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From Buddha-Nature
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This publication presents the academic papers presented at the 2nd International Association of Buddhist Universities Conference which took place at Mahachulalongkornrajavidyalaya University in Wang Noi, Ayutthaya, Thailand, in 2012. The theme of this large conference was "Buddhist Philosophy and Meditation Practice" and it brought together over 33 Buddhist studies scholars. Of particular relevance to the topic of buddha-nature is Tadeuz Skorupki's paper, "Consciousness and Luminosity in Indian and Tibetan Buddhism" (43–64). +
Edward Conze presents the premier anthology of Buddhist texts and scriptures in this stunningly ambitious collection. He traces the development of Buddhism through the ages, with translations from the original Pali, Sanskrit, Chinese, Tibetan and Japanese. For those looking for the perfect companion to Conze’s original text, ''Buddhism'', or for those new to Buddhist theology, ''Buddhist Texts Through the Ages'' contains a thorough and comprehensive guide to the theology. This edition also includes a glossary of English and foreign terms. (Source: [http://www.philosophicallibrary.com/book/buddhist-texts-through-the-ages/ Philosophical Library]) +
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In this book I will outline ground, path and fruition in the hope of helping you gain some understanding about your basic nature, your own mind. This nature of mind is always present, and it can be called different names: the natural state, the basic nature, the real condition, the enlightened essence, or buddha-nature. This basic nature is what is meant by ground.<br> Path is a state of confusion which is not recognizing this ground, our basic state, to be as it is. Conceptual mind and time are both present during the path. But when your mind is pure, free of these, that is called fruition, and that is what is to be attained. To reiterate, confusion is called path. This confusion can be cleared up. There are three methods to clarify confusion: view, meditation and conduct. By means of the view, meditation and conduct we reveal what is already present. Slowly and gradually, we uncover more and more of the basic state. This process is what I will try to explain. (Tsoknyi Rinpoche, chapter 1, 20–21) +
Why are we able to attain enlightenment? Is buddha-nature merely a metaphor for emptiness or something more? Is buddhahood something that is produced or uncovered? In this conversation, Casey Forgues explores these questions and more with Lopen Karma Phuntsho by referencing some of the earliest Mahāmudrā masters, including Nāropa, Marpa, and Gampopa. This discussion focuses on how the luminous mind (also sometimes known as clear light) was emphasized in terms of the basis, path, and fruition in this tradition, and how the three can be merged through meditative practices on luminosity.
In the recent publication ''[[Buddha Nature Across Asia]]'', edited by Klaus-Dieter Mathes and Casey Forgues (Kemp), Casey contributes a chapter focused on an important concept related to buddha-nature and our innate propensity for buddhahood—natural luminosity (''prakṛtiprabhāsvaratā''), the theory that the inherent condition of mind is luminous and pure, and afflictions (''kleśa'') are merely adventitious. While this idea is found in the Pāli canon, it came to be particularly thematized as the basis for buddhahood among the various Mahāyāna traditions. The natural luminosity of mind is a central topic in the ''Ratnagotravibhāga'' and came to be understood by some commentators to be synonymous with buddha-nature, especially within the Tibetan Kagyü Mahāmudrā tradition. Casey provides a semantic gloss of the term among key Indian canonical texts, including sūtra, tantra, and dohā sources, that directly influenced the doctrine of natural luminosity among the early Mahāmudrā teachings. She looks into how Maitrīpa (986–1063), Nāropa (1016–1041), and Marpa (1012–1097) in particular understood the luminous mind to be inseparable from the ''dharmakāya'', which led to later traditional Mahāmudrā understandings of buddha-nature. While buddha-nature sources are not extensively referenced in the earliest available Mahāmudrā teachings, Casey demonstrates how the doctrine of natural luminosity directly influenced teachings on buddha-nature, and vice versa, in the tradition.
