Rebirth in Early Buddhism and Current Research

Join a rigorous scholar and Buddhist monk on a rich tour of rebirth, from ancient doctrine to contemporary debates. German Buddhist monk and university professor Bhikkhu Analayo had not given much attention to the topic of rebirth before some friends asked him to explore the treatment of the issue in early Buddhist texts. This succinct volume presents his findings, approaching the topic from four directions. The first chapter examines the doctrine of rebirth as it is presented in the earliest Buddhist sources and the way it relates to core doctrinal principles. The second chapter reviews debates about rebirth throughout Buddhist history and up to modern times, noting the role of confirmation bias in evaluation of evidence. Chapter 3 reviews the merits of current research on rebirth, including near-death experience, past-life regression, and children who recall previous lives. The chapter concludes with an examination of xenoglossy, the ability to speak languages one has not learned previously, and chapter 4 examines the particular case of Dhammaruwan, a Sri Lankan boy who chants Pali texts that he does not appear to have learned in his present life. Rebirth in Early Buddhism and Current Research brings together the many strands of the debate on rebirth in one place, making it both comprehensive and compact. It is not a polemic but an interrogation of the evidence, and it leaves readers to come to their own conclusions.

Religion & Spirituality

Anālayo, Bhikkhu

Buddhism

Wisdom Publications

Renowned scholar-monk writes accessibly on some of the most contentious topics in Buddhism--guaranteed to ruffle some feathers. Armed with his rigorous examination of the canonical records, respected scholar-monk Bhikkhu Analayo explores--and sharply criticizes--four examples of what he terms "superiority conceit" in Buddhism: <ul> <li dir="ltr">the androcentric tendency to prevent women from occupying leadership roles, be these as fully ordained monastics or as advanced bodhisattvas</li> <li dir="ltr">the Mahayana notion that those who don't aspire to become bodhisattvas are inferior practitioners</li> <li dir="ltr">the Theravada belief that theirs is the most original expression of the Buddha's teaching</li> <li dir="ltr">the Secular Buddhist claim to understand the teachings of the Buddha more accurately than traditionally practicing Buddhists</li> <li style="list-style: none"> Ven. Analayo challenges the scriptural basis for these conceits and points out that adhering to such notions of superiority is not, after all, conducive to practice. "It is by diminishing ego, letting go of arrogance, and abandoning conceit that one becomes a better Buddhist," he reminds us, "no matter what tradition one may follow." Thoroughly researched, Superiority Conceit in Buddhist Traditions provides an accessible approach to these conceits as academic subjects. Readers will find it not only challenges their own intellectual understandings but also improves their personal practice.</li> </ul>

Superiority Conceit in Buddhist Traditions: A Historical Perspective

A fascinating investigation into the formation and transmission of the early Buddhist oral tradition. For hundreds of years after his death, the Buddha's teachings were transmitted orally, from person to person. In this volume, acclaimed scholar-monk Bhikkhu Analayo examines the impact of such oral transmission on early Buddhist texts, be these monastic rules, verses, or prose portions of the early discourses. He scrutinizes various oral aspects of these texts, surveying evidence for memory errors, the impact of attempts at systematization, and instances of additions and innovations. Finally, he explores the implications of the nature of these texts as the final product of centuries of oral transmission and evaluates the type of conclusions that can--and cannot--be drawn based on them.&nbsp; In-depth but still accessible, Early Buddhist Oral Tradition&nbsp;is an engrossing and enlightening inquiry into the early Buddhist oral tradition.

Early Buddhist Oral Tradition: Textual Formation and Transmission

A testimony to the invaluable contributions made by the women who were direct disciples of the Buddha—and a source of inspiration to Buddhist women today.\nIt’s a common perception that the earliest textual records don’t contain many, if any, teachings by the Buddha’s female disciples; yet, this is not the case. In fact, the earliest discourses record a range of teachings from Buddhist women, lay and monastic. Unfortunately their important contributions have so far not received the attention they deserve.\nIn Daughters of the Buddha, esteemed scholar-monk Bhikkhu Analayo examines the accounts of the first female disciples in the canonical scripture, taking the reader back to the earliest period in the history of Buddhism that can still be accessed today. He dedicates each of the twenty-one chapters in the volume to an individual and remarkable woman, sharing her particular insights and teachings with the reader. Both nuns and laywomen are featured in these pages, and their diversity of voices and richness of thought will serve as instruction and encouragement for modern scholars and practitioners alike.

