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LOSE YOURSELF IN THE BUDDHIST EXPERIENCE INDIA IS THE GUARDIAN OF a rich and ancient culture, and the seat of Buddhism. Mystic monasteries on Himalayan slopes, richly carved stupas amid lush gardens, cavernous dwellings with exquisite paintings –India is home to all these and more. In this, her seventh book, respected historian Aruna Deshpande travels the length and breadth of the country to track down the imprints of Buddhism. Never before has any historian presented every major Buddhist site located in India in one book. Here are the architectural gems of Lumbini, the lesser known Tawang Monastery of Arunachal Pradesh, the unparalleled Bodh Gaya and a reliable guide to visiting all these places. A boon to pilgrims, travelers and armchair explorers alike, Buddhist India Rediscovered will fire the imagination and carry you on a memorable journey. “A remarkably thorough catalogue of India’s Buddhist sites. Whether their interest is in history and culture or Buddhist pilgrimage, I am sure many readers will find this work of great value.” From the foreword by HIS HOLINESS THE DALAI LAMA
Today there are many Buddhists in the West, but for 2000 years the Buddha's teachings were unknown outside Asia. It was not until the late 18th century, when Sir William Oriental Jones, a British judge in India, broke through the Brahmin's prohibition on learning their sacred language. Sanskrit, that clues about the origins of a religion quite distinct from Hinduism began to be deciphered from inscriptions on pillars and rocks. This study tells the story of the search that followed, as evidence mounted that countries as diverse as Ceylon, Japan and Tibet shared a religion which had its origins in India yet was unknown there. British rule brought to India, Burma and Ceylon a whole band of enthusiastic Orientalist amateurs - soldiers, administrators and adventurers - intent on investigating the subcontinent's lost past. Unwittingly, these men helped lay the foundations for the revival of Buddhism in Asia during the 19th century and its spread to the West in the 20th. Charles Allen's book is a mixture of detective work and story-telling, as this acknowledged master of British Indian history pieces together early Buddhist history to bring a handful of extraordinary characters to life.
Through his third century BCE quest to govern the Indian subcontinent by moral force alone, Ashoka transformed Buddhism from a minor sect into a major world religion. His bold experiment ended in tragedy, and in the tumult that followed the historical record was cleansed so effectively that his name was largely forgotten for almost two thousand years. Yet, a few mysterious stone monuments and inscriptions miraculously survived the purge. In Ashoka: The Search for India's Lost Emperor, historian Charles Allen tells the incredible story of how a few enterprising archaeologists deciphered the mysterious lettering on keystones and recovered India's ancient past. Drawing from rich sources, Allen crafts a clearer picture of this enigmatic figure than ever before.
The Rediscovery of Vedic and Ancient Bharat unfolds the profound roots of India's cultural heritage. Spanning from 1500 BCE to 1000 CE, this epoch witnessed a renaissance in Mathematics, Science, Astronomy, Yoga, Literature, and Architecture that resonates through the ages. Embark on a journey through the corridors of intellect, where luminaries like Aryabhata, Charaka and Patanjali carved indelible marks on the pages of time. Within the covers of this book, thirty chapters unveil the brilliance of Bharat's scholars, exploring the contributions of Pingala, Baudhayana, Varahamihira, Brahmagupta and others. Delve into the realms of Science, Yoga and Astronomy, where Aryabhatta, Varahamihira, and Sushruta stand as beacons of enlightenment. Literary marvels by Kalidasa, Shudraka, and Bhavabhuti, among others, paint a vivid canvas of ancient Bharat's literary grandeur. The final chapters stand as monuments to architectural splendors—the timeless Ajanta & Ellora Caves, the majestic Sanchi Stupa, and the awe-inspiring Pattadakal monuments. A treasure trove of knowledge, this work is a testament to the enduring legacy of India's intellectual and cultural brilliance, a legacy that continues to shape the nation's identity and resonate across time.
