Essential Buddhism: A Complete Guide to Beliefs and PracticesSimon and Schuster, 2001 - 262 pages Four hundred million people call themselves Buddhists today. Yet most Westerners know little about this powerful, Eastern-spawned faith. How did it begin? What do its adherents believe? Why are so many Westerners drawn to it? Essential Buddhism responds to these questions and many more, offering an accessible, global perspective on the religion's past, present, and future. It identifies how the principal concepts and practices originated and evolved through diverse cultural adaptations into three basic formats: * Theraveda (including Vipassana, brought from Vietnam in the 1960s and including such practitioners as Jack Kornfield and Jon Kapat-Zinn) * Mahayana (including Zen Buddhism, originally brought to America by Japanese teachers after World War II and popularized by Jack Kerouac and Thomas Merton) * Vajrayana (including Tibetan Buddhism, from the teachers who fled the Chinese takeover of Tibet in the 1950s as well as the Dalai Lama, and embraced by Allen Ginsberg, Richard Gere, and countless others) Essential Buddhism is the single best resource for the novice and the expert alike, exploring the depths of Buddhism's popularity and illuminating its tenets and sensible approach to living. Written in the lucid prose of a longtime professional storyteller, and full of Buddhist tales, scriptural quotes, ancient stories, and contemporary insights, Essential Buddhism is the first complete guide to the faith and the phenomenon. |
Table des matières
The Great Awakening The Buddha and His Legacy I | 1 |
The Three Vehicles of Buddhism Theravada Mahayana and Vajrayana | 33 |
The Path to Enlightenment Buddhist Beliefs | 75 |
Walking the Way Buddhist Practices | 115 |
The Dharma Comes to the West | 155 |
Buddhism and the New Millennium | 201 |
Glossary | 233 |
247 | |
253 | |
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American arhat Asia Avalokiteshvara awakening become believe birth bodhi bodhisattva body Buddhist teachings called century C.E. Ch'an chanting China Chinese Christian compassion concept culture Dalai Lama death Dharma dhism dhist disciples doctrine Dogen emptiness enlightenment example existence form of Buddhism Hinduism human India individual Japan Japanese John Daido Loori karma Karmapa kind king koan laypeople lifetime lineage Literally lives Lotus Sutra Mahayana Mahayana and Vajrayana major mantra means mental Milarepa millennium mind monastery monastic monk Nhat Hanh nirvana Noble Eightfold Path one's Pali Pali Canon path practice practitioners precepts Pure Land rebirth refers religion religious Rinpoche sangha Sanskrit schools of Buddhism scriptures sentient Shakya Shakyamuni Shambhala Siddhartha spiritual Sri Lanka story student suffering Suzuki teacher temples texts Theravada things throughout Tibet Tibetan Buddhism tion tradition tree Trikaya universe Vajrayana vehicle vipassana West Western wisdom words zazen Zen Center Zen master