|
|
| |
| Book
Details |
|
 |
|
|
|
|
CONTENTS |
|
| CONTENTS:- Preface; Introduction: 1. Aim of the study, subject matter, and argument; 2. Sources and methodology; 3. Presentation; I. The meaning of "emptiness" in early Buddhism: 1. Emptiness and the place for practising meditation; 2. The emptiness of Kong-sanmei/Sunnata-vihara and empty world; 3. Conditioned genesis, Nirvana and emptiness; 4. The recognition of emptiness: a. Emptiness from the viewpoint of conditioned genesis as impermanence; b. Emptiness from the viewpoint of conditioned genesis as the middle way; II. The practice of "Emptiness" in early Buddhism: 1. Emptiness and Samatha-vipassana (calm and insight): a. Development in both Samatha and Vipassana; b. Samadhi; c. Panna; 2. Emptiness and mind-liberation or mind-concentration; 3. Emptiness, three concentrations (samadhi), and three kinds of contact (phassa); 4. Small and great emptiness: a. "Discourse on small emptiness"; b. "Discourse on great emptiness"; Conclusion; Appendix: Three "emptiness-sutras" in the Chinese Samyuktagama and their reconstructed Sanskrit versions; Notes; Bibliography; Index. |
|
|
|
DESCRIPTION |
|
| This book investigates the teachings of emptiness in early Buddhism, as recorded in the Pali and Chinese versions of the early Buddhist canon. In general, the finding is that these two versions, although differently worded, record in common that the teachings of the historical Buddha are connected with emptiness (sunnatapatisamyutta). The notion of emptiness is mainly applied in the teachings of "empty of self-attachment" and "empty of the two extremes. "By way of the wisdom of right view, leading to the highest peaceful state (nirvana), the mind can, in this very life, be fully liberated from (empty of) suffering, affliction, and distress. Having shown that the emptiness-teachings are common to the Pali and Chinese versions, the author concludes that the notion of emptiness had arisen already in the period of the early Buddhist sutras, and was not simply a creation of the Mahayana. The general reader, with little or no prior knowledge of Buddhism, can discover in this book how early Buddhism provides a vision and a method to help in overcoming the ills of the mind. |
|
| |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
