Buddhism in Practice

by Donald S. Lopez Jr.

This anthology illustrates the vast scope of Buddhist practice in Asia, past and present, by presenting a selection of forty-eight translated texts including hagiographies, monastic rules, pilgrimage songs, apocryphal sutras, and didactic tales from India, China, Japan, Korea, Tibet, Nepal, Sri Lanka, Thailand, and Burma. Most of these pieces have never before been translated into a Western language, and each is preceded by a substantial introduction by its translator. Together they are designed to do nothing less than reshape the way in which Buddhism is understood.


These unusual sources provide the reader with a sense of the remarkable diversity of the practices of persons who over the course of 2,500 years have been identified, by themselves or by others, as Buddhists. In this rich variety there are often contradictions, such that the practices of one Buddhist community might seem strange or unfamiliar to another. At the same time, however, there is evidence here of many continuities among the practices of Buddhist cultures widely separated by both history and topography. From "A Hymn of Praise to the Buddha's Good Qualities" through "On Becoming a Buddhist Wizard" to "Death-Bed Testimonials of the Pure Land Faithful," the selections here are an ideal introduction to Buddhism and a source of new insights for scholars.

Genres: Buddhism, Philosophy, Academic

640 pages, Paperback

First published July 24, 1995

About the author

Donald Sewell Lopez, Jr. (born 1952) is the Arthur E. Link Distinguished University Professor of Buddhist and Tibetan Studies at the University of Michigan, in the Department of Asian Languages and Cultures.

Son of the deputy director of the Smithsonian National Air and Space Museum Donald S. Lopez.

Reviews

[Mary Catelli · Rating 4 out of 5]

A collection of texts from all over Asia. All written by the practitioners, except for annals written by a historian.

The last is entries about the advent of Buddhism in Japan, and such things as rejecting the worship because a plague broke out. Others include very detailed direction on how to mediate on Tara as the protectress from eight great perils, prophecies of the end of Buddhism or of evil times ahead (when people would refrain from rebuilding Buddhist buildings that their family had not erected, instead building their own, which is much lesser in merit), a prolonged denunciation of kingship as compatible only with evil, an account of the suffering of Buddha's abandoned wife, the prolonged path to becoming a Buddha instead of merely arhat who is enlightened himself, detailed directions for how a monk is to act (starting with how he is to get out of bed), account of how to bury a monk and how relics might be found after cremation, the precise visions you would have on your deathbed if you were to be reborn in the Pure Land (and the danger of damnation if anyone who drinks alcohol or eats meat or the five pungent herbs is allowed to approach the death bed), an account of Buddhist wizards, and many others from various schools

[Preetam Chatterjee · Rating 5 out of 5]

#Binge Reviewing my previous Reads # Buddhism #Modern Scholarship & Global Buddhism

This anthology doesn’t just tell you what Buddhism “is”; it performs Buddhism’s pluralism, fragmenting the reader into dozens of subject positions. Texts from Sri Lanka to Japan to Tibet collide like shards in a kaleidoscope: ritual manuals, autobiographies, parables, and songs. Lopez curates a postmodern collage, resisting the temptation to reconcile contradictions. The result is destabilizing: Buddhism here is not a single dharma but a network of performances, each one a bricolage of local histories and global flows. The book’s title is almost ironic—“practice” here means multiplicity, improvisation, and embodiment, rather than a single doctrinal path.

Most recommended.

[versarbre]

Collection of Buddhist texts with translators providing detailed introduction. First published in 1995 along with the Princeton Religion in Practice series (DLJ edited several columns of the series). Abridged version in 2007.