Books

From the Jacket

This work is a study in Comparative Philosophy and Indian Metaphysics. Its starting-point is an inquiry into the validity of a charge against the heritage of Sankara-the charge that Sankara is a crypto-Buddhist. For giving the lie to this indictment of Sankara's heritage, the author has disentangled the essentials of Advaitism from the principles that determine the constitution of the Buddhist Absolute, in the traditions of Vijnana and Sunya. Possible evidences, in favour of the misconceived equation of Advayavada with the Vedantic Non-dualism, have been considered, and disposed of. A full-fledged account of the legacy of Gaudapada, and a still fuller account of Sankara, in most of the relevant aspects, justifies the title of this essay. A lively and brisk delineation of the symbolic usage of language in the Advaitavada of Sankara and his followers, helps in a considerable manner to distinguish the Advaitic heritage from the dialectic-centred philosophy of the Madhyamikas, and the unreflecting monism of some schools of Vedanta. The author has brought out very clearly the nature and status of he Dialectic in the Advaitic system of thought. Without identifying Advaitism with Buddhist Absolutism, he is prone to thinking that the dialectic of the Buddhists is a necessary link in the development of Indian philosophical consciousness. Even if the post-Sankara Advaitins look like the Madhyamikas, in respect of the art of philosophical disputation, they have, by their logical acumen, successfully reconstructed in theoretic consciousness, a Vision of the Absolute, only broadly indicated by Sankara But apart from dispelling certain erroneous notions about the Advaitic heritage, of which Sankara is the architect, the author presents a delectably plausible diagnosis of the present-day allergy to metaphysics and metaphysical thinking. And he uses the Philosophy of Language itself, for showing a way out of the contemporary whirl-pool of anti-metaphysical bias. Yet, more remarkable than all this, is the way in which he attempts to stratify. Ideologically, the different trends of Indian philosophical thought, and knit them together in an architectonical unity, the keystone of which is the Value-oriented Advaita. This value is Freedom. Its formulations in different systems of Indian Philosophy, are supported on different logics, built in different metaphysical moulds. They portray, in varying degrees of clarity and distinctness, the negation of the object-seeking attitude-a negation, which finds its ideal fulfillment, not in the replacement of one object by another, gross or subtle, but in the transcendence of the attitude itself, which alone is Freedom. Finally and convincingly too the author shows how this Advaita, synonymous as it is with Freedom, is the "Criterion-Concept" of Indian Culture at its meridian, functioning as the undeviating norm of our finer sensibility, expressed in our larger life, conduct and thought.

About the Book:

One of the foremost leaders of the devotional revolution which swept through Hindu society in the 15th and 16th centuries was Vallabhacarya. In terms of religion, Vallabhacarya's main contribution was his demonstration of the way in which a human being can shed his or her limited, mortal ego in order to rediscover an eternal individual participation in an unlimited divine being. With regard to literature, some of the earliest prose writing in any form of Hindi was produced by Vallabhacarya's followers in the Caurasi Vaisnavan ki Varta, a collection of accounts of personal efforts to apply the teachings of Vallabhacarya to everyday life.

The first part of the Bhakti Sect of Vallabhacarya deals with Vallabhacarya's life and with his establishment of an organization for his followers, a philosophical system to explain his view of the world and a spiritual method for putting his teachings into practice. The second part of the book is made up of an English translation of the sections of the Caurasi Vaisnavan ki Varta describing the lives of four early disciples of Vallabhacarya, one of whom was the poet Suradasa.

About the Author:

Dr. Richard Barz has been teaching courses in Hindi language and literature, including Brajbhasha and Avadhi, and in Vaishnava Hindu literature and philosophy since 1968. Currently Senior Lecturer at the Australian National University in Canberra, he has also taught at the University of Melbourne, the University of California at Berkeley and California State University at Long Beach. He first became interested in the thought of Vallabhacarya in 1963. Three years later he was able to spend two years in India, mainly in Mathura and Bombay, in close association with scholars within the movement established by Vallabhacarya. In 1971 he received a Ph.D. in Hindi from the University of Chicago with a thesis on the early history of that movement. In addition to his interest in Vallabhacarya, he has also carried out research in overseas Hindi in Fiji and Mauritius, in Hindi folk literature in central Uttar Pradesh and in contemporary Bhakti Hindu organizations both within and outside of India. He has written extensively on all of these topics.

From the Jacket:

Margaret Stutley is the author, with her husband, of A Dictionary of Hinduism, an indispensable reference work based on many years of research. In the present volume she draws on her study of religious cults and folklore to provide an introduction to the ancient magic and folklore of India. But the main source is the Atharvaveda, compiled about 1400 BC and containing much earlier lore, some of it originating in Sumeria, Babylonia, Iran and ancient Egypt.

The book demonstrates that there are many parallels between Indian and European folklore, since both Europeans and the north western Indian peoples are of Caucasian origin. The wearing of lucky charms, talismans and amulets is common to both , as well as the belief in lucky and unlucky days, birds and animals, the fear of curses and of the evil eye - still common in Africa, the Mediterranean countries and the East.Another common element is the fear of demonic possession, which has increased so much in the West that in 1972 the Bishop of Exeter set up a commission to devise the ritual for the exorcizing of evil spirits from people and haunted places.

