Coming to Terms with Chinese Buddhism: A Reading of the Treasure Store Treatise. By Robert H. Sharf. Studies in East Asian Buddhism no. 14. A Kuroda Institute Book. Honolulu: University of Hawaii Press, 2002. Pp. xiii+400. $47.00.

2004 ◽  
Vol 43 (4) ◽  
pp. 333-336
Author(s):  
Eric Reinders
Keyword(s):  
East Asian ◽  
Chinese Buddhism

Treatise on Awakening Mahāyāna Faith

2019 ◽  
Author(s):  
John Jorgensen ◽  
Dan Lusthaus ◽  
John Makeham ◽  
Mark Strange
Keyword(s):  
Sustained Attention ◽  
East Asian ◽  
Sixth Century ◽  
Chinese Buddhism ◽  
Pure Land ◽  
Shared Resource ◽  
Conceptual Structures ◽  
Mahāyāna Buddhism ◽  
Annotated Translation ◽  
Mahayana Buddhist

Drawing on the historical and intellectual contexts of the Treatise on Awakening Mahāyāna Faith’s composition and paying sustained attention to its interpretation in early commentaries, this new annotated translation of the classic makes its ideas available to English readers like never before. The introduction orients the reader with the main topics taken up in the Treatise and also provides a scholarly resource for students, teachers, and researchers. The Treatise succinctly addresses many of the doctrines of greatest importance to Buddhists in China between the fifth and seventh centuries, in an attempt to reconcile seemingly contradictory ideas in Buddhist texts introduced from India. One reason for the popularity of the Treatise is its compelling vision of how to realize why we are deluded and then follow a path to actualize our inherent buddhahood. “Awakening Mahāyāna Faith” refers to having the initial faith or trust that the Mahāyāna Buddhist path will work and is worth pursuing. It also provides a concise restatement of the complexities of the ten-stage path of bodhisattva (enlightened being) practice in Mahāyāna Buddhism. The Treatise quickly became a foundational text for East Asian Buddhism when it appeared in sixth-century China. It profoundly shaped the doctrines and practices of the major schools of Chinese Buddhism: Chan, Tiantai, Huayan, and to a lesser extent Pure Land. Conceptual structures derived from the Treatise became a shared resource for East Asian philosophers and religious theorists over centuries.

The Reinterpretation of Chinese Buddhism

1965 ◽  
Vol 22 ◽  
pp. 143-153 ◽  
Author(s):  
Holmes Welch
Keyword(s):  
East Asia ◽  
East Asian ◽  
The Other ◽  
South East Asia ◽  
Chinese Buddhism ◽  
Other Hand ◽  
Communist Government ◽  
Chinese Buddhists

China was the second country in the Buddhist world to have a Communist government. The first was Mongolia. But Mongolia was isolated both geographically and by its form of Buddhism (shared only with Tibet). Chinese Buddhists, on the other hand, had been building closer ties with their brethren in South-East Asia for more than half a century. Their form of Buddhism was less remote from South-East Asian forms and they felt the same need as South-East Asian to fit Buddhism into a national revival.

Treatise on Awakening Mahāyāna Faith, in One Fascicle

2019 ◽  
pp. 61-138
Author(s):  
Bodhisattva Aśvaghoṣa ◽  
Tripiṭaka Dharma
Keyword(s):  
Sustained Attention ◽  
East Asian ◽  
Sixth Century ◽  
Chinese Buddhism ◽  
Major Advance ◽  
Pure Land ◽  
Shared Resource ◽  
Annotated Translation ◽  
Mahayana Buddhist

Dasheng qixin lun大乘起信論‎, or the Treatise on Awakening Mahāyāna Faith, has been one of the most important texts of East Asian Buddhism since it first appeared in sixth-century China. It outlines the initial steps a Mahāyāna Buddhist needs to take to reach enlightenment, beginning with the conviction that the Mahāyāna path is correct and worth pursuing. The Treatise addresses many of the doctrines central to various Buddhist teachings in China between the fifth and seventh centuries, attempting to reconcile seemingly contradictory ideas in Buddhist texts introduced from India. It provided a model for later schools to harmonize teachings and sustain the idea that, despite different approaches, there was only one doctrine, or Dharma. It profoundly shaped the doctrines and practices of the major schools of Chinese Buddhism: Chan, Tiantai, Huayan, and to a lesser extent Pure Land. It quickly became a shared resource for East Asian philosophers and students of Buddhist thought. Drawing on the historical and intellectual contexts of Treatise’s composition and paying sustained attention to its interpretation in early commentaries, this new annotated translation of the classic makes its ideas available to English readers like never before. The introduction orients readers to the main topics taken up in the Treatise and gives a comprehensive historical and intellectual grounding to the text. This volume marks a major advance in studies of the Treatise, bringing to light new interpretations and themes of the text.

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