Pure Dharma and the Stupa (Studies on Early Buddhist History in India)

Author: Zhan Ru
Publisher:
Publish Date: 2006-12-01
Features: This book is an academic monograph on the early Buddhist monastic discipline and beliefs in India. Based on extensive literary and epigraphical materials, the author provides an in-depth analysis and research on the purification practices and stupa veneration in early Buddhist monastic communities in India, pointing out that the so-called purification practices are the behavioral norms for Buddhist monks, primarily concerning food and clothing. The schism within Indian Buddhism originated from various divergent interpretations of these purification practices. The author also conducts an in-depth exploration of various aspects of stupa veneration, arguing that under the influence of traditional customs, stupa veneration gradually became one of the belief forms of Buddhism and increasingly served as a means to understand Hinayana Buddhism. It also had a certain influence on the emergence of Mahayana Buddhism.