Dan Martin - A History of Buddhism in India and Tibet: An Expanded Version of the Dharmas Origins Made by the Learned Scholar Deyu

The Library of Tibetan Classics is a special series developed by the Institute of Tibetan Classics aimed at making key classical Tibetan texts part of the global literary and intellectual heritage. Eventually comprising thirty-two large volumes, the collection will contain over two hundred distinct texts by more than a hundred of the best-known authors. These texts have been selected in consultation with the preeminent lineage holders of all the schools and other senior Tibetan scholars to represent the Tibetan literary tradition as a whole. The works included in the series span more than a millennium and cover the vast expanse of classical Tibetan knowledgefrom the core teachings of the specific schools to such diverse fields as ethics, philosophy, linguistics, medicine, astronomy and astrology, folklore, and historiography.

This volume contains the first full English translation of a thirteenth-century history of Buddhism in India and Tibet. That means most of all a complete life of the Buddha with the history of his renunciate order and of early Buddhist authors in India. Midway through, the action moves to Tibet where there is an emphasis on the Tibetan ruling dynasty, the translators of Buddhist texts, and the lineages that transmitted doctrinal understanding, meditative insights, and practical realization. It concludes with a pessimistic account of the demise of the monastic order followed by optimism with the advent of the future Buddha Maitreya. The composer of this remarkably ecumenical Buddhist history remains anonymous but was likely a follower of rare lineages of Dzogchen and Zhij teachings. He put together some of the most important early sources on the Tibetan imperial period that had been preserved in his times and supplies the best witnesses we have for many of them in our own times.

Wisdom Publications

199 Elm Street

Somerville, MA 02144 USA

wisdomexperience.org

2022 Institute of Tibetan Classics

All rights reserved.

No part of this book may be reproduced in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photography, recording, or by any information storage and retrieval system or technologies now known or later developed, without permission in writing from the publisher.

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

Names: Mkhas-pa-ldeu, active 12th century, author. | Martin, Dan, 1953 translator. | Institute of Tibetan Classics.

Title: A history of Buddhism in India and Tibet; translated by Dan Martin.

Other titles: Rgya Bod kyi chos byu rgyas pa. English

Description: Somerville, MA: Wisdom; Montreal: in association with the Institute of Tibetan Classics, [2022] | Series: The library of Tibetan classics ; volume 32 | Includes bibliographical references and index.

Identifiers: LCCN 2021015711 (print) | LCCN 2021015712 (ebook) | ISBN 9780861714728 (hardcover) | ISBN 9781614297420 (ebook)

Subjects: LCSH: BuddhismTibet RegionHistoryEarly works to 1800. | Tibet RegionReligionEarly works to 1800. | BuddhismIndiaHistoryEarly works to 1800.

Classification: LCC BQ7576 .M5413 2022 (print) | LCC BQ7576 (ebook) | DDC 294.3dc23

LC record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2021015711

LC ebook record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2021015712

ISBN 978-0-86171-472-8 ebook ISBN 978-1-61429-742-0

26 25 24 23 22

5 4 3 2 1

Cover and interior design by Gopa & Ted 2.