Dear friend,
The end of the summer’s rains retreat is traditionally when Buddhist monks would begin to tour the countryside, following the Buddha’s instruction to “wander […] out of compassion for the world” (Kd 1:8).
As this rainy season ends, OBU sees a number of new pieces added to our existing collections, including some films and a few old JPTS articles.
You can see the entire list of new content by subscribing to our new content RSS Feeds which will notify you when any new content is added to the library. For a primer on getting started with RSS, see the Wiki on SuttaCentral and if you have any questions, please ask in the comments there.
Of all the new content added over the last few months, I’d especially like to recommend the following, absolutely captivating, pieces which give windows into a few, remote, Buddhist cultures:
Stūpa, Sūtra, and Śarīra in China, c. 656–706 CE (2001) – T. H. Barrett
what was the religious environment that encouraged the spread of the new technology of printing in late seventh century China?
School Among Glaciers (2004) – Dorji Wangchuk
A young teacher is assigned to Bhutan’s most remote school.
it appears contradictory that Chinese who follow the teachings of Mahāyāna Buddhism have worshipped arhats. […] who was the arhat for Chinese Buddhists?
Tilling the Fields of Merit: The Institutionalization of Feminine Enlightenment in Tibet’s First Khenmo Program (2020) – Jue Liang and Andrew S. Taylor
“A monastery is a place where equality is preached but not practiced; a gar is a place where equality is practiced but not preached.”
I’d also like to highlight these beautiful answers to a few of the most commonly asked questions I see about Buddhist theory:
The Doctrine of the Buddha-Nature in the Mahāyāna Mahāparinirvāṇa-Sūtra (1982) – Ming-Wood Liu
Indeed, it is no exaggeration to say that the MNS has provided the historical starting-point as well as the chief scriptural basis for enquiry into the problem of the Buddha-nature in China, and it would be difficult if not impossible to grasp the significance of the concept and its subsequent evolution in Chinese Buddhism without a proper understanding of the teaching of the MNS on the subject.
The Symbolism of the Early Stūpa (1984) – Peter Harvey
The four toraṇas, or gateways, [put] the stūpa, symbolically, at the place where four roads meet, as is specified in the Mahāparinibbāna Sutta.
Samādhi (Concentration) (2006) – Bhikkhu Anālayo
An encyclopedic overview of the various kinds of samādhi and their place on the path.
Enlightenment (2020) – Bhante Yuttadhammo
As a result of seeing the truth of how craving leads to suffering, we have a moment where our minds cease all craving and release us from the incessant arising of experience.
I found the above extremely helpful and interesting and I hope that you will too!
As always, if you have any questions or comments feel free to email me and thanks for subscribing.
With much metta,
Khemarato Bhikkhu
Chief Librarian
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