Margaret Stutley points out that magical elements exist in every religion since it is their presence that makes a system of beliefs into a religion. Thus magic and cult are essentially the same, all rites being basically magical. She also shows that in all societies different stages of belief exist side by side, and range from naïve magico-religious beliefs to the most advanced spiritual and philosophical views.

About the Author:

Margaret Stutley is a private scholar who, with her husband James, retired over twenty years ago to North Wales. A Fellow of the Royal Asiatic Society, she became interested in Buddhism and Hinduism in her teens and has since, with her husband, formed a library of Indological works, including most of the important works of modern scholarship upon which Ancient Indian Magic and Folklore and A Dictionary of Hinduism are based.

About the Book

India’s cultural traditions have their in diverse sources embedded in the life style of various pre-and proto-historic communities occupying different parts of the sub-continent in the various periods of their existence. Despite high antiquity of several archaeological finds, one has to admit that the earliest recorded references of India’s cultural philosophy and ideological concepts are found only in the textual data of Rgveda, which show an already developed stage of thought. The importance of Vedic philosophy and religious concepts especially those defining the form of divinities lies in the fact that they preserve in them the seeds of later Hinduism to a considerable extent.

The Rgveda contains references to various types of divinities which have been classified into three broad groups viz., (i) Terrestrial deities like Prthivi, Soma, Agni, (ii) Atmospheric gods like Indra, Vayu, Maruts, Parjanya, and (iii) Heavenly divinities like Varuna, Dyaus, Asvins, Surya, Savitr, Mitra, Pusana and Visnu. Of these the last five were regarded as different phases of sun’s movements. Varuna, who has been extolled in many hymns, is also associated with the concept of Rta, i.e. the cosmic and, oral order.

The Rgveda mentions some goddess too like Prthivi, Usas or the dawn, Ratri, Ila Bharati or Sarasvati. A few gods like Dyava-Prthivi (i.e. the sky and the earth) are vitally significant for latre iconographic development. To propitiate these gods the Rgvedic people made offerings of milk, ghee grains, etc. through sacrificial oblations and chanted hymns in their praise which, undoubtedly. Suggest presence of the elements of Bhakti (deep devotional urge) in the Vedic religion.

The present work is conditioned by a kind of unconventional approach to the study of Vedic elements of iconic forms from time to time to meet the demand of the people. In her view these developments are well attested to by the literature of historical times, e.g. the Smrtis and the Puranas.

About the Author

According to Chawla the early idea of image-making can be traced back in the hymns of the Rgveda particularly in the poetic imagery of early Vedic seers. She agrees that most of the Vedic deities, no doubt, originally represented the forces of nature but in the couse of time, during the Rgvedic age itself, she feels that iconic concepts in regard to at least some divinities had already come into vogue.

The author has also located and analysed certain Vedic terms prrserving in them clues pertaining to bodily features of some deities. The representation of form as reflected in the expressions like rupani pimsatu and rupam sukrtam, is an indication of some kind of artistic activity in Rgvedic times. Perhaps emergence of the concept of Tvastr, the divine craftsman/artist, was a result of constantly growing creative urge of Rgvedic societies.

Dr. Chawla views the whole growth of Hindu iconography as a continuous process of development from the period of the Rgveda onwards under the cover of religious philosophies. Yet, she does not deny the role of Indus civilization and external mythological import.

Jyotsna Chawla further invites our attention to the iconographic parallelism between the concept of Dyava-Prthivi, the eternal parents, and the one reflected in the unified form available in the Puranic iconography of Ardhanarisvara. She traces the growth of the iconic forms of Rgvedic deities like Siva, Surya, Some, Yama, Asvins, etc. in the later periods when the Puranas were compiled. She has beautifully analysed the Vedic symbolism and the attributes held by various gods in the form of vajra, pasa, danda, sruk and sruva in an logical manner.

The present work is based on an extensive and critical study of the legends connected with Holy water-places. Mythological, historical, geographical and scientific study of the legends is interesting and thought provoking. The Skanda Purana (1000 AD to 700 BC) has been made the basis of this topic most elaborately and covers almost all the tirthas referred to in various texts. Most of the legends have been studied critically and a comparative study has been done from the Vedas, Brahmanas, Upanisads, Epics and other Puranas. Various other mythologies such as Egyptian, Iranian, Greek, North American, African, Babylonian, Roman, Mexican etc. have also been compared to. The imminent purpose of the talks has been studied under various motifs. The author's psycho-scientific method of analysis and interpretation makes the work extremely fascinating and informative. The author has also drawn attention to the medical analysis of various water-tirthas. The work is a valuable addition to the Pauranic and mythological literature.

About the Author :Dr. Mrs. Savitri V. Kumar is a lecturer of Sanskrit in Shri L. N. Hindu College, Rohtak. On the present work, she has been awarded a Ph. D. Degree from Bombay University.

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.

"The Yoga of Siddha Boganathar volume 2" by Dr. T.N. Ganapathy takes us further into the little known world of the Siddhas, adepts of Yoga, who for millennia, have explored the furthest reaches of human potentiality and spiritual development. Boganathar was not only one of the greatest adepts of Yoga of all time, but also a great scientist. In our present scientific age, the study of his works is especially rewarding. For the past 500 years, our western civilization has suffered from a schism between the rational, scientific view of life, and the spiritual or religious view. This divide, created in the politically charged period of the Reformation still haunts us. So, it is instructive to see in both the life of Boganathar, recorded in volume 1, and the writings on Yoga, in volume 2, how one great man married the two views.

