Kaimokusho or Liberation from Blindness

Kaimokusho or Liberation from Blindness
Author: Nichiren
Publisher: BDK America
Total Pages: 178
Release: 2000-08
Genre: Religion
ISBN:

This thirteenth-century text by Nichiren extols the Lotus Sutra and critiques the other schools of Japanese Buddhism active at that time. Nichiren was arrested by the Kamakura government in 1271 and sentenced to exile on Sado Island. There he was in constant danger of assassination, and wrote the Kaimokusho to convince his remaining followers to follow his example in Buddhism. To do this, Nichiren criticized religions other than Buddhism, and then Buddhist sutras other than the Lotus Sutra. He asked the question "Am I not the practitioner of the Lotus Sutra and answered this question by quoting five testimonies to the truthfulness of his faith. He also identifies the three kinds of arrogant people and equates them with the three kinds of enemies of the Lotus Sutra.

The Three Pure Land Sutras

The Three Pure Land Sutras
Author:
Publisher: BDK America
Total Pages: 216
Release: 2003
Genre: Religion
ISBN:

The larger sutra on Amitāyus (Taishō volume 12, number 360) -- The sutra on contemplation of Amitāyus (Taishō volume 12, number 365) -- The smaller sutra on Amitāyus (Taishō volume 12, number 366).

Sōtō Zen in Medieval Japan

Sōtō Zen in Medieval Japan
Author: William M. Bodiford
Publisher: University of Hawaii Press
Total Pages: 376
Release: 1993-01-01
Genre: Religion
ISBN: 9780824814823

Explores how Soto monks between the 13th and 16th centuries developed new forms of monastic organization and Zen instructions and new applications for Zen rituals within lay life; how these innovations helped shape rural society; and how remnants of them remain in the modern Soto school, now the lar

Dōgen and Sōtō Zen

Dōgen and Sōtō Zen
Author: Steven Heine
Publisher: Oxford University Press, USA
Total Pages: 337
Release: 2015
Genre: Philosophy
ISBN: 0199324867

This follow up to Dogen: Textual and Historical Studies (OUP 2012) explores diverse aspects of the life and teachings of Zen master Dogen, the founder of the Soto Zen sect (Sotoshu) in early Kamakura-era Japan.

Meditation Symbols in Eastern & Western Mysticism

Meditation Symbols in Eastern & Western Mysticism
Author: Manly Palmer Hall
Publisher:
Total Pages: 0
Release: 1988
Genre: Mandala
ISBN: 9780893145439

The fruition of a lifetime of study and interpretation of Eastern and Western mystical symbolism, this classic text explores meditation symbols throughout history in thirteen profusely illustrated chapters highlighting such topics as: -- Meditation Symbols -- Meditation, The Experience of Reality -- The Mandala as a Symbol of the Universe -- The Mandala as an Internal Mystery -- The Lotus Sutra and Its Mandalas -- Mandalas in Chinese Buddhism -- Mandara of the Pure Land Sect -- Mandalas in Western Mysticism -- The Mystical Symbols of Jacob Boehme -- Mandalas in World Government

Three Texts on Consciousness Only

Three Texts on Consciousness Only
Author: Numata Center for Buddhist Translation and Research
Publisher: BDK America
Total Pages: 490
Release: 1999
Genre: Philosophy
ISBN:

This volume comprises three important texts of the Yogacara school. Demonstration of Consciousness Only is a translation of Vasubandhu's "Thirty Verses" plus the interpretation of Dharmapala as the ultimately correct view of the text, with the supplementation of two or three divergent interpretations. It is an attempt to answer the question of the mechanism and nature of ignorance by demonstrating that seemingly real external objects of perception and the equally seemingly real self who perceives these things are mental fabrications that do not exist apart from consciousness itself. Thirty Verses on Consciousness Only is the short verse work by Bodhisattva Vasubandhu that propounds the idea that nothing exists except consciousness or mind, and that all things believed ty the ordinary person to be objective realities outside mind are in reality mere mental constructs. The Treatise in Twenty Verses on Consciousness Onlyis a companion piece to the Thirty Verses. It is a series of hypothetical objections by possible opponents with replies by Vasubandhu. The objections of opponent takes the realistic, no-nonsense position that the things seen, heard, smelled, etc., are real things that exist in the world outside the mind. The opponent typically offers an argument as to why it cannot be possible for perceived objects to be merely mental constructs. Vasubandhu counters each argument, explaining why the realistic argument is faulty, and why objects of perception cannot rationally be considered to exist apart from consciousness.