THE WISDOM GONE BEYOND
AN ANTHOLOGY OF BUDDHIST TEXTS
Translated from
TIBETAN, SANSKRIT and PALI
By various hands
PREFACE
BY HIS HIGHNESS PRINCE DHANINIVAT, KROMMAMUN BIDYALBH PATRON OF THE WORLD FELLOWSHIP OF BUDDHISTS
PRESIDENT OF THE SIAMESE PRIVY COUNCIL
HONORARY PRESIDENT OF THE SIAM SOCIETY
HON. VICE PRESIDENT OF THE ROYAL INDIA, PAKISTAN AND CEYLON SOCIETY
This is the outcome of Tibetan, Indian, English, German and Siamese schjolars working to gether in translating Buddhist works from Tibetan, Sanskrit and Pali languages
It is really too ambitious for me to attempt a comment on the following pages. And yet the request of a friend who is well known for his literary activities cannot be denied, for, in his own words, “a few remarks by way of a preface is all that is asked for”. Hence I am rash enough to attempt writing such a preface about translations from the Sanskrit into Pali and English and about an English translation from the Tibetan, all touching on a subject I have never pretended to know about-The Mahayana.
Now, Mahayana Buddhism is a sublime topic which has appealed to a high percentage of Asia’s large population. It has certainly done a lot of good to that percentage too, though they seem to be now forsaking. The difference between the Mahayana in general from our understanding of the Theravada School of Buddhism seems to lie in the former’s very great attention paid to an adoration of the Deity in the person of the Bodhisattva and its emphasis on meditation, whereas we in teaching from Ceylon, have held to the Sinhalese ideal of learning and ethics. To the westerner, accustomed in his own religion to learning and ethics already, meditation is novel and therefore more attractive.
This is the outcome of Tibetan, Indian, English, German and Siamese schjolars working to gether in translating Buddhist works from Tibetan, Sanskrit and Pali languages. This includes
CONTENTS
1. Discourse on the Heart of Perfect Wisdom
2. The letter of Kindheartedness of Acerya Nagarjuna
3. Trees and water of Tseunpa Konchok Lama
4. On the meaning of Perfection of Wisdom, a summary of Acarya Dignaga
5. Discourse of the Kashyapa-section
6. Stanzas on the ten perfections of Bunyen Limsawaddi