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Buddhist Literature Of Ancient Gandhara
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Book Synopsis Buddhist Literature of Ancient Gandhara by : Salomon Richard
Download or read book Buddhist Literature of Ancient Gandhara written by Salomon Richard and published by Simon and Schuster. This book was released on 2018-04-17 with total page 482 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Discover the fascinating history of a long-hidden Buddhist culture at a historic crossroads. In the years following Alexander the Great’s conquest of the East, a series of empires rose up along the Silk Road. In what is now northern Pakistan, the civilizations in the region called Gandhara became increasingly important centers for the development of Buddhism, reaching their apex under King Kaniska of the Kusanas in the second century CE. Gandhara has long been known for its Greek-Indian synthesis in architecture and statuary, but until about twenty years ago, almost nothing was known about its literature. The insights provided by manuscripts unearthed over the last few decades show that Gandhara was indeed a vital link in the early development of Buddhism, instrumental in both the transmission of Buddhism to China and the rise of the Mahayana tradition. The Buddhist Literature of Ancient Gandhara surveys what we know about Gandhara and its Buddhism, and it also provides translations of a dozen different short texts, from similes and stories to treatises on time and reality.
Download or read book Buddha in Gandhara written by and published by . This book was released on 2020 with total page 295 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:
Book Synopsis The Grandeur of Gandhara by : Rafi U. Samad
Download or read book The Grandeur of Gandhara written by Rafi U. Samad and published by Algora Publishing. This book was released on 2011 with total page 303 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The northwestern regions of Pakistan and southeastern regions of Afghanistan were once the heart of a highly developed civilization whose cultural impact was felt from China to Persia. A major center of Buddhism, its cultural attainments were highlights of ancient civilization. The author's research, accompanied by some 60 illustrations, offers Americans an entirely new understanding of the desolate region shown on the nightly news. The Persian, Greek and Central Asian invasions of Gandhara, rather than causing wide scale destruction in the region, promoted the development of a multi-cultural, multi-ethnic society. After a gestation period of about half a millennium, this region blossomed into a unique civilization in the opening years of the Common Era. Detailed archaeological excavations were started at sites in northern Pakistan and Afghanistan in the late-19th century. Through these excavations, eminent archaeologists such as Aurel Stein, Alexander Cunningham, John Marshall, J. Barthoux and Professor A.H. Dani recovered hundreds of thousands of beautiful stone sculptures belonging to the Gandhara Civilization. In the last century or so, much has been written about the artistic quality of these beautiful stone sculptures. But hardly anything has been written about the Civilization itself that gave birth to these extraordinary pieces of art. In this book an effort has been made to present Gandhara in its wider perspective, highlighting the different features of a unique civilization in which many different races contributed and many cultures merged to bring about a major sociological change and establish a distinct cultural identity in this region of the South Asian sub-continent. This book is based on the author's analysis of archaeologists' reports, information gathered through extended visits to numerous archaeological sites associated with the lost Gandhara Civilization including those in the Taxila, Peshawar, Charsadda, Mardan and Swat regions in Pakistan, and study in museums. His research reveals a great deal of continuity in the field of socio-cultural development of the region, which is referred to in this book as Greater Gandhara, from the time it became a part of the Achaemenid Empire in the 6th century BCE till the end of Kidara Kushan's rule in the 5th century CE. Further, it reveals that after the Achaemenids had established the physical and administrative infrastructure in Greater Gandhara, the continuity in socio-cultural development in the region was maintained mainly by the growing Buddhist population. This book illustrates the spirit of independence and features in the character of the ancient people of the Gandhara region which facilitated the sustained progress towards the emergence of the Gandhara Civilization. Following the invasion of Alexander the Great, his successors had no difficulty in colonizing Bactria (Northern Afghanistan) and Sogdia (Uzbekistan), but they could not do the same in Gandhara. Similarly the Scythians, Parthians and the Kushans ruled over the Central Asian region as colonizers, but not so in Gandhara. Here they ruled not over the people, but with the people. Their administration was highly de-centralized, with the locals playing a major role in the regional administration and having a major say in the social and cultural affairs of the entire population. Finally, the book highlights the interactive environment which prevailed in Gandhara throughout the transient and mature phases of the Gandhara Civilization: Alexander's companions hobnobbing with the naked fakirs of Taxila; Menander, the great Indus-Greek ruler, finding time to engage in prolonged question-and-answer sessions with Buddhist scholars at the monastery near Sagala (Sialkot); and the greatest of the Kushan conquerors, Kanishka, finding pleasure in the company of local intellectuals and artists such as Asvaghosha and Vasumitra, and presiding over the official launch of Mahayana Buddhism.
