Buddhist Texts Through The Ages

This is a lovely book providing excerpts from an assortment of texts. Of course, each person might choose differently, but the translators did a very creditable job. They included the Heart Sutra, description of the Dyanai Buddhas, & various selections which document many important principles described or assumed in contemporary books such as: egolessness-- Satasahasrika XLV f. 119: "It is because of I-making & mine-making that beings run & wander in birth & death," form--Mahaprajnaparamita, trans. Hsuan-tsang fasc. 532, ch 29 (I): "Form is nothing but holes & cracks," magical illusion-- Sikshasamuccaya 233-4 (Ratnakuta & Ratnacuda): "Thought is like a magical illusion...thought cannot review thought. As the blade of a sword cannot cut itself, as a finger-tip cannot touch itself, so a thought cannot see itself," duality--Satasahasrika LII, f. 279-83: "all dharmas are baseless...where there is duality, there is a basis," & luminosity-- Satasahasrika III, 495-502: "original nature is a state of transparent luminosity." They also include more unusual material such as some Yogacara works, a different view of the time-existence of the Buddha--Saddharmapundarika XV, 268-72: Although the Tathagata has not entered Nirvana, he makes a show of entering Nirvana, for the sake of those who have to be educated...aeons must elapse before my life-span is complete," & the remarkable Saraha, Dohakosha (Saraha's Treasury of Songs) which dismisses many still-prevalent Buddhist activities-- 13-5 "Will one gain release, abiding in meditation? What's the use of lamps? What's the use of offerings? What's to be done by reliance on mantras? Abandon such false attachments & renounce such illusion! ...Without meditating, without renouncing the world, One may stay at home in the company of one's wife. Can that be called perfect knowledge, Saraha says, If one is not released while enjoying the pleasures of sense?" In addition, David Snellgrove provides an excellent analysis of the Vimilakirti Sutra: "The fault in this plot is that it makes us expect too much from Vimalakirti's argumentative power...the actual quality of his discourse is not good enough. We are left wondering why all the Saints stood in such awe of him. The author of this sutra tries to make up for this defect by a series of flighty miraculous episodes, which serve only to enhance the general effect of triviality." Overall, the editors provide a fine, balanced overview of Buddhist literature & its development over the centuries.

Buddhist texts trough the agesEdward Conze, I.B. Horner, David Snellgrove and Arthur Waley are big names in Buddhology. As scholars they each represent a specific age and development in the history of Buddhist Thought. Horner, member of the Pali Text Society, which publishes primary and secondary sources of Early Buddhism, takes her share with `Part 1. The Teaching of the Elders.' This part deals with canonical texts from the Theravada tradition and aims to sketch a picture of the Buddha by collecting small `crucial' fragments from the suttas. The main emphasis falls on the Samgha, though, as this was Horner's largest occupation. She also includes post-canonical works as the `Milindapanha' (Questions of Milinda) and Buddhaghosa's `Visuddhimagga' (Path of Purity.)In the `Second Part. The Mahayana' Edward Conze (Mahayana specialist) presents his selection of important Mahayana scriptures. Following the same theme as Horner, he too tries to `reconstruct' the person of the Buddha, but, understandably, emphasising the symbolic function of the Buddha, proper to Mahayana exegesis. But he does more: he presents some of his own translations of the Ashtasahasrika-Prajnaparamita or `Perfection of Wisdom in Eight Thousand Lines.' He also includes seminal texts of the Saddharmapundarika, more popularly known as the Lotus Sutra, and a biographical text of the Buddha called the Lalitavistara (`Played Verses'), both considered as early Mahayana texts. Other texts are, the Prajnaparamitasutra (`Perfection of Wisdom `) and the Sukhavativyuha (`Description of the Place of happiness`), all very important texts for the development of later Mahayanist philosophies as Madhyamaka and Yogacara. In the `Third Part. The Tantras' David Snellgrove ((Tibetan) Tantric Buddhism specialist) gives his overview of Tantric Buddhism (often mistakenly linked in the West with solely sexual practices.) Starting with a selection of Aryadeva, the foremost disciple of Nagarjuna (Madhyamaka), he proceeds with the very interesting `Saraha's Treasury of Songs.' Other texts revolve primarily on practice and instruction. Not to forget Milarepa (11th-12th c.), the founder of the Kagyu-order.In the last `Part Four. Texts from China and Japan', Arthur Waley gives us an interesting selection of texts that originated in India, were lost, but still exist in Chinese translations, of which I take the Yogacara Bhumi Sutra as an example. Text 208 tells an interesting story of a Hinayana sext in China. We have some texts of the `Dhyana-sect' (p. 295, = Zen) en Japanese Tendai-school (Ch. T'ien-t'ai.) To finish, we have a glossary of Sanskrit terms and a list of abbreviations.So, what can we say about this book? It's an interesting selection of the vast quantity of Buddhist texts of (most) schools. We have all the `phases' covered in Buddhist history starting from Pali, over Sanskrit to Chinese and Japanese. The bibliography is moderately impressive and it's admittedly a great task to make a good selectio

