Golden Garland of Eloquence - Vol. 2
Golden Garland of Eloquence - Vol. 2

Author: Tsong kha pa

Publisher: Jain Publishing Company

Published: 2008

Total Pages: 230

ISBN-13: 0895818663

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Golden Garland of Eloquence (Legs bshad gser phreng) is the famous Perfection of Wisdom (prajnaparamita) commentary written by the influential Tibetan writer Tsong kha pa (1356-1419). It is Tsong kha pa's first major work, written before his better known works on Madhyamaka. It is greatly respected and much studied by all schools of Buddhism in Tibet.The Golden Garland supplements the two main Indian Perfection of Wisdom commentaries, Arya Vimuktisena's Vrtti and Haribhadra's Aloka, on which it is based. It explains the Perfection of Wisdom Sutras and earlier commentaries in detail, glossing difficult words and going into detailed explanations of difficult points. It introduces the reader to some twenty works by the most important Indian Perfection of Wisdom writers, and to the earlier Tibetan traditions of Ngok and Dolpopa, and the traditions of Buton and Nyaon. This translation makes available, for the first time in English, an example of the rich Tibetan Perfection of Wisdom commentarial tradition and will be of interest to both scholars and informed general readers alike. This is the second of four volumes.

Garland of the Buddha’s Past Lives (Volume 1)
Garland of the Buddha’s Past Lives (Volume 1)

Author: Aryashura

Publisher: NYU Press

Published: 2009-04

Total Pages: 548

ISBN-13: 0814795811

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In this second volume of the Garland of Past Lives, Aryashura applies his elegant literary skill toward composing fourteen further stories that depict the Buddha's quest for enlightenment in his former lives. Here the perfection of forbearance becomes the dominant theme, as the future Buddha suffers mutilations from the wicked and sacrifices himself for those he seeks to save. Friendship, too, takes on central significance, with greed leading to treachery and enemies transformed into friends through the transformative effect of the future Buddha's miraculous virtue. The setting for many such moral feats is the forest. Portrayed as home for the future Buddha in his lives as an animal or ascetic, the peaceful harmony of this idyllic realm is often violently interrupted by intrusions from human society. Only the future Buddha can resolve the ensuing conflict, influencing even kings, in the stories but also throughout Asian history, to express wonder and devotion at the startling demonstrations of virtue they encounter.

Reincarnation in Tibetan Buddhism
Reincarnation in Tibetan Buddhism

Author: Ruth Gamble

Publisher: Oxford University Press

Published: 2018-07-09

Total Pages: 323

ISBN-13: 0190690798

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Reincarnation in Tibetan Buddhism examines how the third Karmapa hierarch, Rangjung Dorjé (1284-1339) transformed reincarnation from a belief into a lasting Tibetan institution. Born the son of an itinerant, low-caste potter, Rangjung Dorjé went on to become a foundational figure in Tibetan Buddhism and a teacher of the last Mongolian emperor. He became renowned for his contributions to Buddhist philosophy, literature, astrology, medicine, architecture, sacred geography and manuscript production. But, as Ruth Gamble demonstrates, his most important legacy was the transformation of the Karmapa reincarnation lineage to ensure that, after his death, subsequent Karmapas were able to assume power in the religious institutions he had led. The inheritance model of reincarnation instituted by Rangjung Dorjé changed the Tibetan Plateau's power relations, which until that time had been based on family associations, and created a precedent for later reincarnate institutions, including that of the Dalai Lamas. Drawing on Rangjung Dorjé's hitherto un-translated autobiographies and autobiographical songs, this book shows that his reinvention of reincarnation was a self-conscious and multi-faceted project, made possible by Rangjung Dorjé's cultural, social, and political standing and specific historical and geographical circumstances. Exploring this combination of agency and historical coincidence, this is the first full-length study of the development of the reincarnation institution.

Invented History, Fabricated Power
Invented History, Fabricated Power

Author: Barry Wood

Publisher: Anthem Press

Published: 2020-11-16

Total Pages: 404

ISBN-13: 1785274767

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Invented History, Fabricated Power begins with an examination of prehistoric beliefs (in spirits, souls, mana, orenda) that provided personal explanation and power through ritual and shamanism among tribal peoples. On this foundation, spiritual power evolved into various kinds of divine sanction for kings and emperors (Sumerian, Egyptian, Greek, Roman, Indian, Chinese and Japanese). As kingships expanded into empires, fictional histories and millennia-long genealogies developed that portrayed imperial superiority and greatness. Supernatural events and miracles were attached to religious founders (Hebrew, Hindu, Buddhist, Christian, Islamic). A unique variation developed in the Roman Church which fabricated papal power through forgeries in the first millennium CE and the later “doctrine of discovery” which authorized European domination and conquest around the world during the Age of Exploration. Elaborate fabrications continued with epic histories and literary cycles from the Persians, Ethiopians, Franks, British, Portuguese, and Iroquois Indians. Both Marxists and Nazis created doctrinal texts which passed for economic or political explanations but were in fact self-aggrandizing narratives that eventually collapsed. The book ends with the idealistic goals of the current liberal democratic way of life, pointing to its limitations as a sustaining narrative, along with numerous problems threatening its viability over the long term.