Book Synopsis A Gāndhārī Version of the Rhinoceros Sūtra by : Richard Salomon
Download or read book A Gāndhārī Version of the Rhinoceros Sūtra written by Richard Salomon and published by University of Washington Press. This book was released on 2000 with total page 276 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Launches the series of text editions and studies of the birth bark scrolls in the British Library's Kharosthi manuscript collection, dating from about the first century AD. Most of the Gandhari fragments have yet to be identified, but the Rhinoceros Sutra is also known in Pali and Sanskrit versions. A 100-page introduction to the language and manuscript is followed by a transcribed text with translation and an annotated text with translation and commentary. Color photographs of the fragments themselves are also included. Ghandhari words are indexed, but not subjects. c. Book News Inc.
Book Synopsis Ancient Buddhist Scrolls from Gandhāra by : Richard Salomon
Download or read book Ancient Buddhist Scrolls from Gandhāra written by Richard Salomon and published by Gandharan Buddhist Texts. This book was released on 1999 with total page 273 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: As the Dead Sea scrolls have changed our understanding of Judaism and early Christianity, so a set of twenty-nine scrolls recently acquired by the British Library promise to provide a window into a crucial phase of the history of Buddhism in India. The fragmentary birch bark scrolls, which were found inside one of a set of inscribed clay pots, are written in the Gandhari Prakrit language and in Kharosthi script. Dating from around the beginning of the Christian era, the scrolls are probably the oldest Buddhist manuscripts ever discovered. The manuscripts and pots come from a region known in ancient times as Gandhara, corresponding to modern northern Pakistan and eastern Afghanistan. At the peak of its influence, Gandhara was the capital of a series of wealthy and powerful dynasties and became one of the world?s most important centers of Buddhism and the gateway through which Buddhism was transmitted from India to China and other parts of Asia. Gandhara was also a principal point of contact between India and the Western world. Despite abundant archeological evidence of Gandhara?s thriving culture, until now there has been virtually no documentary evidence of its literary and religious canon. This volume introduces a groundbreaking project to decipher and interpret the Gandhäran texts. It provides a detailed description of the manuscripts and a survey of their contents, along with a preliminary evaluation of their significance. Also included are representative samples of texts and translations. This discovery sheds new light on the regional character of early Indian Buddhist traditions, the process of the formation of standardized written canons, and the transmission of Buddhism into central and east Asia. Ancient Buddhist Scrolls from Gandhara will appeal to a broad audience with interests in Buddhism, comparative religion, and Asian languages. For more information go to the Early Buddhist Manuscript Project web site at http://www.ebmp.org/
Book Synopsis Three Early Mahāyāna Treatises from Gandhāra by : Andrea Schlosser
Download or read book Three Early Mahāyāna Treatises from Gandhāra written by Andrea Schlosser and published by University of Washington Press. This book was released on 2022-08-16 with total page 339 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Buddhist texts on the path to liberation The Gandhāran birch-bark scrolls preserve the earliest remains of Buddhist literature known today and provide unprecedented insights into the history of Buddhism. This volume presents three manuscripts from the Bajaur Collection (BC), a group of nineteen scrolls discovered at the end of the twentieth century and named after their findspot in northwestern Pakistan. The manuscripts, written in the Gāndhārī language and Kharoṣṭhī script, date to the second century CE. The three scrolls—BC 4, BC 6, and BC 11—contain treatises that focus on the Buddhist concept of non-attachment. This volume is the first in the Gandhāran Buddhist Texts series that is devoted to texts belonging to the Mahāyāna tradition. There are no known versions of these texts in other Buddhist traditions, and it is assumed that they are autographs. Andrea Schlosser provides an overview of the contents of the manuscripts and discusses their context, genre, possible authorship, physical layout, paleography, orthography, phonology, and morphology. Transliteration and translation of the texts are accompanied by notes on difficult terminology, photographs of the reconstructed scrolls, an index of Gāndhārī words with Sanskrit and Pali equivalents, and a preliminary transliteration of the scroll BC 19.