Edward Conze, I.B. Horner, David Snellgrove and Arthur Waley are big names in Buddhology. As scholars they each represent a specific age and development in the history of Buddhist Thought. Horner, member of the Pali Text Society, which publishes primary and secondary sources of Early Buddhism, takes her share with `The Teaching of the Elders.' This part deals with canonical texts from the Theravada tradition and aims to sketch a picture of the Buddha by collecting small `crucial' fragments from the suttas. The main emphasis falls on the Samgha, though, as this was Horner's largest occupation. She also includes post-canonical works as the `Milindapanha' (Questions of Milinda) and Buddhaghosa's `Visuddhimagga' (Path of Purity.)In the `Second Part. The Mahayana' Edward Conze (Mahayana specialist) presents his selection of important Mahayana scriptures. Following the same theme as Horner, he too tries to `reconstruct' the person of the Buddha, but, understandably, emphasising the symbolic function of the Buddha, proper to Mahayana exegesis. But he does more: he presents some of his own translations of the Ashtasahasrika-Prajnaparamita or `Perfection of Wisdom in Eight Thousand Lines.' He also includes seminal texts of the Saddharmapundarika, more popularly known as the Lotus Sutra, and a biographical text of the Buddha called the Lalitavistara (`Played Verses'), both considered as early Mahayana texts. Other texts are, the Prajnaparamitasutra (`Perfection of Wisdom `) and the Sukhavativyuha (`Description of the Place of happiness`), all very important texts for the development of later Mahayanist philosophies as Madhyamaka and Yogacara. In the `Third Part. The Tantras' David Snellgrove ((Tibetan) Tantric Buddhism specialist) gives his overview of Tantric Buddhism (often mistakenly linked in the West with solely sexual practices.) Starting with a selection Aryadeva, the foremost disciple of Nagarjuna (Madhyamaka), he proceeds with the very interesting `Saraha's Treasury of Songs.' Other texts revolve primarily on practice and instruction. Not to forget Milarepa (11th-12th c.), the founder of the Kagyu-order.In the last `Part Four. Texts from China and Japan', Arthur Waley gives us an interesting selection of texts that originated in India, were lost, but still exist in Chinese translations, of which I take the Yogacara Bhumi Sutra as an example. Text 208 tells an interesting story of a Hinayana sext in China. We have some texts of the `Dhyana-sect' (p. 295, = Zen), Japanese Tendai-school (Ch. T'ien-t'ai.) To finish, we have a glossary of Sanskrit terms and a list of abbreviations.So, what can we say about this book? It's an interesting selection of the vast quantity of Buddhist texts of all the schools. We have all the `phases' covered in Buddhist history starting from Pali, over Sanskrit to Chinese and Japanese. The bibliography is moderately impressive and it's admittedly a great task to make a good selection from the texts. To make a selection in o