Buddhist Texts Through the Ages

This excellent book might be thought of as a larger version of Edward Conze "Buddhist Scriptures", which is not available in Kindle at this time (hint to Amazon!). "Buddhist Texts Through the Ages" is a wonderful resource for those meditators not turned off by what can seem to be pretty strange stuff. I got the paperback decades ago, and recently picked up the electronic version for the Kindle emulators on my PC and phone.This is the real deal, actual Buddhist texts as written long ago. Modern humanists should try "suspension of disbelief" for a while and give it a try. This is not Buddhism for Dummies, or new age happy talk / positive thinking. I strongly recommend that it be read in conjunction with something like Thich Nhat Hanh's "Miracle of Mindfulness" which is authentic hard core Buddhism, but wisely written for our times.

The short review: This book is an anthology of classic buddhist scriptures chosen by four contributors. The contributions by I.B.Horner and Edward Conze are excellent, whilst those of David Snellgrove and Arthur Waley are not only questionable, but highly misleading.I recommend anyone wishing to properly understand the field of buddhism, whether an initiate or an adept, to rather buy two excellent books in place of this one: (1) 'In the Buddha's Words' by Bhikkhu Bodhi, which is a wonderful and comprehensive selection of suttas from the Pali canon, and (2) 'A Treasury of Mahayana Sutras' by Garma C.C. Chang, which presents a wealth of beautifully chosen and translated sutras from the Mahayana Tripitaka. Both of these books are gems to which one will return time and again.The detailed review: The contributions from I.B.Horner and Edward Conze are both excellent representations from the two major schools of Buddhism: Theravada and Mahayana. These contributions form the first two-thirds of the book, and are in all ways well chosen, deep, and gratifying.Unfortunately though, the final part of the book offering selections from David Snellgrove and Arthur Waley are a great let-down, and misleading enough to impart to anyone a confused view as to what Buddhism is actually about.Arthur Waley, in his presentation of texts from China and Japan, gives one the distinct impression of a Jesuit translator presenting what he considers to be a heathen occult. He has neither a sympathy for, nor any real insight into, the rich and living heritage of Buddhism in these countries. Rather than present us with offerings from the wonderful and immense Chinese Tripitaka, or the many vibrant schools of Zen, he chooses some extracts from the most moribund and insignificant of sources. He proclaims he could not find anything wise, nor worthy of inclusion, from the Vimilakirti Sutra, which has rightfully been upheld as a masterpiece for many centuries. Instead he gives us an autobiographical account of a nun who boasts of her austerities in that she burnt off six of her fingers as an offering to the Buddha. This is a very impoverished view of the astonishing transformation that Buddhism underwent as it travelled across the orient. Clearly Mr Waley has quite completely taken the finger pointing at the moon to be the moon itself. His inclusions in this book are lamentable.David Snellgrove, for his part, presents us with a selection of sutras from Tantric Buddhism. The problem here, is that the reader is not made sufficiently aware that Tantricism is an insignificant, and potentially very dangerous, movement. Indeed, it runs precisely contrary to everything the Buddha originally taught. Any buddhist understands the core of the Buddha's teaching to be that 'all conditoned things are impermanent; to desire what is impermanent is the cause of suffering.' Yet tantricism would have us believe that we can end our desires by gratifying our desires, and end our passions by satisfying our passions. This is an immensely dangerous view. Could we really end hatred in the world by hating? Can we end an addiction by satsfying that addiction? Thus, the inclusion of these texts leaves one with a bad taste in one's mouth, as well as with a very warped view of what Buddhism is actually about.As I stated in my short review, if you wish for a solid grounding in Buddhism, and an authentic representation of its classic texts, do yourself a great favour and rather purchase the two books: 'In the Buddha's Words', and 'A Treasury of Mahayana Sutras.'With love and best wishes.

Edward Conze (1904-1979) was a notable translator of Eastern texts into English, as well as the author of books such as "Buddhism: A Short History," "Buddhism: Its Essence and Development," etc. Other editors of this collection are Arthur Waley, David Snellgrove, and I.B. Horner.They write in the Introduction to this 1954 book, "A comprehensive Anthology of Buddhist Texts has never before been attempted. The documents are distributed over so many languages that no one person could aim at knowing them all... Only in recent years has it become possible to translate accurately, and work done in the middle of the 20th century is likely to be greatly superior to anything done fifty or more years ago. All the texts in this book have been newly translated from the originals. The book is designed as a sequel to Dr. Conze's book 'Buddhism.'"Here are some quotations from the book:"A monk must not be abused or reviled in any way by a nun. From today admonition of monks by nuns is forbidden, admonition of nuns by monks is not forbidden." (Pg. 25)"This consciousness is luminous, but it is defiled by adventitious defilments. The uninstructed average person does not understand this as it really is. Therefore I say that for him there is no mental development." (Pg. 33)"Dhamma has been taught by me without making a distinction between esoteric and exoteric. For the Tathagata has not the closed fist of a teacher in respect of mental states." (Pg. 35)"The Brahmins who do not know the truth, vainly recite the Vedas four... They do not know that dharma's the same as non-dharma... What is the use of austerities? What is the use of going on pilgrimage? ... Abandon such false attachments and renounce such illusion! Than knowledge of This there is nothing else. Other than This no one can know." (Pg. 224-226)"Whatever pours forth from the mind, Possesses the nature of the owner. Are waves different from the water? Their nature like that of space is one and the same." (Pg. 234)

A very authentic selection of Buddhist scriptural texts.However one wishes it be better organized in a more accessible and reader-freindly way.