A compact summary like Probing the Sutras has been sorely needed for some time, as more and more Westerners have dipped into meditation without any understanding of its predominantly Buddhist scriptural underpinning. This concise, well-informed introduction to the history and contents of eleven seminal Buddhist sutras also provides suggestions for reflection, meditation, and practical applications related to the key teachings of each scripture. Readers of Probing the Sutras will be able to develop a framework for understanding Buddhist doctrines—and see the unique pearls of wisdom contained within each sutra.

A compact summary like Probing the Sutras has been sorely needed for some time, as more and more Westerners have dipped into meditation without any understanding of its predominantly Buddhist scriptural underpinning. This concise, well-informed introduction to the history and contents of eleven seminal Buddhist sutras also provides suggestions for reflection, meditation, and practical applications related to the key teachings of each scripture. Readers of Probing the Sutras will be able to develop a framework for understanding Buddhist doctrines--and see the unique pearls of wisdom contained within each sutra.

A compact summary like Probing the Sutras has been sorely needed for some time, as more and more Westerners have dipped into meditation without any understanding of its predominantly Buddhist scriptural underpinning. This concise, well-informed introduction to the history and contents of eleven seminal Buddhist sutras also provides suggestions for reflection, meditation, and practical applications related to the key teachings of each scripture. Readers of Probing the Sutras will be able to develop a framework for understanding Buddhist doctrines--and see the unique pearls of wisdom contained within each sutra.

Soeng translates one of the sublime wisdom teachings of Mahayana Buddhism, offering clear, readable commentary on the nature of reality.

This book is part of an initiative in cooperation with renowned Chinese publishers to make fundamental, formative, and influential Chinese thinkers available to a western readership, providing absorbing insights into Chinese reflections of late, and offering a chance to grasp today’s China. In their influential book Handbook of the History of Religions in China, Zhongjian Mou and Jian Zhang present a panorama of the religions existing in China through time. In their fascinating History, they delineate the emergence and development of Daoism, Buddhism, Confucianism, Islam, and Christianity and explore the roles they played in Chinese society and the interrelations between them. In China, also due to the encompassing Confucian idea of “living together harmoniously while maintaining differences,” religions—including newly arrived ones—came closer together than anywhere else in the world and reached a unique level of peaceful societal coexistence. Despite many frictions and conflicts, communication and reconciliation were indisputably predominant in China throughout history. Buddhism was peacefully introduced into China and, later on, a harmonious, symbiotic syncretism of Confucianism, Buddhism, and Daoism developed—an exemplary process of how a diverse set of different religions can complement each other and contribute to a better life.

This volume contains The Adamantine Pinnacle Sutra and The Susiddhikara Sutra, two important texts in the corpus of Buddhist Tantric literature. These texts include a general introduction in the conventional format of Buddhist scriptures and a supplementary introduction that describes the nature of Mahavairocana, equatable with the Dharma-body, first primarily from the perspective of his aspect as the essence of the Sixteen Bodhisattvas in the Dharma, Great, and Samaya Mandalas, and then in his capacity as the essence of the Dharma-realm. The body describes the samadhis characteristic of the Yoga Tantras, an exposition of the rites of initiation, a description of the rites to be performed by the teacher in the mandala, the manner in which he is to initiate the disciple, and how the disciple is to obtain various types of "success" and "seal-knowledge" required for performing rituals associated with the Great Mandala "Adamantine Realm", along with miscellaneous rules.

The Braha Sutras is the culmination of James Braha’s forty years of astrological experience. In his most comprehensive book yet, James clarifies 216 of the most challenging birth chart issues for astrologers. With the remarkable clarity and insight for which he is known, James shares everything he has gained from his practice, having analyzed over 10,000 horoscopes. This 500 page reference is comprised of seven chapters: The Being, The Doing, The Predictions, The Nodes, The Clients, The Upayas (gems, mantras, and yagyas), and The Odds and Ends. It is invaluable for students of both Hindu and Western astrology at all levels of experience.

There are two titles in this volume. The Pratyutpanna Samadhi Sutra is one of the earliest Mahayana sutras and influenced the development of Prajnaparamita, Pure Land, and Yogacara philosophies. It propounds a particular samadhi, or meditation, called the "meditation in which one is brought face to face with the Buddhas of the present" or "the meditation of direct encounter with the Buddhas of the present." This meditation is a developed form of the earlier practice of buddhanusmrti or "calling the Buddha to mind." It also attempts to reconcile the vision of the Buddhas and Buddha-fields of the prsent with the insights of the Perfection of Wisdom school, or the Sunyavada (theory of emptiness) tendency in Mahayana Buddhism. The Surangama Samadhi Sutra expounds the essentials of this meditative practice as the key to attaining Buddhahood. It is written in narrative form, beginning with a grad assembly on Vulture Peak, where the Buddha is surrounded by great numbers of bhiksus, Bodhisattvas, and other beings. The dialogue begins with a question by a Bodhisattva named Resolute Mind, then proceeds involving a number of participants, including Bodhisattvas, Sravakas, gods, and goddesses. It also uses several different supernatural manifestations, such as the simultaneous offering of innumerable elaborate chairs for the Buddha by all the most highly ranked gods present. The grad climax is the Buddha's manifestation of all the innumerable Buddhas of the ten directions. This magnificent epiphany is presented as part of a dramatic hesitation toward the end of the dialogue, when some of the Bodhisattvas in Sakyamuni's assembly become discouraged by the apparent difficulty of the path of Buddhahood being described. Finally, there is the charge to Ananda to preach the Sutra, which is also carried up by one of the many Indra kings who appear in the text. Themes covered in this text include the question of how to account for the apparently dismal spiritual fates of Hinayanist practitioners, the Sravakas, Pratyekabuddhas, and Arhats, the description of innumerable other Buddha lands, the bestowal of the prediction of future Buddhahood and the spiritual identity and fate of women.

‘Yoga, Yog-Sutras and Gita’ is not a systematic commentary on these great Indian scriptures. It is a collection of scattered writings or interpretations of these subjects by Swami Dakshinamurti. He considered Yoga, Yog-Sutras and Gita as the source of all spiritual wisdom in its most condensed form, which was relevant to his own spiritual growth and to all those who are on this path. Spontaneous living, renunciation and detachment are the key points in his spiritual philosophy, for which he drew inspiration from these powerful texts. He explains how we can use the wisdom contained in these texts for our spiritual growth.

Meant to accompany The Yoga Sutras: One Woman's Personal, Practical and Playful Perspective, this thought-provoking workbook accompanies any version of Patanjali's Yoga Sutras. It is a great tool for instructors new to the sutras, as well as a great source of questions for teacher training programs. For book groups on the Sutras, this workbook will spark many good discussions, and it serves as an excellent "Sutra Study Guide" for teachers in training as they read the sutras themselves and discuss the Sutras in class.