Asian Religion and Philosophy
Buddhist Scriptures as Literature
Looks at a variety of Buddhist sacred writings as literature and includes insights from literary theory.
Singing Krishna
Introduces Paramānand, one of India’s poet-saints, his work, and this work’s use in ritual.
From the May Fourth Movement to Communist Revolution
Using the life and work of influential Chinese writer Guo Moruo (1892–1978), reflects on China’s encounters with modernity, Communism, and capitalism.
The Fall of the Indigo Jackal
Contemporary critical theory is brought to the consideration of caste in the Pañcatantra, one of the best-known cycles of Indian tales.
The Dharma's Gatekeepers
A study of the seminal Tibetan Buddhist work, Gateway to Learning.
The Perfectibility of Human Nature in Eastern and Western Thought
Explores the issue of the perfectibility of nature in philosophy, psychology, and a variety of world religions.
Sacred Kōyasan
Takes the reader on a pilgrimage to Mount Kōya, the holy Buddhist mountain in Japan.
The Empathic Ground
Brings Asian theories of consciousness into dialogue with Western psychotherapeutic practices.
The Hongzhou School of Chan Buddhism in Eighth- through Tenth-Century China
A comprehensive study of the Hongzhou school of Chan Buddhism, long regarded as the Golden Age of this tradition, using many previously ignored texts, including stele inscriptions.
Popularizing Buddhism
Explores the ritual practice of Buddhist preaching.
Embodying the Dharma
Examines the practice of relic veneration in a variety of forms of Buddhism.
Dealing with Deities
Explores the practice of taking ritual vows in South Asia, a lay tradition prevalent in the region’s religions.
Iron Eyes
Looks at the contributions of a major figure in Buddhism and provides translations of his writings.
Zen Sanctuary of Purple Robes
A fascinating look at a Zen convent throughout its history.
Confucian Cultures of Authority
Explores a wide range of Confucian-based cultures of authority in China.
Magical Progeny, Modern Technology
A Hindu bioethics of reproductive technology that references the Mahābhārata.
The Flood Myths of Early China
Explores how the flood myths of early China provided a template for that society’s major social and political institutions.
Rewriting Early Chinese Texts
Explores the rewriting of early Chinese texts in the wake of new archaeological evidence.
The Construction of Space in Early China
Shows how the emerging Chinese empire purposely reconceived but was also constrained by basic spatial units such as the body, the household, the region, and the world.
The Yijing and Chinese Politics
Discusses interpretations of the Yijing (the I Ching or Book of Changes) during the Northern Song period and how these illuminate the momentous changes in Chinese society during this era.
The Pristine Dao
A new reading of Daoism, arguing that it originated in a particular textual tradition distinct from Confucianism and other philosophical traditions of early China.
Mencius on Becoming Human
A new interpretation of the Confucian classic, the Mencius, based on both traditional sources and newly discovered documents.
Sleep as a State of Consciousness in Advaita Vedānta
Explores deep sleep (susupti), one of the three states of consciousness in Advaita Vedanta, and the major role it plays in this philosophy.
Bashō's Haiku
A wonderful new translation of the poetry of Basho—Zen monk, poet of nature, and master of the haiku form.
Reconciling Yogas
Presents the various religious approaches to Yoga described by Haribhadra, the eighth-century sage, who held a universal view of religion. Includes a translation of his original text on Yoga.
Hiding the World in the World
Presents wide-ranging and up-to-date interpretations of the Zhuangzi, the Daoist classic and one of the most elusive works ever written.
Timing and Rulership in Master Lü's Spring and Autumn Annals (Lüshi chunqiu)
Explores proper timing and the arts of rulership in the work that inspired China's first emperor.
The Sutra of Perfect Enlightenment
A concise guide to the key practice systems of the East Asian Meditational schools Ch'an, Son, and Zen.
Asceticism in Early Taoist Religion
Using a wide variety of original sources, this book examines how and why early Taoists carried out such ascetic practices as fasting, celibacy, sleep deprivation, and wilderness seclusion.
Open Boundaries
Enlarges our understanding of Jainism, one of the oldest yet least-studied of the world's living religions, by challenging the standard scholarly portraits of both Jains and South Asian religion and culture.
Buddhahood Embodied
Provides many new translations of original texts formative of Mahayana concepts of Enlightenment and resolves the 1200-year-old controversy between Indian and Tibetan views of the meaning of buddhahood.
Chŏng Yagyong
Describes the historical background and philosophy of the reform-minded, eighteenth-century Korean thinker, Chong Yagyong.
