An introduction to Buddhism: teachings, history and practices

Contents
Illustrations
Tables
Preface to the Second Edition, and Acknowledgements
A Note on Language and Pronunciation
Abbreviations
Introduction
Chapter 1 The Buddha and his Indian Context
Background to the life of the Buddha
Brahmanism
The Sama&ndotbelow;as
The life of the Buddha
The renunciation and quest for awakening
The awakening and after
The first sermon and the spread of the teachings
The Buddha’s charisma and powers
The passing away of the Buddha
The nature and role of the Buddha
The nature and style of the Buddha’s teaching
Chapter 2 Early Buddhist Teachings: Rebirth and Karma
Rebirth and cosmology
The questions of a creator God and the origins of human life
The implications of the rebirth perspective
Karma
Generating and sharing karmic fruitfulness or ‘merit’
Belief in rebirth and karma
Chapter 3 Early Buddhist Teachings: The Four True Realities for the Spiritually Ennobled
The first True Reality for the Spiritually Ennobled: the painful
The five bundles of grasping-fuel: the factors of personality
Phenomena as impermanent and non-Self
The second True Reality for the Spiritually Ennobled: the origin of the painful
Conditioned Arising
The third True Reality for the Spiritually Ennobled: the cessation of the painful – Nirvā&ndotbelow;a
Nirvā&ndotbelow;a during life
The Arahat
Nirvā&ndotbelow;a beyond death
Nirvā&ndotbelow;a as an object of insight
The Fourth True Reality for the Spiritually Ennobled: The Path to the Cessation of the Painful
Chapter 4 Early Developments in Buddhism
The early Sa&ndotabove;gha
The Abhidhamma
The early schools and their doctrines
The three aspirations, Jātakas and Avadānas
Emperor Asoka and Buddhism
Devotion and symbolism in early Buddhism
The rise of the Mahāyāna
The nature of the Mahāyāna and its attitude to earlier schools
Chapter 5 Mahāyāna Philosophies: The Varieties of Emptiness
The Perfection of Wisdom literature and the Mādhyamika school
Sources and writers
The Śūnyatāvādin orientation
Empty dharmas and Conditioned Arising
Conventional truth and language
Emptiness
Skilful means and the transcending of views
Ultimate truth and thusness
Nirvā&ndotbelow;a and sa&mdotbelow;sāra
Self-emptiness and other-emptiness
The Yogācāra school
Sources and writers
The Yogācāra orientation
The Yogācāra and the Mādhyamika views of each other
The Yogācāra view of the role and nature of consciousness
The world as ‘thought-only’
The three natures
The Yogācāra path and goal
Purity and defilement
Tathāgata-garbha thought
Tathāgata-garbha sources
The Tathāgata-garbha
The Tathāgata-garbha and the defilements
Tathāgata-garbha thought in relation to the Mādhyamika and Yogācāra
The Tathāgata-garbha and the self-emptiness versus other-emptiness debate
East Asian developments
The Avata&mdotbelow;saka sūtra and the Huayan school
A comparative overview of Mahāyāna philosophies and their ideas of ‘emptiness’
Chapter 6 Mahāyāna Holy Beings, and Tantric Buddhism
The Path of the Bodhisattva
Wisdom, compassion and skilful means
The perfections and stages of the Bodhisattva
Mahayana Buddhology: Expansion with Regard to the Number, Location, Life-Span and Nature of Buddhas
Pure Lands and other Buddha-fields
The huge life-span of Buddhas
The Trikāya doctrine
The Mahāyāna Pantheon
The Tantric Perspective
The Mantranaya and the origin of tantric Buddhism
The phases of tantric texts, and the Vajrayāna
Tantric deities and adepts
Features of tantric Buddhism
Chapter 7 The Later History and Spread of Buddhism
