The Person Nichiren Part Four The Minobu Years And The Peak Of His Predication

"The mandala in Nichiren Buddhism" is the first comprehensive analysis of Nichiren's mandala in English. As the total number of pages in a single volume would reach 720, the book has been divided into three parts. In this first volume, the origin and evolution of Nichiren's mandala are examined, while the extant works produced in the Bun'ei and Kenji eras (2.1264 4.1275/4.1275 2.1278) are analyzed in detail. The second volume will thus examine the whole extant corpus produced in the Koan period, while in the third the missing, but catalogued mandalas will be analyzed along with a study of Nichiren's works from an holistic perspective, including the scrolls authored by his immediate disciples and later successors, within the various traditions. Together, these three volumes shall provide the reader with exhaustive information on Nichiren's mandala.

The Dharma Flower Sutra (Lotus Sutra) Seen through the Oral Transmission of Nichiren Daishōnin, translated and interpreted by Martin Bradley: "What is being attempted here is a close study of what it was that made Nichiren realise that the salvation of humankind is to be found within the text of the Dharma Flower or Lotus Sutra. Only at extremely sparse intervals in the course of history have there been a few individuals who have really comprehended what existence is all about. "The message is to devote our lives to and found them on the dimension where existence occurs whose interdependence of cause, concomitancy and effect pervades the entirety of existence and is Nam Myōhō Renge Kyō in Japanese. It is the recitation of the title and subject matter of the Dharma Flower Sutra that makes us realise that the meaning of existence is here and now in each and every moment of our lives and that the white lotus flower-like mechanism is the totality of all the possible reaches of our minds." Martin Bradley

Hakuin Ekaku Zenji (1686–1769) was one of the greatest Zen masters ever to live. Originator of the famous koan "What is the sound of a single hand?" he is credited with reviving the Rinzai sect of Zen in Japan, and today all masters of that sect trace their lineage back to him. Through his numerous descendants, his influence is now felt worldwide, with his "Song of Zazen" chanted daily in temples around the globe. Norman Waddell has spent decades reading and translating Hakuin's vast writings. He has published several previous selections, all leading to his work on this monumental gathering, the Keiso Dokuzui, little known in Japan and never before translated into any foreign language. Interpreting such a text requires immersion in the material in its original language, as well as complete mastery of the available commentary. Probably no one alive is as fully prepared for this important and difficult task as Dr. Waddell. For this collection, Hakuin gathered together an enormous number and variety of pieces—commentaries, memorials, poems, koans, teisho (lectures), letters, and more. Having presented many of them live to the throng of students residing in and around his temple as well as to other audiences around the country,

This “rich and rewarding work” explores the connections between ancient Buddhist doctrine and contemporary philosophy (Publishers Weekly). Tiantai Buddhism emerged in sixth century China from an idiosyncratic and innovative interpretation of the Lotus Sutra. It went on to become one of the most complete, systematic, and influential schools of philosophical thought developed in East Asia. In Emptiness and Omnipresence, Brook A. Ziporyn puts Tiantai into dialogue with modern philosophical concerns to draw out its implications for ethics, epistemology, and metaphysics. Ziporyn explains Tiantai’s unlikely roots, its positions of extreme affirmation and rejection, its religious skepticism and embrace of religious myth, and its view of human consciousness. Ziporyn reveals the profound insights of Tiantai Buddhism while stimulating philosophical reflection on its unexpected effects.

Innumerable studies have appeared in recent decades about practically every aspect of women's lives in Western societies. The few such works on Buddhism have been quite limited in scope. In The Power of Denial, Bernard Faure takes an important step toward redressing this situation by boldly asking: does Buddhism offer women liberation or limitation? Continuing the innovative exploration of sexuality in Buddhism he began in The Red Thread, here he moves from his earlier focus on male monastic sexuality to Buddhist conceptions of women and constructions of gender. Faure argues that Buddhism is neither as sexist nor as egalitarian as is usually thought. Above all, he asserts, the study of Buddhism through the gender lens leads us to question what we uncritically call Buddhism, in the singular. Faure challenges the conventional view that the history of women in Buddhism is a linear narrative of progress from oppression to liberation. Examining Buddhist discourse on gender in traditions such as that of Japan, he shows that patriarchy--indeed, misogyny--has long been central to Buddhism. But women were not always silent, passive victims. Faure points to the central role not only of nuns and mothers (and wives) of monks but of female mediums and courtesans, whose colorful relations with Buddhist monks he considers in particular. Ultimately, Faure concludes that while Buddhism is, in practice, relentlessly misogynist, as far as misogynist discourses go it is one of the most flexible and open to contradiction. And, he suggests, unyielding in-depth examination can help revitalize Buddhism's deeper, more ancient egalitarianism and thus subvert its existing gender hierarchy. This groundbreaking book offers a fresh, comprehensive understanding of what Buddhism has to say about gender, and of what this really says about Buddhism, singular or plural.

-- Tricycle: The Buddhist Review