An important new book unlocking the words of the Buddha contained in
the vast Tibetan canon, one of the main scriptural resources of
Buddhism.
In the forty-five years the Buddha spent traversing northern India, he
shared his wisdom with everyone from beggar women to kings. Hundreds of
his discourses, or sutras, were preserved by his followers, first orally
and later in written form. Around thirteen hundred years after the
Buddha's enlightenment, the sutras were translated into the Tibetan
language, where they have been preserved ever since. To date, only a
fraction of these have been made available in English. Questioning the
Buddha brings the reader directly into the literary treasure of the
Tibetan canon with thoroughly annotated translations of twenty-five
different sutras. Often these texts, many translated here in full for
the first time, begin with an encounter in which someone poses a
question to the Buddha.
Peter Skilling, an authority on early Buddhist epigraphy, archaeology,
and textual traditions, has been immersed in the Buddhist scriptures of
diverse traditions for nearly half a century. In this volume, he draws
on his deep and extensive research to render these ancient teachings in
a fresh and precise language. His introduction is a fascinating history
of the Buddhist sutras, including the transition from oral to written
form, the rise of Mahayana literature, the transmission to Tibet, the
development of canons, and a look at some of the pioneers of sutra study
in the West.
Sutras included in this volume are: Four Dharmas Not to Be Taken for
Granted; The Benefits of Giving; The Exposition of Four Dharmas; The
Merit of the Three Refuges; Four Dharmas Never to Be Abandoned; Advice
for Bodhisatva Dharmaketu; Advice for Bodhisatva Jayamati; Sutra
Comparing Bodhicitta to Gold; Bodhisatva Maitreya's Question about the
Gift of the Dharma; Four Summaries of the Dharma Spoken to the Naga King
Sagara; The Stanza of Dependent Arising; The Heart Formula of Dependent
Arising; Prediction of the Boy Brahmasri's Future Buddhahood;
Ksemavati's Prediction to Future Buddhahood; The City Beggar Woman; An
Old Woman's Questions about Birth and Death; The Questions of Srimati
the Brahman Woman; The Questions of the Laywoman Gangottara; Brahma
Sahampati's Question; Advice to King Prasenajit; Passage to the Next
Life; Instructions for King Bimbisara; Instructions for King Udayana;
Buddhas as Rare as a Grain of Golden Sand; and Predictions on the Eve of
the Great Final Nirvana.
