"The Essentials of Buddhist Meditation" is a classic Buddhist meditation instruction manual deeply rooted in the Indian Buddhist "calming-and-insight" meditation tradition. Within its tradition, it is the universally-acknowledged standard beginning-to-intermediate meditation manual, one which offers perhaps the most reliable, comprehensive, and practically-useful Buddhist meditation instruction currently available in English. The author of "The Essentials" is the sixth-century monk and meditation master, Shramana Zhiyi (Chih-i), one of the most illustrious figures in the history of Chinese...

This is a treatise on the meaning of "The Sutra on Generating the Resolve to Become a Buddha." It was written by the famous early Indian shastra master and bodhisattva, Shramana Vasubandhu (ca 300 ce). In this text, Vasubandhu discourses on the causality behind the origination of the bodhisattva vow (bodhicitta) and on each of the six perfections through which that vow reaches its fruition in buddhahood. This volume includes facing-page source text in both traditional and simplified scripts, variant-readings from other editions, and translator's notes. The translation is by the American monk,...

This volume consists of 130 stories and short Dharma anecdotes selected from Nagarjuna's immense commentary on The Great Perfection of Wisdom Sutra (Mahaprajnaparamita-upadesa). Each story is "framed" by the inclusion of Nagarjuna's introductory and summarizing Dharma discussions which place the stories in the context of the Bodhisattva Path to buddhahood. The translation and story selection are by the American monk, Bhikshu Dharmamitra. This volume includes facing-page source text in both traditional and simplified scripts.

In this volume, Bhikshu Dharmamitra presents his translations of the three earliest editions of Arya Nagarjuna's "Letter from a Friend" (Suhrllekha), a work on the layman's practice of the Buddhist path. This text was written by Nagarjuna in the form of a letter of spiritual counsel to the early Indian monarch, King Satakarni. These three editions were produced in the middle part of the first millennium by Tripitaka Masters Gunavarman, Sanghavarman, and Yijing. English translations and notes by Bhikshu Dharmamitra. This volume includes facing-page source text in both traditional and...

This is Tripitaka Master Paramartha's earliest (ca 550 ce) complete edition of The Ratnavali, one of Arya Nagarjuna's most important works. In its five 100-verse chapters, Nagarjuna presents both abstruse teachings and practical advice to lay and monastic practitioners while also describing in considerable detail the short-term and long-term terrains of the Bodhisattva Path. This very early edition is particularly useful in shedding light on difficult passages in the much-later Tibetan "revised translation" edition, the only other complete edition of this work. Translation by the American...

This text is a translation of chapters 17-30 of Arya Nagarjuna's immense "Exegesis on the Great Perfection of Wisdom Sutra" (Mahaprajnaparamita-upadesa). It is a free-standing section of that commentary exclusively devoted to analyzing and explaining the various levels of practice of the bodhisattva's six perfections. In it, Nagarjuna sets forth numerous stories, analogies, and analyses as he reveals the deepest meaning of giving, moral virtue, patience, vigor, meditative discipline, and transcendent wisdom, the six primary qualities cultivated by a bodhisattva in progressing toward...

This is a very detailed commentary on the meaning of each stanza comprising Arya Nagarjuna's Bodhisambhara Shastra ("Treatise on the Provisions for Enlightenment") wherein Nagarjuna explains the essential prerequisites for achieving the enlightenment of a buddha and explains as well the most important practices to be undertaken by bodhisattvas. This is the only extant commentary on one of the most important works of Arya Nagarjuna, the 2nd century Indian monk who figured most importantly in articulating the terrains of the Bodhisattva Path. This commentary was composed by the early Indian...

This is The Bodhisambhara Shastra ("Treatise on the Provisions for Enlightenment"), written by Arya Nagarjuna, the early Indian monk (ca 2nd c.) who is one of the most famous figures in the history of Indian Mahayana Buddhism. This work describes the essential prerequisites for achieving the complete enlightenment of a buddha while also describing the most important practices to be undertaken by bodhisattvas. The text is accompanied here by an abridged version of its only commentary, originally written by the early Indian Bhikshu Vasitva, a monk who lived sometime in the middle or first half...

"The Six Gates to the Sublime" is a classic Buddhist meditation instruction manual explaining the six practices crucial to success in traditional Indian Buddhist breath-focused (anapana) meditation and calming-and-insight (samatha-vipasyana) meditation. Correctly implemented, these six "gates" lead the meditator to realization of the fourth of the four truths (cessation), of which the "sublimity" referenced in the title is one of the four canonically-described practice aspects. This classic was written by the sixth-century monk and meditation master, Shramana Zhiyi (Chih-i), one of the most...