A Record of Buddhistic Kingdoms

A Record of Buddhistic Kingdoms - Fa-hsien
This country originally had no human inhabitants, but was occupied only by spirits and nâgas, with which merchants of various countries carried on a trade.... Through the coming and going of merchants... when they went away, the people of their various countries heard how pleasant the land was, and flocked to it in numbers till it became a great nation.-from "Chapter XXXVIII: At Ceylon" Little is known about the 5th-century Chinese monk Fâ-hien beyond what he himself tells us in the journals of his travels in India and Ceylon from the years 399 to 414 in search of the Buddhist Books of Discipline. But as he follows in the footsteps of the Buddha, revisiting the legendary places of the faith, his wise observations reveal an enlightenment that transcends time. An important primary source on the traditions and beliefs of Buddhism, this 1886 translation-complete with copious notes on Buddhist ideas and rituals, particular translations, and poetic idioms-is still considered the best English-language version available. Spiritual seekers will find a deeper understanding of Buddhism; students of Asian history will discover a glorious travelogue of an ancient culture. Scottish scholar JAMES LEGGE (1815-1897) was the first professor of Chinese language and literature at Oxford University, serving from 1876 to 1897. Among his many books are The Life and Teaching of Confucius (1867), The Religions of China (1880), and the 50-volume Sacred Books of the East (1879-1891).

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Buddha Wild: Monk in a Hut

Buddha Wild: Monk in a Hut (2006)
Buddha Wild Monk in the Hut provides an opportunity for a group of Thai and Sri Lankan monks, living around their temple in a country far far from home,to talk about their commitment and way of life in a typically modest Buddhist way. Anna Wilding gives the commentary in this unpretentious but original and illuminating film with a well-judged mixture of seriousness and humor which is in important contrast to the monks words. An enjoyable cinematic experience.

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The White Buddhist: The Asian Odyssey of Henry Steel Olcott

The White Buddhist: The Asian Odyssey of Henry Steel Olcott
Largely forgotten in his own country, the first American convert to Buddhism, Henry Steel Olcott, is still revered as a religious hero in Sri Lanka. Having played a key role in the revival of Buddhism there, he also championed Hinduism, Islam, and Zoroastrianism in India and was co-founder of the influential Theosophical Society. In an insightful portrait of the man and his mission, religion scholar Stephen Prothero proposes the concept of religious "creolization" in regard to Olcott's unconscious merging of Indian spirituality with American Protestant methodology.

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The History of the Buddha's Relic Shrine

The History of the Buddha's Relic Shrine: A Translation of the Sinhala Thupavamsa
Buddhist chronicles have long been had a central place in the study of Buddhism. Scholars, however, have relied almost exclusively on Pali works that were composed by elites for learned audiences, to the neglect of a large number of Buddhist histories written in local languages for popular consumption. The Sinhala Thupavamsa, composed by Parakama Pandita in thirteenth-century Sri Lanka, is an important example of a Buddhist chronicle written in the vernacular Sinhala language. Furthermore, it is among those works that inform public discussion and debate over the place of Buddhism in the Sri Lankan nation state and the role of Buddhist monks in contemporary politics.
In this book Stephen Berkwitz offers the first complete English translation of the Sinhala Thupavamsa. Composed in a literary dialect of Sinhala, it contains a richly descriptive account of how Buddhism spread outside of India, replete with poetic embellishments and interpolations not found in other accounts of those events. Aside from being an important literary work, the Sinhala Thupavamsa. is a text of considerable historical and religious significance.

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Buddha in the Crown: Avalokitesvara in the Buddhist Traditions of Sri Lanka

Buddha in the Crown: Avalokitesvara in the Buddhist Traditions of Sri Lanka
Historical, anthropological, and philosophical in approach, Buddha in the Crown is a case study in religious and cultural change. It examines the various ways in which Avalokitesvara, the most well known and proliferated bodhisattva of Mahayana Buddhism throughout south, southeast, and east Asia, was assimilated into the transforming religious culture of Sri Lanka, one of the most pluralistic in Asia. Exploring the expressions of the bodhisattva's cult in Sanskrit and Sinhala literature, in iconography, epigraphy, ritual, symbol, and myth, the author develops a provocative thesis regarding the dynamics of religious change. Interdisciplinary in scope, addressing a wide variety of issues relating to Buddhist thought and practice, and providing new and original information on the rich cultural history of Sri Lanka, this book will interest students of Buddhism and South Asia.

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