The History of Buddhism in India and Tibet

The present volume contains the translation of the 2nd part of Bu-ton’s History of Buddhism, i.e. of the historical part proper. The latter begins with the Life of the Buddha and ends with an account of the work carried out by the Tibetan Lotsvas and Indian Pandits of Buton’s own period and immediately before him (XII and XIII Cent.), viz. the translation of the Buddhist Cannonical texts and exegetical treatises from the Sanskrit. There are numerous quotations from both sutra and sastra. Owing to this it becomes possible to get a clear aspects of the principal sources from which Buton has compiled his history, and which have likewise later on served as a basis for the work of Taranatha. The book is divided into following principal parts. Pt. I-The Life of Buddha Sakyamuni, the narrative of the so-called 12 Acts of the Buddha (mdzad-pa bcu-gnis), or rather of the 12 principal events in the life; Pt. II-The Rehearsals of the Buddhist Scripture. This part begins with the account of the first Rehearsal, of the death of Kasaypa and Ananda, and of the second Rehearsal; Pt. III-The different theories concerning the time of duration of the Buddhist doctrine; Pt. IV-The “prophesies” concerning the persons that have furthered the spread of Buddhism. The most important are those contained in the Lankavatara, the Mahakaruna0Pundarika and the Manjusri-mulatantra. A separate prophecy referring to the Tantrik Acharyas, that of the Kalacakra uttaratantra and Mahakala-tantraraja is given at the end of this part. Pt.V-The biographies of the celebrated Buddhist teachers, viz. Nagarjuna, Aryadeva, Candragomin, Candrakiriti, Aryasanga Vasubandhu, Sthirmati, Dignaga, Dharmakirti, Haribhadra, Santideva etc. Each of these is followed by name of the works composed by the teacher in question. An indication of the volumes of the Tangyur in which the works are contained is always given in the notes. A short summary of the history of the grammatical literature, or rather of the legends referring to it, viz. the stories about Brhspati, Panini, Sarvavarman etc.; Pt. VII-Prophesies of an apocalyptic character foretelling the disappearance of the Buddhis doctrine; Pt. VIII-The History of Buddhism in Tibet. It begins with the genealogy of the early legendary Tibetan kings, commencing with Nathitsen-gam-po. These are followed by a more detailed account concerning the spread of Buddhism in Tibet during the reign of Thi-sron-de-tsen the selection of the first 7 Tibetan monks, the dispute between the adherents of Kamalasila and of the Chinese Hva-san Mahayana etc. in particular there is a enumeration of the texts translated by some of the Lotsavas from the Sanskrit. In the end book contains a detailed Index of the Sanskrit works quoted in the book.