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From the Jacket:

In this book the author has tried to trace the relationship which exists between Zen and the two chief Mahayana Sutras the Gandavyuha and Prajnaparamita, and then the transformation, through which Indian Buddhism had to go while adapting itself to Chinese psychology. The Chinese are a practical people quite different from the Indian, who are highly endowed with the power of abstraction as well as an inexhaustible mine of imagination. It was natural that the Mahayana teachings had to be transformed as to make them appreciated by the Chinese. This meant that the Gandavyuha and Prajnaparamita were to be converted into Zen dialogues.

(Daisetz Teitaro Suzuki was Professor of Buddhist Philosophy at the Otani University, Kyoto)

Preface

In this Third Series of Zen Essays I have tried to trace the relationship which exists between Zen and the two chief Mahayana sutras, the Gandavyuha and the Prajnaparamita, and then the transformation through which Indian Buddhism had to go while adapting itself to Chinese psychology. The Chinese are a practical people quite different from the Indian, who are highly endowed with the power of abstraction as well as an inexhaustible mine of imagination. It was natural that the Mahayana teachings had to be so transformed as to make them appreciated by the Chinese. This meant that the Prajnaparamita and the Gandavyuha were to be converted into Zen dialogues.

As regards Zen contributions to Japanese culture, a special volume has been written.1 Apart from Buddhism, apart from Zen after the Kamakura era, Japanese cultural history has no significance, so deeply has Buddhism entered into the lifeblood of the people. My attempt here is merely tentative. The section on 'The Zen Life in Pictures' is also a suggestion; a fuller and more systematic treatment awaits another opportunity.

A few facts are to be mentioned concerning the matter treated in this Series, which have come up while it was in the press. (I) The Tun-huang MS. of the Sayings of Shen-hui mentioned in p. 2 I fn. and p. 37 fn. has already been re-produced in facsimile, while its printed and fully revised edition will be published before long. (2) Dr. Keiki Yabuki has published a book giving detailed explanations of the Tun-huang MSS. collected in his Echoes of the Desert. He supplies us with a wealth of useful information regarding them. (3) All page references to the Gandavyuha are either to the Idzumi MS. or to the R.A.S. one. (4) The Tun-huang MS. of Hui-neng's Tim-ching (p. 15 fn.) will be printed and made accessible to the general public. It will be accompanied by the Koshoji copy of the same. The latter is an old Japanese reprint of the fifteenth or sixteenth century, the Chinese original of which was probably printed some time in the tenth or the eleventh century. Quite likely it is the 'older edition' referred to in a preface to the current edition of the Tan-ching, Its historical importance is beyond dispute.

The author's thanks are, as usual, due to his wife, Beatrice Lane Suzuki, for reviewing the whole MSS. and reading the proofs, and to Mrs. Ruth Fuller Everett, of Chicago, who also kindly read the proofs.

Reference to the generous encouragement of the author's friend, Yakichi Ataka, is not to be omitted just because he is always ready to respond unhesitatingly to all the requests of the author and to make the teachings of Zen Buddhism universally approachable within the limits of literary interpretation.

Essays in Zen Buddhism: (1st to 3rd series) Paperback

A masterly exposition of the pre-eminent Hindu scripture, the Bhagavad Gita. It was after reading these essays, in particular, that in the 1930s President Wilsons daughter went to Sri Aurobindo and devoted her life - receiving the name Nishtha via his vision in the Sri Aurobindo Ashram at Pondicherry.

This book is a classic study of a monumental work, the Mahabharata, perhaps the largest epic in world literature. It is an epic study of the epic on account of the voluminous size it has itself attained, the kaleidoscopic variety of the themes it covers, the great diversity of approaches it canvasses, the wide array of contributions it includes and the high standard of scholarship it achieves. Readership: Students and specialists of Hinduism, comparative religion, comparative literature, comparative mythology and classics.

"This book is about the cultural and religious patterns as these may be reconstructed on a twofold basis: Vedic poets views as known from the Rgveda and some old Indo-European literary sources examined in a comparative perspective.

