Shenhui thus founded what became known as the Heze (in Japanese, Kataku) school of Zen. The branch largely died out during the early ninth century and is not remembered as a major school. Nevertheless, the doctrine of sudden enlightenment remained a central characteristic that defined the teaching styles and cultural flavour of later Chinese Zen…
Books
Buddhist books
The Princeton Dictionary of Buddhism
With more than 5,000 entries totalling over a million words, this is one of the most comprehensive and authoritative dictionary of Buddhism in English. It is also the first to cover terms from all of the canonical Buddhist languages and traditions: Sanskrit, Pali, Tibetan, Chinese, Japanese, and Korean…
Great Wisdom Sutra from the Chū sonji Temple Sutra Collection
The frontispiece to this sutra chapter shows a dramatic three-quarters view of the Buddha seated with two bodhisattvas. Seven figures pay obeisance to the Buddha, with the six in front raising offerings of food. The silver used to articulate sections… Read More ›
Esoteric Buddhism and the Tantras in East Asia
Some scholars use esoteric Buddhism and tantra as virtually interchangeable, generic terms covering distinctive developments all across Buddhist Asia from the third or fourth centuries C.E. onward…
Burmese scenes from the Life of the Buddha
After six years of hardship, working to find the right spiritual path and practising on his own to seek enlightenment, Prince Siddhartha reached his goal of enlightenment when he was thirty five…
Two Tibetan works on Chan from the Tenth-century
Later Tibetan accounts agree that the Chinese side lost, leading to expulsion of Chan (Zen) Buddhism from Tibet. However, evidence from Dunhuang, such as this manuscript, suggests that Chan’s influence in Tibet continued well into the tenth-century.
Maha Prajnaparamita Sutra – Tangut Manuscript
The Buddha: Without mark is this perfection of wisdom. Just as the element of space and the element of air cannot be approached by the mark of the total reality of any dharma, just so the perfection of wisdom.
The Questions of Suvikrantavikramin. Perfect Wisdom: The Short Prajnaparamita.
The Long Way Home, by Sun Shuyun
On my journey, I think I found the other side of Buddhism, predominately the role of the mind. Buddhism is not as criticised or attacked in the historical Marxist approach, the materialistic approach which maintains that the mind is really not important and that our material condition determines everything. Some of the monks in the monasteries laid down their lives to defend their faith…