Isvarapratyabhijna-Vimarsini (3 Vols. Set)

This book is the first attempt to describe all the fifteen places with which the Buddha had direct association. Narration of each of these places accounts the mythology, legend, Jataka tales, cultural history, archaeology, field studies and general information. The book is illustrated with 55 photographs and 55 maps and figures, and also contains a description of the main link stations like Varanasi, Allahabad and Gorakhpur. Nearby sites for excursion are also described in the context.
The sequence of the fifteen Buddhist places follows the life cycle and the journeys performed by the Buddha as narrated in the Jatakas and the Tripitaka. Accordingly, the Buddha was born (563 bce) in the garden of Lumbini (1), passed his first 29 years (563-533 bce) in the royal palaces of Kapilavastu (2) and, after abandoning his home and family he ultimately reached Bodh-Gaya (3), where he achieved enlightenment at the age of 35 (528 bce). He did arduous austerities in Gaya (4), then he proceeded to give his first preaching at Sarnath (5) in 529 bce. After this important event, known as “the turning of the wheel of Dharma”, he returned to Bodh-Gaya. After visiting Rajagriha and Nalanda, he very frequently visited Shravasti (6), where he stayed during 24 rainy seasons, performing miracles and gaving sermons. During the 6th (522 bce) and 9th years (519 bce) after enlightenment he stayed at Kaushambi (7). While returning to Bodh-Gaya, to fulfil his promise to King Bimbisara (c. 543-491 bce) he paid a visit to Rajagriha (8) together with a thousand monks of his new order, and gave sermons there. On the request of his two chief disciples Sariputta and Moggallana, the Buddha visited Nalanda (9) several times. Thereafter, the Lord proceeded to Vaishali (10), the capital city of the Lichchhavis, where he gave his last detailed sermons and re-interpreted several of his teachings. Before his final march he stopped at the bank of the Ganga River in Patna (11), in a place called today as Gautama Ghat. While making his final march he stayed a couple of nights at Kesariya (12), followed by his final arrival at Kushinagar (13) where he passed away at the age of eighty (c. 483 bce). In the same year he descended from heaven at Sankisa (14) and gave his final preaching there. Mathura (15) was also visited by the Buddha occasionally, and later developed as the major centre of the Buddhist art and sculpture in the Maurya period.

About the Author

The author, Rana P.B. Singh is Professor of Cultural Geography at the Banaras Hindu University, Varanasi, India, and Founding President of the Society of Heritage Planning and Environmental Health, and also of the Society of Pilgrimage Studies. He has been involved in studying, performing and promoting pilgrimages and eco-tourism for the last two decades as a consultant, project director, collaborator, pilgrimage organiser and a wanderer.

• Product Code: BK14200
• Publisher : Indica Books
• Edition : October 1, 2012
• Pages : 112
• Weight : 120 gm.
• Size : 6.9 x 4.7 x 0.3 inches
• Cover : Paperback
• Author : Kashinath Nyaupane
• Language : English
• ISBN-13: 978-8186117118
  ISBN-10: 8186117113

An understanding of emptiness, the ultimate nature of reality, lies at the heart of Buddhist view and practice. The Heart Sutra, one of the best known and most popular of Mahayana Buddhist scriptures, contains the essence of Buddha's teachings on emptiness and the methods to develop the wisdom that understands this ultimate reality. In this explanation of the Sutra, Geshe Kelsang reveals its explicit and implicit meanings, and relates them to the five Mahayana paths that lead to full enlightenment. He also explains how an initial understanding of emptiness can be used in conjunction with the Sutra to overcome both internal and external obstacles to our happiness.

About the Author
Geshe Kelsang Gyatso was born in Tibet and is a fully accomplished meditation master and internationally renowned teacher of Buddhism. Living in the West since 1977, he is the author of a series of highly acclaimed books that transmit perfectly the ancient wisdom of Buddhism to our contemporary life. He has also founded over 300 Centres throughout the world for the study and practice of Mahayana Buddhism. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

Review
'An excellent book... for the serious student of Buddhism a better book would be hard to come across'. - The Middle Way 'Geshe Kelsang's introduction is both excellent and comprehensive'. - North American Board for East West Dialogue --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

Practical Buddhism is a collection of insights and tales about practicing dharma in everyday life. These humorous accounts of the mundane successes and failures of the author and his friends offer practical guidance for anyone wishing to align their daily lives with Buddhist values and ideas. Stories about answering the door, quarreling dogs, coping with city traffic, living with cellphones, greeting others, etc. employ wit and irony to demonstrate that really effective progress in improving one s character is often made in mundane ways. The anecdotes and reflections that the author shares in this book is straight from his own life. Of course, each of us has grown up in different circumstances and encounters different situations in our lives, but no matter what culture or historical era we're from, our human minds function in very similar ways. Each of us wants to be happy and avoid suffering although different people, possessions, and places may bring us happiness or suffering. Despite this desire for happiness not misery, we lack the knowledge of what the causes for each are. In fact, we often find that the words we said or deeds we did with the conviction that they would bring us joy resulted in the opposite. The moment we get the gorgeous new car we've craved, we've entered "car hell" for the car will surely break down at the most inopportune times. The repairs will cost more than we like and may not completely fix the problem. Alongside "car hell" are situated "computer hell," "iPod and Blackberry hell," "relationship hell," and on and on. We keep looking outside of ourselves for someone or something that will bring us the satisfaction and joy we seek, yet these continually elude us. And to the contrary, the difficulties we shun find us anyway.

About the Author
Kenneth Liberman is Professor Emeritus at the University Oregon. He is the author of Dialectical Practice in Tibetan Philosophical Culture (Rowman & Littlefield), Husserl's Criticism of Reason (Lexington Books) and More Studies in Ethnomethodology (SUNY Press). He presently divides his time among Sera Jey Monastic University in Bylakuppe, India, where he serves as the Phd Proctor/Professor, and research assignments as the Hans Christian Anderson Visiting Professor at Suddansk Universitet in Denmark and University Research Fellow at the Universita di Trento in Italy.