Book Synopsis Gandharan Buddhist Reliquaries by : David Jongeward
Download or read book Gandharan Buddhist Reliquaries written by David Jongeward and published by Early Buddhist Manuscripts Project, Seattle. This book was released on 2012 with total page 0 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Gandhara, the ancient name for the region around modern Peshawar in northern Pakistan, was of pivotal importance in the production of Buddhist texts and art in the first centuries CE. Since the mid-nineteenth century, excavations of Gandharan monastery sites have revolutionized the study of early Buddhism. Among the treasures unearthed are hundreds of reliquaries--containers housing relics of the Buddha. This volume combines art history, Buddhist history, ancient Indian history, archaeology, epigraphy, linguistics, and numismatics to clarify the significance and function of these reliquaries. The story begins with the Buddha's last days, his death and funerary arrangements, and the distribution of the cremated remains, which initiated a relic cult. Chapters describe Gandharan reliquary types and subgroups, the archaeological and historical significance of collections, and the paleographic and linguistic interpretation of the inscriptions on the reliquaries. The 400 reliquaries illustrated and surveyed are from museums and private collections in Pakistan, India, Japan, Europe, and North America. Stone is the primary material of construction, along with bronze, gold, and silver. Shapes range from spherical and cylindrical to miniature stupas, a configuration that provides valuable information about the history of this Buddhist monumental form. David Jongeward is a visiting scholar at the Asian Institute, Munk School of Global Affairs, University of Toronto. Elizabeth Errington is curator of the Charles Masson Project, British Museum Department of Coins and Medals. Richard Salomon is professor of Asian languages and literature at the University of Washington. Stefan Baums is assistant adjunct professor of South and Southeast Asian studies at the University of California, Berkeley, and a research fellow at the School of Asian Studies, Leiden University.
Book Synopsis What in Brief Is Buddhism? by : Ananda W. P. Guruge
Download or read book What in Brief Is Buddhism? written by Ananda W. P. Guruge and published by Buddha's Light Publishing. This book was released on 2004 with total page 328 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: What in Brief is Buddhism is at once an erudite and accessible guide to the fundamental teachings of Buddhism, as well as to the major aspects of its practice. Divided into pithy and clearly delineated chapters, the book covers topics ranging from the roots of Buddhism in Indian thought to important aspects of Buddhist doctrine, such as the Four Noble Truths, and also to how Buddhism is practiced today in various parts of Asia. In covering such a vast territory of history, doctrine, and practice, the book serves as a meaningful encounter with Buddhism. Writing with primarily a Western audience in mind, Ananda Guruge draws from his extensive knowledge of Buddhism as both a long-time scholar and practitioner. This rich exposition of Buddhism's historical development and regional expansion is further enhanced by the addition of an anthology of Buddhist writings, and by a useful dictionary of Buddhist terms. All these resources make What in Brief is Buddhism a comprehensive guide to all the major aspects of the Buddhist tradition.
Book Synopsis Greek Buddha by : Christopher I. Beckwith
Download or read book Greek Buddha written by Christopher I. Beckwith and published by Princeton University Press. This book was released on 2017-02-28 with total page 299 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Presents a history of early Buddhism based solely on dateable artefacts and archaeology rather than received tradition, much of which data is provided by studying Pyrrho's history
Book Synopsis Four Gāndhārī Saṃyuktāgama Sutras by : Andrew Glass
Download or read book Four Gāndhārī Saṃyuktāgama Sutras written by Andrew Glass and published by University of Washington Press. This book was released on 2007 with total page 286 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Four Gandhari Samyuktagama Sutras continues the study of Gandharan Buddhist texts and is the first investigation of a scroll from the Senior Collection of Kharosthi manuscripts. Senior scroll number 5, one of the best preserved of all Kharosthi manuscripts, contains four short sutras that give a first-hand account of meditation practice in Gandhara in the middle of the second century A.D. Andrew Glass is the lead researcher on the Gandhari Dictionary Project and a member of the British Library/University of Washington early Buddhist Manuscripts Project (www.ebmp.org).
Book Synopsis The Legend of King Aśoka by : John S. Strong
Download or read book The Legend of King Aśoka written by John S. Strong and published by Motilal Banarsidass Publ.. This book was released on 1989 with total page 362 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This first English translation of the Asokavadana text, the Sanskrit version of the legend of King Asoka, first written in the second century A.D. Emperor of India during the third century B.C. and one of the most important rulers in the history of Buddhism. Asoka has hitherto been studied in the West primarily from his edicts and rock inscriptions in many parts of the Indian subcontinent. Through an extensive critical essay and a fluid translation, John Strong examines the importance of the Asoka of the legends for our overall understanding of Buddhism. Professor Strong contrasts the text with the Pali traditions about Kind Asoka and discusses the Buddhist view of kingship, the relationship of the state and the Buddhist community, the king s role in relating his kingdom to the person of the Buddha, and the connection between merit making, cosmology, and Buddhist doctrine. An appendix provides summaries of other stories about Asoka.
