Studies in the Buddhistic Culture of India: During the Seventh and Eighth Centuries A.D.

The book begins with “Background of Earlier Development,” tracing the historical and doctrinal foundations of Buddhism from the Buddha to Nāgārjuna, the emergence of Mahāyāna, its cultural inspiration, its relation to Hinduism, Buddhist development under the Guptas, and the religious tendencies of the sixth century. “Buddhism During the 7th and 8th Centuries” surveys the condition of Buddhism across regions such as Uttarāpatha, Kashmir, Madhyadeśa, Magadha, eastern India, Dakṣiṇāpatha, and western India. “Buddhist Art in the Monasteries” studies monasteries, stūpas, images, architecture, Nālandā, Bengal, Orissa, South India, and the influence of Tantra on Buddhist art. “Monastic Life and Discipline” describes the endowment, maintenance, organization, administration, etiquette, discipline, and ascetic life of monasteries. “Ethical and Spiritual Culture” discusses morality, meditation, wisdom, brahmavihāras, bodhipakṣika-dharmas, the Bodhisattva ideal, faith, devotion, Śāntideva, Kamalaśīla, Vajrayāna ethics, and Tantric practice. “Buddhist Education and its Centres” and “Buddhist Learning and Literature” examine Buddhist universities, teaching methods, courses of study, Nālandā, Valabhī, Vikramaśīla, foreign students, Buddhist authors, scholastic literature, and Tantric texts. “Buddhist Philosophy and Dialectic” presents major schools, debates between Mahāyāna and Hīnayāna, Madhyamaka, Vijñānavāda, Sautrāntika, Buddhist logic, epistemology, and the thought of Dharmakīrti, Śāntarakṣita, and Kamalaśīla. The later chapters analyze Kumārila and Śaṅkara on Buddhism, the origin and growth of esoteric Buddhism, the doctrines and practices of esoteric Buddhism, the beginnings of the decline of Buddhism in India, and finally the Buddhist contribution to Indian culture, including contributions to Hinduism, Vedānta, education, literature, art, architecture, political thought, and social thought.