The Buddhist Cosmopolis Book
Contents: Preface. 1. Royal attributes of the Nirmanakaya Sakyamuni and the Dharmakaya Buddhas. 2. Comparative archaeology of the Buddhist cosmopolis. 3. Suddhodana and …4. Buddhist Art: internalisation and innovation. 5. Voice of the void. 6. The upcoming Sanchi University. 7. The Lotus Sutra and trans-oceanic trade as the pulsations of Nalanda. 8. Vikramasila University and Tibet. 9. Votive Goddesses. 10. Himalayas: ascent of the mind. 11. Gupta-Vakataka age. 12. Sanskrit as the transcreative dimension of the languages and thought systems of Europe and Asia. 14. Mandala of Durga. 15. Bamiyan: the jewel of Afghanistan glory. 16. Silk route or Sutra route. 17. Sanskrit on the silk route. 18. Panel with a horse and a camel from Khotan. 19. Travels to Western Central Asia. 20. Sasanian Iran: power and serenity. 21. The Naya-Mandala in Khotan. 22. Translation as the cultural space of Tibetan. 23. Atisa Sridipankarajnana. 24. The monastery of Hemis. 25. Alexander Csoma de Koros (Korosi Csoma Sandor). 26. George Roerich and Tibetan studies. 27. Sanskrit texts in the Chinese Tripitaka. 28. Prof. Tan Yunshan and Sino-Indian cultural relations. 29. Sinocentrism and chairman Mao. 31. Cambodia. 32. The Marine silk route and the light-house of King Mulavarman. 33. Champa in the global vision of classical India. 34. Life and transcendence. 35. Cultural sovereignty. 36. Values and action. 37. The cultural erosion of Asia by Western technocratic imperialism. 38. India’s role in the emergence of a new Western world-view. 39. English: the twilight of European cultures. 41. Sadler’s wells royal Ballet of the U.K. 42. Bird’s eyeview of Hungarian Indology. 43. Cosmographic paintings of Prof. O.P. Sharma. 44. Drops of wisdom: Rishi Frawley. 45. Haribhatta’s Jatakamala. 46. Vedic bibliography. 47. To Gene Smith in his dharmakaya. 48. Sukhavati-vyuha. Index. (13, 30 & 40 iteams in Hindi articles)
This book is a study of various aspects of Buddhism in its evolution and decimation in India, Afghanistan, Central Asia, China, Japan and SE Asia, besides the general threat to cultural sovereignty and values in their erosion by globalism and sweeping technocratism.
Constant development and qualitative changes in iconography leading to the rise of royal attributes in the bejeweled Buddha images. Comparative archaeology of the Buddhist cosmopolis to explain regional variations, internalisation and innovation in Buddhist art, Mandalas of Vairocana and Trika Saivism of Kashmir, are followed by a new interpretation of the genesis, expansion and trans-Indian contacts of the three major Buddhist Universities of Nalanda, Vikramasila and Vidisagiri (modern Sanchi).
Beginning with Bamiyan to Sanskrit on the silk Route, Khotanese panels, naya-mandala in Khotanese verses identified with the help of the living practice in Japan, and Sasanian objects in the Shoso-in are related as the dynamics of the historic role of Buddhism to bring nations together.
The cultural space of Tibetan commencing with the translation of Sanskrit sutras, the correct name of Atisa, the Kashmiri icons at the Hemis monastery, the beginning of scientific Tibetology by Korosi, and the studies of George Roerich as a catalyst to Tibetan researches in India are detailed herein.
Quadrilingual corpus of more than 10,000 Sanskrit mantras from the Chinese Tripitaka, the Cheena Bhavan at Santiniketan for the study of Chinese Buddhism in India, Sinocentrism and Chairman Mao, are discussed. A Japanese xylograph of the Sanskrit text of the Sukhavati-vyuha with interlinear Chinese meanings has been reproduced at the end of the book.
Chapters on Cambodia, Champa in the global vision of classical India, and the Marine Silk Route or K’un-lun and the lighthouse of King Mulavarman open new perspectives on this important region.
General problems of culture in an overwhelming world order of economic globalism and dogmatic anti-liberalism are discussed in a positive presentation of life and transcendence, values and action, and cultural disintegration by technocratic imperialism.(jacket)