India Books

Basically the book is just what it claims to be: a history of Zen Buddhism in China (it says "India" because it discusses the precursors to Zen in the Mahayana tradition and yoga). It is perfect for students interested in the topic.

I've heard from a few people (and the preface of the book admits it as well) that this book is somewhat dated because scholarship in this field has ballooned in the past decade or two. However, there is no equivalent introduction to all of Zen history. Thus, if you plan to study Zen history in depth, this is still the best place to start and you can move on to more recent books covering more specific movements and time periods. On the other hand, if you're not going to study in depth, then the new developments are not so radical as to render this unhelpful. Within ten years a better, up to date history of Zen is bound to come out. If you can wait...

On the other hand, I believe that a background in Chinese religion would be helpful, since Dumoulin really doesn't provide the background that a student needs in that area. But he does refer to them--Taoism and other strands of Chinese Buddhism--enough that perhaps he ought to have given a bit of introduction to them. He does give an interesting coverage of Neo-Confucianism, although not in much depth and only discussing their relationship to Zen. I was glad I had some familiarity with Taoism, but I found myself wishing I'd had more familiarity with Chinese Buddhism.

For that reason, if you are a beginning student, I'd strongly recommend some other books first.

If you're new to Zen, start with "An Introduction to Zen Buddhism" by D. T. Suzuki.

If you don't know much about Taoism, I recommend Livia Kohn's "Daoism and Chinese Culture."

If you don't know much about Chinese Buddhism, I recommend "Buddhism in China" by Kenneth Ch'en.

I think, at that point, if you want to get into the history of Zen Buddhism in greater depth, then you'll be ready to get a lot out of Dumoulin's fine book.

Of course, if the history of Zen really is the ONLY thing you're interested in, not how it interacted with Taoism or other kinds of Chinese Buddhism, then go ahead and just jump straight into this one.

Zen Buddhism: A History India And China is a new edition of volume 1 of the classic two- volume history by Heinrich Dumoulin (1905-1995), one of the world's most renowned Zen scholars. Covering the emergence of Zen through India and China, the new edition also includes additional notes by James W. Heisig of the Nanzan Institute for Religion and Culture; a new introduction by John R. McRae of Indiana University exploring recent developments in the study of Zen; and the complete original text. An excellent, thoroughly researched, in-depth history especially recommended for advanced students and scholars of Buddhism and religious history.

A detailed survey that begins in India with the historic Buddha, Sakyamuni, and finishes with the decline of Zen in China. The amount of detail would be overwhelming if Dumoulin hadn't digested it so well and hadn't written so well. Packed no only with historical events and persons, there are many observations and insights that reveal not only how Zen developed but the extent of diversity and challenges within it.

There were some highlights for me: the roots of Zen in yoga (hence the emphasis on the lotus pose for zazen), the importance of the Mahayana sutras with all the work to translate them into Chinese, the interplay of Buddhism with Taoism in China that led to Zen, the persecution of Buddhism in China that only Zen and Pure Land survived, and the settling down into the methods of regular zazen and koan practice. The differing views on enlightenment and other key Buddhist concepts as well as on meditation practice reveals that Zen was ever exploratory and many things to many of its masters and those who followed them.

Remarkably NeoConfucianism eventually gathered strength so as to be able to successfully challenge Zen for the Chinese heart. This volume closes with Chinese Zen in a decline from which it never recovered. Dumoulin explains how NeoConfucianist scholars were able to weaken the hold of Zen upon the Chinese such that Zen only was able to progress outside of China. Thar Zen later prospered in Japan did not lead to its rehabiilation within China so one is left wondering if Japanese Zen largely succeeded due to not facing a NeoConfucian challenge within Japan: all the more reason to read carefully Dumoulin's history of why Zen declined in China. I find it impossible to wonder if Japanese Zen, however much it flourished there, did so to some extent by avoiding the challenges that Zen faced in China. Any such questions may be answered by a careful reading of both this Volume 1 and the companion but consensus seem less to be found than a struggle by many that shaped the tradition without bringing it closure.

