Table of Contents

Boxes, Figures, and Maps:
Preface:
Pronunciation Guide:
Introduction:
1. THE LIFE OF GAUTAMA BUDDHA
The Early Life of Siddhartha Gautama
Birth:
Youth:
The Four Sights:
The Great Renunciation
Spiritual Teachers:
Asceticism:
The Awakening of the Buddha
Enlightenment:
Nirvana:
The Mission of the Buddha
The Three Refuges:
Important Conversions:
Monasticism:
Social Concern:
Women's Ordination:
The Rebellion of Devadatta:
The Last Days of Gautama Buddha
2. THE TEACHINGS OF THE BUDDHA
The Three Characteristics
Impermanence:
Dissatisfactoriness:
No-Self:
The Five Aggregates
Dependent Arising
Karma and Rebirth
Buddhist Cosmology:
The Wheel of Life:
The Four Noble Truths
The Middle Way:
The First Noble Truth: Life Is Duhkha:
The Second Noble Truth: The Cause of Duhkha:
The Third Noble Truth: The Cessation of Duhkha:
The Fourth Noble Truth: The Eightfold Path to the Cessation of Duhkha:
Awakening:
The Eightfold Path
Right Understanding:
Right Thought:
Right Speech:
Right Action:
Right Livelihood:
Right Effort:
Right Mindfulness:
Right Concentration:
Nirvana
3. EARLY BUDDHISM AND THE WAY OF THE ELDERS
The First Council: Three Baskets
The Sutra Pitaka:
The Vinaya Pitaka:
The Abhidharma Pitaka:
Second and Third Councils: Many Paths
King Asoka
The Way of the Elders
Cultivating Morality:
Purification and Wholesomeness:
Releasement for Nirvana:
Four Lower and Higher Meditations:
Supernormal Abilities:
Tranquility Meditation:
Insight Meditation:
Wisdom:
Five Purifications:
The Four Paths:
Theravada Buddhism in Sri Lanka and Southeast Asia
Sri Lanka:
Southeast Asia:
Theravada Monastic and Lay Experience
The Cultural Experience of Thai Buddhism Today, Mano Mettanando Laohavanich
From Childhood to Adulthood
Marriages and Funerals
Popular Buddhist Practices
Contributions of Thailand to Buddhist Culture
4. THE GREAT VEHICLE
The Mahayana Sutras
Discovering the Perfection of Wisdom:
A Layperson's Sutra:
Exploring Consciousness:
The Lotus:
The Land of Bliss:
The Great Journey of the Bodhisattva
The Six Perfections:
The Ten Stages:
A Joyous Choice:
Purity, Luminosity, and Radience:
Meditation and Wisdom:
Beyond Arhatship to Buddhahood:
The Dharma Cloud:
The Three Bodies of the Buddha
Celestial Buddhas:
Celestial Bodhisattvas:
5. THE DEVELOPMENT OF BUDDHIST THOUGHT IN INDIA
The Abhidharma Philosophies
The Mahayana Philosophies
The Middle Way:
The Womb of the Buddha:
Foundations of Consciousness:
Theories of Knowledge
6. THE TIBETAN EXPERIENCES OF BUDDHISM
The Early Dissemination of Buddhism in Tibet
The Later Dissemination of Buddhism in Tibet
Tantra and Vajray?na Buddhism
Preliminary Practices:
Major Schools of Tibetan Buddhism
The "Scripture and Precept" School: Kadam:
The "Gray Earth" School: Sakya:
The "Oral Transmission" School: Kagyu:
The "Virtuous Ones" School: Geluk:
The Dalai Lama
Tibet in the Past Century
New Tibetan Buddhist Movements
The Cultural Experience of Tibetan Buddhism Today, Geshe Damdul Namgyal
Daily Rituals
Circumambulation
Prayer Wheels
Prayer Flags
The Ransom of Animals
Purifications
Auspicious Days
Pilgrimage
Wandering Storytellers
The Deeper Life
7. THE CHINESE EXPERIENCES OF BUDDHISM
Translation and Inculturation
New Translations and Scholarship
Persecution and Reform
The Foundation of the Chinese Experiences of Buddhism
The Abhidhauma Schools:
The Mahayana Schools:
