Mapping Modern Mahayana

This book presents a multi-sited ethnographic study of the global development of the Taiwanese Buddhist order Fo Guang Shan. It explores the order’s modern Buddhist social engagements by examining three globally dispersed field sites: Los Angeles in the United States of America, Bronkhorstspruit in South Africa, and Yixing in the People’s Republic of China. The data collected at these field sites is embedded within the context of broader theoretical discussions on Buddhism, modernity, globalization, and the nation-state. By examining how one particular modern Buddhist religiosity that developed in a specific place moves into a global context, the book provides a fresh view of what constitutes both modern and contemporary Buddhism while also exploring the social, cultural, and religious fabrics that underlie the spatial configurations of globalization.

In 1959 Newsweek reported that a young Zen monk and scholar threatened to shake Japanese Buddhism by publishing the "secret answers" to the koan. Though he never took that step, Akizuki Ryomin did make good on his promise to devote himself to "breaking the formalism that constricts Zen and exposing the fake masters." Here, he brings his ideas on reform together into a proclamation of a "New Mahayana."

The Nanputuo Temple in the southeastern Chinese city of Xiamen has been a cherished site for the worship of the bodhisattva Guanyin for centuries. It was a center of modernizing Buddhism in the early twentieth century and a flagship for the revival of Buddhism after state suppression during the Cultural Revolution. The Space of Religion takes readers inside the Nanputuo Temple in order to explore the practice of Buddhism in modern China and the complex relationship between Buddhism and the Chinese state. Based on three decades of ethnographic research, Yoshiko Ashiwa and David L. Wank tell the story of Nanputuo against the backdrop of a dramatic stretch of Chinese history. They vividly depict episodes such as renovating the halls, reestablishing ties with overseas Chinese donors, conflicts with local government, revival of ritual life, reopening of its Buddhist academy, and the passion of the Guanyin birthday festival. To understand Nanputuo, Buddhist communities, and other temples in Xiamen, Ashiwa and Wank develop the concept of religion as a space constituted by physical, semiotic, and institutional dimensions. They also show how the Chinese state and Buddhism have each adapted to the other, as the temple has adjusted to government policy while the state has deployed Buddhism in its promotion of Chinese culture. This interdisciplinary book is both a theoretically generative analysis of religious spaces and an empirically rich account of the recovery of Buddhism in China after the Mao era.

The Oxford Handbook of American Buddhism offers the most comprehensive and up-to-date scholarship available on Buddhism in America. It charts the history and diversity of Buddhist communities, including traditions and communities that have been previously neglected, and looks at the ways in which Buddhist practices such as mindfulness meditation have been adopted in non-Buddhist settings.

In a unique overview of this inspiring tradition, Nagapriya introduces its themes and spectrum of practices, literature and movements. Charting the evolution and expression of the Mahayana as a whole, he tracks its movement across South and East Asia, uncovering its history, culture and doctrines and blending this extensive knowledge with a strong element of lived practice. Ideal for both teaching and personal use, this far-reaching guide provides a solid foundation for any study in Buddhism and a valuable voice on Asian history.

Buddhism is one of the world's oldest and largest religions having about 490 million followers. Mahayana Buddhists represent approximately two-thirds of the total Buddhist population. A large portion of Mahayanists resides in East Asia. They cannot be said to follow an undivided doctrine and have a unified religious lifestyle. Mahayana Buddhism, rather, consists of a multitude of ideas and practices with its followers holding various behaviors and attitudes. This book explores the lives and teachings of Mahayana Buddhists, who reside in Mainland China, Taiwan, Japan, Korea, Malaysia, and Myanmar, as well as in the ancient Gandhara region (today's north Pakistan and east Afghanistan). The time frame covered is from the beginning of the Mahayana movement in the Ancient Gandhara region in the first several centuries of the Common Era to the present-day lifestyle and practices of the Mahayanists as they respond to 2020's COVID-19 pandemic. In addition to the historical and doctrinal views of Mahayana Buddhism, the book features thematic chapters on topics, such as pandemic responses, Mahayana scriptures and sculptures, modern Mahayana teachings, charity, suicide, and ethnicity. The book also considers such social constructs as family and community and modern Buddhist movements in reshaping the traditional structures and cosmological beliefs of Chinese Mahayanists. In sum, this book is a unique effort to define the nature of Mahayana Buddhist life in the past and in the present as well as its teaching in Asia. It does so from various multidisciplinary perspectives.

The first complete English translation of Asanga's Mahayanasamgraha, the most important and comprehensive Indian Yogacara text, and all its available Indian commentaries. Winner of the Khyentse Foundation Prize for Outstanding Translation. The Mahāyānasaṃgraha, published here with its Indian and Tibetan commentaries in three volumes, presents virtually everything anybody might want to know about the Yogācāra School of mahāyāna Buddhism. It discusses in detail the nature and operation of the eight kinds of consciousness, the often-misunderstood notion of “mind only” (cittamātra), dependent origination, the cultivation of the path and its fruition in terms of the four wisdoms, and the three bodies (kāyas) of a buddha. Volume 1 presents the translation of the Mahāyānasaṃgraha along with a commentary by Vasubandhu. The introduction gives an overview of the text and its Indian and Tibetan commentaries, and explains in detail two crucial elements of the Yogācāra view: the ālaya-consciousness and the afflicted mind (kliṣṭamanas). Volume 2 presents translations of the commentary by Asvabhāva and an anonymous Indian commentary on the first chapter of the text. These translations are supplemented in the endnotes by excerpts from Tibetan commentaries and related passages in other Indian and Chinese Yogācāra works. Volume 3 includes appendices with excerpts from other Indian and Chinese Yogācāra texts and supplementary materials on major Yogācāra topics in the Mahāyānasaṃgraha.

Originating in India, Mahayana Buddhism spread across Asia, becoming the prevalent form of Buddhism in Tibet and East Asia. Over the last twenty-five years Western interest in Mahayana has increased considerably, reflected both in the quantity of scholarly material produced and in the attraction of Westerners towards Tibetan Buddhism and Zen. Paul Williams’ Mahayana Buddhism is widely regarded as the standard introduction to the field, used internationally for teaching and research and has been translated into several European and Asian languages. This new edition has been fully revised throughout in the light of the wealth of new studies and focuses on the religion’s diversity and richness. It includes much more material on China and Japan, with appropriate reference to Nepal, and for students who wish to carry their study further there is a much-expanded bibliography and extensive footnotes and cross-referencing. Everyone studying this important tradition will find Williams’ book the ideal companion to their studies.