Wisdom Beyond Words: The Buddhist Vision of Ultimate Reality

by Sangharakshita

Overview

Dangerously disorientating to the unwary student, the Prajnaparamita or Perfection of Wisdom teachings can offer a fast route to some well-trodden blind alleys - or to the very heart of Reality. We live in a sophisticated age that often seeks to rationalize the ultimate meaning of Buddhism, but these two-thousand-year-old texts offer a giddying counterbalance to this attempt. Sangharakshita's clarity, scholarship and insight are revealed in this commentary on the Diamond Sutra, the Heart Sutra and the Ratnagunasamcayagatha - core teachings of Mahayana Buddhism. Using this book as a guide we can begin our own investigation of these sublime teachings - and also perhaps be rewarded with a world-shattering glimpse of the Buddhist vision of ultimate Reality.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780904766776
Publisher:	Windhorse Publications
Publication date:	08/01/2004
Pages:	304
Product dimensions:	6.10(w) x 9.10(h) x 0.70(d)

About the Author

A respected translator and author of over fifty books, Sangharakshita began studying BUddhism at the age of 16. After 20 years studying in India he returned to England and set up the Friends of the Western Buddhist Order which has over 65 centres worldwide, including the USA.

Table of Contents

	Editor's Preface
	General Introduction	7
	The Perfection of Wisdom Tradition	9
	The Heart Sutra	21
	The Sutra	23
	Commentary	25
	The Diamond Sutra	37
	Introduction	39
	The Sutra	45
Chapter 1	A Strangely Ordinary Beginning	63
Chapter 2	The Essential Revolution	75
Chapter 3	The Nature of Giving	85
Chapter 4	How to Recognize a Buddha	95
Chapter 5	The Raft of the Dharma	103
Chapter 6	Insight with a Capital I	119
Chapter 7	Hallowed Ground	127
Chapter 8	Stretching the Mind to its Limits	135
Chapter 9	A Sense of the Sublime	139
Chapter 10	The Perfection of Patience	145
Chapter 11	A Breath of Nonsense	151
Chapter 12	Cut Down to Size	157
Chapter 13	The Reality of the Buddha	163
Chapter 14	Seeing Through Illusions	175
	The Ratnaguna-Samcayagatha	181
	Introduction
	The Greater Mandala	183
	The Sutra	195
Chapter 1	For Heroic Spirits Intended	203
Chapter 2	The Voice of the Buddha	209
Chapter 3	No Wisdom Can We Get Hold of	217
Chapter 4	A Leap of Faith	231
Chapter 5	The Nature of the Bodhisattva	241
Chapter 6	The Unfathomable Individual	251
Chapter 7	Topsy-Turvy Views	257
Chapter 8	The Facts of Existence	271
	Notes and References	281
	Further Reading	289
	Index	291