Indian Buddhism: A Brief Introduction to Its Origins -- Century Library

Author: Lü Qing
Publisher:
Publish Date: 2005-04-01
Features: This book is the lecture notes used by the author when teaching in a five-year Buddhist Studies class initiated by the former Institute of Philosophy and Social Sciences of the Chinese Academy of Sciences in 1961. The Buddhist philosophy of India began to flourish in the 5th century BC and gradually expanded and developed until the 10th century AD, when Mahayana Buddhism declined in India, spanning a period of 1,500 years. During this long period, the doctrines of Indian Buddhism also underwent several major transformations: from early Buddhism to new schools of Buddhism, and then evolving into Mahayana and Hinayana. Even within Mahayana, there were distinct phases of early, middle, and late stages. These are clearly identifiable phases. This manuscript divides Indian Buddhism into six stages: early Buddhism, new schools of Buddhism, early Mahayana Buddhism, Hinayana Buddhism, middle Mahayana Buddhism, and late Mahayana Buddhism. Based on a large number of documents in Chinese and Tibetan, and by comparing Pali Tripitaka with existing Sanskrit original texts, it outlines the characteristics and developments of Buddhist doctrines in each stage according to the chronological order of their emergence. It provides a clear outline of the general historical development of Indian Buddhism over 1,500 years. According to the compiler, this is the first book in China that presents the history of Indian Buddhism in its original form.