Dr. T.N. Ganapathy has rendered a great service to all lovers of spirituality and science in the present work. For the first time ever, the writings of Boganathar, the greatest scientist of the Siddha tradition, have been translated into English, and a useful commentary on these profound and difficult texts has been rendered. The present volume contains poems which all lovers of Kundalini Yoga and Tantra will find inspiring.

About the Book :The religion-urban life of Ayodhya is attractive. Being the birthplace of Rama, it becomes a rich field of special interest. This book presents its culture in historical perspective.

Rama's ancestors who had founded the city are mentioned in the Rgveda. Its remote antiquity is proved also by the OCP which has been found from Srngaverapura, another old town of the region. Both the cities had contacts with each other.

Saketa, a part of Ayodhya, was established on the bank of river Sarayu during the sixth century Bc. For a long period, Lord Buddha and the Jaina Tirthankaras had made it their dharmaksetra.

The Ramayana and the Ayodhya, series of coins tell about the re-emergence of Ayodhya. Saketa was then a big township. The Kusanas were defeated at Ayodhya. Germs of the same national spirit had inspired the Guptas who had made their offensive from there. Some of them had made it their home.

The Pauranika phase of Ayodhya is described in detail. By the time of the Guptas, it had emerged as a great centre of Hindu pilgrimage. Under the influence of the Bhakti cult, during the early medieval period, a number of temples including that of Rama were built there. It continued to flourish in spite of certain odds. Visitors continued to flock there and worship their gods and goddesses.

This book enlists the temples and other monuments of Ayodhya and describes its antiquarian prospects.

About the Author : Dr L.P. Pandey is a great scholar of History. A brilliant product of Allahabad, Gorakhpur, and Delhi universities, Dr Pandey did his post-doctoral research at the School of Oriental and African Studies, University of London. He was Professor of History, Head, Dean, and the Director in H.P. University, Shimla. He taught History, Culture, and Archaeology at the University of Gorakhpur and Mahatma Gandhi Kashi Vidyapeeth University, Varanasi. His research works include Sun- Worship in Ancient India (New Delhi, 1971); Ancient Himachal: History, Religion, and Culture [in Hindi (New Delhi, 1981)]; History of Ancient Indian Science, vol. I: Botanical Science and Economic Growth (New Delhi, 1996); and Bharatiya Itihdsa-darsana [in Hindi (Allahabad, 1997)]. Dr Pandey is a former Fellow of the Indian Institute of Advanced Studies, Shirnla, and is also engaged in completing "Development of Agrarian Science, Technology, and Economic Growth in Ancient India (from early period to 600 Bc)

About the Author

Knut A Jacobsen is Professor in the History of Religions at the University of Bergen, Norway, and author or editor of fifteen books and more than sixty articles in journals and edited volumes on various aspects on religions in South Asia and in the South Asian diasporas. He is the author of Prakrti in Samkhya-Yoga: Material Principle, Religious Experience. Ethical Implications (1999; Indian edition, 2002). Recent publications include the edited volumes, South Asians in the Diaspora: Histories and Religious Traditions (2004) (with P. Pratap Kumar); Theory and Practice of Yoga: Essays in Honour of Gerald James Larson (2005); and South Asian Religions on Display: Religious Processions in South Asia and in the Diaspora (2008).

About the Book

In the Hindu tradition Kapila is admired and worshipped as a philosopher, a divinity, an avatara of Visnu and as a powerful ascetic. This book is the first monographic study of this important figure. The book deals with Kapila in the Veda, the Sramana traditions, the Epics and the Puranas, in the Samkhya system of religious thought and in the ritual traditions of many contemporary Hindu traditions. Kapila is an important figure in the sacred geography of India and the study of the rituals and narrative traditions of the firthas of Kapila is an important contribution of this book. The book also contains a translation into English of the text Kapilasurisamvada, Kapila's teaching of Asuri, found in a few manuscripts of the Southern recension of the Mahabharata.

Kapila refers to a pluralistic phenomenon. The Kapilas in the Hindu tradition can't be reduced to a single figure. In general, pluralism characterizes the religious traditions and religious life in South Asia, ancient, medieval, modern as well as contemporary. Openness for the greatest possible plurality is therefore often a good way to approach religion in South Asia. This is the case also with the study of Kapila. The approach of the book therefore is pluralistic.

Knut A. Jacobsen is Professor in the History of Religions at the University of Bergen, Norway, and author or editor of fifteen books and more than sixty articles in journals and edited volumes on various aspects on religions in South Asia and in the South Asian diasporas. He is the author of Prakrti in Samkhya-Yoga: Material Principle, Religious Experience. Ethical Implications (1999; Indian edition, 2002). Recent publications include the edited volumes, South Asians in the Diaspora: Histories and Religious Traditions (2004) (with P. Pratap Kumar); Theory and Practice of Yoga: Essays in Honour of Gerald James Larson (2005); and South Asian Religions on Display: Religious Processions in South Asia and in the Diaspora (2008).

