Tathagatagarbha -- Buddha Nature -- is a central concept of Mahayana Buddhism crucial to all the living practice traditions of Tibetan and Zen Buddhism. Its relationship to the concept of emptiness has been a subject of controversy for seven hundred years. Dr. Hookam's work investigates the divergent interpretations of these concepts and the way the Tibetan tradition is resolving them.

In particular she does this with reference to the only surviving Indian commentary on the Tathagatagarbha doctrine, the Ratnagotravibhaga. This text addresses itself directly to the issue of how to relate...

This book brings important new dimensions to the interface between contemporary Western science and ancient Eastern wisdom. Here for the first time the concepts and insights of general systems theory are presented in tandem with those of the Buddha. Remarkable convergences appear between core Buddhist teachings and the systems view of reality, arising in our century from biology and extending into the social and cognitive sciences. Giving a cogent introduction to both bodies of thought, and a fresh interpretation of the Buddha's core teaching of dependent co-arising, this book shows how their...

This is the first and only book in English on modern Chinese Buddhism written by a practicing Chinese monk. Chen-hua provides a rare eyewitness account of Chinese monastic life and Buddhist practices before they were changed forever by the Communist revolution. It begins with his departure from home in northern China to study Buddhism in Kiansu and Chekiang in the south and ends with his rejoining the monastic order in Taiwan after spending several years as a draftee in the Nationalist army.

Following century-old traditions of Ch'an monks, Chen-hua made prilgrimages to all the major...

What can one person do to foster world peace? How does one person's state of mind affect the state of the world? How can the ideal of nonviolence be manifested in daily life? Buddhists have been exploring questions like these for twenty-five centuries, and they are still timely today.

Inner Peace, World Peace is the first work in any western language to examine the Buddhist approach to nonviolence. Well-known Buddhist scholars, a noted authority on nonviolent struggle, a prominent Thai Buddhist activist, and other leaders in their fields collaborate to show the contemporary relevance of...

Written by a Thai, Theravada monk who has been recognized for his scholarly achievements, Buddhadhamma is a modern distillation of pivotal doctrines found in the Pali Buddhist canon. Many scholars of Buddhism in Thailand and beyond have said that if a person is not able to read the more than 40 volumes of the Pali Buddhist canon, then read this one book.

This volume--with a clear introduction that introduces the author and places him in the context of the history of the Thai Buddhist tradition--makes a significant contribution to the scant literature on Theravada Buddhism in English. One...

This is a complete translation of Eihei Shingi, the major writing by the Japanese Zen master Eihei Dogen (1200-1253) on monastic practice and the role of community life in Buddhism. Dogen was the founder of the Soto branch of Japanese Zen, but his teaching was not limited by any particular school of Buddhism. His writings are generally regarded today as a great summit of Japanese Buddhist philosophy, meditation practice, psychology, and poetic insight into the nature of reality.

Eihei Shingi contains Dogen's principal guidelines and instructions for everyday life and rituals in the...

Dreyfus examines the central ideas of Dharmakirti, one of the most important Indian Buddhist philosophers, and their reception among Tibetan thinkers. During the golden age of ancient Indian civilization, Dharmakirti articulated and defended Buddhist philosophical principles. He did so more systematically than anyone before his time (the seventh century CE) and was followed by a rich tradition of profound thinkers in India and Tibet. This work presents a detailed picture of this Buddhist tradition and its relevance to the history of human ideas. Its perspective is mostly philosophical, but it...