long been known for its Greek-Indian synthesis in architecture and statuary, but until about twenty years ago, almost nothing was known about its literature. The insights provided by manuscripts unearthed over the last few decades show that Gandhara was indeed a vital link in the early development of Buddhism, instrumental in both the transmission of Buddhism to China and the rise of the Mahayana tradition. The Buddhist Literature of Ancient Gandhara surveys what we know about Gandhara and its Buddhism, and it also provides translations of a dozen different short texts, from similes and stories to treatises on time and reality.

World of the Buddha

World of the Buddha PDF Author: Lucien Stryk
Publisher: Open Road + Grove/Atlantic
ISBN: 0802198252
Category : Religion
Languages : en
Pages : 541

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Book Description
Selections from the most significant texts in the body of Buddhist literature. For readers who want a deeper understanding of Buddhism, this is a rich, varied, and comprehensive collection in one volume. It includes the most significant texts from the vast body of Buddhist literature, and includes translations from Pali, Sanskrit, Tibetan, Chinese, Japanese, and Lao. For the benefit of the newcomer to Buddhism—or for those using it in an academic context—the pieces are arranged in chronological order, and each chapter is preceded by a separate commentary. In addition, there is a comprehensive description of life in India at the time of the Buddha and an outline of his life and mission. “The best available translations.” —Library Journal

Readings of the Lotus S?tra

Readings of the Lotus S?tra PDF Author: Stephen F. Teiser
Publisher: Columbia University Press
ISBN: 0231142897
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 300

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Book Description
Specialists in Buddhist philosophy, art, and history of religion outline the major ideas and controversies surrounding the 'Lotus Sūtra'. They also treat its use in ritual performance, ascetic practice, visual representations, and social action.

River of Fire, River of Water

River of Fire, River of Water PDF Author: Taitetsu Unno
Publisher: Image
ISBN: 0307575462
Category : Religion
Languages : en
Pages : 272

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Book Description
With great spiritual insight and unparalleled scholarship, Dr. Taitetsu Unno—the foremost authority in the United States on Shin or Pure Land Buddhism—introduces us to the most popular form of Buddhism in Japan. Unique among the various practices of Buddhism, this "new" form of spiritual practice is certain to enrich the growing practice of Buddhism in the United States, which is already quite familiar with Zen and Tibetan traditions. River of Fire, River of Water is an introduction to the practice of Pure Land Buddhism for readers with or without prior experience with it. The Pure Land tradition dates back to the sixth century c.e., when Buddhism was first introduced in Japan. Unlike Zen, its counterpart which flourished in remote monasteries, the Pure Land tradition was the form of Buddhism practiced by common people. Consequently, its practice is harmonious with the workings of daily life, making it easily adaptable for seekers today. Despite the difference in method, though, the goal of Pure Land is the same as other schools—the awakening of the true self. Certain to take its place alongside great works such as Three Pillars of Zen, The Miracle of Mindfulness, and Zen Mind, Beginner's Mind—River of Fire, River of Water is an important step forward for American Buddhism.

The Middle Length Discourses of the Buddha

The Middle Length Discourses of the Buddha PDF Author: Bodhi
Publisher: Simon and Schuster
ISBN: 086171072X
Category : Literary Collections
Languages : en
Pages : 1423

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Book Description
The 152 discourses that form this major collection combine a rich variety of contextual settings with a deep & comprehensive assortment of teachings. A companion volume to The Long Discourses of the Buddha. 1995 winner of Choice Magazine's "Outstanding Academic Book" Award.