The Pali Text
Society is pleased to announce the publication of the following new book:
The Ornament of Lay Followers: Ānanda’s Upāsakajanālaṅkāra translated from the Pali into English by Giulio Agostini
(Bristol: Pali Text Society, 2015), xiv, 346 pp. £20.00 ISBN 9780860135067
From the back cover:
Confronted with warfare and the urgency of spreading Buddhist teachings, in the 12th century the Sinhalese monk Ānanda, himself a refugee in South India, composed a work addressing lay persons. What beliefs and practices define a lay Buddhist, and how do they inform her or his daily life to the point of shaping the relationship between husband and wife or employers and employees? And what beliefs and practices are incompatible with Buddhism? The result, the most detailed treatise on lay followers (upāsaka) handed down by the tradition, is here translated into English in its entirety for the first time. Ānanda marshals an impressive number of otherwise scattered canonical and post-canonical passages, encompassing in nine chapters many aspects of Buddhism, including the philosophically important doctrine of “no-self”, often considered the domain of learned monks because of its subtlety and the unattached outlook it requires on one’s property, life and person.
To order, please contact the Pali Text Society:
pts@palitext.com
www.palitext.com
Rupert Gethin
University of Bristol
Department of Religion and Theology
3 Woodland Road
Bristol BS8 1TB, UK
Email: Rupert.Gethin@bristol.ac.uk
The Ornament of Lay Followers: Ānanda’s Upāsakajanālaṅkāra translated from the Pali into English by Giulio Agostini
(Bristol: Pali Text Society, 2015), xiv, 346 pp. £20.00 ISBN 9780860135067
From the back cover:
Confronted with warfare and the urgency of spreading Buddhist teachings, in the 12th century the Sinhalese monk Ānanda, himself a refugee in South India, composed a work addressing lay persons. What beliefs and practices define a lay Buddhist, and how do they inform her or his daily life to the point of shaping the relationship between husband and wife or employers and employees? And what beliefs and practices are incompatible with Buddhism? The result, the most detailed treatise on lay followers (upāsaka) handed down by the tradition, is here translated into English in its entirety for the first time. Ānanda marshals an impressive number of otherwise scattered canonical and post-canonical passages, encompassing in nine chapters many aspects of Buddhism, including the philosophically important doctrine of “no-self”, often considered the domain of learned monks because of its subtlety and the unattached outlook it requires on one’s property, life and person.
To order, please contact the Pali Text Society:
pts@palitext.com
www.palitext.com
Rupert Gethin
University of Bristol
Department of Religion and Theology
3 Woodland Road
Bristol BS8 1TB, UK
Email: Rupert.Gethin@bristol.ac.uk
