A Modern Buddhist Bible - by David S Lopez (Paperback)

Book Synopsis

The first book to bring together the key texts of modern Buddhism

In the last hundred years, the world, especially the West, has increasingly embraced the teachings of Buddhism. A Modern Buddhist Bible is the first anthology to bring together the writings from Buddhists, both Eastern and Western, that have redefined Buddhism for our era.

Forging a universal doctrine from the divergent traditions of China, Sri Lanka, Japan, Burma, Thailand, and Tibet, the makers of modern Buddhism saw it as a return to the origin, as renowned scholar Donald Lopez shows. Modern Buddhism is for them a homeward journey to the vision of Buddha himself. Putting far more stress on meditation and spirituality than on ritual and relics, it embraces the ordination of women and values of science, social justice, tolerance, and individual freedom.

A Modern Buddhist Bible includes writing by Jack Kerouac, Allen Ginsberg, William Burroughs, the Dalai Lama, Thich Nhat Hanh, T'ai Hsu, Cheng Yen, Shaku Soen, D. T. Suzuki, Alan Watts, Gary Snyder, Shunryu Suzuki, and others who have played a role in the rich and complex movement that fused Eastern insight with Western consciousness.

Review Quotes

"Prolific Tibetan Buddhist scholar Lopez wonderfully advances his argument for framing a contemporary understanding of Buddhism that is rooted in history and pays attention to texts as well as practice. . . . The book is a great contribution to bridging the gap between the text-and-language camp of academic Buddhists and the practice, practice, practice camp of modern Buddhist adepts."

"This intriguing new work does not, as the title suggests, present canonical texts of ancient Buddhism to modern readers. Rather, Lopez seeks to define "modern Buddhism" through the writing s of 31 authors who came to prominence between 1873 and 1980. . . . The interpretive introduction ties the diverse authors together into a "lineage" of modern Buddhism, seen by Lopez as a new sect neither bound by location nor the product of evolution but rather harking back some 2500 years to the Buddha's original vision. An important contribution to the literature of contemporary Buddhism..."

About the Author

Donald S. Lopez, Jr. is professor of Buddhist and Tibetan studies at the University of Michigan. His most recent books are The Story of Buddhism: A Concise Guide to Its History and Teachings and Prisoners of Shangri-La.