A considerable part of the book is devoted to the study of the Astasaharika Prajnaparamita one of the most important scriptures of Mahayana Buddhism. This text marks a breakthrough in Buddhism since it provides an explanation for the emergence of written texts, which gradually replaced the previously predominant oral tradition. The analysis of the text is based on the key terms of the sutra: dharma, bodhisattva and prajnaparamita.Also some non-Buddhist texts are treated in the book the Bhagavadgita and the Daodejing are compared as the `light path` and the `dark path`, respectively; the Daodejing is separately analysed as a schematic text what offers new possibilities of translation.

"At the heart of Buddhism lies the doctrine of the perfection of wisdom. The foremost principles of this teaching are the bodhisattva ideal of the religious life and the essential emptiness of all existence. The sutras known as The Perfection of Wisdom in 8,000 Lines are the oldest version of this important Buddhist text, dating some two thousand years, and are the basis for the present translation." "The message of The Perfection of Wisdom is as applicable to the modern reader as it was to the monks who first studied the text two millennia ago: through an understanding of the perfection of wisdom, it is possible for all of us to detach from the suffering that binds us to the material world, and so move toward enlightenment. This important text is illustrated with extraordinary images taken from the earliest surviving Indian and Nepalese illustrated manuscripts of The Perfection of Wisdom - most of which have never been reproduced before."--BOOK JACKET.Title Summary field provided by Blackwell North America, Inc. All Rights Reserved

Description: The literature on Prajnaparamita, vast, deep and vital to an understanding of the Mahayana. It has so far been neglected by the European scholars. With the aim of facilitating the study, the author has set out a certain amount of information about it. Thus this handbook records for the use of scholars the very limited knowledge acquired during the last century.

The Inquiry of Ugra (Ugrapariprccha) is one of the most influential Mahayana sutras, preserved and transmitted in both India and China over many centuries and actively quoted in treatises on the bodhisattva path. It is, nevertheless, one of the most neglected texts in Western treatments of Buddhism. The Ugra appers to be one of the earliest bodhisattva scriptures to come down to us, and as such it offers a particularly valuable window on the process by which the bodhisattva path came to be seen as a distinct vocational alternative within certain Indian Buddhist communities. The Bodhisattva Path is a study and translation of the Ugra that will fundamentally alter previous perceptions of the way in which Mahayana was viewed and practiced by its earliest adherents. To achieve a better understanding of the universe of ideas, activities, and institutional structures within which early self-proclaimed bodhisattvas lived, the author first considers the Ugra as a literary document, employing new methodological tools to examine the genre to which it belong, the age of its extant versions, and their relationships to one another. She goes on to challenge the dominant notions that the Mahayana emerged as a reform of earlier Buddhism and offered lay people an easier option. On the contrary, the picture that emerges is of the early Mahayana as a more difficult and demanding vocation, initially limited to a small contingent of monastic males. Combining a detailed critical study and translation of an important Buddhist scripture with a sweeping re-examination of the relationship between the Buddha and the practitioners alike and other interested in the history of Indian Buddhism and the formation of Mahayana.

"I bow to Prajnaparamita, the Wisdom Gone Beyond!These days, throughout the world and especially in this powerful nation of America, it is common to see developments in the fields of science that are increasing our general understanding of how matter exists and functions from an external point of view. The scientists doing this research deserve continuous praise for their analyses of various aspects of reality; regardless of whether or not they believe in the Buddha, their work has confirmed many aspects of his teaching. However, science alone has not shown that it is capable of dispelling suffering or producing blissful experiences in any ultimate way.To achieve ultimate results, we need to look inward to the vast and exceedingly profound mind itself, and discover its mode of being. Since this is not easily done-in fact, it is extremely difficult-one generally needs to find and follow a flawless path. The Prajnaparamita is just such a path. By steadily relying on its perfect view, it is possible to dispel all suffering and produce untold benefit and happiness for both self and others, as did countless scholar-practitioners who appeared and were witnessed in ancient India and Tibet. The view they attained is like the sky, free from conceptual extremes; it is like the sun, clearing away the dark clouds of ignorance; and it is like the moon, emitting cool rays of calm and bliss."

In considering medieval illustrated Buddhist manuscripts as sacred objects of cultic innovation, Receptacle of the Sacred explores how and why the South Asian Buddhist book-cult has survived for almost two millennia to the present. A book “manuscript” should be understood as a form of sacred space: a temple in microcosm, not only imbued with divine presence but also layered with the memories of many generations of users. Jinah Kim argues that illustrating a manuscript with Buddhist imagery not only empowered it as a three-dimensional sacred object, but also made it a suitable tool for the spiritual transformation of medieval Indian practitioners. Through a detailed historical analysis of Sanskrit colophons on patronage, production, and use of illustrated manuscripts, she suggests that while Buddhism’s disappearance in eastern India was a slow and gradual process, the Buddhist book-cult played an important role in sustaining its identity. In addition, by examining the physical traces left by later Nepalese users and the contemporary ritual use of the book in Nepal, Kim shows how human agency was critical in perpetuating and intensifying the potency of a manuscript as a sacred object throughout time.

art of life and not a theory.

An impressiontistic look at gay lifestyle in Israel, this is the latest addition to the new Hot Shots series, offering high-quality photography and an innovative design, all at a beginner's price. Here readers will find natural shots of well-built young men and soldiers - intended not as a glorification of war but as a representation of how integral the close-knit soldier lifestyle is to Israeli life. Blending the private and intimate with the public and everyday, this book is as much a documentary as it is an erotic work of imposing colourfulness and unusual intimacy.