Buddhism

The book opens with Peter Harvey’s historical overview of Buddhism, covering its spread, the Buddha’s cultural background, early Buddhist schools, Emperor Aśoka, Mahāyāna, Vajrayāna, the decline of Buddhism in India, the Buddhist world today, and modern challenges. Chapter 1, by Ulrich Pagel, studies Buddhist sacred writings, including the formation, transmission, canonization, languages, and use of Buddhist scriptures. Chapter 2, by Peter Harvey, examines Buddhist visions of the human predicament and its resolution through karma, rebirth, suffering, non-self, Buddha-nature, evil, liberation, and Buddhist goals. Chapter 3 explores ultimate reality and holy beings, including gods, nirvāṇa, arahats, buddhas, bodhisattvas, images, and symbols. Chapter 4 discusses devotional practices such as refuge, offerings, chanting, pilgrimage, festivals, and devotion to major figures including Avalokiteśvara, Amitābha, Bhaiṣajya-guru, and the Lotus Sūtra. Chapter 5 presents Buddhist rites of passage, including refuge-taking, ordination, tantric empowerment, marriage, death, and funerary rituals. Chapter 6 analyzes Buddhist ethics through karma, monastic rules, society, Mahāyāna ethics, and Vajrayāna ethics. Chapter 7 focuses on women in Buddhism across early Indian, Mahāyāna, Vajrayāna, and contemporary contexts. Chapter 8 examines Buddhist attitudes to nature, including non-injury, loving-kindness, animals, forests, plants, and environmental concerns. Chapter 9 studies cosmology, myth, symbolism, the Buddhist pantheon, tantric deities, Buddha narratives, stupas, mandalas, and mudrās. Chapter 10 concludes with sacred space, including stupas, inner sacred space, mandalas, tantric sacred sites, and the relation between outer and inner pilgrimage.