Content: Introduction: Lumbinī, a Buddhist World Exposition --
Theravāda and Mahāyāna --
Lumbinī's Eastern Monastic Zone: South and Southeast Asian Traditions --
The Mahā Bodhi Society --
The Sri Lanka Monastery --
The Gautamī Center For Nuns --
Myanmar (Burma) --
Meditation Centers --
Lumbinī's Western Monastic Zone: East Asian Traditions --
China --
Korea --
Japan --
Vietnam --
Lumbinī's Western Monastic Zone: Tibetan Vajrayāna Traditions --
The Great Lotus Stūpa --
The Lumbinī Udyana Mahachaitya --
Part I. Foundations of the Triple Gem: Buddha/s, Dharma/s, and Saṃgha/s. Śākyamuni, Lives and Legends --
The Historical Buddha --
The Buddha's World --
The Buddha Story --
Past Buddhas and the Biographical Blueprint --
The Start of Śākyamuni's Career --
Previous Lives (Jātakas) --
The Donkey in the Lion's Skin --
Vessantara Jātaka --
The Tigress Jātaka --
A Lifestory of Śākyamuni --
Birth and Childhood --
Life in the Palace --
The Beginnings of Discontent --
The Great Departure --
Paths Not Taken --
Awakening --
After Enlightenment --
The First Sermon --
Various Conversions and Miracles --
Death and Parinirvāṇa --
Overcoming the Buddha's Absence --
Seeing the Buddha in the Dharma --
Excursus on the Buddhist Canon/s --
Places of Pilgrimage --
Relics --
Buddha Images --
The Masters of the Dharma --
The Arhat Dharma-Protectors --
Meeting Maitreya --
Some Permutations of the Middle Way --
The Middle Way --
Karma and Saṃsāra --
Why do Good Deeds? --
Contexts of Karma I: Neither Free Will nor Determinism --
Contexts of Karma II: Both Jain and Upaniṣadic Views --
The Doctrine of Non-Self (Anātman) --
Breaking Down the False Sense of Self: the Five Aggregates and Impermanence --
The Elements (Dharmas) --
Countering the Breakdown of Self: Personal Continuity --
Explications of Continuity: Pseudo-Selves and Ersatz Ātmans --
The Four Truths --
The First Truth: Stress --
The Second Truth: the Continual Arising of Stress and Interdependent Origination --
The Double Bind of Saṃsāra --
The Third Truth: the Cessation of Stress --
Nirvāṇa --
The Fourth Truth: the Path to the Cessation of Stress --
Moral Discipline --
Meditation --
Wisdom --
Other Systematizations of the Path --
The Seven Factors Conducive to Enlightenment --
The Graduated Training --
The Four Divine Abidings --
The Four Fruits of the Path --
The Establishment and Character of the Early Buddhist Community --
Monastic-Lay Interactions --
Dāna (Giving) and Other Forms of Making Merit --
Lay Ethics --
Magical Protection --
Laypersons and the Monastic Rules --
Royal Supporters --
King Aśoka --
The Monastics: Wandering and Settling --
Monastic Lifestyles --
Monasteries --
Mahāprajāpatī and the Establishment of the Order of Nuns --
Common Moral Commitments --
Initiation Rituals: Wandering Forth and Ordination --
Monastic Rules --
The Elaboration of the Rules: Prātimokṣa Recitation and Pravāraṇa --
Some Exemplary Disciples of the Buddha --
Śāriputra and Maudgalyāyana --
Paṭācārā --
The Laypersons Nakulapitṛ and Nakulamātṛ --
Viśākhā, Preeminent Laywoman --
Visions and Divisions of the Saṃgha --
Council Stories --
The Council at Rājagṛha --
Vinaya Disputes: the Council of Vaiśālī --
The Councils of Pāṭaliputra --
Other Council Traditions --
The Flowering of Mainstream Factionalism --
Other Divisional Issues --
Practice vs. Study --
Meditators and Merit Makers --
Forest Monks and Town Monks --
The Question of Asceticism --
The Question of Bon-Vivant Monks --
Sect vs. Sect --
The Origins of the Mahāyāna --
Proliferation of Mahāyāna Schools --
Mahāyāna Schools in India --
Mahāyāna Schools in China --
Mahāyāna Schools in Japan --
Mahāyāna Schools in Tibet --
Part II. Further Elaborations of the Triple Gem. Mahāyāna and Vajrayāna Ways of Meeting the Buddha/s --
Changes in the View of the Buddha: The Lotus Sūtra and Śākyamuni's Lifespan --
Three Bodies of the Buddha/s --
Meeting the Buddha's in their Pure Lands --
Akṣobhya --
Bhaiṣajyaguru --
Amitābha --
Meeting the Amitābha through Visualization --
Rebirth in the Pure Land --
Meeting the Buddha in the Great Bodhisattvas --
Avalokiteśvara --
Other Great Bodhisattvas --
Meeting the Buddha/s in the Vajrayāna --
Mạnḍalas and the Five Tathāgatas --
Ritual Consecration (Abhiṣeka) --
Merging with the Buddha --
Visions: Meeting the Buddha/s in Bardo --
Buddha Embodiments in this World: Gurus and Tülkus --
Māhāyana Doctrinal Developments --
Emptiness: the Selflessness of Dharmas --
Nāgārjuna and the Madhyamaka --
The Expansion of Provisional Truth: Expedient Means (Upāya) --
Tiantai Doctrines --
The Ongoing Dialectic: the Yogācāra School --
Asanga and Vasubandhu and the Development of the School --
Yogācāra Doctrines --
Avataṃsaka Doctrines --
Applications of the Interpenetration --
The Buddha Womb/Embryo (Tathāgatagarbha) Teachings --
Resurgence of the True Self --
Buddha-Nature Controversies --
Limitations to the Buddha-Nature: the Icchantika Debate --
The End of the Dharma --
Expansions of the Buddha-Nature Doctrine --
The Bodhisattva Path --
Sudden and Gradual --
Disagreements over the Nature of the Path: the Debate at Samyé --
Disagreements over the Nature of Enlightenment --
Graduated Paths --
Compassion and Bodhicitta --
The Stages of the Path, the Perfections, the Five Paths --
Routinization and Ritualization --
Path Shortcuts --
Tantra --
Uniting the Poles --
Tantric Physiology --
Mahāmūdra and Dzokchen (Rdzogs chen) --
Direct Experiences: Chan/Zen --
Kōans --
Critical Phrases (Huatou) --
Saṃgha Situations: Places, Persons, and Practices in Thai Buddhism/s --
Buddhism in Thailand --
Thai Monastic Life: Temporary Ordination --
Life as a Novice --
Experiences as a Monk --
The Lives of Two Charismatic Thai Monks --
Acharn Mun --
Khruba Siwichai --
The End of the Rains-Retreat in a Northern Thai Village --
A Thai Temple in Wimbledon, England --
Saṃgha Situations: Places, Persons, and Practives in Japanese Buddhism/s --
The Hexagonal Hall (Rokkakudō) --
Prince Shōtoku --
Shinran --
Kannon, Jizō, and Fudō --
The Ritual Year at Shinnyodō --
New Year's --
Ḍākinī and the Recitation of the Great Perfection of Wisdom Sūtra --
Main Hall Rituals --
Goma --
The Killing Stone --
The Ryōanji Rock Garden --
The Buddh's Birthday at the Morgan Bay Zendo --
The Japan Temple in Lumbini --
Saṃgha Situations: Places, Persons, and Practices in Tibetan Buddhism/s --
Lhasa Jokhang --
Pinning Down the Demoness --
Flood Control --
Grand Prostrations --
The Great Prayer Festical --
The Potala and the Dalai Lamas --
Finding a New Dalai Lama --
Scholars and Mad Saints --
Drepung Monastery and Monastic Studies --
Mad Monks: the Case of Tangtong Gyalpo --
Samding: Femaile Incarnations and a Contemporary Buddhist --
A Tibetan Dharma Center in Vermont, U.S.A.