Zen Buddhism, Volume 2: A History (Japan) (Treasures of the World's Religions)

This is one of the better memoirs I have read of Americans living abroad in the 19th century. Rachel and Will Johnson were a Pennsylvania couple who went to Northern India as missionaries in 1860 and served there until 1884. This book is a compilation of Rachel's letters to her family along with a few from her husband and children.

Rachel doesn't talk much about the husband's work but focuses on the daily life of a missionary family in India, replete with servant problems, frequent illness -- two of the Johnson's eight children were to die in India -- and the often touchy personal relations of missionaries and other foreigners thrown together in strange and hostile environments. We get a pretty good picture of her personality and daily life. She was opinionated and, as is typical, had little respect for the religions of the local Muslims and Hindus. She also seems to have been at odds with the single missionary women who, toward the end of the Johnsons' life in India, made up a growing and important element in missionary work. Rachel's barely restrained fury at the encroachments of the single women makes for some of the best reading in the book.

Rachel died of a horse and buggy accident in 1888 in North Carolina. Will returned to India after her death to resume missionary work and died in 1926, sixty-six years after he and his young wife first came to India.

The editor, a descendant of the Johnsons, adds introductions to the letters and explanatory footnotes plus photographs, maps, and charts. There is more that could be done in identifying people mentioned in the letters and events briefly described and the quality of the letters is such that additional scholarship would be warranted. I've read a lot of books by professional travel writers which weren't as informative as this collection of letters. I recommend the book highly for those interested in India, missionaries, and nineteenth century American women.

Smallchief

While this true-life story can't compete with the constant thrill-a-minute excitement level of a fictional Tom Clancy novel, the wonderful realities and historical remembrances portrayed here provide a down-to-earth documentation well worth a few hours of your time. The editor provides a unique and historically accurate documentary of the little-known life of her great-grand-mother, Rachel Kerr, mostly from her great-grand-mother's own hand. Rachel was a young farm-girl who married a minister and spent much of her life as a missionary's wife in India in the mid-1800's, far from the family she loved so much. The editor initially provides informative and interesting historical background material about Rachel's youth while growing up in and around Hookstown, Pennsylvania. Hookstown is a very small cross-roads town located in hilly farm-country about 30 miles west of Pittsburgh near the state border with West Virginia. The details of her life in this area can be easily verified through numerous government and individual archive records available today. Even many of the physical locations in and around Hookstown can still be easily traced and located today. Hookstown has now grown a little bit and is an interesting place to visit; but it still remains an out-of-the-way place which doesn't put much stock in trying to keep up with the hectic pace of the rest of the world. After the background has been properly set, the editor then smoothly brings in the real meat of the story through incorporation of an extensive verbatim series of letters written personally by Rachel, coupled with historical commentary where needed. These original letters provide an unusual personal and emotional insight into Rachel's exciting but challenging life as a mother and as a missionary's wife in the extremely dangerous and difficult environment of mid-eighteenth century India. The brief story of how the editor encountered her great-grand-mother's letters is itself a fascinating one. The stories these letters tell bring a real-life perspective to us that the movies have never touched. I became particularly attached to the book when I found out that the subject is my great-great aunt, that all the people she describes are my relatives, and that I grew up in her hometown locale. I also have a large, beautiful cross-stitch done by Rachel Kerr in 1848 at the age of 12. I always cherished that cross-stitch, even as a little boy, but, until I read this book, I only knew that Rachel Kerr was somehow related to me. I found the same beauty and sensitivity in this book that I always admired in that cross-stitch and it confirms to me what a wonderfully bright, talented, and unique person this lady truly was. Richard Hobbs

This is the best book I have ever read on Bihar.well researched,highly analytical, simple language, and very articulate.I was compelled to review this book way back in 1992 in Hindi, Navbharat Times,Patna. Mr Arun Sinha, congrats. I had expected a similar book on Laloo Prasad from you. Are you listening?

