Readings of the Lotus S?tra

Readings of the Lotus S?tra

Author: Stephen F. Teiser

Publisher: Columbia University Press

Published: 2009

Total Pages: 300

ISBN-13: 0231142897

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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.


The Lotus Sūtra

The Lotus Sūtra

Author: Donald S. Lopez, Jr.

Publisher: Princeton University Press

Published: 2016-10-04

Total Pages: 265

ISBN-13: 0691152209

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A concise and accessible introduction to the classic Buddhist text The Lotus Sutra is arguably the most famous of all Buddhist scriptures. Composed in India in the first centuries of the Common Era, it is renowned for its inspiring message that all beings are destined for supreme enlightenment. Here, Donald Lopez provides an engaging and accessible biography of this enduring classic. Lopez traces the many roles the Lotus Sutra has played in its travels through Asia, Europe, and across the seas to America. The story begins in India, where it was one of the early Mahayana sutras, which sought to redefine the Buddhist path. In the centuries that followed, the text would have a profound influence in China and Japan, and would go on to play a central role in the European discovery of Buddhism. It was the first Buddhist sutra to be translated from Sanskrit into a Western language—into French in 1844 by the eminent scholar Eugène Burnouf. That same year, portions of the Lotus Sutra appeared in English in The Dial, the journal of New England's Transcendentalists. Lopez provides a balanced account of the many controversies surrounding the text and its teachings, and describes how the book has helped to shape the popular image of the Buddha today. He explores how it was read by major literary figures such as Henry David Thoreau and Gustave Flaubert, and how it was used to justify self-immolation in China and political extremism in Japan. Concise and authoritative, this is the essential introduction to the life and afterlife of a timeless masterpiece.


Readings of the Platform Sutra

Readings of the Platform Sutra

Author: Morten Schlütter

Publisher: Columbia University Press

Published: 2012-02-07

Total Pages: 233

ISBN-13: 0231500556

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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.


Scripture of the Lotus Blossom of the Fine Dharma (the Lotus Sūtra)

Scripture of the Lotus Blossom of the Fine Dharma (the Lotus Sūtra)

Author:

Publisher:

Published: 2009

Total Pages: 0

ISBN-13: 9780231148955

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Originally published in 1976, Leon Hurvitz's monumental translation of the Lotus Sutra is the work scholars have preferred for decades. Hailed by critics as an "extraordinary" and "magnificent" achievement, Hurvitz's translation is based on the best known Chinese version of the text and includes passages of the original Sanskrit that were omitted from the Chinese. Beloved for its mythology and literary artistry, the Lotus Sutra is one of the most popular and influential texts of Mahayana Buddhism, asserting that there is only one path to enlightenment, the bodhisattva path, and that all followers without exception can achieve supreme awakening. The text argues that the Buddha cannot be delimited by time and space and that a common intent underlies the diversity of Buddhist teachings. Through parables of the burning house, the wayward son, and other tales that have come to be known throughout East Asia, the sutra skillfully concretizes abstract religious concepts and clarifies bold claims about the Buddhist tradition. Urging devotees to revivify doctrine through recitation and interpretation, the sutra powered an organic process of remaking that not only kept its content alive in the poetry and art of premodern Asia but also introduced new forms of practice and scriptural study into contemporary Buddhism. Stephen F. Teiser's foreword addresses this vital quality of the sutra, discusses its background, and reflects on the enduring relevance of Hurvitz's critical work.


Readings of the Lotus Sutra

Readings of the Lotus Sutra

Author: Stephen F. Teiser

Publisher: Columbia University Press

Published: 2009-07-29

Total Pages: 520

ISBN-13: 0231520433

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The Lotus Sutra proclaims that a unitary intent underlies the diversity of Buddhist teachings and promises that all people without exception can achieve supreme awakening. Establishing the definitive guide to this profound text, specialists in Buddhist philosophy, art, and history of religion address the major ideas and controversies surrounding the Lotus Sutra and its manifestations in ritual performance, ascetic practice, visual representations, and social action across history. Essays survey the Indian context in which the sutra was produced, its compilation and translation history, and its influence across China and Japan, among many other issues. The volume also includes a Chinese and Japanese character glossary, notes on Western translations of the text, and a synoptic bibliography.


The Stories of the Lotus Sutra

The Stories of the Lotus Sutra

Author: Gene Reeves

Publisher: Simon and Schuster

Published: 2010-11

Total Pages: 386

ISBN-13: 0861716469

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"The Lotus Sutra" is one of the world's great religious scriptures and most influential texts. It has been a seminal work in the development of Buddhism throughout East Asia and, by extension in the development of Mahayana Buddhism throughout the world. Taking place in a vast and fantastical cosmic setting, the Lotus Sutra places emphasis on skillfully doing whatever is needed to serve and compassionately care for others, on breaking down sharp distinctions between the ideals of the fully enlightened buddha and the bodhisattva who vows to postpone personal salvation until all beings may share it together, and especially on each and every being's innate capacity to become a buddha.


A Buddhist Kaleidoscope

A Buddhist Kaleidoscope

Author: Gene Reeves

Publisher:

Published: 2002

Total Pages: 548

ISBN-13:

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A Buddhist Kaleidoscope: Essays on the Lotus Sutra examines what many consider to be the highest teaching of the historical Buddha Shakyamun. Buddhist Kaleidoscope brings together essays on the Lotus Sutra by an international assembly of Buddhist scholars, taking into account historic and modern reflections on the Lotus Sutra. Discussions in the book range from "The Lotus Sutra and the Dimension of Time" to "The Lotus Sutra and Health Care Ethics." One essay considers the Lotus Sutra in relation to social obligations, while others regard feminist and paternalist readings. In his introduction, editor Gene Reeves says he tried to include the broadest possible diversity of views, offering a complete vision of this important Buddhist scripture.


Tao-Sheng's Commentary on the Lotus Sutra

Tao-Sheng's Commentary on the Lotus Sutra

Author: Young-ho Kim

Publisher: SUNY Press

Published: 1990-01-01

Total Pages: 398

ISBN-13: 9780791402276

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(Chu) Tao-sheng stands out in history as a unique and preeminent thinker whose paradigmatic, original ideas paved the way for the advent of Chinese Buddhism. The universality of Buddha-nature, which Tao-sheng championed at the cost of excommunication, was to become a cornerstone of the Chinese Buddhist ideology. This book presents a comprehensive study of the only complete document by Tao-sheng still in existence.


Introduction to the Lotus Sutra

Introduction to the Lotus Sutra

Author: Shinjō Suguro

Publisher: Jain Publishing Company

Published: 1998

Total Pages: 243

ISBN-13: 0875730787

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To many Buddhists, The Lotus Sutra is one of the most important, if not the most important, sutras in the Buddhist canon. To the beginning student of Buddhism, however, The Lotus Sutra often presents a difficult challenge. For this reason, the authors have developed "An Introduction" to The Lotus Sutra, making it easy to understand this central scripture of Mahayana Buddhism.


Text as Father

Text as Father

Author: Alan Cole

Publisher: Univ of California Press

Published: 2005-08-29

Total Pages: 372

ISBN-13: 0520242769

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Alan Cole sheds new light on the origin & nature of Mahāyāna Buddhism with close readings of four well-known texts: the Lotus Sūtra, Diamond Sūtra, Tathāgatagarbha Sūtra, & Vimalakīrtinirdeśa.