Vimukti Marga Dhutaguna Nirdesa – Tibetan Text Critically Edited 1964

cm. 24,5 x 16,5, pp. 124, copertina rigida con sovraccoperta, tagliando rimosso al risvolto, in ottime condizioni.

A Tibetan Text Critically Edited and Translated into English by P. V. BAPAT

The discriminating Lord Buddha avoided the extremes of over-indulgence in the plea sures of the senses, and the severe practices of self-mortification. He always preached the “middle path.” His ascetic followers, in course of time, considered as of special eminence a life of penetrating knowledge with simple habits in the matter of food, clothing and residence-habits which were quite comformable to the warm climate of the planes of the “middle country,” i.e. parts of the present Uttara-pradesa and Bihara of modern India. The Buddhists considered these simple habits of life as contributing to one’s purification inasmuch as this way of life dispelled all evils which stem from an abundance of luxuries in life. This text selected from the huge collection of the Tibetan Tripitaka gives a beautiful exposition of thirteen such prac tices current, with a few changes, among Buddhists, orthodox as well as Mabayanist reformers. The study of this text, discovered by Prof. Bapat in the Tibetan Tripitaka as carly as 1932-33, has shown that though the original of this Tibetan text is not yet known, it bears considerable resemblance to one chapter from Visuddhimagga, the famous. encyclopaedic work in Pali on early Buddh ism, and another chapter from Ciet’o-tao lun, the only available Chinese version of a lost Indian work, Vimuktimärga or Vimutti magga in Pali.

The Tibetan text is given in Roman and Nāgāri characters with an English transla tion to facilitate the understanding of the text. The author has also supplied a valu able glossary of Tibetan words with their English equivalents along with references to the text. He has written a critical intro duction which enables even a layman to understand the importance and contents of the text as well as its relation to the other available Pali and Chinese versions. He has also added indexes which enhance the useful ness of the book. Students of the history of religions will find it interesting to note that the very aims and objects of these Bud dhist practices have very substantially moti vated the simple frugal life of the pious pre-Christian community of the Essenes in Western Asia.