Setting Out on the Great Way

Essays on Early Mahayana Buddhism

edited by Paul M. Harrison

Book cover: Setting Out on the Great Way

Extent: 224 pages

Publisher: Equinox Publishing

Subjects: Buddhist Studies

Language: English

Paperback (Published)

(June 2019)

ISBN: 9781781798539

Price: $34.00

Out of stock

Hardback (Published)

(June 2018)

ISBN: 9781781790960

Price: $100.00

Out of stock

Setting Out on the Great Way brings together different perspectives on the origins and early history of Mahayana Buddhism and delves into selected aspects of its formative period. As the variety of the religion which conquered East Asia and also provided the matrix for the later development of Buddhist Tantra or Vajrayana, Mahayana is regarded as one of the most significant forms of Buddhism, and its beginnings have long been the focus of intense scholarly attention and debate. The essays in this volume address the latest findings in the field, including contributions by younger researchers vigorously critiquing the reappraisal of the Mahayana carried out by scholars in the last decades of the 20th century and the different understanding of the movement which they produced. As the study of Buddhism as a whole reorients itself to embrace new methods and paradigms, while at the same time coming to terms with exciting new manuscript discoveries, our picture of the Mahayana continues to change. This volume presents the latest developments in this ongoing re-evaluation of one of Buddhism’s most important historical expressions.

1. Sara Boin-Webb, Translator of Buddhist Texts (1937-2008) Russell Webb 2. Early Mahā

na: Laying Out the Field Paul Harrison 3. How the Unborn was Born: The Riddle of Mahā

na Origins Peter Skilling, Ecole Francaise d'Extreme-Orient, Bangkok 4. The Forest Hypothesis David Drewes, University of Manitoba 5. Recruitment and Retention in Early Bodhisattva Sodalities Daniel Boucher, Cornell University 6. Abhidharma in Early Mahā

na Johannes Bronkhorst, University of Lausanne 7. The Concept of 'Remodelling the World' Shizuka Sasaki, Hanazono University 8. Altered States and the Origins of the Mahā
?yā
na Douglas Osto, Massey University 9. Early Mah?y?na in Gandhā
ra: New Evidence from the Bajaur Mahā

na Sū
tra Ingo Strauch, University of Lausanne 10. Looking for Mahā

na Bodhisattvas: A Reflection on Visual Evidence in Early Indian Buddhism Juhyung Rhi,Seoul National University

  • Edited by Paul M. Harrison

"The collection Setting out on the Great Way: Essays on Early Mahayana Buddhism, a memorial to the important contributions of Sarah Webb-Boin to the field of Buddhist studies, brings together not simply important critiques of the established views, but also new perspectives and new areas of inquiry. The collection demonstrates that there is more to be learned about the early history of Mahayana than the established theories had indicated." --Richard K. Payne, Reading Religion