Sentient Lands

In 1990, when Augusto Pinochet’s 17-year military dictatorship ended, democratic rule returned to Chile. Since then, Indigenous organizations have mobilized to demand restitution of their ancestral territories seized over the past 150 years. Sentient Lands is a historically grounded ethnography of the Mapuche people’s engagement with state-run reconciliation and land-restitution efforts. Piergiorgio Di Giminiani analyzes environmental relations, property, state power, market forces, and indigeneity to illustrate how land connections are articulated, in both landscape experiences and land claims. Rather than viewing land claims as simply bureaucratic procedures imposed on local understandings and experiences of land connections, Di Giminiani reveals these processes to be disputed practices of world making. Ancestral land formation is set in motion by the entangled principles of Indigenous and legal land ontologies, two very different and sometimes conflicting processes. Indigenous land ontologies are based on a relation between two subjects—land and people—both endowed with sentient abilities. By contrast, legal land ontologies are founded on the principles of property theory, wherein land is an object of possession that can be standardized within a regime of value. Governments also use land claims to domesticate Indigenous geographies into spatial constructs consistent with political and market configurations. Exploring the unexpected effects on political activism and state reparation policies caused by this entanglement of Indigenous and legal land ontologies, Di Giminiani offers a new analytical angle on Indigenous land politics.

In 1990, when Augusto Pinochet’s 17-year military dictatorship ended, democratic rule returned to Chile. Since then, Indigenous organizations have mobilized to demand restitution of their ancestral territories seized over the past 150 years. Sentient Lands is a historically grounded ethnography of the Mapuche people’s engagement with state-run reconciliation and land-restitution efforts. Piergiorgio Di Giminiani analyzes environmental relations, property, state power, market forces, and indigeneity to illustrate how land connections are articulated, in both landscape experiences and land claims. Rather than viewing land claims as simply bureaucratic procedures imposed on local understandings and experiences of land connections, Di Giminiani reveals these processes to be disputed practices of world making. Ancestral land formation is set in motion by the entangled principles of Indigenous and legal land ontologies, two very different and sometimes conflicting processes. Indigenous land ontologies are based on a relation between two subjects—land and people—both endowed with sentient abilities. By contrast, legal land ontologies are founded on the principles of property theory, wherein land is an object of possession that can be standardized within a regime of value. Governments also use land claims to domesticate Indigenous geographies into spatial constructs consistent with political and market configurations. Exploring the unexpected effects on political activism and state reparation policies caused by this entanglement of Indigenous and legal land ontologies, Di Giminiani offers a new analytical angle on Indigenous land politics.

Known in Chinese as Hua-yen and in Japanese as Kegon-kyo, the Avatamsaka Sutra, or Flower Ornament Scripture, is held in the highest regard and studied by Buddhists of all traditions. Through its structure and symbolism, as well as through its concisely stated principles, it conveys a vast range of Buddhist teachings. This one-volume edition contains Thomas Cleary's definitive translation of all thirty-nine books of the sutra, along with an introduction, a glossary, and Cleary's translation of Li Tongxuan's seventh-century guide to the final book, the Gandavyuha, "Entry into the Realm of Reality."

On the fourteenth day after His perfect enlightenment, Shakyamuni Buddha gave definitive teachings in nine assemblies. In these assemblies, He revealed to advanced Bodhisattvas the hindrance-free dharma realm of the one mind, and gave them the One Vehicle to Buddhahood through the six stages of the Bodhisattva Way. These teachings are contained in the Mahavaipulya Sutra of Buddha Adornment (Buddhavatamsaka-mahavaipulya-sutra), which is revered by Chinese Buddhists as the king of all sutras. Based on texts in the Chinese Buddhist Canon, this book, Rulus fifth, presents the English translations of the teachings in this sutra on the last two stages of the Bodhisattva Way, the Virtual Buddha Ground and the Buddha Ground. The translators introduction summarizes the teachings in this sutra and presents the five theses of the Huayan School of China, which explain that all things in the universe are interconnected and in complete unity. This book will benefit readers at all levels and can serve as a basis for scholarly research.