From the Jacket

Mrs Rhys Davids, A Manual of Buddhism delves deep into the Pali Pitakas and Sanskrit Sutras of Buddhism, removes the huge mass of arid theology accumulated during the passage of that religion through different periods, different tongues and different races of men, and presents, in its pristine purity, the original message of the Buddha, who so extended the concepts of "way" and "Dharma" in the Upanishads, as to suit all men who "eddy about here and there, striving blindly, achieving nothing." He showed a way, which steered clear of the two extremes of self-indulgence and severe austerities; which was not an adage of worldly wisdom and prudence, no better than Aristotle's "the middle character is in all cases to be praised", which gave equal emphasis to all the joys and opportunities of life; which involved "a long steep journey through sunk gorges, over mountain in snow"; which became clear as one progressed; which required Dhamma as its only guide, which was one of advance to a clear goal; which was one of advance to a clear goal; which was no less adventurous than the one pursued by the prince in Kusa Jataka to win back his lost soulmate. His original teaching is so simple and direct that it is irresistible, which is the reason why Buddhism has survived as a world-religion to this day.

Mrs Rhys Davids' clarity of thought and diction, in combination with her deep erudition, have contributed in making this manual unique.

About the Author

Mrs Rhys Davids (27 September 1857 - 26 June 1942), a well-known authority on Buddhism, undertook the difficult task of translating from original Pali a number of Buddhist works which justifiably earned her a place among the foremost scholars of Buddhism. She was a pupil of Prof. T.W. Rhys Davids whom she later married. Besides her translation of the Dhamma-Sangani under the title of A Buddhist Manual of Psychological Ethics, she undertook the translation and interpretation of a number of works on Abhidhamma. As the editor of the Pali Text Society, a number of other works were published under her guidance. She was also the author of a number of books and articles: the more well-known are: Buddhist Psychology, translation of Thera-Therigatha in English verse entitled Psalms of the Early Buddhist Brothers and Sisters, and The Wayfarers' Words (in three Vols.) and What was the Original Gospel in Buddhism?

The Surangama Sutra, or Leng Yen Ching, is a Buddhist apocalyptic text, which, alongwith an abridged commentary by Ch' an Master Han Shan, has ably been translated from Chinese into English by Charles Luk. Containing apocalyptic thinking, it is asserted that this Sutra will disappear upon the disappearance of the dharma. The basic concern of the text is to point out as to how the law of causality terminates in the emergence of delusion, and on account of delusion Samsaric bondage is given rise to. The only way to overcome delusion, and thereby bondage, is to attain the state of enlightenment. Since the attainment of enlightenment is seen as the solution of the problem, the text, thus, engages in laying down the road map of specific practices that enable one to reach the liberative goal of salvation, which is freedom from the law of causality and thereby from delusion and bondage. Insofar as the store consciousness (alaya) continues to function, to that extent causality will remain operative. The methods, as developed in the text, are thus aimed at breaking the alaya. Upon the destruction of three marks of the alaya, which are self-evidencing, perception and form, the practitioner attains what is called the Surangama samadhi, or the gateway to perfect enlightenment. Upon the attainment of enlightenment is revealed the nature of the Tathagata store of one reality. Preface This important sermon contains the essence of the Buddha's teaching and, as foretold by Him, will be the first sutra to disappear in the Dharma ending age. It reveals the law of causality relating to both delusion and enlightenment and teaches the methods of practice and realization to destroy forever the roots of birth and death. It aims at breaking up alaya, the store consciousness, whose three characteristics are: self-evidencing, perception and form, by means of the three meditative studies of noumenon which is immaterial, of phenomenon which is unreal and of the 'Mean' which is inclusive of both, and leads to the all-embracing Surangama samadhi which is the gateway to Perfect Enlightenment and reveals the nature of the Tathagata store of One Reality

From the Jacket:

Buddhism as a religion of salvation is not so much concerned with the question of heaven and hell as much as with the existential question of suffering. It is, thus, the text of human suffering that has determined the soteriological goal of Buddhism, which is characterized as to how to obtain release from human suffering itself. Since suffering is a fact of life, so the aim has been to search for such ways and means by the application of which suffering may be overcome. It is this concern of Buddhism with suffering that is the focus of this book, that is, what basically suffering means to a Buddhist. It is on the basis of this insight of the Buddha that the Buddhist thinkers have attempted to find such a practical framework that would serve that purpose of reaching the transcendent goal of salvation. Whatever the Buddhists have spoken about suffering, it must be seen as a practical devise of reaching the goal of salvation.

About the Author:

Moti Lal Pandit has been engaged in the Indological research for last thirty years. Upon completing his studies, the author had the opportunity of studying the abstruse Vedantic texts from Dayananda Saraswati. Later he studied the important tantric texts of Kashmir Shaiviam from Dr. Baljinath Pandit. The author has contributed numerous papers on Comparative Religion. Theology, Spirituality and Mysticism. The earlier works of the author include Vedic Hinduism; Philosophy of the Upanishads; The Essentials of Buddhism; Beyond the Word; Transcendence and Negation; Sunyata: The Essence of Mahayana Spirituality; and The Hidden Way."