Chandrakant P Singh, Quality Consultant, Discovery Channel India

This is the best book I have ever read on Bihar.well researched,highly analytical, simple language, and very articulate.I was compelled to review this book way back in 1992 in Hindi, Navbharat Times,Patna. Mr Arun Sinha, congrats. I had expected a similar book on lallo prasad from you. are you listening? Chandrakant P Singh, Quality Consultant, Discovery Channel India

Titus Foster a long-time devotee of Swami Prakashananda has done the world(All of us) the greatest service. He has brought to the world the wisdom and stories of one of the most loving compasssionate souls to ever walk this earth. In a world colored by hatred and prejudices of every kind. This man didnt live for name or fame or power.As he said,"I came for Love and Knowledge and service to humanity"- and he got it! After Muktanandas death, Baba took on the task of helping many of Muktanandas orphaned children continue their spiritual destiny under his compassionate wing. Being part of a large group of devotees around Muktananda, I had always wished for the close contact and training of a great being. In Prakashananda I found a simple loving presence of great light and over-whelming spiritual beauty.I had the Opportunity to live with Prakashananda and Titus off and own for years. It is of great importance that the genuine article is now available for everyone and my only wish is that Babaji now to enjoy the "Name and fame" that he ironically so deeply deserves in service to humanity.Thankyou Harihar!

This small book consists of a short biography of Swami Prakashananda (58 pages) plus a lot of parables he told as his way to answer to requests of his pupils. This Swami seems to have had a very "rich" life. Lot's of travels and deep spiritual insights. One would really like to know more about him, but since he was not in the limelight, nearly nothing has remained about his pilgrimages. Nevertheless, it shows one, that there are great souls out there, even if nearly unknown. In the later part of his life he was a pupil of Swami Muktananda, and one learns here, that Muktananda would have liked Prakashananda to become his successor, Prakashananda declined, and therefore Chidvilasanda and Nityananda have been choosen. As we know from other sources, Nityanda left the "position", so nowadays one hears only about Chidvilasananda, when it comes to SYDA Yoga. But Swami Prakashananda was a man of his own and basically a Shakta in his Temple Sapta Shring. The book is short, but touching and worth reading. The author lived with the Swami for eight years and tells the story without bringing himself into it, which is quite an achievement. Thank you Titus:-)

Upon the northern edge of the Indian subcontinent, in the hilly folds near the Himalayas, east of Kashmir near the Tibetan border south of the Indus river is Ladakh. Its valleys have long been a great trade and invasion route to the north of India. There is Alchi, a distinct daedal of Buddhist temples with splendid wall paintings and clay sculptures that have survived for the past eight hundred years to reveal some of the best preserved and unaltered images, an iconography of a flourishing Varjayana Buddhism. This sumptuous limited edition offers a detailed photo survey and archaeological description of one of the most impressive of the temples at Alchi, the Sumtsek (Three-Tiered) Temple. The building itself is a composite blend of Tibetan and Kashmiri elements that demonstrate some central Asian components. The wall paintings are in an elaborate and delicate Kashmiri style. This style is known to still exist only in a few other temples in Ladakh and western Tibet. The minuteness and finesse of the form and style of many of the paintings appears to be a transposition of techniques developed for miniatures in manuscripts onto the larger surfaces of walls. The adept vision of the monk artists of the Sumtsek combines a lavish display of tantric teachings, with still evolving artistic styles and methods. These are blended with the requirements of a donor's personal vision into structural possibilities of the building's interior design and access to light. All this culminates into a integrated sanctuary, one of the great gems of early tantric iconography. It is a treasure in its own right as valuable as the Sistine Chapel or Saint Marks Basilica. The wooden panels of the ceilings are painted with a rich variety of textile motifs, some deriving from Greco-Iranian and Sassanian sources, others similar to those found on the pantheon figures of the Buddhist wall paintings, pointing to the international character of the northwest Indian and Kashmiri medieval civilization. The text provides a full introduction to the icons and historical social religious context of the building as best as that can reconstructed through archaeological and scientific methods. In many ways the volume is also a plea for the international preservation of these treasures of Buddhist art due to of the recent rapid deterioration because of changes in climate and rainfall. The paintings reveal early forms of iconographic cult that offer important means of interpreting the evolution of the ritual use of painting. The book ALCHI contains over 300 color plates, maps, and plans. They are beautifully integrated into the text and are important evidence of the development of the cult meditation Buddhas of the Varjayana tradition. This volume is an important documentation of some world class art on the verge of extinction.

I was trained in art history at Smith College, so I thought I had some notion of the world's greatest art monuments. NOT!