The Life of the Buddha
The Life of the Buddha

Author: Bhikkhu Nyanamoli

Publisher: Buddhist Publication Society

Published: 1992

Total Pages: 400

ISBN-13: 9552400635

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Among the numerous lives of the Buddha, this volume may well claim a place of its own. Composed entirely from texts of the Pali Canon, the oldest authentic record, it portrays an image of the Buddha which is vivid, warm, and moving. Chapters on the Buddha's personality and doctrine are especially illuminating, and the translation is marked by lucidity and dignity throughout.

The Flower Ornament Scripture
The Flower Ornament Scripture

Author: Thomas Cleary

Publisher: Shambhala Publications

Published: 1993-10-12

Total Pages: 2759

ISBN-13: 0834824094

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A masterful translation of one of the most influential Buddhist sutras—the Avatamsaka Sutra—by one of the greatest translators of Buddhist texts of our time Known in Chinese as Hua-yen and in Japanese as Kegon-kyo, the Avatamsaka Sutra, or Flower Ornament Scripture, is held in the highest regard and studied by Buddhists of all traditions. Through its structure and symbolism, as well as through its concisely stated principles, it conveys a vast range of Buddhist teachings. This one-volume edition contains Thomas Cleary’s definitive translation of all thirty-nine books of the sutra, along with an introduction, a glossary, and Cleary’s translation of Li Tongxuan’s seventh-century guide to the final book, the Gandavyuha, “Entry into the Realm of Reality.”

Garland of the Buddha's Past Lives (Volume 2)
Garland of the Buddha's Past Lives (Volume 2)

Author: Aryashura

Publisher: Clay Sanskrit

Published: 2009-10-31

Total Pages: 528

ISBN-13:

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In this second volume of the Garland of Past Lives, Aryashura applies his elegant literary skill toward composing fourteen further stories that depict the Buddha’s quest for enlightenment in his former lives. Here the perfection of forbearance becomes the dominant theme, as the future Buddha suffers mutilations from the wicked and sacrifices himself for those he seeks to save. Friendship, too, takes on central significance, with greed leading to treachery and enemies transformed into friends through the transformative effect of the future Buddha’s miraculous virtue. The setting for many such moral feats is the forest. Portrayed as home for the future Buddha in his lives as an animal or ascetic, the peaceful harmony of this idyllic realm is often violently interrupted by intrusions from human society. Only the future Buddha can resolve the ensuing conflict, influencing even kings, in the stories but also throughout Asian history, to express wonder and devotion at the startling demonstrations of virtue they encounter.

Bodhisattva Precepts
Bodhisattva Precepts

Author: Rulu

Publisher: AuthorHouse

Published: 2012

Total Pages: 320

ISBN-13: 1467064661

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The spiritual training of a Buddhist comprises the Three Learning: precepts, meditation, and wisdom. Observance of precepts is the foundation of one's spiritual journey to Buddhahood. Classified into three clusters-restraining precepts, precepts for doing good dharmas, and precepts for benefiting sentient beings-Bodhisattva precepts are called the three clusters of pure precepts.This book, Rulu's third, presents seven s'tras in English, all translated from texts in the Chinese Buddhist Canon. Five of these seven English translations have never before been published in book form. S'tras 1 and 2 cover the ten good karmas; S'tra 3 teaches repentance of sins; S'tra 4 expounds the Mah'y'na Vinaya; S'tras 5–7 each contain time-honored Bodhisattva precepts. S'tra 6 is the well-known Brahma Net S'tra; S'tra 7, S'tra of the Up'saka Precepts, also covers the six p'ramit's in detail. Buddhist terms are explained in the glossary.The translator's introduction presents sets of Buddhist precepts and describes the arrival of the H'nay'na Vinaya in China. It explains the development of the Vinaya School, a Mah'y'na school originated in China, and summarizes its tenets. It compares voice-hearer precepts with Bodhisattva precepts, and discusses five texts of the latter. It also touches on selecting those Bodhisattva precepts that suit our modern times. Such precepts will be fewer in number but complete in spirit. Buddhist or non-Buddhist, those who seek to benefit themselves and others need to learn and observe such Bodhisattva precepts.

The Essential Sangharakshita
The Essential Sangharakshita

Author: Urgyen Sangharakshita

Publisher: Simon and Schuster

Published: 2016-06-07

Total Pages: 777

ISBN-13: 086171847X

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Profoundly knowledgeable and articulate, and equally at home with science, philosophy, myth, art, and poetry, Urgyen Sangharakshita uses every inner avenue to communicate the timeless Dharma to the Western mind. Engaging both the intellect and the heart countless times in a single chapter, the author draws remarkably apt examples from sources as diverse as Orwell, Aeschylus, and Jane Austen. This distilled volume is a primer to the breadth and depth of Buddhist thought and practice.