Due to the diversity in Buddhism, its essence remains a puzzle. This book investigates the Buddhist path to liberation from a practical and critical perspective by searching for patterns found in the Pali Nikayas and the Chinese Agamas. The early discourses depict the Buddhist path as a network of routes leading to the same goal: liberation from suffering. This book summarizes various teachings in three aspects, provides a template theory for systematically presenting the formulas of the sequential training of the path, and analyses the differences and similarities among diverse descriptions of the path in the early Buddhist texts. By offering a comprehensive map of the Buddhist path, this book will appeal to scholars and students of Buddhist studies as well as those practitioners with a serious interest in the Buddhist path.

Autorentext
Ven. Dr. Jianxun Shi, FHKAH, born as Yi-jung Tsai, is a Buddhist bhiksuni of the Mahayna tradition. She was ordained in 1996 at the Luminary Buddhist Institute in Taiwan and received five years of monastic training there. Between 2005 and 2007, she studied Pli and the Pli Nikyas under the personal guidance of Ven. Bhikkhu Bodhi in the U.S. In 2016, she earned a Ph.D. in Buddhist Studies at the Centre of Buddhist Studies of the University of Hong Kong. In 2018, she won the First Book Prize awarded by the Hong Kong Academy of Humanities ("HKAH") and has been recognized as an Early Career Fellow of HKAH ever since. She is currently a research fellow for the Noble Path Buddhist Education Fellowship, a non-profit Buddhist organization in New York. Her research interest focuses on the practical aspects of the Early Buddhist texts preserved by all Buddhist schools. Both traditionally and academically trained, she hopes to play a role in making the profundity of the Buddhist teachings understandable and relevant to the modern practitioners of Buddhism.

Inhalt
PrefaceAcknowledgementsAbbreviations
I. Introduction 1. Issue of religious diversity and inclusivism 2. The quest for essences and consistency of Buddhist teaching 3. Features of early Buddhist texts 4. Pli Nikyas and Chinese gmas
II. The Path to Liberation 1. Three Dharma Seals 2. A goal-oriented path 3. Holy Life 4. Levels of Achievements 5. Three aspects: prototype, sequence, and factors III. The Prototype: the Buddha's enlightenment accounts 1. A typical outline 2. Various accounts 3. The issue of authenticity 4. Avoiding dogmatism
IV. The Sequential Process: Gradual Training 1. Progressive instruction and gradual training 2. A series of practices in hierarchical order 3. Paradigm and template theory 4. Template A: developments based on the four jhnas 5. Template B: featured by knowledge and vision of things as they really are 6. Template C: developments centered on the seven factors of enlightenment 7. Template D: emphasized on faith and hearing the Dhamma V. The Factorial Analysis: Path Factors 1. Seven sets of thirty-seven factors leading to enlightenment 2. Things worth cultivating 3. The summary of the Buddha's teaching 4. The norm of spiritual practices 5. The noble path and the middle way 6. The way leading to the cessation 7. The totality of holy life
VI. Comprehensive Discussions of the Three Aspects of the Path 1. The Buddha's enlightenment and his teachings 2. Time series analysis and cross-sectional analysis 3. Reconcilability with the triad of gratification, danger and escape 4. Compatibility between formulaic descriptions of the path 5. Case studies of selected texts
VII. Types of Variation 1. Different in wording and expression 2. Explained in brief and in detail 3. Additional elements 4. Alternative ways 5. Flexibility in sequence 6. Different levels of development VIII. An Integrated Whole 1. Reciprocal support and counterbalance 2. Successiveness and predictability 3. Versatility 4. Milestones of the path 5. Essences of the path
IX. Conclusion 1. A network of routes leading to liberation from suffering 2. An exploration through a deconstructive-reconstructive process 3. The middle way between diversity and uniformity
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