Book Synopsis The Buddha Image by : Yuvraj Krishan
Download or read book The Buddha Image written by Yuvraj Krishan and published by Bharatiya Vidya Bhavan. This book was released on 1996 with total page 176 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Illustrations: 247 b/w illustrations Description: This book deals with crucial though controversial questions in Buddhist art: the origin of the Buddha image and the iconography of the Buddha images. The earliest Buddhist art of Sanchi and Bharhut is aniconic : The Buddha is represented in symbols only. In the later Buddhist art of Gandhara and Mathura, the Buddha is represented in human form: he is the principal subject of sculptural art. The book seeks to explore the geographical area in which the image of the Buddha first emerged and whether the Buddhist doctrines-Hinayana or Mahayana-had anything to do with this transformation. The Buddha image, as developed eventually at Sarnath, became the model for the Buddha images in whole of Asia, south-east, central and eastern Asia. The iconographic features of the Buddha image are superficially an aberration, being in apparent conflict with the doctrine. The Buddha had cut off his hair at the time of his renunciation; the rules of the order enjoin that a monk must be tonsured and must discard and eschew all riches. However, in his images, the Buddha has hair on his head; later he is also endowed with a crown and jewels. After an exhaustive examination of the views of various scholars, the book answers these questions and resolves the controversies on the basis of literary, numismatic and epigraphic sources. More importantly it makes use of the valuable evidence from the contemporaneous Jaina art : Aniconism of early Jaina art and the iconographic features of Jaina images. The implications of this study are also important : Does India owe idolatry to Buddhism? Was this of foreign inspiration? Was the Buddha image fashioned after the Vedic Brahma and whether the Buddha's usnisa and Buddhist art motifs are rooted in the Vedic tradition? The book is profusely illustrated and provides rich and stimulating fare to students of Indian art in general and of Buddhist art in particular.
Book Synopsis Literary History of Sanskrit Buddhism by : Gushtaspshah Kaikhushro Nariman
Download or read book Literary History of Sanskrit Buddhism written by Gushtaspshah Kaikhushro Nariman and published by . This book was released on 1920 with total page 446 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:
Book Synopsis March of the Aryans by : Bhagwan S Gidwani
Download or read book March of the Aryans written by Bhagwan S Gidwani and published by Penguin UK. This book was released on 2012-07-17 with total page 680 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: In a remarkable feat of imagination and research, bhagwan S. Gidwani takes us back to the dawn of civilization (8000 BCE) to vividly recreate the world of the Aryans. He tells us why the Aryans left India - their native land - for foreign shores and shows us their triumphant return to their homeland. Here are characters like the gentle god Sindhu Putra, spreading his message of love; the hermit Bharat, who inspired the dream of unity, equality, human rights and dignity for all; the physician - sage Dhanawantar and his wife Dhanawantari; peace-loving Kashi after whom the holy city of Varanasi is named; and Nila who gave his name to the rive Nile. Vast and absorbing, with a cast of thousands, March of the Aryans is a gripping tale of kings and poets, seers and gods, battles and romance, and the rise and fall of civilisations, from the bestselling author of The Sword of Tipu Sultan.
Book Synopsis The Golden Rules of Buddhism by : Henry Steel Olcott
Download or read book The Golden Rules of Buddhism written by Henry Steel Olcott and published by FV Éditions. This book was released on 2016-07-13 with total page 30 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: "The too prevalent ignorance among even adult Sinhalese Buddhists of the ethical code of their religion leads me to issue this little compilation. Similar moral precepts exist by hundreds in the Buddhist Scriptures; where, also, all the present quotations will be found in the places indicated. They should be committed to memory and practised by parents and taught to their children, especially when the latter are being educated under anti-Buddhistic influences. " HS Olcott
Book Synopsis A Record of the Buddhist Countries by : Faxian
Download or read book A Record of the Buddhist Countries written by Faxian and published by . This book was released on 1957 with total page 102 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:
Book Synopsis Buddhist Manuscripts by : Jens Braarvig
Download or read book Buddhist Manuscripts written by Jens Braarvig and published by . This book was released on 2000 with total page 392 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:
