Embedded Narratives of Buddhism
Contents: Preface. 1. Pilgrimage of Sudhana. India: 2. Ajintha and trans-Gandhara. 3. Padmapani of Ajintha. 4. Buddhism and the North West. 5. A predecessor Buddha of Bamiyan. 6. Transient interregnum of Kaca alias Ramagupta of the Gupta dynasty. 7. Tamil: the glory of India. 8 (Hindi). 9. Mahabharata. 10. Siva the lord of yoga. 11. Santideva’s Bodhicaryavatara. 12. Quantum reality and the theory of Sunya. 13. Stupa as a visual symbol of the Buddha-realm. Central Asia: 14. Asoka and Khotan. 15. The cow of Kizil and vaitarani-dana. 16. India and Central Asia. 17. Rocana of the Avatamsaka from Balawaste. 18. Panel of Vaisravana and Aparajita (Skrine A). China: 19. Votive Bodhisattvas of Tun-huang. 20. Suryakirti and the security of the Sung state. 21. The thousand-armed Avalokitesvara. Japan: 22. Kumarajiva. 23. Blossom lotuses in the mind. 24. The lotus sutra is as deep as the sea in us. 25. Thought system of the lotus sutra. Tibet: 26. Prof. Tucci: You are in our minds and hearts. 27. Korosi Csoma Sandor. 28. Blue Annals. Indonesia: 29. Classical echoes in Indonesia. Europe: 30. Quest of Europe for its roots. 31. Journey of the European mind. 33. Sanskrit and European languages. 33. Pax culture of Nikolai Rioerich. Generalia: 34. Buddhist ecumenism. 35. From the shorelines of history. 36. Manuscripts and the renaissance. 37. The narrative of culture for time to come. 38. Pravasi Bharatiya. 39. Alumni of the Indian Council for Cultural Relations.
The volume begins with a unique Japanese scroll of Sudhana's pilgrimage in diaphanous colors. Ajanta and Trans Gandhara and the so called Padmapani at Ajanta have been newly identified. The Four Past Buddhas include Bhama Konakamana of Bamiyan as the immediate predecessor of Sakyamuni. The dual names of the Gupta emperors, and their trans-oceanic trade has been clarified for the first time. The role of Tamil merchants in the construction of Jerusalem in the tenth century BC down to Champa and Java in the 4th century CE has been narrated. New light is shed on the stupa from Vedic texts. Asoka and Khotan enunciates the global vision of the emperor and clarifies the multiple legends in Tibetan and Chinese sources on the concept of bhumiputra. The Bower manuscript fell down along with a cow in Kucha and heralded Central Asian studies. The cow and manuscript have been clarified as the vaitarani ritual. Two panels from Khotan have been identified as the palladia of the state of Khotan.
Votive Bodhisattvas of Tun-huang, Suryakirti's rituals to avert the evil destinies of the Sung Emperor Jen-tsung, the theophany of White-robed and Thousand-armed Kuan-yin's, Kumarajiva and philosophy of the Lotus Sutra: these chapters relate to Chinese Buddhism.
Three chapters pertain to Indo-European studies as the quest of European roots in the marginalization of Sanskrit. Natural sciences were a product of the Renaissance which was ushered in by the discovery of Classical manuscripts. Culture is the mother of Science. Quantum physics evokes Sunyata. A volume that roams across centuries and climes of both the East and West, that fills our minds with thoughts of what shall be.
