Buddhist studies is a rapidly changing field of research, constantly transforming and adapting to new scholarship. This creates a problem for instructors, both in a university setting and in monastic schools, as they try to develop a curriculum based on a body of scholarship that continually shifts in focus and expands to new areas. Teaching Buddhism establishes a dialogue between the community of instructors of Buddhism and leading scholars in the field who are updating, revising, and correcting earlier understandings of Buddhist traditions. Each chapter presents new ideas within a particular theme of Buddhist studies and explores how courses can be enhanced with these insights. Contributors in the first section focus on the typical approaches, figures, and traditions in undergraduate courses, such as the role of philosophy in Buddhism, Nagarjuna, Yogacara Buddhism, tantric traditions, and Zen Buddhism. They describe the impact of recent developments-like new studies in the cognitive sciences-on scholarship in those areas. Part Two examines how political engagement and ritual practice have shaped the tradition throughout its history. Focus then shifts to the issues facing instructors of Buddhism-dilemmas for the scholar-practitioner in the academic and monastic classroom, the tradition's possible roles in teaching feminism and diversity, and how to present the tradition in the context of a world religions course. In the final section, contributors offer stories of their own experiences teaching, paying particular attention to the ways in which American culture has impacted them. They discuss the development of courses on American Buddhism; using course material on the family and children; the history and trajectory of a Buddhist-Christian dialog; and Buddhist bioethics, environmentalism, economic development, and social justice. In synthesizing this vast and varied body of research, the contributors in this volume have provided an invaluable service to the field

Unlike some other reproductions of classic texts (1) We have not used OCR(Optical Character Recognition), as this leads to bad quality books with introduced typos. (2) In books where there are images such as portraits, maps, sketches etc We have endeavoured to keep the quality of these images, so they represent accurately the original artefact. Although occasionally there may be certain imperfections with these old texts, we feel they deserve to be made available for future generations to enjoy.

Relax your spirit and reconnect to your authentic voice. Discover the simple magic and mystery that awaits you when you express yourself within the safe space of a circle. In Creating Personal Mandalas, you'll see how this most basic of shapes can open your heart and always leads you back to your center. In each of the 10 chapters, you'll explore two soul-expressing mandala exercises, facts and history on featured symbols, insights for using the confines of the circle for personal and visual storytelling, as well as inspiring art and reflections from contributing guest artists. * 20 exploratory step-by-step mandala exercises--each an opportunity for new self-exploration, beginning with tips on establishing the right mindset * Interesting facts about symbols and sacred geometry, including suggestions for using them in your mandala projects * Practical art-making direction on the elements of design, watercolor tips, composition prompts, seeing color as a storytelling element and more Use Creating Personal Mandalas to start expressing your life stories with the infinite possibilities of the circle.

There is one point that contemporary psychology and centuries old Eastern Buddhist and Taoist teachings agree on: if you wish to experience less suffering, you must change the way you see yourself. But what if the change that is needed is to let go of our selves entirely? What does this mean for those of us living in an increasingly self-obsessed and individualistic society? Is our quest for identity actually sabotaging our own wellbeing?

In this compassionate and galvanizing book, Dr Tom Davies gently invites you to consider the basic elements that define who you are.

• In Part One, get to know your self. From the ground up, discover what the self truly is, how it links to identity, and how self-obsession is central to the human condition and the psychological pain that each of us experience.
• In Part Two, overcome self-obsession. Free yourself from your psychological prison, and learn how to live the peaceful and joyful life that you deserve.

With a fresh and lucid style, Dr Tom Davies combines his knowledge of the medical, psychological and the philosophical to bring you real solutions to life’s most challenging problems. Whether you are searching for meaning, or are struggling with stress, anxiety, grief or depression, this perspective will provide you with an empowering new insight that can help you transform your life.

Scholars have long been intrigued by the Buddha's defining action (karma) as intention. This book explores systematically how intention and agency were interpreted in all genres of early Theravada thought. It offers a philosophical exploration of intention and motivation as they are investigated in Buddhist moral psychology. At stake is how we understand karma, the nature of moral experience, and the possibilities for freedom. In contrast to many studies that assimilate Buddhist moral thinking to Western theories of ethics, the book attends to distinctively Buddhist ways of systematizing and theorizing their own categories. Arguing that meaning is a product of the explanatory systems used to explore it, the book pays particular attention to genre and to the 5th-century commentator Buddhaghosa's guidance on how to read Buddhist texts. The book treats all branches of the Pali canon (the Tipitaka, that is, the Suttas, the Abhidhamma, and the Vinaya), as well as narrative sources (the Dhammapada and the Jataka commentaries). In this sense it offers a comprehensive treatment of intention in the canonical Theravada sources. But the book goes further than this by focusing explicitly on the body of commentarial thought represented by Buddhaghosa. His work is at the center of the book's investigations, both insofar as he offers interpretative strategies for reading canonical texts, but also as he advances particular understandings of agency and moral psychology. The book offers the first book-length study devoted to Buddhaghosa's thought on ethics

