Sangharakshita introduces us to the wonderful world of three of the best-loved Mahayana sutras - a world from which we emerge with treasures in the form of teachings and advice that are a great support in how to live our lives in the everyday world. From the transcendental critique of religion and the means of unification offered by the Vimalakirti-nirdesa to the light shed on economics, ecology and politics by the Sutra of Golden Light, these commentaries offer a unique and deeply meaningful perspective on the value of human existence.

In the White Lotus Sutra, bursting with symbols, imagery and myths, we meet the Buddha as a story-teller. This sutra tells the greatest of all stories, that of human life and human potential. This great story takes the cosmos as its stage and all sentient beings as its players. This delightfully illustrated commentary on one of the most influential, revered and well-loved Buddhist scriptures brings these stories vividly to life and shows how they relate to our own spiritual quest.

Skilful means' is the key principle of Mahayana, one of the great Buddhist traditions. I illuminates a core working philosophy essential for any complete understanding of Buddhism.

"Myths and Fictions" - the third in a series of books on comparative philosophy and religion - is a collection of original essays, none previously published, on the theory and the actuality of myths and fictions in the different cultures of the world. Through all the essays there runs the question of the relation of literal truth to truth conceived in other ways or dimensions. Taken as a whole, the book makes a serious attempt to get beyond the confines of any single culture and enter into the mythical imagination of the ancient Hindus, Chinese, Hebrews and Christians, and by this act of imagination to escape (in Italo Calvino's words) "the limited perspective of the individual ego, not only to enter into selves like our own but to give speech to that which has no language..."

This Is A New Release Of The Original 1913 Edition.

Joseph Walser provides the first examination of Nagarjuna's life and writings in the context of the religious and monastic debates of the second century CE. Walser explores how Nagarjuna secured the canonical authority of Mahayana teachings and considers his use of rhetoric to ensure the transmission of his writings by Buddhist monks. Drawing on close textual analysis of Nagarjuna's writings and other Buddhist and non-Buddhist sources, Walser offers an original contribution to the understanding of Nagarjuna and the early history of Buddhism.

Features a collection of Buddhist tales with themes of wisdom, nonviolence, environmentalism, and respect for life. Combines ancient story traditions with contemporary thought, displaying the relevance of the tales to modern times.

"In seeking to explore the interrelationships between, and mutual influence of, varieties of sexual stereotypes and religious views of the Mahayana Buddhist tradition, Women in Buddhism succeeds in drawing our attention to matters of philosophical importance. Paul examines the 'image' of women which arise in a number of Buddhist texts associated with Mahayana and finds that, while ideally the tradition purports to be egalitarian, in actual practice it often betrayed a strong misogynist prejudice. Sanskrit and Chinese texts are organized by theme and type, progressing from those which treat the traditionally orthodox and negative to those which set forth a positive consideration of soteriological paths for women. . . . In Women in Buddhism, Diana Paul may be forcing our consideration of the problem of female enlightenment. Thus the main purport and accomplishment of her scholarship is revolutionary."—Philosophy East and West

REPRINTED AFTER MANY YEARS, THIS BOOK IS A STUDY OF THE MYTHS AND LEGENDS OF INDIA, BOTH BUDDHIST AND HINDU.