Overview and Comments on "Series on Mahayana Buddhism, Volume 10: Mahayana Buddhism in Asia" - Indian Buddhism also practiced funerary Buddhist bone worship, bone storage, and memorial services.
The book introduced here is "Series Mahayana Buddhism, Volume 10: Mahayana Buddhism in Asia," published by Shunju-sha in 2013.
Let's take a quick look at the book.
Focuses on the relationship between Mahayana Buddhism and other Asian religions and cultures. The influence of Mahayana Buddhism will be discussed from a broad perspective, including Hinduism and literature.
This volume expands the view to other Asian religions and cultures, and attempts to explore the possibilities of Mahayana Buddhist studies from a new perspective in contrast to the traditional study of Buddhism based on literature.
AmazonProducts Page.
This work is a unique collection of essays that looks at Mahayana Buddhism from the perspective of its connections with Hinduism, Islam, and Chinese culture, as shown in the book introduction above.
It was very interesting to read about the relationship between the Hindu ritual of puja and Mahayana Buddhist rituals. We often hear that Indian Buddhism has incorporated more and more elements of Hinduism over the course of its history, but it was very stimulating to learn how they are connected at the specific ritual level.
And the most impressive part of the book is the first chapter, "From Buddhist Bibliography to Buddhist Archaeology: Burials Beside Saints and the Presence of the Buddha in Indian Buddhism," by Gregory Schopen.
Gregory Shoppen's writings have been published on this blogMonastic Life in India During the Rise of Mahayana Buddhism.andFalse Images and Fragments of Indian Mahayana Buddhism."andSeries on Mahayana Buddhism, Volume II: The Birth of Mahayana Buddhism.We have also introduced them in the following pages.
In this book, you will also enjoy Schopen's theory, which has had a huge impact on modern Buddhist studies. The "Preface" to this book explains this thesis as follows.
Although Schopen started his research on Buddhism from literary sources, he was one of the first to point out the inadequacies of such studies, and his elucidation of the reality of Indian Buddhism through the extensive use of archaeological data has had a great impact on the academic world. The translation included in this volume is one of the most important articles in Schopen's writings, and is the most succinct in its discussion of this point. In addition to the methodology of using archaeological materials, the Buddhist image that emerges as a result of the research is noteworthy in that it is completely different from the one that emerges from the literature. In other words, the stupa is the place where the dead Buddha continues to live, surrounded by a cluster of smaller stupas containing the ashes and bones of anonymous figures. Schopen has grimly compared it to the case of Koyasan, but in broad terms, it is known that funerary Buddhist elements have been strongly at work in the actual Buddhist scene since India. It has often been claimed that the original Buddhism of India teaches a better way of life for the living and not for the dead, a discourse that has been used to denigrate Japanese funeral Buddhism, but it has clearly shown that this is not the case at all. This is a remarkable achievement that has brought the nature of Buddhism into question from the very foundation.
Series Mahayana Buddhism, Volume 10: Mahayana Buddhism in Asia, published by Shunju-sha, p. iii
Roughly speaking, it is known that funerary Buddhist elements have been strongly at work in actual Buddhism since India. It has often been claimed that the original Buddhism of India taught a better way of life for the living and not for the dead, a discourse that has been used to denigrate Japanese funeral Buddhism, but it has been shown unequivocally that this is not the case at all."
This is a recommended reference book for reading these stimulating papers by Schopen. We encourage you to pick up a copy.
The above is "Series on Mahayana Buddhism, Volume 10: Mahayana Buddhism in Asia" - Indian Buddhism also practiced funerary Buddhist bone worship, bone storage, and memorial services.
Next Article.
Click here to read the previous article.
Related Articles
