A Catena of Buddhist Scriptures from the Chinese

The Buddhist Canon in China, as it was arranged between the years 67 and 1285 A.D, includes 1440 distinct works, comprising 5586 books. But these form only a fractional part of the entire Buddhist Literature. The present books is divided into parts. In the beginning the book contains an informative introduction. Part I contains Legends and Myths which includes – The Origin of the rivers; The Navel of the earth; The Habitable world; the Four great continents; On the Karma that leads to birth in these worlds: On the causes of the earthquakes; on the eight cold Hells; on the abode of the king Yama. The Superior Heaven; The thirty three heavens; The four divisions of Dhyana Heavens; the occupants of the Heaveans; General summary; The collective Universe; The extent of the different systems of the worlds; on the length of time called a Kalpa; On the kalpa of Perfection; on the various tiers of the world; on the names of the great numbers used in Buddhist books; Legend of Sakya; Origin of the Sakya family; Memoirs by Wang Puh; the various scenes of Sakya teaching; his methods of teaching; the various developments of his doctrine; the eternity of his law; his successors; the epitome of Buddha’s life. Part II deals with Buddhism as a Religion – The necessity of meditation; Buddhism as a atheistic system; as a nihilistic system; The Nirvana – The character of Nirvana; Chinese definitions; the discussion found in the Mahaparinirvana Sutra. The Sutra of the forty-two Sections, The Pratimoksha, The Daily Manual of the Shaman., The Tian T’ai School of Buddhism. Part III is on the Scholastic Period – General division of the Buddhist development; Translation of Sutras. Part IV. Mystic Period – Definition of Mysticism; the convent at Nalanda; the worship of Kwan-yin; Part V. Decline and fall – Naga worship. In the end the book Contains Additional Notes, General Index, and Index of Proper Names, arranged Phonetically.