You can download the PDF of the book for free online here: https://wstb.univie.ac.at/wp-content/uploads/WSTB_103.pdf
[[People/Kemp, C.|Casey Forgues (Kemp)]] is a PhD candidate at the University of Vienna and editorial director of [https://www.khyentsevision.org/ Khyentse Vision Project]. Casey received her MPhil in Tibetan Studies at the University of Oxford and has translated sūtras for 84000. Her research focuses on tantric philosophical views of the luminous nature of mind in the early Mahāmudrā tradition (eleventh-thirteenth centuries). She is the co-editor of ''[[Buddha Nature Across Asia]]'' and has published on topics including death and dying in tantric Buddhism, buddha-nature, the six yogas of Nāropa, and the Kalācakra tradition.
Books/Cataphatic Emptiness: rGyal-tshab on the Buddha-essence Theory of Asaṅga's Ratnagotravibhāgavyākhyā +
'''Abstract'''<br>
<br>
This doctoral dissertation studies the ''Ratnagotravibhāga'' (''Uttaratantra''), the only surviving Indian Buddhist treatise on the Buddha-essence doctrine, by way of one of its major Tibetan commentaries, rGyal-tshab Dar-ma-rin-chen (1364-1432)'s ''Theg pa chen po rGyud bla ma'i ṭīkā''. This project consists of three parts: a special edition of the first chapter of the ''Theg pa chen po rGyud bia ma'i ṭīkā'', an English translation of the selected sections of that commentary, and a comparative analysis which follows six distinct lines of inquiry.<br> The six lines are: rGyal-tshab's doctrinal classification of the text; his critiques of absolutism, skepticism, and quietism in connection with diverse interpretations of the Buddha-essence doctrine in Tibetan traditions as well as a tentative comparison with critiques of the theory of "Original-enlightenment" in modern Chinese Buddhism; his analysis of the title of Tibetan version and the structure of the text; rGyal-tshab's
philosophical positions on reality, Element, and natural luminosity of the mind; his expositions of the tripartite Buddha-essence, its ten aspects, and the eighteen similes; and the notion "spiritual gene" understood by dGe-lugs-pas.<br> This comparative approach will provide a broader synthetic understanding of the role that Buddha-essence played as a doctrinal genre in Tibetan intellectual history. +
As the title indicates, the present study is primarily devoted to a textual examination of the ''Ta-ch'eng-hsüan-lun'' (hereafter referred to as ''Hsüan-lun''), a work written by the Sanlun monk Chi-tsang (549-623) to serve as an outline of the major teachings of his Three Treatises tradition.[1] The text consists of several independent essays on subjects such as the "Two Truths," "Eight Negations," "Buddha-nature," "Ekayāna," "Nirvāṇa," and "Two Knowledges."[2] From this compendium on Sanlun doctrine, the essays on the "Two Truths" and the "Buddha-nature" will primarily serve as the textual basis for this study. The objective of this dissertation is to discuss how the Sanlun theory of two truths (''saṁvṛti-satya'' and ''paramārtha-satya'') and the ''Nirvāṇa-sūtra'' concept of Buddha-nature (''buddha-dhātu'') were defined and interpreted by Chi-tsang.[3]
More specifically, this study will explore the relationship between the theory and practice of the two truths and the Buddha-nature. In these two significant components of Chi-tsang's thought, one can see the synthesis of the Prajñāpāramitā doctrine of emptiness (''śūnyatā'') and the Buddha-nature theory of "not-empty" (''aśūnya''). In combining these two major doctrinal trends of Mahāyāna Buddhism, Chi-tsang's thought is innovative and constitutes an important phase in Chinese intellectual history. (Koseki, introduction, 1)<br><br>
<h5>Notes</h5>
