Nagarjuna in Context: Mahayana Buddhism and Early Indian Culture [Hardcover]

Joseph Walser (Author), Sanchez Walsh (Author)

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Product Details

Hardcover: 368 pages
Publisher: Columbia University Press (May 4 2005)
Language: English
ISBN-10: 023113164X
ISBN-13: 978-0231131643
Product Dimensions: 2.4 x 1.6 x 0.3 cm
Shipping Weight: 680 g
Amazon Bestsellers Rank: #1,826,640 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
- #61 in Books > Nonfiction > Philosophy > Eastern > Buddhism > Mahayana

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Review

Nagarjuna in Context: Mahayana Buddhism and Early Indian Culture offers a significant step towards clarifying the mysteries and myths that surround the name of Nagarjuna. -- Benjamin Bogin BUDDHADHARMA Fall 2005 Walser's argument and mastery of scholarly materials ensure that this work will make an enduring contribution. Highly recommended. -- E. Findly Choice: Current Reviews for Academic Libraries January 2006 Rich and rewarding... Walser is to be congratulated for writing a text that will surely provoke productive debate. -- Richard Nance H-Net Book review 1/2006 Nagarjuna in Context reads as a heartfelt and intelligent search. -- Tom Hannes Acta Comparanda XVII 2007

Product Description

Nagarjuna, one of India's greatest philosophers, is the most influential thinker in the Mahayana Buddhist tradition. While his philosophy has been the subject of numerous studies and translations, Joseph Walser provides the first examination of Nagarjuna's life and writings within the social, religious, and institutional contexts of the early history of Buddhism. Walser locates Nagarjuna's second-century writings at a critical juncture in the development and spread of Mahayana Buddhism. At this time, Mahayanist writings and teachings were regarded with great suspicion, and its followers were subject to legal censure. Walser explores how Nagarjuna's writings, including his most famous works, "The Jeweled Garland" and "Foundational Stanzas", established a connection between the authority of the existing Buddhist canon and Mahayana teachings.In doing so, Nagarjuna was able to demonstrate the legality of Mahayana interpretation within the strictures of Buddhist monastic law. This established a place for Mahayana in the Buddhist tradition and insured the reproduction and transmission of the sect's central texts. Walser's analysis draws on close readings of Nagarjuna's texts, particularly their treatment of the "three baskets" of the Buddhist canon: Vinaya (Buddhist monastic law), Sutra (the sermons of the Buddha), and Abhidharma (Buddhist sectarian treatises). Walser also examines how the philosopher forged alliances with the laity and other Buddhist sects - alliances that proved pivotal in insuring the survival of Mahayana teachings. In addition to his analysis of Nagarjuna's writings, Walser explores a range of Buddhist and non-Buddhist sources, as well as art historical and epigraphic evidence to offer a creative and original contribution to the understanding of Nagarjuna and the early history of Buddhism.

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Inside This Book (Learn More)

First Sentence
To PRESENT Nagarjuna's role in the development and spread of Mahayana, we must first explore the contours of Mahayana in India around the time that he lived. Read the first page

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Amazon.com: 4.0 out of 5 stars (1 customer review)

8 of 10 people found the following review helpful

4.0 out of 5 stars Excellent fresh scholarship, Feb 28 2008

By Two eyes and an ear - Published on Amazon.com

This review is from: Nagarjuna in Context: Mahayana Buddhism and Early Indian Culture (Hardcover)

Walser provides a fine example of the much needed historical work so much Buddhist scholarship lacks: partly due to the ahistorical habits of classical Indian scholarship itself (as opposed to Chinese, for example) and the daunting problem of finding both a) a talented scholar willing to roll up his/her sleeves and do the hard work rather than rant about the theoretical aspects, and b) someone simultaneously genuinely interested in those same deeper theoretical problems of Buddhism.

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