This pioneering work documents cultural and religious sites across the Tibetan Plateau and its bordering regions from the Paleolithic Era to today.Western fascination with Tibet has soared in recent decades, yet this historic and globally celebrated region has barely been mapped. With this groundbreaking atlas, Karl E. Ryavec sweeps aside the image of Tibet as Shangri-La, offering a comprehensive vision of the region as it really is. The product of twelve years of r...

A sweeping history of the conquest of India by the British, from the first faltering trading stations to the marbled imperial cities, emphasizing the violence of colonial rule and its chaotic inheritanceThe popular image of the British Raj—an era of efficient but officious governors, sycophantic local functionaries, doting amahs, blisteringly hot days and torrid nights—chronicled by Forster and Kipling is glamorous and nostalgic, but entirely fictitious. In this dr...

Written by a great modern Nyingma master, Dudjom Rinpoche's The Nyingma School of Tibetan Buddhism covers in detail and depth both the fundamental teachings and the history of Tibetan Buddhism's oldest school. This, the first English translation of His Holiness' masterwork, constitutes the most complete work of its type in the West.An absolute treasure for students of the tradition, it is also an indispensable reference for anyone with an interest in Buddhism. The book inc...

Discover the most important teachings of the Buddha in this updated translation of one of the most beloved and best-known Buddhist scriptures in the Pali Canon.In more than 400 verses, the Buddha clearly expounds his noble path of virtue for everyman. This foundation scripture teaches the supreme doctrine of nirvana and the way to the highest possible happiness for mankind. Oxford professor Dr. Max Muller, a great scholar and Orientalist, did the translation.

The pirates of Malabar and an Englishwoman in India two hundred years ago examines a period of danger, trade, and uncertainty along the Indian coastline. The narrative focuses on maritime conflict, where commercial ambition collides with lawlessness and survival depends on resilience and adaptability. Coastal regions emerge as unstable spaces shaped by power struggles, shifting alliances, and constant threat. European traders face isolation, cultural distance, and the realities of operatin...

This book is a beginner’s guide to Buddhism. It will introduce the reader to the origin of Buddhism and the teaching passed through the discipline. It will serve to educated the reader on the various ways they can be able to actualize a simple but happy life through Buddhism. It will enlighten the user on the various ways the Buddha worked to become enlightened and eventually got to rid himself of the suffering from life. This will teach the reader how to be able to do the same. The topics...

First Buddhist Women is a readable, contemporary translation of and commentary on the enlightenment verses of the first female disciples of the Buddha. The book explores Buddhism’s relatively liberal attitude towards women since its founding nearly 2,600 years ago, through the study of the Therigatham, the earliest know collection of women’s religious poetry. Through commentary and storytelling, author Susan Murcott traces the journey of the wives, mothers, teachers, courtesan, prostitutes...

"Translated with grace and precision . . . gives us a rare glimpse of how Asian religion and life appeared from the perspective of the Tibetan plateau." —Janet Gyatso, Harvard UniversityIn 1941, philosopher and poet Gendun Chopel sent a manuscript by ship, train, and yak across mountains and deserts to his homeland in Tibet. He would follow it five years later, returning to his native land after twelve years in India and Sri Lanka. But he did not receive the welcome...

Relations between China and India underwent a dramatic transformation from Buddhist-dominated to commerce-centered exchanges in the seventh to fifteenth centuries. The unfolding of this transformation, its causes, and wider ramifications are examined in this masterful analysis of the changing patterns of the interaction between the two most important cultural spheres in Asia.Tansen Sen offers a new perspective on Sino-Indian relations during the Tang dynasty (618–907), arguing that...

This new updated edition of How the Swans Came to the Lake includes much new information about recent events in Buddhist groups in America and discusses such issues as spiritual authority, the role of women, and social action.

How do archaeologists explore the various dimensions of religion? Lars Fogelin uses archaeological work at Thotlakonda in Southern India as his lens in a broader examination of Buddhist monastic life. He discovers the tension between the desired isolation of the monastery and the mutual engagement with neighbors in the Early Historic Period. He also sketches how religious architectural design and use of landscape helped to shaped these relationships. Drawing on historical accounts, religio...

Here is a brief, well-written, and lively survey of the history of Southeast Asia from ancient times to the present, paying particular attention to the region's role in world history and the distinctive societies that arose in lands shaped by green fields and forests, blue rivers and seas. Craig Lockard shows how for several millennia Southeast Asians, living at the crossroads of Asia, enjoyed ever expanding connections to both China and India, and later developed maritime trading networks...