#Biographical data on Chi-tsang can be found in the ''Hsü Kao-seng-chuan'' (T5O, 513c-515a). The material selected by Tao-hsüan explains that Chi-tsang was a third generation Chinese whose ancestors originally came from Parthia {An-hsi). Passing through what is now North Vietnam, his family eventually settled in Chin-ling {Nanching), where Chi-tsang was born. According to the biography, Chi-tsang's countenance was Central Asian, but his speech was Chinese, and he apparently never forgot his ethnic background. Many of his works are often signed, "Hu Chi-tsang," again indicating his Central Asian origins. Chi-tsang came from a family of Buddhists; his father was also a monk who took the name, Tao-liang. Two points in the biography are rather hazy. First, the biography states that Chi-tsang became a novice under Fa-lang (507–581) when he was seven. Material on Fa-lang indicates that he left Mt. She, the center of San-lun studies in the south (Chiang-nan), in 558 to reside at the Hsing-huang ssu in Chien-k'ang (Nanching). At that time, Chi-tsang was ten or eleven. Second, the biography also notes contact with Paramārtha, the Tripiṭaka-master, who arrived in China in 546. According to Kanakura Enshō, Paramārtha entered Chin-ling in 548 and immediately left the following year. Chi-tsang may have received his name from Paramārtha, but during Paramārtha's brief stay in Chin-ling, Chi-tsang_probably had not made his appearance in the world. See Kanakura Enshō, ''Sanron Gengi'' (Tokyo: Iwanami, 1941), pp. 191–92. In addition to the primary material, see, also, Ōchō Enichi, "Eon to Kichizō," ''Bukkyō Shisō-shi Ronshū'' (Tokyo: Daizō Shuppansha, 1964), pp. 433–450; Hirai Shunei, ''Chūgoku Hannya Shisō-shi Kenkyū'' (Tokyo: Shunjū-sha, 1976), pp. 346–50. For a discussion of the three Mādhyamika texts (Sanlun), translated by Kumārajīva (''Middle Treatise'', ''Twelve Topic Treatise'', and the ''Hundred Treatise'' by Āryadeva), see Richard Robinson, ''Early Mādhyamika in India and China'' (Madison: University of Wisconsin Press, 1967), pp. 28–39.<br>
#In addition to these six essays, two additional essays have been added, a content analysis of sūtras and śāstras. The material in these sections is taken from Chi-tsang's other work, the ''Sanlun-hsüan-i''. The essay on the two truths is similar in content to an independent work on the two truths, the ''Erh-t_i-i''. Material on ''ekayāna'' is also similar to his large work on the ''Lotus Sūtra'', the ''Fa-hua-hsüan-lun''. The essay on the "Two Knowledges" draws much of its material from a large commentary on the ''Vimalakīrti-sūtra'', the ''Ching-ming~hsüan-lun''. Finally, the essays on Buddha-nature and nirvāṇa are independent works and do not overlap with his other writings. The origins of the essay on the "Eight Negations" is not clear. Ui Hakuju, for example, believes that this essay was not written by Chi-tsang. Early Sanron scholars such as Chinkai also question the authenticity of this essay (cf. ''Daijo genron mondō'', T70, 572c- 573a). Whether Chi-tsang actually wrote this essay still remains a question, and the most common answer given is that this essay was written by Chi-tsang's contemporary, Chün-cheng. Chün-cheng is the author of another Sui Sanlun work, the ''Ta-ch'eng-ssu-lun-hsüan-i''. Despite the problem of authorship, Hirai believes that the ''Hsüan-lun'' as a whole is a work written by Chi-tsang (or compiled by a disciple). The content of the essays is consistent with Chi-tsang's other works, and all the Japanese catalogs and commentators agree that it is a work written by the "Great Master of Chia-hsiang ssu," Chi-tsang's posthumous title. Ui also noted that the text was known as the ''Ta-ch'eng-hsüan-i'' or the ''Ta-ch'eng-hsüan-chang''; he also referred to a twenty chüan version of the text, but did not give his source. Again, the Japanese catalogs and commentators all agree that the text was written in five chüan. See Ui Hakuju, "Daijo genron kaidai," ''Kokuyaku Issaikyō, Shoshubu'' I (Tokyo: Daitō Shuppansha, 1965), pp. 67–73. See, also, Hirai Chūgoku Hannya, pp. 356; 378.<br>
#The Sanskrit for Buddha-nature (''buddha-dhātu'' or ''buddha-gotra'') follows Takasaki Jikidō, ''Nyoraizo Shisō no Kenkyū'' (Tokyo: Shunjūsha, 1974), p. 11. See, also, his article, "Nyoraizō-Busshō shisō," ''Kōza Bukkyō Shisō'', vol. 3 (Tokyo: Risōsha, 1975), pp. 101–133. Further, see Ogawa Ichijō, ''Nyoraizo-Busshō no Kenkyū'' (Kyoto: Buneidō, 1974), pp. 62–66.
