Warder, A.K. - Indian Buddhism A. K. Warder - Indian Buddhism, 2004 (204p)

This book describes the Buddhism of India on the basis of the comparison of all the available original sources in various languages. It falls into three approximately equal parts. The first is a reconstruction of the original Buddhism presupposed by the traditions of the different schools known to us. It uses primarily the established methods of textual criticism, drawing out of the oldest extant texts of the different schools their common kernel. This kernel of doctrine is presumably common Buddhism of the period before the great schisms of the fourth and third centuries BC. It may be substantially the Buddhism of the Buddha himself, though this cannot be proved: at any rate it is a Buddhism presupposed by the schools as existing about a hundred years after the Parinirvana of the Buddha, and there is no evidence to suggest that it was formulated by anyone other than the Buddha and his immediate followers. The second part traces the development of the 'Eighteen Schools' of early Buddhism, showing how they elaborated their doctrines out of the common kernel. Here we can see to what extent the Sthaviravada, or 'Theravada' of the Pali tradition, among others, added to or modified the original doctrine. The third part describes the Mahayana movement and the Mantrayana, the way of the bodhisattva and the way of ritual. The relationship of the Mahayana to the early schools is traced in detail, with its probable affiliation to one of them, the Purva Saila, as suggested by the consensus of the evidence. Particular attention is paid in this book to the social teaching of Buddhism, the part which relates to the 'world' rather than to nirvana and which has been generally neglected in modern writings Buddhism. Preface to the third edition Preface to the second edition Preface to the first edition Contents Introduction The Sources of our Knowledge of Buddhism Methodology TheTripitaka The Matrka The Schools The Internal Chronology of the Tripitaka Buddhism Contrasted with Rival Teachings Interpretation 1. Indian Civilisation before the Buddha The Indus Civilisation The Aryans Brahmanism Vyasa 2. India in the time of the Buddha Social and Political Crisis The Philosophical Tradition The Sramanas The Srarnanas and Society The Main Sramana Schools other than the Buddhists 3. The life of the Buddha Chronology and Birth Renunciation and Enlightenment Teaching and Organising The Last Months and the Parinirvana 4. The Doctrine of the Buddha The Buddha’s Summary of his Principles Self-possession Exertion Power The Faculties The Strengths Enlightenment The Way Practice and Truth 5. Causation Conditioned Origination The Four ‘Foods’ Is there a Soul ? Consciousness Impermanence Freedom Experience Knowledge of Objective Facts Did the Buddha Claim Omniscience? Two Levels of Statement The Gods 6. Buddhism and Society The Buddha and the World Evolution and the Nature of Society The Ideal Society Good Government Class and the Priesthood The Buddha’s Teaching to the Laity The Lay Disciple 7. Collecting the Tripitaka The First Rehearsal of the Tripitaka The Empire of Magadha The Vaisali Affair and the Assembly of 700 Monks The First Schism The Abhidharma 8. The Popularisation of Buddhism Pagodas and Pilgrimages Poetry and Story-telling The Personality Schism Asoka: Buddhism to be Implemented The ‘All Exist' and other Schisms Buddhist Poetry in the Time of Asoka The Results of the Great Experiment 9. The Eighteen Schools The Schisms and Geography The Sthaviravada Ceylon The Commentaries The Caitikas, Andhra and the Satavahana Empire The Lokottaravada and Bahusrutlya : The Legend of the Buddha and Asvaghosa The Sarvastivada, proto-Sautrantika and the Kusana Empire South East Asia Art 10. Mahayana and Madhyamaka Mahayana The Bodhisattva The Perfection of Understanding Madhyamaka Nagarjuna Further Development of the Madhyamaka School New Trends in Mahayana The Ratnagotravibhaga and the Abhisamayalarikara Developments in the Early Schools after the Rise of the Mahayana 11. Idealism and the Theory o f Knowledge Idealism Asariga The Theory of Knowledge Sautrantika Epistemology: Vasubandhu II and Dirinaga 12. The Great Universities and the Mantrayana The Development of the Medieval Schools Dharmakirti and Pramana Abhidharma in and after the 5th century The Syncretistic Trend of Madhyamaka Mantrayana The Kriya The Spirit of Destruction Conclusion Bibliography Abbreviations Index Maps >>>>CONTENTS