In the Chinese Tripitaka there are two texts giving legendary accounts of the life of King Ashoka, the third Maurya ruler of Magadha. The first is the Biography of King Ashoka. The second text is Samghapala's Chinese translation of the Sutra of King Ashoka in ten fascicles, upon which the present English translation is based.

This biographical work gives accounts of the major events in the life of King Ashoka that are historically verifiable through comparative studies of reliable written records and archeological findings. Although the exact date of the original text is...

This volume includes two titles.

The Essentials of the Eight Schools gives a concise account of the history and doctrines of the eight principal Buddhist schools in existence in Japan at the time of the author, i.e. the six schools which were introduced to Japan during the Nara Period and the two schools introduced by Saicho and Kukai during the Heian Period. This work may thus be described as an introduction to Japanese Buddhism. Fascicle 1 contains a preface and accounts of the Kusha, Jojitsu and Discipline Schools, and Fascicle 2 deals with the Hosso, Sanron, Tendai, Kegon and...

This Volume is a collection of two titles.

The Essentials of the Vinaya Tradition is a detailed account of the history and teaching of the Japanese Risshu school organized in a series of questions and answers on the precepts of morality, meditation, and wisdom.

The Collected Teachings of the Tendai Lotus School introduces the doctrine and practice of this Buddhist school in the form of a catechism. It is divided into two sections, one on doctrine, and one on practice. The section on doctrine contains a discussion of the Four Teachings, the Five Flavors, the One Vehicle, the Ten...

There are two titles in this volume.

Tannisho sets out to refute deviations from the True Pure Land school teachings. Written by Yuienbo, a follower of Shinran, the Tannisho has continued to exert a profound influence on Japanese life and thought since it was composed. It falls into two parts. The first part of the book consists of Yuienbo's personal recollections of the words of Shinran himself, as received directly from the Master. The second part gives Yuienbo's own refutation of those deviations of Faith that had arisen after Shinran's death, quoting in support of his argument...

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...

This volume includes The Recorded Sayings of Linji, Wumen's Gate, and The Faith-Mind Maxim.

The Recorded Sayings of Linji is one of the seminal books of Zen. The great Zen teacher Linji lived and worked in ninth century China, but his teachings continued to guide and influence people for centuries afterward, and he was considered the grand ancestor of major streams of Zen in China, Korea, Vietnam, and Japan. The direct, incisive teachings preserved in his recorded sayings have shown a perennial power to challenge and stimulate would-be seekers of the truth. He strips away the...