The Compendium of Tibetan Buddhist Thought for Contemporary Studies

Abstract

Nowadays, when the holders of the living tradition of Tibetan Buddhism have set out to preserve and present the Tibetan cultural heritage to the whole world, publishing an authoritative compendium that would meet the requirements of contemporary academic literature becomes an urgent task. This is the intent of the four-volume series “Science and Philosophy in the Indian Buddhist Classics”. Thus, the reader is invited to review Volume 1 of this series entitled “The Physical World”, which covers the Buddhist ideas about the world in six parts and thirty-three chapters. The literature used by the compilers includes a large number of the Buddhist canonical texts, as well as many well-known treatises on Buddhist medicine and astrology, including different Tibetan works. The volume makes it possible for a wide range of interested readers to familiarise themselves quickly with the most substantial ideas and terms in the Buddhist classics, regarded as the most important for Tibetan Buddhism. The book can be used as a reference, giving an opportunity to analyse the Tibetan Buddhist views in the context of philosophical and cultural studies, and as a guide for students of Buddhism as well. A brief analysis of Buddhist logical reasoning has been undertaken using the material of this book. The importance of its understanding for analysing the Buddhist texts is shown.