In this book, Charles B. Jones provides the first English language
translation of one of the most important texts of modern Chinese
Buddhism: monk-reformer Taixu's 'On the Establishment of the Pure Land
in the Human Realm'. The essay, written in 1926 as part of Taixu's
attempt to revive Chinese Buddhism with a Humanistic Buddhist
approach, incorporates Western thought into a reconstruction of the
idea of the 'Pure Land in the human realm'. In his commentary on the
text, Jones argues that it has been widely misunderstood and
mischaracterized.
Jones demonstrates that, besides laying out the very modern idea of
the Pure Land in the human realm as a slogan for Buddhist engagement
with the problems of the modern world, the essay does not, as commonly
assumed, discourage practices leading to rebirth in the Pure Land. He
also shows that the 'human realm' can mean anywhere in Buddhist
cosmology that humans reside, and that the essay's attempts to
reconcile Buddhism with modern science is tentative and incomplete.
Jones reveals that the essay promotes visions of both paradises and
utopias, and that Taixu supports his ideas with many lengthy sutra
quotations. The book concludes with an examination of how Taixu's
followers developed the idea of the Pure Land in the human realm into
a more coherent and modernized ideal.
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A Translation and Study
Produktdetaljer
ISBN
9781350140578
Publisert
2020
Utgave
1. utgave
Utgiver
Bloomsbury UK
Språk
Product language
Engelsk
Format
Product format
Digital bok
Forfatter