Buddhistic Studies

The volume is organized into thirty-six chapters covering major historical, doctrinal, literary, and cultural dimensions of Buddhism. It opens with studies on The Buddhism of Manimekhalai, Buddhist councils, the six heretical teachers, Gautama Buddha and the Paribbājakas, Mahāvīra and Buddha, and the quest for the historic Śākya-muni. The next group of chapters examines ancient Indian kings, Buddhist education in Pāli and Sanskrit schools, education from the Jātakas, Māra, dukkha and sukha, faith in Buddhism, saṃsāra as the philosophy of birth and death, and Buddhist Vinaya discipline. Further essays address numismatic data in Pāli literature, Buddhism and festivals in Ceylon, Asokan legends, the search for a philosophy of life in Buddhism, Nibbāna, man as willer, Asoka and his mission, Buddhism in Western Asia, the origin and development of the Pāli language, Buddhist worship and idolatry, Hindu and Buddhist mythology, Buddhism in Tamil literature, karma, and Ceylonese history. The final chapters extend the scope to the home of Pāli, Buddhism in Indo-China, Christian mysticism in relation to Buddhist doctrine, materials from a Buddhist workshop, Jñānaśrīmitra’s philosophy, Bodhisattva Lokanātha, and other Mahāyāna-related themes. Taken as a whole, the book presents Buddhism as a historical, philosophical, linguistic, ritual, and cultural tradition with deep influence across Asia.