India and Central Asia
La&ndotabove;kā
South-East Asia Excluding Vietnam
Yogāvacara: esoteric Southern Buddhism
The Lands of Northern Buddhism
China
Early history
The schools of Chinese Buddhism
The Pure Land schoolhairsp
The Chan school
Later history
Vietnam and Korea
Japan
Early history
The Pure Land schools
The Zen schools
The Nichiren school
Later history
Overview and Comparative Reflections
Chapter 8 Buddhist Practice: Devotion
Focuses and Locations of Devotional Acts
Bowing, Offerings and Chanting
The Refuges
Attitudes to Images
Protective Chanting
Some Mahāyāna Focuses of Devotion
Avalokiteśvara
Amitabhā
Bhai&sdotbelow;ajya-Guru
The Lotus Sūtra
Pilgrimage
Festivals
Chapter 9 Buddhist Practice: Ethics
The Role and Basis of Ethics in Buddhism
Giving
Keeping the Precepts
The first precept
The other precepts
The positive implications of the precepts
Taking extra precepts
Lovingkindness and Compassion
Care for the Dying and the Dead
The Ethics of Social Relationships
Chapter 10 Buddhist Practice: The Sa&ndotabove ;gha
The Role of Monasticism
The Monastic Code of Discipline
Patterns and Types of Ordination
Nuns
The Economic Base of the Monastic Life
Study and Meditation
Study
The meditative life
Communal Life
Relations with the Laity
Chapter 11 Buddhist Practice: Meditation and Cultivation of Experience-Based Wisdom
The Approach to Meditation
Qualities to be Developed by Meditation
Samatha and vipassanā
Approaches Beginning with Samatha in Southern Buddhism
Lovingkindness meditation
Mindfulness of breathing
The five hindrances and access concentration
The jhānas and formless attainments
Cessation and the higher knowledges
The Contributions of Samatha and Vipassanā Meditation in Southern Buddhism
Approaches Beginning with Vipassanā in Southern Buddhism
Investigation of the ‘three marks’
Some recent methods of vipassanā practice
The seven stages of purification
The Classical Path of Śamatha and vipaśyanā in Northern and Eastern Buddhism
Pure Land Visualizations
Tantric Visualizations
Mantras, mudrās and the yidam
Ma&ndotbelow;&ddotbelow;alas
Visualizations
The cakras and The ‘Six Yogas of Nāropa’
Sexual yoga
Tantric Techniques of Spontaneity
Mahāmudrā
Dzogch’en
Zen Meditation
Just Sitting
No-thought
Spontaneity and discipline
Kōan meditation
Kenshō
Sudden awakenings
Zen in action: straightforward mind at all times
The meditative arts of Zen
Chapter 12 The Modern History of Buddhism in Asia
Southern Buddhism
Sri Lanka
Thailand
Burmathinsp
Laos, Cambodia, Vietnam and Yunnan
India, Bangladesh and Nepal
Malaysia and Indonesia
Eastern Buddhism
Japan
The People’s Republic of China
Taiwan
Vietnam
Korea
Hong Kong, Macau, Singapore, Malaysia, Indonesia, Thailand and the Philippines
Northern Buddhism
Tibet
The Tibetan diaspora in Indiathinsp
Mongolia and related regions
Bhutan, northern India and Nepal
Chapter 13 Buddhism Beyond Asia
The Early Influence of Buddhism Through Literature, Philosophy and Psychology
The Theosophical Society: a bridge between east and west
Scholarship
The Internet, Films and Music
Immigration
Categories of Buddhists, and their Characteristics and Numbers
Buddhist Missions and Organizations
The USA
Canadathinsp
The United Kingdom and Ireland
Continental Europe
Australia, New Zealand, Latin America, Africa and Israel
Appendix I. Canons of Scriptures
Appendix II„ Web Resources
General links and resources
Free online journals and e-texts of print journals
Southern Buddhism
General Mahāyāna, especially texts
Northern Buddhism
Eastern Buddhism
Other organizations
Bibliography
Index