A wide selection of readings from Pali, Sanskrit, Chinese, Tibetan, and modern sources inteded to provide the reader with a foundation in classical Buddhist thought.
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A wide selection of readings from Pali, Sanskrit, Chinese, Tibetan, and modern sources inteded to provide the reader with a foundation in classical Buddhist thought.
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Fine. Trade paperback (US). Glued binding. 720 p. In Stock. 100% Money Back Guarantee. Brand New, Perfect Condition, allow 4-14 business days for standard shipping. To Alaska, Hawaii, U.S. protectorate, P.O. box, and APO/FPO addresses allow 4-28 business days for Standard shipping. No expedited shipping. All orders placed with expedited shipping will be cancelled. Over 3, 000, 000 happy customers.
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Seller's Description:
New. Trade paperback (US). Glued binding. 720 p. In Stock. 100% Money Back Guarantee. Brand New, Perfect Condition, allow 4-14 business days for standard shipping. To Alaska, Hawaii, U.S. protectorate, P.O. box, and APO/FPO addresses allow 4-28 business days for Standard shipping. No expedited shipping. All orders placed with expedited shipping will be cancelled. Over 3, 000, 000 happy customers.
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Fair. An acceptable and readable copy. All pages are intact, and the spine and cover are also intact. This item may have light highlighting, writing or underlining through out the book, curled corners, missing dust jacket and or stickers.
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Fair. Condition: ACCEPTABLE-Used book in acceptable condition. Cover may include stickers/heavy wear. Heavy wear on pages, heavy highlighting/writing on pages, staining, and moisture damage (rippling/warping). All orders ship via UPS Mail Innovations-can take up to 14 business days from first scan to be delivered. Corners have dings and wear. Creasing, curling, or bending of the covers. Frayed or tears in cover.
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Good. Good condition. A copy that has been read but remains intact. May contain markings such as bookplates, stamps, limited notes and highlighting, or a few light stains.
Dwight Goddard's collection of Buddhist Sutras and related texts, first published in 1932, is available in paperback with introductions by Robert Aitken and Houston Smith. The importance of this book lies in its role in the development of American Buddhism as well as, of course, in the texts themselves.
Dwight Goddard, according to Aitken's introduction, was an enigmatic figure with training first as an engineer (where he became wealthy as a result of an invention) and as a Christian minister. In the latter role, he travelled to the East and became interested in Eastern Religions -- a seeker in the true sense of the term. In the 1930s, while in his 60s he produced this collection of texts, many of which he translated himself, which give a broad view of the nature of the teachings of Buddhist schools. The book helped teach Buddhism to Americans beginning in the 1930s.
In the 1950s, Jack Kerouac, then living in San Jose, California discovered Goddard in the public library. He carried the book with him wherever he went and used it as the basis of whatever knowledge of Buddhism he had. The beats in the 1950s were one of the sources leading to the growth of American Buddhism, and Goddard's book was Kerouac's teacher.
The main value of this book, though, is not in its role in Buddhist history in the United States but lies in the texts themselves. Goddard presents in one volume a selection of primary source materials from the Theravada, Manayana, Zen, Tibetan, and other Buddhist traditions. Many of these texts have been more recently translated, but the translations in this book are readable, at the least and they are all in one volume. They are not easy reading and will require many rereadings, but they do present a compiliation of basic Buddhist materials for those wishing to benefit from them. My own familiarity with Buddhist texts is primarily with the earlier texts in Theravada Buddhism. This book is comparatively light on Theravada texts but gave me the opportunity to read the texts of other Buddhist Schools.
"A Buddhist Bible" remains a fine anthology and is of historical interest for the transmission of the Buddha's teaching to the United States. I have found that many people interested in Buddhism restrict themselves to the practice of meditation or to books setting out Buddhist teachings rather than availing themselves of the original source materials. This book is a great way to read the original texts. There will be something of meaning in them for you.