Defining the Chinese Experiences of Buddhism
The Heavenly Terrace School:
The Flower-Garland School:
The Pure Land School:
Persecution and Decline
New Chinese Buddhist Movements
The Cultural Experience of Chinese Buddhism Today, Dedong Wei
Temple Rituals
Buddhist Festivals
Popular Buddhist Practices
Recent Developments in Popular Chinese Buddhism
Buddhism's Influence on Chinese Culture Today
8. THE KOREAN EXPERIENCES OF BUDDHISM
The Advent of Buddhism during the Three Kingdoms Period
Buddhism during the Unified Silla Dynasty: Innovation and Scholarship
Uisang:
Wonhyo:
The Five Buddhist Schools:
Buddhism during the Koryo Dynasty: Searching for Unity
Uich'on:
Chinul:
The Korean Tripitaka:
Repression during the Choson Dynasty
The Japanese Occupation and Recent Developments
The Cultural Experience of Korean Buddhism Today, Jongmyung Kim
Temple Rituals
Prayer and Pilgrimage
The Templestay Program
Buddhist Cultural Heritage in Korea
The Future of Popular Buddhism in Korean Culture
9. THE JAPANESE EXPERIENCES OF BUDDHISM
Prince Shotoku
The Nara Period (710-784): The Six Schools
The Kusha School:
The Jojitsu School:
The Ritsu School:
The Sanron School:
The Hosso School:
The Kegon School:
The Heian Period (794-1185): The Tendai and Shingon Schools
Tendai Buddhism:
The Shingon School:
The Kamakura Period (1185-1333): Pure Land, Zen, and Nichiren
Pure Land Buddhism:
Zen Buddhism:
Nichiren Buddhism:
The Muromachi Period (1338-1573): Zen and Japanese Culture
The Tokugawa Period (1603-1868): Struggle and Reform
The Meiji Period (1868-1912) and Recent Developments
New Japanese Buddhist Cultural Movements
The Cultural Experience of Japanese Buddhism Today, Tomonobu Shinozaki
Buddhist Veneration of Ancestors
O-bon Festival
Popular Buddhist Practices and Holidays
The Bodhisattva Figure and Buddhist Practice Today
10. THE GLOBALIZATION OF BUDDHISM
Early European Encounters and Scholarship
Buddhism in the United States
Chinese Buddhism:
Japanese Buddhism:
Tibetan Buddhism:
Theravada Buddhism:
Korean Buddhism:
Vietnamese Buddhism:
Buddhism in Europe
Buddhists in Canada
Buddhism in Australia and New Zealand
Buddhism in Brazil
Buddhism in Africa
Issues Facing Global Buddhisms
Ethnicity, Identity and Practice:
Women, Ordination and Gender:
Buddhist Ecumenism:
Interreligious Dialogue:
Social Engagement:
Ecology and Science:
Youth and the Internet:
The Future of Global Buddhism
The Cultural Experience of Buddhism in America Today
Glossary of Technical Terms:
Index:

About the Author

Donald W. Mitchell is Professor of Philosophy at Purdue University. He is the author of The Gethsemani Encounter: A Dialogue on the Spiritual Life by Buddhist and Christian Monastics (1997).

Sarah H. Jacoby is Assistant Professor of Religion at Northwestern University. She is the coeditor of Buddhism Beyond the Monastery: Tantric Practices and their Performers in Tibet and the Himalayas (2009).

Reviews

"Buddhism is a ten! It covers the entire Buddhist tradition with accuracy and from a sympathetic point of view."--Christopher Key Chapple, Loyola Marymount University
"The best single-volume introduction to Buddhism. It is clear, expansive, and accessible."--Daniel S. Breyer, Illinois State University
"I especially like the boxes with notes from practitioners, which make clear that Buddhism is very much a living religion."--Laurie Hovell McMillin, Oberlin College