Reinventing the Wheel by Stephen F. Teiser

Teiser received the Joseph Levenson Book Prize (pre-twentieth century) for “The Scripture on the Ten Kings” and the Making of Purgatory in Medieval Chinese Buddhism (1994). Suzuki Professor in Buddhist Studies and Professor in the Department of Religion at Princeton University. The lecture proposes a performative analysis of several hundred manuscript prayers written by local Buddhist priests. This lecture examines the way the afterlife was conceived and enacted in a different source: liturgies for funerals, memorial services, healing ceremonies, and other rites in eighth-tenth century Dunhuang (northwest China). Temple paintings and visualization practices in Chinese Buddhism offer different visions of the pure land, a paradise graced by a Buddha and devoid of the suffering of normal life. Teiser's foreword addresses this vital quality of the sutra, discusses its background, and reflects on the enduring relevance of Hurvitz's critical work.The Council is pleased to present the 48th Annual Edward H. Urging devotees to revivify doctrine through recitation and interpretation, the sutra powered an organic process of remaking that not only kept its content alive in the poetry and art of premodern Asia but also introduced new forms of practice and scriptural study into contemporary Buddhism. Through parables of the burning house, the wayward son, and other tales that have come to be known throughout East Asia, the sutra skillfully concretizes abstract religious concepts and clarifies bold claims about the Buddhist tradition. The text argues that the Buddha cannot be delimited by time and space and that a common intent underlies the diversity of Buddhist teachings.

Hailed by critics as an 'extraordinary' and 'magnificent' achievement, Hurvitz's translation is based on the best known Chinese version of the text and includes passages of the original Sanskrit that were omitted from the Chinese.īeloved for its mythology and literary artistry, the Lotus Sutra is one of the most popular and influential texts of Mahayana Buddhism, asserting that there is only one path to enlightenment, the bodhisattva path, and that all followers without exception can achieve supreme awakening. Originally published in 1976, Leon Hurvitz's monumental translation of the Lotus Sutra is the work scholars have preferred for decades.

Reinventing the Wheel by Stephen F. Teiser