Chinese Buddhism

Buddhism is practiced by hundreds of millions of people worldwide, from Tibetan caves to Tokyo temples to redwood retreats. To an outside viewer, it might be hard to see what they all have in common. In Buddhism, His Holiness the Dalai Lama and American Buddhist nun Thubten Chodron map out with clarity the convergences and the divergences between the two major strains of Buddhism - the Sanskrit traditions of Tibet and East Asia and the Pali traditions of Sri Lanka and Southeast Asia.

Over the course of twenty-five centuries, Buddhism spread from its place of origin in northern India to become a global tradition of remarkable breadth, depth, and richness. Donald S. Lopez Jr. draws on the latest scholarship to construct a detailed and innovative history of Buddhism—not just as a chronology through the centuries or as geographic movement, but as a dense matrix of interconnections.

An ancient and deeply revered practice, Buddhism is even more popular now than it has been in decades. The secret behind its steady rise is due in part to the plethora of benefits Buddhism reaps upon those who practice it and apply its teachings to their lives. Through mindfulness and meditation, Buddhism injects peace and clarity into the minds and lives of those who dedicate themselves to it. Those wonderful benefits can be a part of your life as well through the careful study of its various tenets.

This lucid overview of the Buddhist path takes the perspective of the three "vehicles" of Tibetan Buddhism: the Hinayana, Mahayana, and Vajrayana. While these vehicles are usually presented as a historical development, they are here equated with the attitudes that individuals bring to their Buddhist practice. Basic to them all, however, is the need to understand our own immediate condition. The primary tool for achieving this is meditation, and The Essence of Buddhism serves as a handbook for the various meditative approaches of Buddhist practice.

This very short introduction offers listeners a superb overview of the teachings of the Buddha, as well as a succinct guide to the integration of Buddhism into daily life.

In this Guide to Buddhahood which the Chinese call Hsuan Fo Pu the listener will actually get Buddhism arranged in a definite and regular order, beginning with the lowest scale of existence and ascending regularly through the different stages of progress till finally Paradise and Buddhahood are attained.

As the practice of mindfulness permeates mainstream western culture, more and more people are engaging in a traditional form of Buddhist meditation. However, many of these people have little interest in the religious aspects of Buddhism, and the practice occurs within secular contexts such as hospitals, schools, and the workplace. Is it possible to recover from the Buddhist teachings a vision of human flourishing that is secular rather than religious without compromising the integrity of the tradition?

Speaking to an audience of Western students, the Dalai Lama shows us how to apply basic Buddhist principles to our day-to-day lives. Starting with the very foundation of Buddhism, the Four Noble Truths, he provides the framework for understanding the Buddha’s first teachings on suffering, happiness, and peace. He follows with commentary on two of Buddhism’s most profound texts: The Eight Verses on Training the Mind and Atisha’s Lamp for the Path to Enlightenment, often referring to the former as one of his main sources of inspiration for the practice of compassion.

One of the earliest of all Buddhist texts, the Atthakavagga, or Book of Eights, is a remarkable document, not only because it comes from the earliest strain of the literature - before the Buddha, as the title suggests, came to be thought of as a "Buddhist" - but also because its approach to awakening is so simple and free of adherence to any kind of ideology. Instead the Atthakavagga points to a direct and simple approach for attaining peace without requiring the adherence to doctrine.

Walk down the streets of Chinatown in any American or western European city and look around. She is there. Walk through the downtown streets, look in a shop window. She is there. Go to any city in China and open your eyes. She is there, too. Kuan Yin is the most ubiquitous Chinese deity - and the most loved. She is the living expression of compassion whose gentle face and elegant figure form the center of devotion in most Chinese homes and workplaces. Until relatively recently, she was barely known in the West, and few studies had been made of her.

In this simple yet important book, Noah Rasheta takes profound Buddhist concepts and makes them easy to understand for anyone trying to become a better whatever-they-already-are.

Drawing on decades of experience, a psychotherapist and Zen practitioner makes the Abhidharma—the framework of Buddhist psychology—accessible to a general audience for the first time. The Abhidharma, one of the 3 major text collections of the original Buddhist canon, explores the critical...

We understand that stress and chaos dominate modern-day life. We also know that every human being longs for freedom from negativity at some point. Through this book we seek to highlight the teachings of Gautama Buddha, who was none other than the master of peace and tranquility. Buddha once said that he was neither god nor an angel. He said he was merely "awake". So what is an "awakening"? How do we achieve this state?

感觉身体被掏空的职场人类，你是否厌倦了朝九晚五无聊等死的上班生活？你是否想过，我们终其一生在精钢混凝土里的忙碌，究竟能换来什么？千百年来，无数大师不断在《金刚经》中探寻生命真理。距今有1616年的《金刚经》到底说了什么？…… 感覺身體被掏空的職場人類，你是否厭倦了朝九晚五無聊等死的上班生活？你是否想過，我們終其一生在精鋼混凝土裡的忙碌，究竟能換來什麼？千百年來，無數大師不斷在《金剛經》中探尋生命真理。距今有1616年的《金剛經》到底說了什麼？

Discover the majestic landscapes, ancient traditions, and the relentless quest for freedom in this captivating journey. Explore the spiritual and everyday life of Tibetan civilization, from the mysterious beginnings of its people to their ongoing struggles under Chinese rule.

Gautama Buddha is also known as Siddharta Gautama, or simply the Buddha, which means "awakened" or "enlightened". Born a prince, he chose a path of ascetism only to realize that it was as profound an illusion as self-indulgence. He achieved enlightenment after 49 days of meditation; his awakening led him to discover the cause of suffering and the ways to eliminate it. These discoveries founded Buddhism, and his "Four Noble Truths" still form the heart of its teachings. We have selected for you 100 of Buddha's most influential quotes, to lead you towards a more awakened life, free from suffering and deeply conscious.

The Shaolin Monastery charts for the first time in any language the history of the Shaolin Temple and the evolution of its world-renowned martial arts. In this meticulously researched and eminently readable study Meir Shahar considers the economic political and religious factors that led Shaolin monks to disregard the Buddhist prohibition against violence and instead create fighting techniques that by the 21st century have spread throughout the world.

A Chinese Lord of the Rings and one of the all-time great fantasy novels--which Neil Gaiman has said "is in the DNA of 1.5 billion people"--now in a thrilling new translation A shape-shifting trickster on a kung-fu quest for eternal life, Monkey King is one of the most memorable superheroes in...

From the award-winning author of Bestiary, three cousins are forced to complete an impossible and violent task set by a vengeful demon. Cousins Cindy, Yangyang, and Mandy’s hot, tedious summer unfolds in their grandmother’s hauntingly familiar house. Mandy, the eldest, seeks connection...

The incredible true story of a teen who became an activist for the Tibetan independence movement, for readers of Red Scarf Girl and Farewell to Manzanar. Tsultrim Dolma, born in a tiny village in the stunning mountains of eastern Tibet, always knew there had to be more than the life expected of...