Geydak Rinpoche, who attended the full three day conference, gives an extemporaneous review of the conference on behalf of the attendees. He shares that it was his first experience of an intellectual gathering including most brilliant representatives from all Tibetan Buddhist traditions. In the past, such thing was not possible and he would have assumed that there would be only much debate, confrontation and mudslinging and not a friendly, joyful and substantive discussion, if the differing traditions came together. The event, he says, was an eye opener and an exceptional event to share and learn from the best of minds with much laughter and joy.
In India, many such events may be happening but he shares how it is in fact both wonderful and ironic that such a convention of Buddhist scholars is the first one take place in Nepal, the birth place of the Buddha himself. Such meeting of minds was long overdue and he expresses his deepest gratitude to Tsadra Foundation and Shechen monastery for organising and hosting such an august event.
The event, which he says might have taken years to plan, is also exemplary in bringing together the traditional wisdom and learning with modern methodology and tools. Abstracts, paper and presentations are easily available online making it very convenient for access. Moreover, every monastery and scholarly centre in Kathmandu and areas in the vicinity were invited and asked to send their members to benefit from the event. Thus, as a participant, he states it was a free intellectual feast which each of the participants must have enjoyed and will cherish. He prays that all the attendees make the best of such an endeavour and continue to learn from the scholarly presentations. +
Khenpo Gyurme Tshultrim presents his vote of thanks to all presenters, who represent the main institutions of the Tibetan Buddhist traditions, the attendees and organisers. He says that it is an honour and fortune for Shechen monastery to host such an august gathering of great significance. He recounts how Dr Lopen Karma Phuntsho first called him, then visited Shechen monastery, and how the wonderful event gradually took shape.
He expresses gratitude to the presenters, who represent the best minds of the different Buddhist traditions, for their learned presentations and the abstracts and papers, which contain many months and years of work on their part. He also conveys his thanks to the monastic centres in and around Kathmandu for taking the rare opportunity and attending the conference despite busy schedule in the holy month of Saga Dawa. Invitations have been sent to most monasteries and centres in the area, with earnest request to attend, and the response was great. He explains that it is imperative that all traditions come together, given the easy communication facilities, to discuss and share their understanding and interpretations instead of remaining secluded and antagonising each other. It is time for the Buddhist scholars to also engage in conversations with non-Buddhist schools and update our knowledge and understanding. He requests the young attendees to take extra interest and zeal in studies and grasp opportunities such as this conference, and make use of the research papers even after the conference.
He, then, expresses his gratitude to Dr Karma Phuntsho, the convenor, Eric Colombel and Andrea, who have done so much for Tibetan Buddhism through the programmes of Tsadra, Marcus Perman, the director of Tsadra, and the team including Gwen Witt-Dorring, Dawa, Migmar and Kiran who helped organise the conference. He also thanks the Shechen team for moral support and actual organisation, particularly Lopen Karma Jurme who was the focal person for the conference. He also acknowledges Koncho, the treasurer of Shechen for the help in arranging the meals.
He also makes requests that more such events are organized in the future.
The volume brings together a selection of the late author's previously published papers written in English (and one in German). Their subject matter relates by and large to the ''tathāgatagarbha'' theory or the idea of Buddhanature, which have been the main subjects of his research over the years.<br> In part 1 he has singled out those scriptures that use the term ''tathāgatagarbha'' as their principal term and identified three scriptures—''Tathāgatagarbha-sūtra'', ''Anūnatvāpurṇatvanirdeśa'', and ''Śrīmālādevīnirdeśa''—as the basis for the formation of the ''tathāgatagarbha'' theory. Next, he has placed the ''Mahāyāna Mahāparinirvāṇa-sūtra'', which uses the term ''buddhadhātu'' for the first time as a synonym of ''tathāgatagarbha'', and associated scriptures in a second group, while in the third group we have the ''Laṅkāvatāra-sūtra'' and so on, in which the concept of ''tathāgatagarbha'' is identified with ''ālayavijñana'', the basic concept of the Vijñānavāda.<br> In part 2, he has dealt with the prehistory of the ''tathāgatagarbha'' theory in Mahāyāna scriptures that use terms synonymous with ''tathāgatagarbha'', such as ''gotra'' and ''dhātu'', ''tathāgatagotra'', ''tathāgatotpattisambhava'', ''āryavaṃsa'', ''buddhaputra'', ''dharmadhātu'' and ''dharmakāya'', ''cittaprakṛti'', and so on. The main points made in this work are discussed in the papers that have now been brought together in the present volume.<br> This volume has for convenience' sake been divided into seven parts according to subject matter. Part 1 presents a textual study, namely, a critical edition of chapter 6 of the ''Laṅkāvatāra''. Part 2 deals with subjects concerning scriptures such as the ''Laṅkāvatāra'', part 3 with technical terms and basic concepts of the ''tathāgatagarbha'' theory, part 4 with ''tathāgatagarbha'' doctrine in general, and part 5 with Japanese Buddhism and Buddhism in East Asia (on the basis of scriptures translated into Chinese). Part 6 presents a historical survey of Japanese scholarship on Buddhism, and part 7 consists of several book reviews. (Source: [https://www.mlbd.in/products/collected-papers-on-the-tathagatagarbha-doctrine-jikido-takasaki-9788120839441-8120839447 Motilal Banarsidass])
The issue of sinification—the manner and extent to which Buddhism and Chinese culture were transformed through their mutual encounter and dialogue—has dominated the study of Chinese Buddhism for much of the past century. Robert Sharf opens this important and far-reaching book by raising a host of historical and hermeneutical problems with the encounter paradigm and the master narrative on which it is based. ''Coming to Terms with Chinese Buddhism'' is, among other things, an extended reflection on the theoretical foundations and conceptual categories that undergird the study of medieval Chinese Buddhism.<br><br>
Sharf draws his argument in part from a meticulous historical, philological, and philosophical analysis of the ''Treasure Store Treatise'' (''Pao-tsang lun''), an eighth-century Buddho-Taoist work apocryphally attributed to the fifth-century master Seng-chao (374–414). In the process of coming to terms with this recondite text, Sharf ventures into all manner of subjects bearing on our understanding of medieval Chinese Buddhism, from the evolution of T’ang “gentry Taoism” to the pivotal role of image veneration and the problematic status of Chinese Tantra.<br><br>
The volume includes a complete annotated translation of the ''Treasure Store Treatise'', accompanied by the detailed exegesis of dozens of key terms and concepts. (Source: [https://uhpress.hawaii.edu/title/coming-to-terms-with-chinese-buddhism-a-reading-of-the-treasure-store-treatise/ University of Hawai'i Press]) +
This edited transcript from Nītārtha Institute includes a detailed presentation of the five paths (accumulation, junction, seeing, meditation, completion), the two grounds (grounds free from attachment and the Buddha grounds), and the results (three nirvanas, three kayas, five wisdoms, and qualities of freedom and maturation), which was given in Jamgön Kongtrul Lodrö Taye's work, ''Treasury of Knowledge'' (''shes bya mdzod''), and presented by a graduate of Karma Shri Nalanda Institute, Acharya Lama Tenpa Gyaltsen. +
Dzogchen Ponlop Rinpoche explains the origins of love and compassion as the first step to love ourselves so we can love others. Recorded in Hartford, CT., May 2013. +
The present paper is a considerably revised version of my doctoral dissertation entitled "Contributions to the Development of Tibetan Buddhist Logic - from the eleventh to the fifteenth century." This dissertation was submitted to the Faculty of Oriental Studies, University of Hamburg, in January of 1979. The title has been changed for two reasons. The first of these is a conceptual one. Namely, in the course of my subsequent studies of Buddhist tshad-ma (pramāṇa), I have decided to translate this fundamentally untranslatable term by 'epistemology'. While this rendition does also not do justice to its semantic range, I feel that it has at least the merit of being less misleading than the more widely used 'logic', especially for those who have no background in Indian or Tibetan studies, and who may chance to come across this title. It is and remains an untranslatable term.<br> The second reason for my changing the original title of my dissertation, is that I felt obliged to change its scope. The vast literature on Tibetan Buddhist epistemology, which has become available during the last few years, necessitated such a curtailment. Especially the presently available Dga'-ldan-pa contributions by Rgyal-tshab-rje and Mkhas-grubrje, in particular, need to be properly assessed, and this takes time. Moreover, much but not all of the subsequent Sa-skya-pa literature in this area by Go-ram-pa and Gser-mdog Pan-chen must be read with the particular theories of these Dga'-ldan-pa philosophers in mind. To undertake such a comparative study cannot be done in a hurried fashion. Some references to the Dga'-ldan-pa contributions have, however, been made in the course of this paper on the basis of my original access to but a limited number of their writings. Nonetheless, a significant portion of my dissertation that deals with the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries, has been included in the footnotes of the present paper where I was concerned with historical or bio-bibliographical details. (van der Kuijp, preface, vii)<br><br>
[https://www.scribd.com/document/255465514/Contributions-to-the-Development-of-Tibetan-Buddhist-Epistemology Read more here . . .]
''Counsels from My Heart'' is one of the few volumes of teachings by Dudjom Rinpoche, a legendary meditation master of the Nyingma lineage of Tibetan Buddhism, to become available in English. It features talks given in 1962, the 1970's and 80's, presented in Dudjom Rinpoche's characteristically incisive and direct style, bringing the timeless heart-counsels of this great teacher vividly to life. (Source: [https://www.shambhala.com/counsels-from-my-heart-440.html Shambhala Publications]). The Padmakara Translation Group gratefully acknowledges the generous support of the Tsadra Foundation in sponsoring the translation of this book. +
''Creation and Completion'' represents some of the most profound teachings of Jamgön Kongtrul (1813-99), one of the true spiritual and literary giants of Tibetan history. Though brief, it offers a lifetime of advice for all who wish to engage in-and deepen-the practice of tantric Buddhist meditation.
The original text, beautifully translated and introduced by Sarah Harding, is further brought to life by an in-depth commentary by the contemporary master Thrangu Rinpoche. Key Tibetan Buddhist fundamentals are quickly made clear, so that the reader may confidently enter into tantra’s oft-misunderstood “creation” and “completion” stages.
In the creation stage, practitioners visualize themselves in the form of buddhas and other enlightened beings in order to break down their ordinary concepts of themselves and the world around them. This meditation practice prepares the mind for engaging in the completion stage, where one has a direct encounter with the ultimate nature of mind and reality. (Source: [https://wisdomexperience.org/product/creation-and-completion/ Wisdom Publications]) +
In the late 1980s and early 1990s, the relative calm world of Japanese Buddhist scholarship was thrown into chaos with the publication of several works by Buddhist scholars Hakamaya Noriaki and Matsumoto Shiro, dedicated to the promotion of something they called Critical Buddhism (hihan bukkyo). In their quest to re-establish a "true" - rational, ethical and humanist - form of East Asian Buddhism, the Critical Buddhists undertook a radical deconstruction of historical and contemporary East Asian Buddhism, particularly Zen. While their controversial work has received some attention in English-language scholarship, this is the first book-length treatment of Critical Buddhism as both a philosophical and religious movement, where the lines between scholarship and practice blur. Providing a critical and constructive analysis of Critical Buddhism, particularly the epistemological categories of critica and topica, this book examines contemporary theories of knowledge and ethics in order to situate Critical Buddhism within modern Japanese and Buddhist thought as well as in relation to current trends in contemporary Western thought. (Source: [https://www.taylorfrancis.com/books/9781315574912 Taylor & Francis]) +
Jamie Hubbard and Paul Swanson discuss Critical Buddhism, a trend in Japanese Buddhist scholarship associated primarily with the work of Hakamaya Noriaki and Matsumoto Shiro. +
Wŏnhyo (617–686) is the dominant figure in the history of Korean Buddhism and one of the most influential thinkers in the Korean philosophical tradition. Koreans know Wŏnhyo in his various roles as Buddhist mystic, miracle worker, social iconoclast, religious proselytist, and cultural hero. Above all else, Wŏnhyo was an innovative thinker and prolific writer, whose works cover the gamut of Indian and Sinitic Buddhist materials: Some one hundred treatises and commentaries are attributed to him, twenty-three of which are extant today. Wŏnhyo’s importance is not limited to the peninsula, however. His writings were widely read in China and Japan, and his influence on the overall development of East Asian Mahāyāna thought is significant, particularly in relation to the Huayan, Chan, and Pure Land schools.
In ''Cultivating Original Enlightenment'', the first volume in The International Association of Wŏnhyo Studies’ Collected Works of Wŏnhyo series, Robert E. Buswell Jr. translates Wŏnhyo’s longest and culminating work, the ''Exposition of the Vajrasamâdhi-Sûtra (Kŭmgang Sammaegyŏng Non)''. Wŏnhyo here brings to bear all the tools acquired throughout a lifetime of scholarship and meditation to the explication of a scripture that has a startling connection to the Korean Buddhist tradition. In his treatise, Wŏnhyo examines the crucial question of how enlightenment can be turned from a tantalizing prospect into a palpable reality that manifests itself in all activities. (Source: [https://uhpress.hawaii.edu/title/cultivating-original-enlightenment-wonhyos-exposition-of-the-vajrasamadhi-sutra-kumgang-sammaegyong-non/ University of Hawai'i Press]) +
Soon after the inception of Buddhism in the sixth or fifth century B.C.E., the Buddha ordered his small band of monks to wander forth for the welfare and weal of the many, a command that initiated one of the greatest missionary movements in world religious history. But this account of a monolithic missionary movement spreading outward from the Buddhist homeland of India across the Asian continent is just one part of the story. The case of East Asian Buddhism suggests another tale, one in which the dominant eastward current of diffusion creates important eddies, or countercurrents, of influence that redound back toward the center. These countercurrents have had significant, even profound, impact on neighboring traditions.</br>
In East Asia perhaps the most important countercurrent of influence came from Korea, the focus of this volume. Chapters examine the role played by the Paekche kingdom in introducing Buddhist material culture (especially monastic architecture) to Japan and the impact of Korean scholiasts on the creation of several distinctive features that eventually came to characterize Japanese Pure Land Buddhism. The lives and intellectual importance of the monks Sungnang (fl. ca. 490) and Wonch’uk (613–696) are reassessed, bringing to light their role in the development of early intellectual schools within Chinese Buddhism. Later chapters discuss the influential teachings of the semi-legendary master Musang (684–762), the patriarch of two of the earliest schools of Ch’an; the work of a dozen or so Korean monks active in the Chinese T’ient’ai tradition; and the Huiyin monastery. [https://uhpress.hawaii.edu/title/currents-and-countercurrents-korean-influences-on-the-east-asian-buddhist-traditions Source: University of Hawai'i Press] +
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Anthology of articles covering such topics as the early history of the ''Awakening of Faith'', the influence of its doctrine of original enlightenment on early Chan, Fazang's commentary, the rhetoric of the text, and the concept of the "one vehicle" (''ekayāna''). ([https://www.oxfordbibliographies.com/view/document/obo-9780195393521/obo-9780195393521-0170.xml Source Accessed July 3, 2020]) +