About the Book:

Shakti: Power in the Conceptual Structure of Karimpur Religion adds to the growing literature about the village Karimpur, first made famous by William and Charlotta Wiser (The Hindu Jajmani System and Behind Mud Walls). In this book, village beliefs about the nature of ritual and the organization of the pantheon, as expressed in myth and song, are explored using structural and linguistic analysis. It is shown that the concept of power, Shakti, is critical to understanding the nature of the Hindu pantheon and that the gods, and thus the rituals directed to them, are ordered by their perceived powers. Hindu deities and humans are bound together in a mutual giving of boons and service, and humans are as necessary to the gods as are gods to humans. Finally, this mutual bonding is shown to carry over to human-human relationship, particularly those of the Jajmani system.

About the Author:

Susan Snow Wadley is Professor of Anthropology at Syracuse University, USA. She received her training at the University of Chicago and has made numerous field trips to North India. In the past ten years she has written extensively on village religion and folklore in North India, in addition to editing volumes on Women in India.

The annals and chronicles are Important for a study of political, religious, cultural and literary history of a country. This book Introduces to the readers for the first time a new picture in the field of annals and chronicles. It gives, not only, the history and the development of the Buddhist annals and chronicles of South-East Asia but it also refers to the important role played by the chronicles in the field of Pali and Singhalese literature in Ceylon. Fortunately, this is a first attempt, to give a connected account of the Buddhist annals and chronicles of South and South-East Asia, on the basis of all available sources. The book should be found useful to readers interested in the religious and cultural history of South and South-East Asia.

From the Jacket:

The annals and chronicles are important for a study of political, religious, cultural and literary history of a country. This book introduces to the readers for the first time a new picture in the field of annals and chronicles. It gives, not only, the history and the development of the Buddhist annals and chronicles of South-East Asia but it also refers to the important role played by the chroniclers in the field of Pali and Singhalese literature in Ceylon. Fortunately, this is a first attempt, to give a connected account of the Buddhist annals and chronicles of South and South-East Asia, on the basis of all available sources. The book should be found useful to readers interested in the religious and cultural history of South and South-East Asia.

About the Book

This treatise on the growth and early development of the Sangha (Buddhist Monastic Order) has often been referred to by scholars as the most complete and masterly treatment of the subject and, as such, invaluable to students of Buddhism.

It has besides a peculiar importance in relation to the history of Indian culture, As the author says, "Indian culture is composite and the Buddhist contribution to it during the two millennia contribution to it during the two Millennia and a half that Buddhism was a living religion in India is so much a part and parcel of it that no true view of Indian culture is possible by ignoring the Buddhist contribution". This contribution was made through the organization of Buddhist monkhood. The author has shown with a wealth of masterly scholarship how this organization was established and developed in India. His chapters on the Patimokkha and Vinaya regulation of the monk community, the growth of conoebium among them, their internal polity and communal life, written from a scientific and historical point of view, are interestingly presented and will hold the general reader. First submitted anonymously as a prize-thesis to the University of Calcutta, it won the Griffith Memorial Prize in 1919. The verdict of the University examiners has been confirmed by Buddhistic scholars the world over who hailed it on its first publication as a work of exceptional originality and of great value in the study of Buddhism and Buddhist history

About the Author

Dr. Sukumar Dutt was born in 1891 at Barisal (now in Bangladesh). He specialized during his academic career in English literature in which he held doctorate. But his interest in Buddhism and ancient Indian history had been roused early in life by his uncle the late Aswini Kumar Dutt, a famous nationalist leader of Bengal of the first three decades of this century. Dr. Dutt had over many years carried on studies in this line and was recognized as one of the most accomplished scholars of Buddhism in this country. He was a Senior Research Fellow of the University of Delhi. His published works are The Buddha and Five After-centuries, Buddhist Monks and Monasteries of India: Their History and Their Contribution to India Culture; Buddhism in History and Culture; Buddhism in History and culture of East Asian People; Mahaparinirbaner Katha (in Bengali).

He was translating 'Bangalier Itihas' by Prof. Niharranjan ray when he died on April 9, 1970

From the Jacket:

The book contains a number of essays which D.T. Suzuki wrote from time to time concerning the specificity and uniqueness of Zen Buddhism, or the school of Buddhism that values meditative practice more than philosophical thinking. The book may be considered as an introduction to Zen on account of the concern shown for such themes which a beginner needs to know. In the very first essay is explained as to what Zen way of life denotes. Many find it difficult to comprehend the language of Zen. That is the author has made an attempt at clarifying the Zen idea of a koan, which is a paradoxical question verging almost on absurdity. It is believed that enlightenment or satori comes to be once a koan is understood. The book offers a rich banquet to those who want to taste the flavour of the feast of Zen.

Daisetz Teitaro Suzuki was Professor of Buddhist Philosophy at the Otani University, Kyoto. He is probably the greatest living authority on Buddhist Philosophy and certainly the greatest authority on Zen Buddhism.

Art in Tibet is expression of the religion. It is regarded not as a work of art, but as a vehicle for expressing in a world of form the metaphysical concepts of religion. Most of the art in Tibetan religion or Lamaism is used for worship - the thangkas, images, votive tablets and ritual masks.

There are many things such as metal works, jewelry, charm boxes, musical instruments and other objects which are used for lay purposes, but are decorated with religious symbols. The materials and techniques employed by the monks are described in the Tibetan religious books, the Kanjur, the translated commandments and the Tanjur, the translated explanations.

