Readings of the Lotus Sutra

Edited by Stephen F. Teiser and Jacqueline I. Stone

Paper, 304 pages, 10 illus.
ISBN: 978-0-231-14289-2
$24.50 / £17.00

July, 2009
Cloth, 304 pages, 10 illus.
ISBN: 978-0-231-14288-5
$79.50 / £55.00

"Provides an ideal introduction to East Asian Buddhist traditions, premodern and modern." — Buddhadharma

"Readings of the Lotus Sutra is well conceived and balanced, and all of the major areas and issues are covered. I would not hesitate to use this volume for classroom teaching. Indeed, I would structure my undergraduate teaching around it. We need more volumes like this." — Robert Sharf, University of California, Berkeley

"Stephen F. Teiser and Jacqueline I. Stone have done us a great service with this endeavor. The Lotus Sutra is arguably the most influential of all of the Mahayana sutras, and an understanding of it and its themes is essential to the study of East Asian Buddhist doctrine and practice. The contributors' previous scholarship on the subjects treated in these chapters has been excellent and is very well regarded in the field of Buddhist studies. While a considerable amount has been written in English on the Lotus Sutra, almost all of the existing work is pitched to upper-level students and other scholars. True to the mission of the series, this collection will give students the basic knowledge they need to read the text." — Hank Glassman, Haverford College

"In English, an important hiatus remained before this volume: we had no good general critical work on the context, contents, and connotations of the Lotus Sutra and its most important doctrines and chapters. Particularly for students reading the text in translation, there was a marked absence of good secondary readings on the work with which to provide them. This volume goes a long way toward meeting that need." — John Strong, Charles A. Dana Professor of Religious Studies, Bates College

Related Subjects

• Asian Religion

Series

• Columbia Readings of Buddhist Literature

About the Author

Stephen F. Teiser is D. T. Suzuki Professor in Buddhist Studies at Princeton University. His research focuses on the interaction between Buddhism and Chinese forms of religion. His book Reinventing the Wheel: Paintings of Rebirth in Medieval Buddhist Temples received the Stanislas Julien Prize from the Institut de France. Jacqueline I. Stone is professor of Japanese religions at Princeton University. Her primary research centers on medieval Japanese Buddhism, especially the Tendai and Nichiren Buddhist traditions. Her book Original Enlightenment and the Transformation of Medieval Japanese Buddhism received the American Academy of Religion Award for Excellence in the Study of Religion (Historical Studies).

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