Reasons and Lives in Buddhist Traditions: Studies in Honor of Matthew Kapstein

by Dan Arnold (Editor), Cécile Ducher Ducher (Editor), Pierre-Julien Harter (Editor)

Overview

The celebrated career of a venerated scholar inspires incisive new contributions to the field of Indian and Tibetan Buddhism.

Particularly known for his groundbreaking and influential work in Tibetan studies, Matthew Kapstein is a true polymath in Buddhist and Asian studies more generally; possessing unsurpassed knowledge of Tibetan culture and civilization, he is also deeply grounded in Sanskrit and Indology, and his highly accomplished work in these cultural and civilizational areas has exemplified a whole range of disciplinary perspectives.  

Reflecting something of the astonishing range of Matthew Kapstein’s work and interests, this collection of essays pays tribute to a luminary in the field by exemplifying some of the diverse work in Buddhist and Asian studies that has been impacted by his scholarship and teaching. Engaging matters as diverse as the legal foundations of Tibetan religious thought, the teaching careers of modern Chinese Buddhists, the history of Bhutan, and the hermeneutical insights of Vasubandhu, these essays by students and colleagues of Matthew Kapstein are offered as testament to a singular scholar and teacher whose wide-ranging work is unified by a rare intellectual selflessness.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781614295501
Publisher:	Wisdom Publications MA
Publication date:	12/10/2019
Series:	Studies in Indian and Tibetan Buddhism
Sold by:	SIMON & SCHUSTER
Format:	eBook
Pages:	432
File size:	14 MB
Note:	This product may take a few minutes to download.

About the Author

Dan Arnold is a University of Chicago scholar of Indian Buddhist philosophy and author of the award-winning Brains, Buddhas, and Believing: The Problem of Intentionality in Classical Buddhist and Cognitive-Scientific Philosophy of Mind (Columbia University Press, 2012).

Cécile Ducher is a research fellow at the École Pratique des Hautes Études in Paris. She is the winner of the 2019 Khyentse Foundation Award for Outstanding PhD Dissertation in Buddhist Studies for her work on the history of the Ngokpa Kagyü lineage.

Pierre-Julien Harter is the Robert H. N. Ho Family Foundation Professor of Philosophy in Buddhist Studies at the University of New Mexico. His research focuses on the Buddhist concept of the path, especially in the exegetical Indian and Tibetan literature of the Abhisamayalamkara.
Dan Arnold is a University of Chicago scholar of Indian Buddhist philosophy and author of the award-winning Brains, Buddhas, and Believing: The Problem of Intentionality in Classical Buddhist and Cognitive-Scientific Philosophy of Mind (Columbia University Press, 2012).
Cécile Ducher is at the École Pratique des Hautes Études in Paris.
Pierre-Julien Harter teaches at the University of New Mexico.

Table of Contents

Preface ix

By Way of an Introduction: A "Discussion of the Person" Who Is Matthew Kapstein Dan Arnold 1

Part 1 The Tibetan Assimilation of Buddhism

The Ten Virtues and the Tibetan Assimilation of Buddhism Sam van Schaik 29

The Legal Foundations of Tibetan Religious Thought Charles Ramble 41

Rivalry and Identity: A Record of Tibetan and Chinese Artists Competing in Early Seventeenth-Century Amdo Karl Debreczeny 57

Revisiting the Manjusriyamulakalpa's Painting Chapters Ronald M. Davidson 71

The Chinese Disciples of Gangkar Rinpoché (1893-1956) Fabienne Jagou 85

From Poti to Pixels: Digitizing Manuscripts in Bhutan Karma Phuntsho 97

Part 2 The Tibetans

The Case of the Missing Shangpas in Tibet Michael R. Sheehy 113

The Treasury of Kagyü Mantra: A Nineteenth-Century Collection of Marpa's Tantric Teachings Cécile Ducher 129

Historic and Iconographic Identification of a Thangka of the Ngor Lineage Amy Heller 143

From Tibet to Bhutan: The Life and Legacy of Tsang Khenchen Jamyang Palden Gyatso Jetsun Deleplanque 149

"A Good Life for Me, the Little Bhadanta": A Song of Spiritual Experience Franz-Karl Ehrhard 163

Are We All Shentongpas? Gregory Forgues 181

Part 3 The Rise of Wisdom Moon

What Is Buddhist Wisdom? †Steven Collins 199

The Consort/Spell Observance (Vidydvrata) and the Rite Bestowing It (Ddnavidbi): Developments in Esoteric Buddhist Initiation Christian K. Wedemeyer 209

The Base of the Natural State according to the Gter snying rin po che spungs pa'i rgyud of the Spyi ti Yoga Tradition Jean-Luc Achard 225

A Brief Analysis of Jonang Choklé Namgyal's Pointing-Out Instruction on the Foundation, Path, and Fruit Klaus-Dieter Mathes 241

Classifications of Perception (Samjna) in Buddhist Agama and Abhidharma Treatises Seiji Kumagai 255

Memory, Imagination, and the Culture of Religious Experience Karin L. Meyers 263

Buddhist Philosophy as a Way of Life: Perspectives on the "Three Wisdoms" from Tibet and Japan Marc-Henri Deroche 277

Part 4 Reason's Traces

Why Did the Buddha Come to Earth? Monastic Lineage, Interreligious Polemics, and Philosophy Vincent Eltschinger 293

Gyaltsab Darma Rinchen and the Rigs gter dar tik, an Exegesis of Sakya Pandita's Tshad ma rigs pa'i gter* Leonard W.J. van der Kuijp 307

The Traces of the World in the Tracks of the Philosophers Sonarn Kachru 323

Reading, Yielding, Doubting: Passages of Reception in Indian Buddhist Literature Richard F. Nance 339

Who Practices the Path? Persons and Dharmas in Mind-Only Thought Joy Cecile Brennan 351

What's Not in the Texts? Vasubandhu on Attainments (Adhigama) Jonathan C. Gold 363

From Exegesis to Hermeneutics: Rongtön and the Hidden Meaning (sbas don) of Perfect Wisdom Pierre-Julien Harter 379

Is No-Self a Pathology? Georges B.J. Dreyfus 393

Tabula Gratulatoria 403

Dissertations Directed Matthew Kapstein 405

About the Contributors 407

Editorial Reviews

"Reasons and Lives is a celebration of the life and achievements by a star of Tibetan studies in our generation. It is a true gift to all scholars in the field."

Yael Bentor

This fine volume, filled with gems of scholarship and imagination to engross and reward readers, students, and scholars alike, is a fitting tribute to one of the brightest leading lights of contemporary Buddhology and Tibetology.

Janet Gyatso

“Reasons and Lives in Buddhist Traditions reflects the towering position Matthew Kapstein has claimed in the fields of Buddhist and Tibetan studies. The collection records a snapshot of the most important contemporary research on the intellectual traditions of India, Tibet, and the wider Himalayan region.

Andrew Quintman

Keyed to Kapstein's wide-ranging and deeply informed writings on Indian and Tibetan Buddhism, the pieces collected here form a brilliant constellation of contemporary perspectives on the history, philosophy, and practice of Buddhism in South and Inner Asia. They illuminate both high-relief issues—such as debates about the nature of the self and the meaning of Buddhist 'wisdom'—and vital but lesser-known topics in areas like Tibetan art history, the evolution of spiritual lineages, and tantric theory and practice. The reader who delves into this book emerges with a profound appreciation for Matthew Kapstein, whose matchless contributions to the field have inspired so many scholars to such excellence.

Roger Jackson

Generations of scholars honor one whose work will influence many generations to come.

Kurtis R. Schaeffer