The Life of the Madman of UE tells the story of Kunga Zangpo (1458-1532), a famous Tibetan Buddhist ascetic of the Kagyu sect. Having grown weary of the trials of human existence, Zangpo renounced the world during his teenage years, committing himself to learning and practicing the holy Dharma as a monk. Some years later he would give up his monkhood to take on a unique tantric asceticism that entailed dressing in human remains, wandering from place to place, and provoking others to attack him physically, among other norm-overturning behaviors. It was because of this asceticism that Zangpo came to be known as the Madman of UE. Written in two parts in 1494 and 1537, this biography provides a rich depiction of religious life in fifteenth- and sixteenth-century Tibet. Between his travels across central and western Tibet, the Himalayas, and Nepal, Zangpo undertook inspiring feats of meditation, isolating himself in caves for years at a stretch. The book also details Zangpo's many miracles, a testament to the spiritual perfection he attained. His final thirty years were spent at his monastery of Tsimar Pel, where he dispensed teachings to his numerous disciples and followers. The life of this remarkable and controversial figure provides new means for understanding the tradition of the "holy madman" (smyon pa) in Tibetan Buddhism. This valuable example of Tibetan Buddhist hagiographical literature is here made available in a complete English translation for the first time.

Each one of us is responsible for all of humankind, and for the environment in which we live. . . . We must seek to lessen the suffering of others. Rather than working solely to acquire wealth, we need to do something meaningful, something seriously directed toward the welfare of humanity as a whole. To do this, you need to recognize that the whole world is part of you. --from "How to Be Compassionate"
The surest path to true happiness lies in being intimately concerned with the welfare of others. Or, as His Holiness the Dalai Lama would say, in "compassion."
In "How to Be Compassionate, "His Holiness reveals basic mistakes of attitude that lead us to inner turmoil, and how we can correct them to achieve a better tomorrow. He demonstrates precisely how opening our hearts and minds to other people is the best way to overcome the misguided ideas that are at the root of all our problems. He shows us how compassion can be a continuous wellspring of happiness in our own lives and how our newfound happiness can extend outward from us in ever wider and wider circles.
As we become more compassionate human beings, our friends, family, neighbors, loved ones--and even our enemies--will find themselves less frequently in the thrall of destructive emotions like anger, jealousy, and fear, prompting them to become more warmhearted, kind, and harmonious forces within their own circles. With simple language and startling clarity, His Holiness makes evident as never before that the path to global harmony begins in the hearts of individual women and men. Enlivened by personal anecdotes and intimate accounts of the Dalai Lama's experiences as a student, thinker, political leader, and Nobel Peace Prize Laureate, "How to Be Compassionate "gives seekers of all faiths the keys to overcoming anger, hatred, and selfishness-- the primary obstacles to happiness--and to becoming agents of positive transformation in our communities and the world at large.

In this book, the author, with his extensive knowledge of the Pali canon (the earliest texts of Buddhism), argues that, in his lifetime, the Buddha and his mission were regarded quite differently to the manner in which they are presented today. Far from being seen as one teaching a means of liberation for all to follow, he was instead regarded - as is still the typical Indian guru - as one imparting teachings only to those whom he deemed capable of benefiting from them. In the story of initiation as recorded in the "Nikayas" (discourses of the Buddha compiled by his contemporaries immediately following his death), this book presents evidence that makes it clear that salvation in early Buddhism depended upon the saving intervention of the Buddha's grace and that, contrary to the now commonly accepted view of Buddhism as a rationalistic philosophy of self-endeavour, the picture that emerges from a careful examination of the canonical texts is one of Buddhism as a revealed religion in every sense of the term, and the Buddha as every bit the divine guru. In considering the relationship of Buddhism to the Brahmanic (Hindu) tradition, this book shows that the Buddha was critical of the Brahmins solely on the grounds that they no longer lived up to the social and religious ideals associated with their predecessors, and that, if the Buddha was a reformer, this was only so in the sense that he advocated a return to the former conservatism of Vedic India.

Yogacara and Tathagatagarbha are often regarded as antagonistic Indian Buddhist traditions. Paramartha (499-569) is traditionally credited with amalgamating these philosophies by translating one of the most influential Tathagatagarbha texts in East Asia, the Awakening of Faith in Mahayana, and introducing Tathagatagarbha notions into his translations of Yogacara texts. Engaging with the digitalized Chinese Buddhist canon, Ching Keng draws on clues from a long-lost Dunhuang fragment and considers its striking similarities with Paramartha's corpus with respect to terminology, style of phrasing, and doctrines. In this cutting-edge interpretation of the concept of jiexing, Keng demystifies the image of Paramartha and makes the case that the fragment holds the key to recover his original teachings.

The study of religions is essential for understanding other cultures, building a sense of belonging in a multicultural world and fostering a global intercultural dialogue. Exploring Chinese religions as one interlocutor in this dialogue, Diana Arghirescu engages with Song-dynasty Confucian and Buddhist theoretical developments through a detailed study of the original texts of the Chan scholar-monk Qisong (1007-1072) and the Neo-Confucian master Zhu Xi (1130-1200). Starting with these figures, she builds an interpretive theory focusing on "ethical interrelatedness" and proposes it as a theoretical tool for the study of the Chinese religious traditions. By actively engaging with other contemporary theories of religion and refusing to approach Chinese religions with Western frameworks, Arghirescu's comparative perspective makes it possible to uncover differences between the various Western and Chinese cultural presuppositions upon which these theories are built. As such, this book breaks new ground in the methodology of religious studies, comparative philosophy and furthers our understanding of the Confucian-Buddhist interaction.