The Indian subcontinent is the birthplace of Buddhism. Here is where the Buddha was born, where he lived and died. Here is where the first Buddhist councils were established, where the first monks practiced meditation, where the first stupas were built, where the great monasteries like Nalanda were established, where scholars from elsewhere in the Buddhist world came to learn Buddhism and so on. The earliest historical sites related to Buddhism were here too. In this book we provide an overview of historical sites related to Buddhism in the Indian subcontinent: including India, Sri Lanka, Pakistan, Bangladesh, Bhutan and Nepal. Here too, we only mention some of the most important sites, for listing out all sites related to Buddhism is virtually impossible on account of their great number. We have also covered holy sites belonging to all the important sects of Buddhism, including Theravada and Mahayana and Vajrayana or Tibetan Buddhism. Our preference is to focus on historically important and more famous sites. For the purposes of this book, we leave out other important Asian Buddhist countries such as Myanmar, Thailand, Vietnam, Cambodia, China and Japan for now. We will consider covering those sites in a separate book at a later time. For the purpose of covering the sites, we group them based on proximity. The author has personally visited most of the sites mentioned in this book in India, Sri Lanka and Nepal. The aim of this book is to provide the prospective traveler and pilgrim an overview of the sites so that they too can visit and see for themselves.
Buddhist Thought guides the reader towards a richer understanding of the central concepts of classical Indian Buddhist thought, from the time of Buddha, to the latest scholarly perspectives and controversies. Abstract and complex ideas are made understandable by the authors' lucid style. Of particular interest is the up-to-date survey of Buddhist Tantra in India, a branch of Buddhism where strictly controlled sexual activity can play a part in the religious path. Williams' discussion of this controversial practice as well as of many other subjects makes Buddhist Thought crucial reading for all interested in Buddhism.
An End to Suffering is a deeply original and provocative book about the Buddha's life and his influence throughout history, told in the form of the author's search to understand the Buddha's relevance in a world where class oppression and religious violence are rife, and where poverty and terrorism cast a long, constant shadow. Mishra describes his restless journeys into India, Pakistan, and Afghanistan, among Islamists and the emerging Hindu middle class, looking for this most enigmatic of religious figures, exploring the myths and places of the Buddha's life, and discussing Western explorers' "discovery" of Buddhism in the nineteenth century. He also considers the impact of Buddhist ideas on such modern politicians as Gandhi and Nelson Mandela. As he reflects on his travels and on his own past, Mishra shows how the Buddha wrestled with problems of personal identity, alienation, and suffering in his own, no less bewildering, times. In the process Mishra discovers the living meaning of the Buddha's teaching, in the world and for himself. The result is the most three-dimensional, convincing book on the Buddha that we have.
Setting Out on the Great Way brings together different perspectives on the origins and early history of Mahāyāna Buddhism and delves into selected aspects of its formative period. As the variety of the religion which conquered East Asia and also provided the matrix for the later development of Buddhist Tantra or Vajrayāna, Mahāyāna is regarded as one of the most significant forms of Buddhism, and its beginnings have long been the focus of intense scholarly attention and debate. The essays in this volume address the latest findings in the field, including contributions by younger researchers vigorously critiquing the reappraisal of the Mahāyāna carried out by scholars in the last decades of the 20th century and the different understanding of the movement which they produced. As the study of Buddhism as a whole reorients itself to embrace new methods and paradigms, while at the same time coming to terms with exciting new manuscript discoveries, our picture of the Mahāyāna continues to change. This volume presents the latest developments in this ongoing re-evaluation of one of Buddhism's most important historical expressions.
Liberation through Hearing, or more fully, The Great Liberation through Hearing in the Intermediate States (bar-do thos-grol chen-mo), has become widely known by its descriptive nickname used in the West, The Tibetan Book of the Dead. These secret teachings are attributed to the 8th century Indian Buddhist Master Padma Sambhava, also known as Guru Rinpoche, and are thought to have then been hidden in Tibet. Such a text is regarded as a "treasure" or terma (gter ma) text to be rediscovered later, as this one was by Karma Lingpa in the 14th century. A number of legends have grown around Padma Sambhava's life and deeds, and he is widely venerated as a 'second Buddha' across Tibet, Nepal, Bhutan, and the Himalayan states of India. The Nyingma School considers Padma Sambhava to be a founder of their tradition.