This volume, "Series on Mahayana Buddhism, Volume II: The Birth of Mahayana Buddhism," is a continuation of the previous volume, "Series on Mahayana Buddhism, Volume I: What is Mahayana Buddhism?

What I particularly appreciated in this book was the presence of the second chapter by Masahiro Shimoda, "Creating Sutras: The Emergence of the Mahayana World."

In this chapter, Gregory Schopen's theories, which have been discussed on this blog in the past, are summarized in an easy-to-understand manner. It was very gratifying to learn an overview of Schopen's theory, which has had a tremendous impact on Buddhist studies in the modern era.

今作もショペン節全開で刺激的な読書になること間違いなしです。

私の中で特に印象に残っているのが第３章の「ブッダの遺骨と比丘の仕事」と第８章の「クシャーナ期阿弥陀仏像碑文とインド初期大乗の特質」です。

「原始仏教は葬式をしない。遺骨への供養も存在しない。それなのに日本仏教は葬式や先祖供養をする。これは仏教として間違っている」

このような批判が今も根強く残っていますが、実はこの批判そのものがもはや学術的に成立しないことがショペンの説から明らかになります。当時のインド仏教徒にとっても遺骨の存在は大切なものだったということが考古学的な証拠から明らかにされつつあります。これは刺激的な論稿でした。

また真宗僧侶である私にとって阿弥陀仏像の碑文のエピソードは非常に興味深いものがありました。

Mahayana Buddhism arose in criticism of the Lesser Vehicle Buddhism from the post-A.D. period, became a major force, and eventually came to Japan via China. We tend to think of Mahayana Buddhism in these terms, but it is a surprising fact that there is no evidence that the Mahayana cult itself existed until the 5th or 6th century. Although the Mahayana scriptures themselves date from the first century A.D., according to Schopen, there is no evidence of a separate Mahayana cult from the Small Vehicle cult.

What do you mean there is a scripture but no cult?" You may be wondering, "How is it that there is a scripture but no cult? I was wondering the same thing.

But Schopen vividly reveals how it works in this book. I can honestly say that I am shocked.

The Series on Mahayana Buddhism is unique in that it reflects the latest research findings.

It was published in 2011, which may seem like more than a decade ago now, but compared to Buddhist studies in the 1900s, its theories have changed a great deal.

The changes were also introduced in "History of New Asian Buddhism 02 India II: The Formation and Development of Buddhism," which was previously published on this blog, and there is a lot of overlap with this book, but since this is a collection of articles by different authors from the "History of New Asian Buddhism" series, a broader perspective can be gained from this book.

The book also contains a wealth of information about current Buddhist studies and reference books. So, as can be said here, this work is a "sure guidepost" for those who wish to study Mahayana Buddhism in the future.

The "Buddhist studies" that we took for granted and enjoyed were born completely unrelated to Japanese Buddhist thought and culture.

This book will give you a clear understanding of how "Buddhist studies" came into being and how it was brought to Japan and applied to Japan.

The most common criticism of Japanese Buddhism is that "compared to primitive Buddhism, Japanese Buddhism is corrupt," and we will consider the reasons for this criticism. We readers will also become aware of the problems with this criticism.

This book is a wonderful work that gives us a bird's eye view of the discipline of "Buddhist Studies" itself.