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Nagarjuna in Context: Mahayana Buddhism and Early Indian Culture
Joseph Walser provides the first examination of Nagarjuna's life and writings in the context of the religious and monastic debates of the second century CE. Walser explores how Nagarjuna secured the canonical authority of Mahayana teachings and considers his use of rhetoric to ensure the transmission of his writings by Buddhist monks. Drawing on close textual analysis of Nagarjuna's writings and other Buddhist and non-Buddhist sources, Walser offers an original contribution to the understanding of Nagarjuna and the early history of Buddhism.
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Nagarjuna in Context: Mahayana Buddhism and Early Indian Culture
Joseph Walser provides the first examination of Nagarjuna's life and writings in the context of the religious and monastic debates of the second century CE. Walser explores how Nagarjuna secured the canonical authority of Mahayana teachings and considers his use of rhetoric to ensure the transmission of his writings by Buddhist monks. Drawing on close textual analysis of Nagarjuna's writings and other Buddhist and non-Buddhist sources, Walser offers an original contribution to the understanding of Nagarjuna and the early history of Buddhism.
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Nagarjuna in Context: Mahayana Buddhism and Early Indian Culture

Nagarjuna in Context: Mahayana Buddhism and Early Indian Culture

by Joseph Walser
Nagarjuna in Context: Mahayana Buddhism and Early Indian Culture
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Nagarjuna in Context: Mahayana Buddhism and Early Indian Culture

Nagarjuna in Context: Mahayana Buddhism and Early Indian Culture

by Joseph Walser

Overview

Joseph Walser provides the first examination of Nagarjuna's life and writings in the context of the religious and monastic debates of the second century CE. Walser explores how Nagarjuna secured the canonical authority of Mahayana teachings and considers his use of rhetoric to ensure the transmission of his writings by Buddhist monks. Drawing on close textual analysis of Nagarjuna's writings and other Buddhist and non-Buddhist sources, Walser offers an original contribution to the understanding of Nagarjuna and the early history of Buddhism.

Product Details

ISBN-13: 9780231506236
Publisher: Columbia University Press
Publication date: 08/21/2012
Sold by: Barnes & Noble
Format: eBook
Pages: 368
File size: 20 MB
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About the Author

Joseph Walser is associate professor and department chair of comparative religion at Tufts University.


Table of Contents

Acknowledgments
Introduction
1. Locating Mahayana
2. Locating Nagarjuna
3. Mahayana and the Constraints of Monastic Law
4. Mahayana Sutras as Monastic Property
5. On the Parasitic Strategies of Mahayana
6. Abhidharma and Sectarian Identity
7. Nagarjuna and the Abhidharma
Conclusion: Toward the Outline of a Career
Appendix: The Authorship of the Ratnava
Notes
Bibliography

Columbia University Press

What People are Saying About This

Ronald M. Davidson

It is refreshing to find a scholar putting Nagarjuna's feet firmly on theground, right where they belong. Walser's admirable book contextualizes theorigin of the Madhyamaka in early Mahayana and its struggles withthe larger Buddhist communities. He investigates the scriptural andintellectual background and finds Nagarjuna a canny Buddhist monk, seekinglegitimacy for a new direction in Buddhist life and defending its position againstthe challenges of the day. His use of the surviving archive--inSanskrit, Tibetan and Chinese--fills in much of the gaps in the scholarship todate and takes us to a new level of understanding.

Sara L. McClintock

This impressive study, the first of its kind, employs textual, art historical and epigraphic evidence to illuminate the social conditions in which Nagarjuna worked. Walser triumphs in exposing the complexities of a historical context which until now has been portrayed far too simply.

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Related Subjects

Religion
Buddhism
Buddhist Doctrine
Mahayana Buddhism
Religion
Buddhism
Buddhist Doctrine
Mahayana Buddhism

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