SHIN BUDDHIST CLASSICAL TRADITION V2 Format: Paperback

This second volume of passages gathered from the leading monks and teachers of the Pure Land, or Shin, school of Buddhist teaching focuses on religious practice. Extending from the foundational texts and first interpreters in the 4th century, to Rennyo in the 15th century, Professor Bloom’s selections trace the development of Shin Buddhist teaching from monastic visualization practices to the widely popular path to salvation through faith in, and recitation of, the name of Amida Buddha. Volume 2 features a foreword by Kenneth K. Tanaka and an introduction by renowned scholar and editor, Alfred Bloom, whose selected passages have been arranged topically for easy reference on issues of Pure Land teaching. The key interpreters featured are the Seven Great Teachers from India, China, and Japan (Nagarjuna, Vasubandhu; T’an-luan, Tao-ch’o, Shan-tao; Genshin, Honen), selected as doctrinal authorities by Shinran (1173-1263), the founder of the Japanese Pure Land sect.

Alfred Bloom is one of the foremost authorities on Shin Buddhism. He received his PhD. from Harvard, and he is former professor at the University of Hawaii and Dean of the Institute of Buddhist Studies in Berkeley, California. He is the editor of The Essential Shinran and The Shin Buddhist Classical Tradition: A Reader in Pure Land Teaching, Vol. 1. He lives in Kailua, HI.