A Concise Dictionary of Indian Philosophy
This new and revised edition provides a comprehensive dictionary of Indian philosophical terms. Terms are provided in both devanagari and roman transliteration along with their English translations.
Liberating Intimacy
Liberating Intimacy dramatically reevaluates the teachings and practice of Ch'an Buddhism. Considering Buddha's insight that everything is empty or absent of a permanent and independent "self nature," ...
Dōgen's Pure Standards for the Zen Community
Presents a complete, annotated translation of Dogen's writing on Zen monasticism and the spirit of community practice. Dogen (1200-1253) is Japan's greatest Zen master.
Veda and Torah
Enlarges our understanding of the term "scripture" through a comparative study of Veda and Torah.
The Korean Neo-Confucianism of Yi T'oegye and Yi Yulgok
This is a study of the most significant debate in Korean Neo-Confucianism between the two most eminent Neo-Confucian thinkers, summarizing their philosophies and providing refreshing insights into Confucian language and culture.
From Early Vedanta to Kashmir Shaivism
This book clarifies the relationship between God and the creation for Gaudapada, Bhartrhari, and Shankara, and by doing so, demonstrates a major continuity of thought from Gaudapada through Bhartrhari to Abhinavagupta and Kashmir Shaivism.
Ganapati
This book presents a wide range of information about Ganapati or Ganesh, the Hindu Lord of Beginnings, the Remover of Obstacles, the Keeper of the Threshold, and the Master of the Mind. He is elephant-headed, plump, and loveable, but who is he really?
Meditations on Shiva
Utpaladeva's poetry serves, and has for a thousand years served, as a guidebook for the spiritual path, providing words to express the otherwise ineffable experiences of personal transformation.
How Master Mou Removes Our Doubts
This is the first English translation of the earliest Chinese Buddhist text, but it is more than a translation. Keenan shows that Mou-tzu's Treatise on Alleviating Doubt is a Buddhist hermeneutic on the ...
Bhakti Religion in North India
In India, religion continues to be an absolutely vital source for social as well as personal identity. All manner of groups--political, occupational, and social--remain grounded in specific religious ...
Buddhism and Language
Taking language as its general theme, this book explores how the tradition of Indo-Tibetan Buddhist philosophical speculation exemplifies the character of scholasticism.
Scholasticism, as an abstract ...
The Four-Seven Debate
This book is an annotated translation, with introduction and commentary, of the correspondence between Yi Hwang (T'oegye, 1500-1570) and Ki Taesung (Kobong, 1527-1572) and between Yi I (Yulgok, 1536-1584) ...
Problems and Perspectives in Religious Discourse
Religious discourse uses ordinary language in an extraordinary way. This book surveys Western and Indian discussions of the nature and aspects of religious discourse. It presents the first cross-cultural ...
Self as Person in Asian Theory and Practice
This book is a sequel to Self as Body in Asian Theory and Practice (SUNY, 1992) and anticipates a third book, Self as Image in Asian Theory and Practice. In order to address issues as diverse as the promotion ...
The Elemental Changes
Composed in 2 B. C., as "The I Ching revised and enlarged," The Elemental Changes is a divination manual providing a clear method for distinguishing alternative courses of action. Structured in 81 tetragrams ...
Dōgen and the Kōan Tradition
This book has three major goals in critically examining the historical and philosophical relation between the writings of Dōgen and the Zen koan tradition. First, it introduces and evaluates recent Japanese ...
Studying the Sikhs
This basic guide and resource book targets four fields—religious studies, history, world literature, and ethnic or migration studies—in which Sikhism is now receiving greater attention. The authors ...
Purāṇa Perennis
In this volume, leading American, European, and Indian scholars including John E. Cort, Friedhelm Hardy, Padmanabh S. Jaini, Laurie L. Patton, A. K. Ramanujan, Velcheru Narayana Rao, and David Shulman ...
A Thousand Teachings
This is the best introduction to Vedanta and to Śaṅkara's philosophy. The Upadeśasāhasrī, or A Thousand Teachings consists of a metrical part and a prose part. In the metrical part, Sankara discusses ...
The Tao of the Tao Te Ching
In this new translation and commentary, LaFargue interprets the concept of "Tao" in the Tao Te Ching as a spiritual state of mind cultivated in a particular school in ancient China‚ a state of mind ...
Intuition and Reflection in Self-Consciousness
Nishida Kitaro's reformulation of the major issues of Western philosophy from a Zen standpoint of "absolute nothingness" and "absolutely contradictory self-identity" represents the boldest speculative ...