Mahayana Myths And Stories

Sangharakshita introduces us to the wonderful world of three of the best-loved Mahayana sutras - a world from which we emerge with treasures in the form of teachings and advice that are a great support in how to live our lives in the everyday world. From the transcendental critique of religion and the means of unification offered by the Vimalakirti-nirdesa to the light shed on economics, ecology and politics by the Sutra of Golden Light, these commentaries offer a unique and deeply meaningful perspective on the value of human existence.

An image or story can mysteriously convey a sense of truth that the most convincing intellectual argument cannot. In the White Lotus Sutra, bursting with symbols, imagery and myths, we meet the Buddha as a story-teller. Indeed, this sutra tells the greatest of all stories, that of human life and human potential. This great story takes the cosmos as its stage and all sentient beings as its players, yet within it lie many tales that address aspects of our lives or personalities. This delightfully illustrated commentary on one of the most influential, revered and well-loved Buddhist scriptures brings these stories vividly to life and shows how they relate to our own spiritual quest.

This book is dealing with the study of mythology around the world, relating to and dealing with the interpretation of myths, legends, and occasionally extending to logos, speech. It explains myths and their allegorical narrative pertaining to the gods, demigods, and legendary heroes of a particular people and their branch of knowledge that deals with a popular belief or assumption that has grown up around someone or something. Myths explained as traditional stories about the past, often including religious or fantastic elements; as they can be found in all societies, although they may function in different ways. They may be attempts to explain the origins of the universe and of mankind, the development of political institutions, or the reasons for ritual practices, or they may simply be told for the love of a good story.

Myths and Fictions — the third in a series of books on comparative philosophy and religion — is a collection of original essays, none previously published, on the theory and the actuality of myths and fictions in the different cultures of the world. Through all the essays there runs the question of the relation of literal truth to truth conceived in other ways or dimensions. Taken as a whole, the book makes a serious attempt to get beyond the confines of any single culture and enter into the mythical imagination of the ancient Hindus, Chinese, Hebrews and Christians, and by this act of imagination to escape (in Italo Calvino's words) "the limited perspective of the individual ego, not only to enter into selves like our own but to give speech to that which has no language..."

This Is A New Release Of The Original 1913 Edition.

Features a collection of Buddhist tales with themes of wisdom, nonviolence, environmentalism, and respect for life. Combines ancient story traditions with contemporary thought, displaying the relevance of the tales to modern times.

In the White Lotus Sutra, bursting with symbols, imagery and myths, we meet the Buddha as a story-teller. This sutra tells the greatest of all stories, that of human life and human potential. This great story takes the cosmos as its stage and all sentient beings as its players. This delightfully illustrated commentary on one of the most influential, revered and well-loved Buddhist scriptures brings these stories vividly to life and shows how they relate to our own spiritual quest.