Overview and Comments on "Series on Mahayana Buddhism, Volume IV: Wisdom/World/Words: Mahayana Buddhist Scriptures I" - Recommended for studying the formation and development of the Prajnaparamita, Kegon, and Lotus Sutras.
Introduced here is the "Series Mahayana Buddhism, Volume 4: Wisdom/World/Words, Mahayana Buddhist Scriptures I" published by Shunju-sha in 2013.
Let's take a quick look at the book.
This volume presents a new perspective on the origins of Mahayana Buddhist scriptures, and also takes up representative Mahayana Buddhist scriptures such as the Prajnaparamita, Kegon, and Lotus Sutras to elucidate their formation and development in Asia in detail.
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The previous three volumes of this series have discussed the overall picture of Mahayana Buddhism, and now in the "Mahayana Buddhism Series, Volume IV: Wisdom/World/Words: Mahayana Buddhist Scriptures I," the Mahayana scriptures themselves will finally be discussed.
In particular, as noted in the book introduction above, this work takes a closer look at the major scriptures of Mahayana Buddhism: the Prajnaparamita Sutra, the Kegon Sutra, and the Lotus Sutra.
The "Preface" to this book discusses this as follows.
As is well known, the number of Mahayana scriptures is enormous in terms of both variety and volume. The fourth and fifth volumes of this series introduce the contents of selected sutras that are considered essential for understanding the characteristics of Mahayana Buddhism, while taking into account the latest research results. In this fourth volume, we will focus on the Hannya, Kegon, and Lotus Sutras.
In a broad sense, these sutras, which belong to the early Mahayana scriptures, had an enormous influence not only on India, where they were established, but also on the Buddhist world, including Central Asia and East Asia, where they were transmitted. The Lotus Sutra was extremely popular in the regions where it was transmitted by the northern route, as indicated by the fact that the largest number of Sanskrit manuscripts of any Mahayana scripture has been discovered to date. The Hannya Sutra has been found in manuscripts and inscriptions in Bengal, Sri Lanka, and Gilgit in a wide area of South Asia, and the Kegon Sutra has left direct traces of its influence from Central Asia to Borobudur in Java, both of which are scriptures that were disseminated throughout Asia, beyond the region of northern transmission of Buddhism. (omitted).
Wisdom, World, Words. The wisdom of the Prajnaparamita, Kegon, and Lotus Sutras, which have guided history and created the Buddhist world throughout Asia, is convincingly demonstrated in each of the novels in this volume. The wisdom that led people in new directions in India, where Buddhism originated, and in Asia, where it was transmitted, and the world that emerged from that wisdom. Both have been created by the "words" contained in the scriptures listed here. The wisdom, the world, and the words are one and the same, and this is the Mahayana sutras presented in this volume.
Shunju-sha, Series Mahayana Buddhism, Vol. 4: Wisdom/World/Words, Mahayana Buddhist Scriptures I, p. ii-v.
The book will discuss in detail the formation of each sutra and its development.
Frankly, it is far beyond the level of an introductory book on Buddhism. I would not recommend this book to anyone seeking an introduction to Buddhism.
But for those who want to learn more about these scriptures in depth, this is a very useful reference book.
The Prajnaparamita Sutra, the Kegon Sutra, and the Lotus Sutra are the fundamental texts of Japanese Buddhism. This book, "Mahayana Buddhism Volume 4: Wisdom/World/Words: Mahayana Buddhist Scriptures I," is based on the latest research into how these sutras were born and how they developed.
It is a valuable book to learn the latest results of Buddhist studies, although it is quite specialized. I recommend this book to anyone who wants to learn more about Buddhism in depth.
The above is "Series Mahayana Buddhism, Volume IV: Wisdom/World/Words: Mahayana Buddhist Scriptures I" - recommended for studying the formation and development of the Prajnaparamita, Kegon, and Lotus Sutras.
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