Buddhism

The twelfth and thirteenth centuries were a time of tremendous religious efflorescence in Tibet, a period when Tibetans gained their own voice, crafting intellectual and spiritual traditions that were uniquely Tibetan. This book is a study of the life and work of Rog Bande Sherab (1166–1244). Rogben, as he is known, studied under some of the greatest teachers of his day. An itinerant scholar and yogi, he devoted his life to collecting important textual cycles and meditation techniques. Rogben’s most important work, The Lamp of the Teachings, the work translated in these pages, cuts across the genres of history, doctrinal studies, and doxography. It is also one of the earliest philosophically robust explanations of the “nine vehicle” system of the Ancient or Nyingma school of Tibetan Buddhism. This book is the first scholarly study of Rog Bande Sherab, a pivotal figure in both the Pacification (Zhiche) and Ancient (Nyingma) traditions of Tibet, and one of the most original thinkers in Tibetan intellectual history.

For many people, the concept of Buddhist violence is an oxymoron. The image of a Buddhist monk holding a handgun or the view of a militarized Buddhist monastery challenges our popular images of Buddhism. However, these sights actually exist in southern Thailand. One of the lesser known but longest running conflicts of Southeast Asia is in Thailand’s southernmost provinces. Among the various causes of the conflict is religious division. Although Thailand’s population is 92% Buddhist, over 85% of the people in the southernmost provinces are Muslim. Since 2004, the Thai government has imposed martial law over the three provinces in this territory and fought with a grassroots militant Malay Muslim insurgency. Buddhist Fury examines five different Buddhist dimensions of the conflict and places them within a global context. Through fieldwork conducted in the conflict area, the book follows the southern Thai Buddhist monks and their practices in Thailand’s deep south. Many Buddhist practices remain unchanged. Buddhist monks continue to chant, counsel the laity, and accrue merit. Yet at the same time, some monks zealously advocate Buddhist nationalism, act as covert military officers, and equip themselves with guns. The book examines the methods by which religion alters the nature of the conflict and the dangers inherent in this transformation.

This book examines five poetic works by Alagiyavanna Mukaveṭi to describe how Buddhism in Sri Lanka was shaped and transformed by the encounters with Portuguese colonizers and missionaries in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries. By following the written works of a renowned Buddhist poet from his position in the court of a powerful Sinhala king through the cultural upheavals of warfare and the expansion of colonial rule and finally to his eventual conversion to Catholicism and his employment under the Portuguese crown, this book uses the poetry of a single author to reflect on how Sinhala verse fashioned new visions of power and religious identity when many of the traditional Buddhist institutions were disappearing and in retreat. The volume traces the development of Alagiyavanna’s poetry as a medium for celebrating the fame of rulers, devotion to the Buddha and the Dharma, morality and truth in the Buddha’s religion, and finally the glories of Portuguese rule in Sri Lanka. Employing an interdisciplinary approach that combines Buddhist studies, history, literary criticism, and postcolonial studies, the author constructs a picture of the effects of colonialism on Buddhist literature and culture at an early juncture in the history of the encounter between Asia and Europe.

Buddhist ethical views have much in common with certain modern ethical theories, and contain many insights relevant to contemporary moral problems. This book examines the theoretical structure of the normative views found in a number of Indian and Tibetan Buddhist texts. Teachings from all three major traditions of Buddhism, the Theravāda, Mahāyāna, and Vajrayāna, are considered. Although Buddhist philosophy is quite diverse, and these traditions differ in their ethical perspectives, they can all be understood as versions of a general moral outlook known as welfarist consequentialism. Buddhist versions of consequentialism regard virtue as an intrinsic component of the good life. They range from the cautious indirect approach of the Theravāda, which focuses on following rules that lead to the welfare of many, to the bold and often shocking direct approach of the Vajrayāna. Buddhists can respond convincingly to certain often-discussed criticisms of consequentialism, including several powerful arguments due to Kant. Buddhist texts offer an interesting approach to the problem of the demands of morality. These texts also contain a powerful critique of what we would identify as the concept of free will, a critique which leads to a hard determinist view of human action. This view supports Buddhist values of compassion, nonviolence and forgiveness, and leads to a more humane approach to the justification of punishment.

This book provides a comprehensive examination of the diverse writings of Dōgen (1200-1253), the founder of Sōtō (C. Ts’ao-tung) Zen Buddhism in Japan. Dōgen is especially known for introducing to Japanese Buddhism many of the texts and practices that he discovered in China. The context of Dōgen’s travels to and reflections on China are reconstructed by means of a critical look at traditional sources both by and about Dōgen. While many studies emphasize the unique features of Dōgen’s Japanese influences versus traditional Chinese models, this book calls attention to the fusion of Chinese and Japanese elements in Dōgen’s religious vision. It reveals many new materials and insights into Dōgen’s main writings, including the multiple editions of the Shōbōgenzō, and how and when this seminal text was created by Dōgen and edited and interpreted by his disciples. This book provides the reader with a comprehensive approach to the master’s life works and an understanding of the overall career trajectory of one of the most important figures in the history of Buddhism and Asian religious thought.