Tibetan Religious Art, first published in 1952 is a simple book that answers such basic questions concerning Tibetan art, its origins, functions and symbolism. It was published at a time when, Tibetan canons dealing with the treatises on painting and sculpture were still not fully translated After all these years it still retains interest and authority.

About the Author:

Antoinette K. Gordon, was the research associate in anthropology at the American Museum of Natural History. She made the study of Tibetan art and religion her life work. Her other works are: The Iconography of Tibetan Lamaism http://www.exoticindiaart.com/The Iconography of Tibetan Lamaism and Tibetan Tales: Stories from the Dsangs Blun.

About the Book:

This book gives an account of the life of the Buddha and an exposition of the religion and philosophy the Buddha propounded. This also analyzes the origins of Buddhist thought and traces its development from Hindu philosophical systems. Developments in Buddhist thought since the death of the Buddha are also dealt with as are Buddhist literature, sculpture and painting, both in India and in other pars of the world to which Buddhism spread.

"The aim of this," says the author, "is to set forth as simple as possible the Gospel of Buddhism according to the Buddhist scriptures, and to consider the Buddhist systems in relation, on the one hand, to the Brahmanical systems in which they originate, and, on the other hand, to those systems of Christian mysticism which afford the nearest analogies. At the same time the endeavour has been made to illustrate the part which Buddhist thought has played in the whole development of Asiatic culture, and to suggest a part of the significance it may still possess fro modern thinkers."

Dr. Coomaraswamy has succeeded in achieving this objective as only he could. With his genius for lucid exposition and with a beauty of style and exposition characteristically his own, he has succeeded in presenting some of the most complex concepts of Indian philosophy in terms which make them understandable even to the layman.

About the Author:

Ananda Kentish Coomaraswamy, the greatest among the Indian art-historians, was born in Colombo on August 22, 1877. After graduating from the University of London he became the Director of the Mineralogical Survey of Ceylon. Between 1906 and 1917, when he joined as the Curator of Indian Art in the Boston Museum he was busy lecturing on Indian art and formed societies for the study of India art. In 1938, he became the Chairman of National Committee for India's Freedom. His contributions on Indian philosophy, religion, are and iconography, painting and literature are of the greatest importance as were his contributions on music, science and Islamic art. He died on September 9, 1947.

From the Jacket

The book -make a brief survey of Buddhism in some of its interesting and important features in seven chapters. Beginning with the background it contains the life of Gautama Buddha, his Samgha and his basic teachings. It speaks how the religion propounded by Buddha got divided into various schools of thought with their doctrinal tenets within a few centuries after his Mahaparinirvana. The huge mass of Pali literature regarded as the great store-house of valuable information regarding the literary, social, political, economic, architectural and religious history of ancient India have been discussed herein. Here has also been pointed out the system of education which has widely prevalent and attracted men in quest of learning even from abroad.

True to its name the book presents many splendoured heritage of India embedded in Buddhist literature, the importance of which for the comprehensive study of our great civilization and culture can in no way be ignored or neglected. It will be useful illuminating to the scholars and the readers in general as well for a proper understanding of the cultural implications of Buddhism.

About the Author

Dr. Anukul Chandra Banerjee is one of the most distinguished scholars in the domain of Buddhist Studies and Tibetan History and Culture. He was the Professor and the Head of the Department of Pali and Dean of the Faculty of Arts, Calcutta University. He has to his credit a number of books and research papers published in different periodicals in India and Abroad.

Preface

The book attempts to make a brief survey of Buddhism in some of is interesting and important features in seven chapters. Beginning with the background it contains the life of Gautama Buddha, his Samgha and his basic teachings. It speaks how the religion propounded by Buddha got divided into various schools of thought with their doctrinal tenets within a few centuries after his Mahaparinirvana. The huge mass of Pali literature regarded as the great store-house of valuable information regarding the literary, social, political, economic, architectural and religious history of ancient India have been discussed herein. Here has also been pointed out the system of education which has widely prevalent and attracted men in quest of learning even from abroad.

True to its name the book presents many splendoured heritage of India embedded in Buddhist literature, the importance of which for the comprehensive study of our great civilization and culture can in no way be ignored or neglected.

It will be useful illuminating to the scholars and the readers in general as well for a proper understanding of the cultural implications of Buddhism.

A Few of the chapters were published sometime back as articles in different journals.

From the Jacket:

This is a book on basic Buddhism with a difference, for it is written by a monk who was native of Ceylon, a scholar and a well-known preacher and broadcaster in Ceylon. He had the Pali canon and the commentaries at his fingertips, so that his book is full of apposite stories and quotations of what the Buddha said - many of them appearing in English for the first time.

In recent years a number of expositions of the Buddha's teachings have been published in English, but most of them lack authenticity and do not represent what the Buddha taught correctly. Hence the need for this authentic book based on the Four Noble Truths about suffering which are the central conception of Buddhism and on the Noble Eightfold Path which is Buddhism in Practice.

This should prove the standard textbook from which basic Buddhism of the Theravada is taught for many years to come. It cannot be stressed too strongly that the Mahayana Buddhism of Tibet, China and Japan is based on and developed out of this basic Buddhism of the Theravadins in Ceylon.

About the Author:

The Venerable Piyadassi Thera was born in Ceylon. He was educated at Nalanda College, one of the most important centres of Buddhist education in Ceylon. He then entered the Ceylon University on a scholarship and read philosophy, culture and civilization. After completing the course he left the university without sitting for his examination as it was not his intention to study for degrees.

