Sam van Schaik

A fascinating exploration of the role that magic has played in the history of Buddhism As far back as we can see in the historical record, Buddhist monks and nuns have offered services including healing, divination, rain making, aggressive magic, and love magic to local clients. Studying this history, scholar Sam van Schaik concludes that magic and healing have played a key role in Buddhism's flourishing, yet they have rarely been studied in academic circles or by Western practitioners. The exclusion of magical practices and powers from most discussions of Buddhism in the modern era can be seen as part of the appropriation of Buddhism by Westerners, as well as an effect of modernization movements within Asian Buddhism. However, if we are to understand the way Buddhism has worked in the past, the way it still works now in many societies, and the way it can work in the future, we need to examine these overlooked aspects of Buddhist practice. In Buddhist Magic, van Schaik takes a book of spells and rituals--one of the earliest that has survived--from the Silk Road site of Dunhuang as the key reference point for discussing Buddhist magic in Tibet and beyond. After situating Buddhist magic within a cross-cultural history of world magic, he discusses sources of magic in Buddhist scripture, early Buddhist rituals of protection, medicine and the spread of Buddhism, and magic users. Including material from across the vast array of Buddhist traditions, van Schaik offers readers a fascinating, nuanced view of a topic that has too long been ignored.

Divination, Healing, and Enchantment through the Ages

Buddhist Magic

Presents a comprehensive history of the country, from its beginnings in the seventh century, to its rise as a Buddhist empire in medieval times, to its conquest by China in 1950, and subsequent rule by the Chinese.

A History

Tibet

Discovering a Lost Tradition

Tibetan Zen

A complete catalogue of Tibetan Chan Texts in the Dunhuang Manuscript Collections

SRIFIAS Papers on Central Eurasia #1 (41)

The Tibetan Chan Manuscripts

Imre Galambos

This study is based on a Sino-Tibetan manuscript from the late 960s, carried by a Chinese pilgrim through the Hexi corridor on his way from Wutaishan to India. Included is a series of Tibetan letters of introduction that functioned as a passport as the monk stopped in monasteries on his way. The manuscript is a unique contemporary testimony of the large pilgrimage movement known from historical sources. It also provides evidence for the high degree of ethnic, cultural and linguistic diversity in Western China during this period.

The Sino-Tibetan Documents of a Tenth-Century Buddhist Pilgrim

Manuscripts and Travellers

A leading writer and researcher on Tibet, Sam van Schaik offers an accessible and authoritative introduction to Tibetan Buddhism by examining its key texts, from its origins in the eighth century to teachings practiced across the world today. In addition to demonstrating its richness and historical importance, van Schaik’s fresh translations of and introductions to each text provide a comprehensive overview of Tibetan Buddhism’s most popular teachings and concepts—including rebirth, compassion, mindfulness, tantric deities, and the graduated path—and discusses how each is put into practice. The book unfolds chronologically, conveying a sense of this thousand-year-old tradition’s progress and evolution. Under the spiritual leadership of the Dalai Lama, Tibetan Buddhism has an estimated ten to twenty million adherents worldwide. Written for those new to the topic, but also useful to seasoned Buddhist practitioners and students, this much-needed anthological introduction provides the deepest understanding of the key writings currently available.

The Spirit of Tibetan Buddhism

Famoso per la sua cultura unica e per i monasteri buddhisti inerpicati sul tetto del mondo, il Tibet esercita da sempre uno straordinario fascino che affonda le radici nel più lontano passato. Questo libro, scritto con efficace stile narrativo da un grande esperto di storia tibetana, conduce il lettore nel cuore del Paese, dal VII secolo, periodo di gloria dell’impero tibetano, fino ai giorni nostri, analizzando la nascita del buddhismo tibetano, l’ascesa del Dalai Lama, le mire di Inghilterra e Russia – entrambe potenze colonialiste confinanti col Tibet – fino ad arrivare alla rivoluzione del 1911. Oltre a far luce sul complesso rapporto del Paese con la Cina, Van Schaik illustra aspetti della cultura tibetana poco conosciuti o fraintesi, come la reincarnazione del Dalai Lama o Il Libro Tibetano dei Morti. Una narrazione esaustiva e avvincente, che offre la possibilità di conoscere davvero questo angolo tanto importante e controverso del mondo.

Storia di un popolo e di una nazione

Gergely Hidas

Michael Willis

Daniela De Simone

This volume presents new research on the temple site of Bodhgayā in eastern India - long recognized as the place where the Buddha sat in meditation and attained enlightenment - and shows through discussion of the rich material excavated from the site its importance in the field of Buddhist studies.

Finds from the Site of the Buddha's Enlightenment

Precious Treasures from the Diamond Throne

An engaging introduction to Zen Buddhism, featuring a new English translation of one of the earliest Zen texts Leading Buddhist scholar Sam van Schaik explores the history and essence of Zen, based on a new translation of one of the earliest surviving collections of teachings by Zen masters. These teachings, titled The Masters and Students of the Lanka, were discovered in a sealed cave on the old Silk Road, in modern Gansu, China, in the early twentieth century. All more than a thousand years old, the manuscripts have sometimes been called the Buddhist Dead Sea Scrolls, and their translation has opened a new window onto the history of Buddhism. Both accessible and illuminating, this book explores the continuities between the ways in which Zen was practiced in ancient times, and how it is practiced today in East Asian countries such as Japan, China, Korea, and Vietnam, as well as in the emerging Western Zen tradition.

Sam van Schaik

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