The Vigrahavyāvartanī is a short work by the second-century Indian Buddhist philosopher Nāgārjuna. In this text, which is written in a lively question-and-answer style he addresses a number of objections (coming both from Buddhists and from non-Buddhists) which have been put forward against his theory of emptiness discussed in his main work, the Mūlamadhyamakakārikā. The Vigrahavyāvartanī is especially noteworthy for its treatment of topics which Nāgārjuna does not much discuss elsewhere, in particular questions of epistemology and the philosophy of language. The purpose of this book is to unlock the philosophical contents of the texts by providing a comprehensive commentary on Nāgārjuna’s arguments as well as a somewhat more general discussion of the philosophical points these raise. It is divided into three sections: the introduction, the translation, and the commentary. The introduction discusses the history of the text and gives a survey of the presently available editions and translations. I then address the question of the authenticity of the Vigrahavyāvartanī, discussing in detail some of the arguments put forward in the secondary literature which attempt to show that the text was not composed by Nāgārjuna. This is followed by some notes on the peculiar structure of the Vigrahavyāvartanī. Here I also explain why I chose to arrange the text differently in the translation and in the commentary. The introduction is concluded by a synopsis which gives a brief survey of the contents of the ten sections into which I have divided the text. The translation is based on the most recent edition of the Sanskrit text (Yonezawa 2008). All explanatory notes, discussions of variant readings and so forth have been left to the commentary. The commentary contains the entire text of the Vigrahavyāvartanī, though in an arrangement which differs from the one followed in the translation. My remarks on a specific section of the text usually follow this section directly, distinguished by a different typeface. The commentary divides Nāgārjuna’s text into ten main thematic units: (1) The status of the theory of emptiness; (2) Epistemology; (3) Intrinsically good things; (4) Names without objects; (5) Extrinsic substances; (6) Negation and existence; (7) The mirage analogy; (8) Emptiness and reasons; (9) Negation and temporal relations; (10) Conclusion

In this book scholars of Buddhism from both sides of the Pacific explore the life and thought of Zen Master Dōgen (1200–1253), the founder of the Japanese Soto sect. Through both textual and historical analysis, the volume shows Dōgen in context of the Chinese Chan tradition that influenced him and demonstrates the tremendous, lasting impact he had on Buddhist thought and culture in Japan. The chapters provide critical new insight into Dōgen's writings. Special attention is given to the Shobogenzo and several of its fascicles, which express Dōgen's views on such practices and rituals as using supranormal powers (jinzu), reading the sutras (kankin), diligent training in zazen meditation (shikan taza), and the koan realized in everyday life (genjokoan). The book also analyzes the historical significance of this seminal figure: for instance, Dōgen's methods of appropriating Chan sources and his role relative to that of his Japanese Zen predecessor Eisai, considered the founder of the Rinzai sect, who preceded Dōgen in traveling to China.

This book explores the creation and recreation of Buddhist saints through narratives, poetry, art, ritual, and even dream visions. Looking at the cultural and literary history of the well-known Indian Buddhist poet saint Saraha, known as the Great Brahmin, this book argues that we should view Saraha not as the founder of a tradition, but rather as its product. The book shows how images, tales, and teachings of Saraha were transmitted, transformed, and created by members of diverse Buddhist traditions in Tibet, India, Nepal, and Mongolia. The result is that there is not one Great Brahmin, but many. More broadly, the book argues that the immense importance of saints for Buddhism is best understood by looking at the creative adaptations of such figures that perpetuated their fame, for it is there that these saints come to life.

This book studies the revival of Chan Buddhism in seventeenth‐century China. Focusing on a series of controversies, this book argues that the Chan revival was a systematic reinvention of Chan ideals of the past. The revival not only reshaped Chinese Buddhism but also greatly influenced Buddhism throughout East Asia. The first controversy is the debate between Miyun Yuanwu and his dharma heir, Hanyue Fazang, in the late Ming (1550–1644) and the Yongzheng emperor's intervention in 1733. The second controversy concerns Miyun Yuanwu's dharma heir Feiyin Tongrong's Chan genealogy that rearranged conventional accepted dharma transmission lines based on dubious inscriptions and thus provoked a notorious lawsuit in 1654. At the end of this book, this book offers an explanation about the rise and fall of Chan Buddhism by examining the role of textual practice and the implications of dharma transmission in rebuilding Chan institutions. By tracing the legacies of 17th‐century Chan Buddhism in modern Chinese Buddhism and placing Chan in larger historical context, this book explores a general pattern of Buddhist revival in the history of Chinese Buddhism.

Āryadeva's Four Hundred Stanzas (Catuḥśataka) is a Mahāyāna Buddhist text that describes the Bodhisattva's path toward enlightenment. In his commentary on this text, the Indian Buddhist philosopher Candrakiriti (c.550–650 c.e.) combines philosophical argument with the narration of popular stories to persuade beginners on the path of the value of the Buddha's teachings. In the first four chapters, Candrakiriti offers therapeutic advice to lay and monastic people on how to cope with death, suffering, lust, and egotism. Each chapter focuses on a different mistaken idea that must be abandoned by people who aspire to become Buddhas. Candrakiriti argues that people deceive themselves by believing in their immortality, in the pleasurable and pure nature of their bodies, and in the pride they take in themselves and their possessions. Part 1 of Four Illusions explores the broad range of his knowledge about Indian religious beliefs and practices, legal and political works, and the popular literature of his time, the Mahābharata and the Rāmāyaṇa. Part 2 provides the first translation into a Western language of the first four chapters of Candrakiriti commentary on Āryadeva's Four Hundred Stanzas.