At the age of twenty he joined the Order as pupil of the Venerable Vajiranana Sangha Nayaka. At the feet of this great authority on Buddhism he imbibed the knowledge of Buddhism. Having traveled widely as a Buddhist missionary both in the East and in the West, he was able to write in a manner that could appeal to both.

From the Jacket

The common Western understanding of Buddhism today envisions this major world religion as one of compassion and tolerance. But as the author Droit reveals, this view bears little resemblance to one broadly held in the nineteenth-century European philosophical imagination that saw Buddhism as a religion of annihilation calling for the destruction of the self.

The Cult of Nothingness traces the history of the Western discovery of Buddhism. In so doing, the author shows that such major philosophers as Schopenhauer, Nietzsche, Hegel, Cousin, and Renan imagined Buddhism as a religion that was, as Nietzsche put it, a “negation of the world.” In fact, says the author, such portrayals were more a reflection of what was happening in Europe at the time - when the collapse of traditional European hierarchies and values, the specter of atheism, and the rise of racism and social revolts were shaking European societies-than an accurate description of Buddhist thought. The author also reflects on how this history continues to echo in contemporary Western understanding of Buddhism. The book includes a Buddhism published in the West between 1638 and 1890.

Roger-Pol Droit is a researcher in Philosophy at the Centre National pour la Recherche Scientifique in Paris and a columnist for Le Monde. His most recent book is 101 Experiences de philosophie quotidienne.

From the Jacket:

This is an original work by an eminent teacher of Philosophy and Religion who can present the best results of Indian and Western scholarship and evaluate them in the light of unbiased insight.

The chapters on comparison of Bengal Vaisnavism with Christianity and Existentialism are highly stimulating.

The book is indispensable to those advanced students of oriental philosophy and religion who are devoted to research work, since no knowledge of oriental philosophy and religion will be complete without a clear understanding of Vedanta and the different types of Vaisnavism.

From the Jacket:

Amazing it appears, yet it is true. In every period of its long history, two types of geniuses have flourished in India: one was concerned with man's existence and the other tried to make his existence comfortable, at times even enviable. This book The Indian Craftsman, by Ananda K. Coomaraswamy is a study of the second type of genius, the Indian craftsman.

The author has treated his subject from three points of view: the village, the town and the palace or temple, i.e. where the craftsman lived, worked and had their patrons. He has also minutely examined how the caste system, religion and the guild set up standards of quality and enforced their strict adherence. He has devoted an entire chapter to throw light on the system of education and training that ensured and regulated the right number of craftsmen for every craft at a particular period so that at no period there was neither a surplus nor a deficit of craftsmen.

Ten appendices add further information from different angles. This book is indeed a welcome resurrection at this particular time; for the traditional craftsmen are disappearing. The philosophy that sustained them through vicissitudes seems no longer valid. All those who have a love for Indian crafts and who want to either practise or preserve them will find this an excellent book.

About the Book:

Kathakali literally meaning "story-dance" is the pantomimic dance-drama of Malabar comparable to a great extent with the European ballet in the West with an additional advantage of having rich gestural code necessary to convey the theatrical pleasures to the spectator.

This book is a detailed analysis of the dance and art of Kathakali, its origin, technique, the costume, make-up and the gestural code, with a separate chapter on "Evolution of Kerala's Art" by Krishna Chaitanya.

This edition has been completely revised and enlarged and contains new set of illustrations to further facilitate understanding and appreciation of the Art.

IN making a critical study of the art and dance of Kathakali, the ancient dance-drama of Kerala, Gayanacharya Avinash C. Pandey a has produced this comprehensive book of an unparalleled nature. I feel no less pleasure than great honour that I am invi- ted to express a few words on it.

So far none has dealt with this subject in any language so elaborately and so systematically as this young authority on Indian music and dancing has. He has presented the entire technical subtlety in a lucid style making it to rank as the first book on Kathakali literature, dance and art. Its authenticity as the first today and the first tomorrow shall ever guide all dancers, students, commentators and contemporaries of all ages.

The book deals with the origin of Kathakali, its art and dance, rasas and costume and make-up, and gestural code; and makes wide study on the origin of Mudras-their permutation and combi- nation. The interesting chapter on its mime-make-up and cos- tume-vividly reinforces the intricacy and artistical development which this kala gained within a short evolutionary period of a little over 200 years.

The writer has taken great pains in tracing out those neglected pieces of this art which were hitherto unknown and unmined. While dealing with hand poses in use in Kathakali, Gayanacharya has tabulated the connotation of groups of ideas which each mudra represents. It will help considerably all dancers to remember various expressions express able by them.

Kathakali is "an interpretative dance-drama to the accompani- ment of music." The highly specialised form of pantomimic representation makes this art to depict the actual life of our gods and people.

While tracing the origin of Kathakali, the author has made an interesting survey of those human factors which can contribute in the evolution of dance. Guided by regional effects, habit, custom, and tradition, Gayanacharya believes that Kathakali has taken its birth to connote "poetry in their (dancers) figures." The wide appeal of sentiments and emotions helps the Kathakali actor to depict an object or a thought in alively and realistic colour. The author has been successful in giving the basis and importance of the use of various colours in Kathakali make-ups. The unique feature of the book lies in the discussion and analysis of "Kathakali Dance Exercises" and the" Talas used in Kathakali" I ts practical utility has been enriched and enhanced by these.