In its main bulk offers a novel approach to the Vedic theory of sacrifice from the point of view of the Vedic priest as an individual social type whose doing was conditioned by the conflict between the groups practising sacrifice as well as the tension between the patron of the sacrifice and the officiant. It also envisages the integration of the warrior into the sacrificial ritual and suggests a solution to the problem of the daksina (commonly called sacrificial priest`s salary) interpreted as a materialisation of the relation between the priest, the gods invoked and the patrons of sacrifice, the daksina`s function being to denote the value of the poetic word in the prayer.

The book tackles also some particular issues in Vedic and Indo-European religions: the typology of the warrior, the `cooking` of the poetic word linked to the double-entendre in Vedic poetry designed as a means to solve the problem of the relative importance of the speech within sacrificial ritual and of the food offerings to the gods; the early origins of the yogic practice in Vedic times related to some Indo-European practices as disclosed in Avestan, Hittite and Latin texts."

Specification:

• Publisher : Kaivalyadhama
  
• by : Shri Parmanada Arawal 
  
• Cover : Paperback
  
• Language : English
  
• Edition : 2005
  
• Pages : 72
  
• Weight : 150gm.
  
• Size : 8.5 x 5.5 inches
  
• ISBN-10: 818948592X
  
• ISBN-13: 978-8189485924

Description:

SPECIFICATION:

• Publisher : Jaico Publishing House
• By :Eknath Easwaran (Author)
• Binding : Paperback
• Language : English
• Edition : 2012
• Pages : 296 pages
• Size : 20 x 14 x 4 cm
  
• ISBN-13: 978-8184953411

DESCRIPTION:

A Contemporary Guide to Yoga, meditation and Indian philosophy. The Bhagavad Gita is India's best-known scripture -a dialogue between a warrior-prince named Arjuna and his charioteer and spiritual guide, Sri Krishna. For Easwaran, a foremost translator of the Gita, who taught classes on it for over 40 years, the Gita's epic battle represents the war in our own hearts and Arjuna's anguish reflects the human condition: torn between opposing forces, confused about how to live. Sri Krishna's timeless guidance, Easwaran argues, can shed light on our dilemmas today. Placing the Gita's teachings in a modern context, Easwaran explores the nature of reality, the illusion of separateness, the search for identity, the meaning of yoga and how to heal the unconscious. This book is his distillation of the Gita's teachings from the end of his life, based on talks given to his close students and published here for the first time. Easwaran shows how, through the principles of yoga and the practice of meditation, the Gita can point a way forward for us, both as individuals and in society today.

SPECIFICATION:

• Publisher : Jaico Publishing House
• By :Eknath Easwaran (Author)
• Binding : Paperback
• Language : English
• Edition : 2014
• Pages : 296 pages
• Size : 20 x 14 x 4 cm
  
• ISBN-13: 978-8184956252
• 
  

DESCRIPTION:

The Buddha call to Nirvana Eknath Easwaran, translator of the best-selling edition of the Dhammapada, sees this powerful scripture as a perfect map for the spiritual journey. Said to be the text closest to the Buddha actual words, it is a collection of short teachings memorized during his lifetime by his disciples. Easwaran presents the Dhammapada as a guide to spiritual perseverance, progress and ultimately enlightenment – a heroic confrontation with life as it really is, with straight answers to our deepest questions. We witness the heartbreak of death, for instance – what does that mean for us? What is love? How does karma work? How do we follow the spiritual life in the midst of work and family? Does Nirvana really exist and if so, what is it like to be illumined? In his interpretation of Buddhist themes, illustrated with stories from the Buddha life, Easwaran offers a view of the concept of right understanding that is both exhilarating and instructive. He shares his experiences on the spiritual path, giving the advice that only an experienced teacher and practitioner can offer and urges us to answer for ourselves the Buddha call to Nirvana – that mysterious, enduring state of wisdom, joy and peace. Eknath Easwaran was Professor of English literature at the University of Nagpur, India and an established writer, when he came to the United States on the fulbright exchange program in 1959. As founder and director of the Blue mountain center of meditation and the Nilgiris press, he taught the classics of world mysticism and the practice of meditation from 1960 till his death in 1999.