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Abbreviations used for sutras
Transliteration of Chinese is from Taisho Revised Tripitaka
A note from the author
Appendix
Chapter Contents & Sources
In researching and writing this book, I have drawn almost exclusively from the texts of the so-called “Lesser Vehicle,” purposefully using
very little from Mahayana texts in order to demonstrate that the more expansive ideas and doctrines associated with Mahayana can all be
found in the earlier Pali Nikayas and Chinese Agamas. One need only read these sutras with an open mind to see that all sutras are sutras
of Buddhism, whether they belong to the Northern or Southern Tradition.
Mahayana sutras offer a more liberal and broad way of looking at and understanding the basic teachings of Buddhism. This has the effect
of preventing the reification of the teachings, which can come about from a narrow or rigid way of learning and practice. Mahayana sutras
help us discover the depths of the Nikaya and Agama texts. They are like a light projected onto an object under a microscope, an object
that has somehow been distorted by artificial means of preservation. Of course the Nikayas and the Agamas are closer to the original form
of the Buddha’s teachings, but they have been altered and modified by the understanding and practice of the traditions that have passed
them down. Modern scholars and practitioners should be able to restore original Buddhism from the available texts of both the Southern
and Northern Traditions. We need to be familiar with the texts of both traditions.
I have avoided including the many miracles that are often used in the sutras to embellish the Buddha’s life. The Buddha himself advised
his disciples not to waste time and energy on acquiring or practicing supernatural powers. I have, however, included many of the difficulties
the Buddha encountered during his life from both the larger society and his own disciples. If the Buddha appears in this book as a man
close to us, it is partly thanks to recounting such difficulties.
I have used the Pali version of most people and place names and technical Buddhist terms, as Pali is easier to pronounce. But I have
used the Sanskrit version of those names and terms that are already familiar to Westerners, such as Siddhartha, Gautama, Dharma, sutra,
nirvana, karma, atman, and bodhisattva. Many of the Pali-Sanskrit equivalents are listed at the end of the appendix.