A comprehensive anthology of Buddhist texts was never before attempted. The documents were distributed over so many languages that no one person could aim at knowing them all. Even where English translations of Buddhist texts existed, they were in most cases carried out at a time when the particular idiom of these texts was only imperfectly understood. Only in recent years has it become possible to translate accurately these texts.
Present work was originally published in 1954 under the same name and was the first work in English for the Mahayana texts, Tantras and texts from China and Japan translated from the originals.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR Edward Conze
Dr. Conze, widely known as a leading Buddhist scholar through his many publications (among them Buddhism: Its Essence and Development, which has become a classic), has published during the thirty years of his working life a great number of important articles which are scattered over many periodicals difficult or almost impossible to obtain. To meet a growing demand for the most important of these articles to be re-published we are presenting this volume which contains both translations and original essays: the indispensable report on Recent Progress in Buddhist Studies; the survey of Mahayana Buddhism which is still the only account based on the actual sources; the comparisons of Buddhist and European philosophy; the essay on Buddhist Saviours. The remaining articles deal with the Prajnaparamita on which the author is the leading authority in the West. The translations included will be specially welcome because reliable English translations of Buddhist texts are still rare. Thus this volume will be invaluable and indispensable for all students of religion and philosophy.
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