Alchi is every bit as sophisticated, refined and important as the Sistine Chapel, the Pompei frescoes, etc. that we in the West are already familiar with.

Seeing Alchi in person blows you away - you're amazed that something this precious and beautiful exists, and, miraculously, has survived so many chances at oblivion. Go to see it - or, failing that, buy this book. You can't take pictures inside anyway, so either way, buy this book. An astonishing and deeply moving masterpiece (both the place and the book).

This book is much more than just a "beauty" how -to ancient tradition book. Its also beautifully written by outstanding authors. There are many many ancient looking photos of the exquisiteness of the traditional Indian woman, even some men, and of course the babies! Also rare and fasinating older photos of different beauty products ads, etc from India.
This book is a history lesson too, much more than wonderful recipes handed down traditionally (which are wonderful by the way!). I HIGHLY recommend this book to any India-loving philosopher or anyone interested in India at all. This book is amazing! 100 stars!

I am currently study Ayurveda, and love this book.
I tried some of the recipes for Masques and Face Creams.
If you are into Beauty, this book is a must have..

This book consists of a series of teachings on several topics by the highly respected Tibetan lama Gyatrul Rinpoche, skillfully translated by B. Alan Wallace and Sangye Khandro. It's divided into three parts, titled "Transformation," "Dream Yoga" and "Meditation," and each of these three parts consists of a "root text" by a renowned Tibetan author and a commentary by Gyatrul Rinpoche. The first root text is a wonderful "lojong" (mind training) text called "Transforming Felicity and Adversity into the Spiritual Path," by Jigme Tenpe Nyima. The second is a dream yoga text called "Releasing Oneself from Essential Delusion," by Lochen Dharma Shri, and the third is a Dzogchen text called "The Illumination of Primordial Wisdom," by H.H. Dudjom Rinpoche. Taken together, these three texts and their lucid and practical commentaries give a very complete introduction to the essential teachings of the Nyingma tradition of Tibetan Buddhism, and will be a great treasure for anyone interest in practicing these profound methods.

very useful....profound...... a variety of topics

This is a powerful little book. It explains how our thinking becomes the law of our life and that if we are sitting around blaming God for our suffering and our challenges, we are misinformed. We must learn to change our thinking which will change our life. This isn't as easy as it sounds but it becomes doable when we understand that we are co-creators with God, and connected to the All Knowing. When I was Editor of Science of Mind magazine, and a spiritual counselor at Agape, I was so fortunate to be focusing my attention on Dr. Holmes's writings and teachings almost 24/7. The end result of all my focused positive thought did change my life and will change yours. Your life experiences must change because, as Dr. Holmes teaches, it is the Law of Attraction - like attracts like. Thinking about health, draws health. Thinking about success, draws success. But the proof is in trying this thinking for yourself. I guarantee it - even Doubting Thomas's will be convinced by this book. Elaine Maginn Sonne, Ph.D., Author of Legends of the Stones and other books on empowerment.

I read this book in a study group. It was an amazingly concise explaination of some major concepts. If you believe that God is always in us and around us, that our thoughts make our world and that we can access the power of God to co-create our universe or if you've suspected any of those things might be true, you will enjoy this book. It may even help you explain some "new thought" ideas to all those people who think you're too "woo woo"

Great stuff. My wife collects Cinderella stories from around the world. She loved it.

Anklet For A Princess: A Cinderella Story From India is an fabulous adaptation of the East Indian story "Nagami" (Jewel of the Snake), a legend that in many ways resembles the classic fairy tale Cinderella. The young woman Cinduri is overburdened with work from her stepmother and stepsister, and receives barely enough to eat in return. But Godfather Snake learns of her troubles and helps her attend the village's annual Navaratri Festival dressed in the most beautiful golden-threaded sari and diamond anklets, and there she wins the heart of the Prince. A captivating picture book story commendably written by Lila Mehta, deftly adapted by Meredith Brucker, and wondrously illustrated in full color by Youshan Tang, Anklet For A Princess would make a welcome and popular addition to any school or community library picture book collection.

Tremendous resource for serious scholars. The references are thorough and well-documented. I look forward to reading more of Dr. Cahill's work.

This is truly a monumental work. Thank you on behalf of my colleagues and students. N. Redington, Jr.