Daughters of the Buddha: Teachings by Ancient Indian Women

Biographies & Memoirs

Community & Culture

An insightful examination of the end of suffering that draws much-needed attention to two overlooked factors of Nirvana: signlessness and deathlessness.\nNirvana is a critical part of the Buddhist path, though it remains a difficult concept to fully understand for Buddhist practitioners. In The Signless and the Deathless: On the Realization of Nirvana, scholar-monk Bhikkhu Analayo breaks new ground, or rediscovers old ground, by showing the reader that realizing Nirvana entails “a complete stepping out of the way the mind usually constructs experience.”\nWith his extraordinary mastery of canonical Buddhist languages, Venerable Analayo first takes the reader through discussions in early Buddhist suttas on signs (Pali nimitta), the characteristic marks of things that signal to us what they are, and on cultivating concentration on signlessness as a meditative practice. Through practicing bare awareness, we can stop defilements that come from grasping at signs—and stop signs from arising in the first place.\nHe then turns to deathlessness. Deftly avoiding the extremes of nihilism and eternalism that often cloud our understanding of Nirvana, Venerable Analayo shows us that deathless as an epithet of Nirvana “stands for the complete transcendence of mental affliction by mortality”—ours or others’—and that it is achievable while still alive.\nAdvanced practitioners and scholars alike will value the work for its meticulous academic expertise and its novel way of explaining the highest of all Buddhist goals—the final end of suffering.

The Signless and the Deathless: On the Realization of Nirvana

Health, Fitness & Dieting

Alternative Medicine

An incisive look into the early Buddhist teachings on emptiness, and a manual for bringing those teachings into our everyday lives. Before the growth of the Mahayana and the Perfection of Wisdom, before Avalokitesvara taught Sariputra the meaning of emptiness, the Buddha gave his own teachings, to his attendant Ananda, on the importance of emptiness (Pali sunnata, Sanskrit sunyata) in everyday practice. In this volume, renowned scholar-monk Bhikkhu Analayo explores these teachings and shows us how to integrate them into our lives. In this practical companion to his scholarly work The Signless and the Deathless: On the Realization of Nirvana, Bhikkhu Analayo draws from instructions found in the Greater and the Smaller Discourses on Emptiness (the Mahasunnatasutta and the Culasunnatasutta). In each chapter, he provides a translation of a pertinent excerpt from the discourses, follows this with clear and precise explanations of the text, and concludes by offering instructions for practice. Step by step, beginning with daily life and concluding with Nirvana, Bhikkhu Analayo unpacks the Buddha's teachings on this foundational concept.

Abiding in Emptiness: A Guide for Meditative Practice

The Perfection of Wisdom in First Bloom: Relating Early Astasahasrika Prajnaparamita to Agama Literature

The ensuing pages present a selection of passages from the early Buddhist discourses that provide perspectives on the cultivation of liberating insight into vedan&#257;, "sensation," "feeling," or "feeling tone." For meditators, such passages can be of considerable help as a reference point for deepening insight.A metaphor that can offer considerable help when facing vedan&#257;s describes bubbles arising on the surface of a pond during rain...they arise and soon enough burst and disappear. Contemplation of the changing nature of vedan&#257; provides a firm foundation for the growth of insight into not self. Such insight proceeds through successive layers of the mind's ingrained habit of self-referentiality. Based on relinquishing the explicit view of affirming the existence of a permanent self, increasingly subtler traces of conceit and possessiveness need to be successively overcome until with full awakening all selfing in any form will be removed for good.Deepening Insight is based on textual sources that reflect "early Buddhism," which stands for the development of thought and practices during roughly the first two centuries in the history of Buddhism, from about the fifth to the third century BCE. These sources are the P&#257;li discourses and their parallels, mostly extant in Chinese translation, which go back to instructions and teachings given orally by the Buddha and his disciples. In those times in India, writing was not employed for such purposes, and for centuries these teachings were transmitted orally. The final results of such oral transmission are available to us nowadays in the form of written texts. Bhikkhu An&#257;layo's presentation is meant to provide direct access, through the medium of translation, to the Chinese &#256;gama parallels to relevant P&#257;li discourses. In commenting on such passages, his chief concern throughout is to bring out practical aspects that are relevant to actual insight meditation.

Deepening Insight: Teachings on vedanā in the Early Buddhist Discourses

Pariyatti Press

See the best price to sell, buy, or rent books by Anālayo, Bhikkhu. BookScouter helps to compare book prices from 25+ online bookstores and 30+ buyback vendors with a single search.

Books by Anālayo, Bhikkhu

See the best price to sell, buy, or rent books by Anālayo, Bhikkhu. BookScouter helps to compare book prices from 25+ online bookstores and 30+ buyback vendors with a single search.

Rebirth in Early Buddhism and Current Research

Superiority Conceit in Buddhist Traditions: A Historical Perspective

Early Buddhist Oral Tradition: Textual Formation and Transmission

Daughters of the Buddha: Teachings by Ancient Indian Women

Daughters of the Buddha: Teachings by Ancient Indian Women

The Signless and the Deathless: On the Realization of Nirvana

Abiding in Emptiness: A Guide for Meditative Practice

Rebirth in Early Buddhism and Current Research

The Perfection of Wisdom in First Bloom: Relating Early Astasahasrika Prajnaparamita to Agama Literature

Deepening Insight: Teachings on vedanā in the Early Buddhist Discourses