The Mah&_ratnak&_ta S&_tra is one of the five major sutra groups in the Mah&_y&_na canon. Of the two great schools of Buddhism, Mah&_y&_na has the greatest number of adherents worldwide&—it prevails among the Chinese, Japanese, Koreans, Tibetans, and Vietnamese&—and contains within it a number of movements, notably Zen, which have been of growing interest in the West in recent decades. Yet despite this increased attention and enormous following, translations of Mah&_y&_na scriptures have been scarce and fragmentary; clearly, a comprehensive translation of a major work within the canon was called for. This volume addresses that need. It contains 22 of the 49 S&_tras of the Mah&_ratnak&_ta (or &"Treasury&") S&_tra, many translated for the first time in a Western language, selected and arranged to give the modern reader a progressive introduction to one of the world's major religious traditions. Subjects covered include M&_y&_ and miracles, the teachings on Consciousness, Emptiness, and monastic discipline, the Mystical Light of the Tath&_gata, and the devotional practice of Pure Land, making this a comprehensive source book of Mah&_y&_na Buddhism hitherto unavailable in English. The book also includes an introduction to provide historical and interpretive guidance, annotations that assist in the comprehension of difficult passages, and an extensive glossary that will be valuable to specialist and layman alike. A team of scholars, working in Taiwan, spent eight years translating the Treasury's million words from Chinese, using Tibetan texts for comparison and checking each S&_tra with an international board of scholars. In the course of translating from the original, special effort was made to retain both the devotional style appropriate for religious reading and the precision required by the scholar, while presenting the material with a clarity and flow that would make it accessible to the Western layman. The editors then selected, arranged, and annotated the 22 S&_tras presented here. Published in cooperation with The Institute for Advanced Studies of World Religions.

The Mah&_ratnak&_ta S&_tra is one of the five major sutra groups in the Mah&_y&_na canon. Of the two great schools of Buddhism, Mah&_y&_na has the greatest number of adherents worldwide&—it prevails among the Chinese, Japanese, Koreans, Tibetans, and Vietnamese&—and contains within it a number of movements, notably Zen, which have been of growing interest in the West in recent decades. Yet despite this increased attention and enormous following, translations of Mah&_y&_na scriptures have been scarce and fragmentary; clearly, a comprehensive translation of a major work within the canon was called for. This volume addresses that need. It contains 22 of the 49 S&_tras of the Mah&_ratnak&_ta (or &"Treasury&") S&_tra, many translated for the first time in a Western language, selected and arranged to give the modern reader a progressive introduction to one of the world's major religious traditions. Subjects covered include M&_y&_ and miracles, the teachings on Consciousness, Emptiness, and monastic discipline, the Mystical Light of the Tath&_gata, and the devotional practice of Pure Land, making this a comprehensive source book of Mah&_y&_na Buddhism hitherto unavailable in English. The book also includes an introduction to provide historical and interpretive guidance, annotations that assist in the comprehension of difficult passages, and an extensive glossary that will be valuable to specialist and layman alike. A team of scholars, working in Taiwan, spent eight years translating the Treasury's million words from Chinese, using Tibetan texts for comparison and checking each S&_tra with an international board of scholars. In the course of translating from the original, special effort was made to retain both the devotional style appropriate for religious reading and the precision required by the scholar, while presenting the material with a clarity and flow that would make it accessible to the Western layman. The editors then selected, arranged, and annotated the 22 S&_tras presented here. Published in cooperation with The Institute for Advanced Studies of World Religions.

The Mahayana Buddhist doctrine teaches that all sentient beings have Buddha nature and will eventually attain Buddhahood. For the spiritual training of those who are resolved to become Buddhas to benefit themselves and others, Sakyamuni Buddha recommends a Pure LandAmitabha Buddhas Land of Ultimate Bliss. To be reborn in that land, one must have faith, resolve, and training. In that splendid environment and in the excellent company of advanced Bodhisattvas, one will attain Buddhahood with Amitabha Buddhas training and support. The Pure Land School, originated in China, is founded on five sutras and one treatise. This book, Rulus second, presents these six texts and four other sutras in English, all translated from texts in the Chinese Buddhist Canon. Five of these ten English translations have never before been published in book form. To help readers, the translators introduction provides an organized presentation of Pure Land teachings; another chapter tells the life stories of the patriarchs of the Pure Land School. Buddhist terms are explained in the glossary. This book will benefit readers at all levels and serve as a basis for scholarly research. For those who aspire to be reborn in the Pure Land, it is the only English guidebook available.