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Title: Buddhist Mahayana Texts (Sacred Books of the East) by et al., E. B. Cowell ISBN: 0-486-25552-2 Publisher: Dover Pubns Pub. Date: 01 December, 1987 Format: Paperback Volumes: 1 List Price(USD): $12.95 |
Average Customer Rating: 4.5 (2 reviews)
Rating: 4
Summary: From Theravada to Pure Land
Comment: This inexpensive volume contains several important Buddhist scriptures. Included is the Buddha Karita, the story of the Buddha's life. It is a prose translation of the original poem by the great Indian literary master, Asvaghosha. The translation was done a long time ago and so their are many Christo-centric interpretations of words that Buddhists would never use,like "soul" and "penance". Such terms should be more like "consciousness" and "austerity" respectively. These mistakes are forgivable, whether you're Christian or Buddhist, when you realize how beautiful the interpretation is otherwise. Look out for sexist language more indicative of Asvaghosha's milieu than the Buddha's life. Also included are a long and short version of the Shukhavati Vyuha, an important Pure Land text used by the Buddhist sects devoted to Amitabha Buddha. In it is a wonderful, mythical description of one of the Buddhist Heavens, Shukhavati, the Western Realm of Bliss. Buddhists read this scripture for the dead at special ceremonies. The Heart Sutra is also in here. It is sometimes described as the Buddhist Lord's Prayer. Many Buddhists recite it daily and there is even a scene in Bernardo Bertolucci's Little Buddha movie where some monks blissfully break into the Heart Sutra while visiting at a friend's house. Bertolucci also had some opera singer perform it in an aria at the end of the movie...in Sanskrit no less! Wow. It actually worked too.
Rating: 5
Summary: Includes a beautiful, classic life story of the Buddha
Comment: This book consists of very early (1894) translations of several classic Buddhist texts, including the Buddha-karita, the Pure Land Sutras, and the Heart Sutra. For a more updated and scholarly translation of the Pure Land Sutras, I would recommend "The Land of Bliss: The Paradise of the Buddha of Measureless Light," translated by Luis Gomez, and of course there are a number of fine modern translations of the Heart Sutra. I think this book (Buddhist Mahayana Texts) is worth buying, however, for the English translation of the Buddha-karita, a beautiful and poetic life story of the Buddha by the ancient Indian poet Ashvagosha. This is one of the classics of Indian literature. Even though the English translation may sound a little dated, the richness and beauty of the Sanskrit original still shines through.
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Title: The Holy Teaching of Vimalakirti: A Mahayana Scripture by Vimalakirtinirdesa. English, Robert A. F. Thurman ISBN: 0271006013 Publisher: Pennsylvania State Univ Pr (Txt) Pub. Date: March, 1987 List Price(USD): $16.50 |
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Title: The Fundamental Wisdom of the Middle Way: Nagarjuna's Mulamadhyamakakarika by Nagarjuna, Jay L. Garfield ISBN: 0195093364 Publisher: Oxford Press Pub. Date: November, 1995 List Price(USD): $17.95 |
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Title: Tibetan Book of the Dead by Robert Thurman ISBN: 0553370901 Publisher: Bantam Pub. Date: 01 December, 1993 List Price(USD): $15.95 |
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