The work presents a scholarly exposition of every art of Kathakali and is an invaluable companion with everyone interested in matters Kathakali. It is the first authoritative work in my opinion.

LIFE in itself is a composition of arts, peculiar to its own measures.

There is in every living creature an instinct to make one or the other movement of the body which a dancer calls "gesture". Gesticulating, he recalls to memory the sacred life of the great Hindu avatars (incarnations) and the people. To him, dancing lies at the root of all processes towards bhakti (worship and devotion) and attainment of salvation. He visualises creation of the universe as a result of the ecstatic dance of Brahma, the Creator. He ascribes every kriya (action) of God to a creative dance in which man forms the minutest dancing atom. Every human action, as that of an animal, has a direct command of the soul and that action is termed dainik nrtya (every-day dance). The existence of the supreme power of the abstract life, or, of God, in every kriya of the living being in a latent form helps in developing the various dynamic forces of the human nature, and the awakening of these forces leads man to "dance".

Nrtya is the outcome of five kriyas of God, viz., srsti, or, Avirbhava (Universe or creation), Isthiti (Preservation or Protection), Samhara (Destruction), Tirobhava (Veiling, Embodiment, Illusion or Giving Rest) and Anugraha (Release or Salvation). These subjective and objective actions, in turn, are the different forms of Brahma, Visnu, Rudra, Mahesvara and Sadasiva. "In the night of Brahma, Nature is inert, and cannot dance till Siva wills it; He rises from His rapture and dancing sends through matter pulsing waves of awakening sound, and lo! matter also dances appearing as a glory round about Him."

Siva, the greatest of all our deities, is depicted in the cosmic pose of a dancer who perpetually stands for an image of reality and truth, the keys to the complex and complicated tissues of human life and lives in general, which form an independent theory of Nature, not simply satisfactory and adaptable to a single clique, race, or nation, nor acceptable or worthy of consideration to the philosopher, thinker, and worshipper of one century only, but universal in its appeal to the votary, the worshipper, the mediator, the philosopher, the thinker, the lover, the gametic and the artist of all ages and all countries.

The four significant actions of Lord Siva connote that the universe is created, protection is granted, release is offered and destruction is undertaken, all at the will of God : The drum stands for creation, fire for destruction, protection proceeds from the hand of hope, the foot held aloft gives release.

Of all the arts, the art of dancing first expresses itself in human person. Music, acting, poetry form a single compartment of human personification, while sculpture, painting and all other arts of design proceed in another stream. There is no primary art beyond these two arts, and their origin is much earlier than man himself-and dancing came first. It may be that earlier to human existence, dancing and architecture were the result of the same impulse. Edmund Selous suggests that the nest of birds is the chief early form of building and the creation of nest may have first arisen out of their ecstatic sexual dance."

All forms of dances have their histrionic background of evolution. Topographic conditions, climate, language, deport- ment and mise en scene of folk dances indigenous to a nation and the physical built of the people are the main guiding conditions for the suggestion of a particular type of dancing. The striking example is of the dance-forms prevalent in the plains of the Indus, the Ganges, and the Brahmaputra rivers, Rajasthan, Tanjore and Kerala. There is considerable difference between the artistic representation of one form of Bharat Nritya (miscalled "Kathak") dancing in the Gangetic and the Indus plains and the other in Rajputana; between Manipuri dance of Bengal and of Assam; between Sadir dance of Tanjore and Dassiattam of Tamilnad ; between Bharat Natyam and Kathakali between Garba, the folk- dance of Gujerat and Rasa Lila, the folk-dance of Uttar Pradesh, etc.

Nrtya, Gita and Vadhya are the three essential factors of our Sangita. Dancing (Nartana) has three off-shoots, viz., Natya, which essentially represents a theatrical performance; Nrtt, which conveys rhythmic movement of the body without alluding abhinaya or bhava and, therefore, largely drawing its art from the footwork; and, Nrtya, meaning rhythmic movement of the body anent some bhava stipulated in a piece of abhinaya, thus alluding some story. The joyous strokes of the feet of children or the rise and fall or the philosophers' thoughts, all are governed by the same law of rhythm. If this law of rhythm, lying at the root of all Indian dancing, is overlooked, one would fail to understand the supreme manifestation of physical life-life not only in the external space of human action, but also in the internal space of self-realisation, The significance of dancing lies, in its truest form, in a single and an intimate, concrete appeal of a general rhythm-that general rhythm which does not merely mark life, but the universe in its wide sense; and if one is still persistent to consider it a narrow suggestion, it is the sum total of all cosmic influences which reach and affect human life. It need surprise none that rhythm, ever tending to be moulded into a time, should mark all the physical and spiritual manifestations of life.

Dancing is the supreme expression of religion and love alike- of religion from the earliest time of human existence and of love from the age much anterior to the birth of man! Tracing the history of the origins of dancing in the human person, it is seen intimately entwined with the human behaviour in respect of the tradition of war, labour, entertainment, education, whereas some of the wisest philosophers and the ancient civilisations have con- sidered the dance as "the pattern in accordance with which the moral life of men must be woven.