The Tree of Enlightenment

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file:///E|/Spiritual%20Library/Quang%20Duc%20Monastery/Book...ee%20of%20Enlightenment/The%20Tree%20of%20Enlightenment.htm

Quang Duc HomepageEnglish

Buddhist Psychology

The Tree of Enlightenment

An Introduction to the Major Traditions of Buddhism

by Peter Della Santina

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Contents

About the Author Author's Note

Part One

The Fundamentals of Buddhism

01. Chapter One Buddhism A Modern Perspective 02. Chapter Two The Pre-Buddhist Background 03. Chapter Three The Life of the Buddha 04. Chapter Four The Four Noble Truths 05. Chapter Five Morality 06. Chapter Six Mental Development 07. Chapter Seven Wisdom 08. Chapter Eight Karma 09. Chapter Nine Rebirth 10. Chapter Ten Interdependent Origination 11. Chapter Eleven The Three Universal Characteristics 12. Chapter Twelve The Five Aggregates 13. Chapter Thirteen The Fundamentals in Practice

Part Two

The Mahayana

14. Chapter Fourteen The Origins of the Mahayana Tradition 15. Chapter Fifteen The Lotus Sutra 16. Chapter Sixteen The Heart Sutra 17. Chapter Seventeen The Lankavatara Sutra 18. Chapter Eighteen The Philosophy of the Middle Way 19. Chapter Nineteen The Philosophy of Mind only 20. Chapter Twenty The Development of Mahayana Philosophy 21. Chapter Twenty-One Mahayana Buddhism in Practice

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Part Three

The Vajrayana

22. Chapter Twenty-Two The Origins of the Vajrayana Tradition 23. Chapter Twenty-Three Philosophical and Religious Foundations 24. Chapter Twenty-Four Methodology 25. Chapter Twenty-Five Myth and Symbolism 26. Chapter Twenty-Six Psychology, Physiology and Cosmology 27. Chapter Twenty-Seven The Preliminary Practices 28. Chapter Twenty-Eight The Vajrayana Initiation 29. Chapter Twenty-Nine Vajrayana Buddhism in Practice

Part Four

The Abidharma

30. Chapter Thirty An Introduction to the Abhidharma 31. Chapter Thirty-One Philosophy and Phychology in the Abhidharma

32. Chapter Thirty-Two Methodology 33. Chapter Thirty-Three Analysis of Conciousness 34. Chapter Thirty-Four The Form and Formless Spheres 35. Chapter Thirty-Five Supramundane Consciousness 36. Chapter Thirty-Six Analysis of the Mental States 37. Chapter Thirty-Seven Analysis of the Thought Process 38. Chapter Thirty-Eight Analysis of Matter 39. Chapter Thirty-Nine Analysis of Conditionality 40. Chapter Forty The Thirty-Seven Factors of Enlightenment 41. Chapter Forty-One Abhidharma in Daily Life

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About the Author

P

eter Della Santina was born in the USA. He has spent many years studying and teaching in Southand East Asia. He received his BA. in religion from Wesleyan University, Middletown, Connecticut,USA in 1972 and a MA in philosophy from the University of Delhi, India two years later. He did hisPh.D. in Buddhist Studies also from the University of Delhi, India in 1979.He worked for three years for the Institute for Advanced Studies of world Religions, Fort Lee, NewJersey as a research scholar translating 8th century Buddhist philosophical texts from the Tibetan. Hetaught at several Universities and Buddhist centers in Europe and Asia including, the University of Pisa in Italy, the NationalUniversity of Singapore and Tibet House in Delhi, India. He was the Coordinator of the BuddhistStudies project at the Curriculum Development Institute of Singapore, a department of the Ministryof Education from 1983 to 1985.More recently, he was a senior fellow at the Indian Institute of Advanced Study, Simla, India andtaught Philosophy at the Fo Kuang Shan Academy of Chinese Buddhism , Kaoh-shiung, Taiwan.For twenty-five years Peter Della Santina has been a student of H.H. Sakya Trizin, leader of the

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Sakya Order of Tibetan Buddhism and of eminent abets of the Sakya Tradition. He has practicedBuddhist meditation and has completed a number of retreats.He has published several books and articles in academic journals including Nagarjuna's Letter toKing Gautamiputra, Delhi 1978 and 1982 and Madhyamaka Schools In India, Delhi 1986 and theMadhyamaka and Modern Western Philosophy, Philosophy East and West, Hawaii, 1986.

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Author's Note

F

rom 1983 to 1985 when I was in Singapore engaged in the Buddhist studies project atthe Curriculum Development Institute, I was invited by the Srilankaramaya BuddhistTemple and a number of Buddhist friends to deliver four series of lectures covering some of the major traditions of Buddhism. The lectures were popular, and thanks to the efforts of Mr. Yeo Eng Chen and others, they were recorded, transcribed and printed for limited freedistribution to students of the Dharma. In the years since, the lectures which originallyappeared in the form of four separate booklets have remained popular and have even beenreprinted from time to time . Consequently, it seemed to me to be desirable to collect thefour series of lectures in one volume, and after appropriate revision to publish them for thegeneral use of the public.In keeping with the original objectives of the lectures, this book is - as far as possible - non-technical. It is intended for ordinary readers not having any special expertise in Buddhiststudies or in Buddhist canonical languages. Original language terms have therefore beenkept to a minimum and foot notes have been avoided. Names of texts cited are sometimesleft untranslated, but this is because the English renderings of some titles are awkward andhardly make their subject matter more clear. In brief I hope that this book will serve as thebeginning of its readers' Buddhist education and not the end of it. The book can supply ageneral introduction to the major traditions of Buddhism, but it does not pretend to becomplete or definitive. Neither can I honestly affirm that it is altogether free from errors,and therefore I apologize in advance for any that may remain in spite of my best efforts. A number of original language terms and personal names which have by now entered theEnglish language such as 'Dharma', 'karma', 'Nirvana' and 'Shakyamuni' have been usedthroughout the book in their Sanskrit forms. As for the rest, Pali original language terms,text titles and personal names have been retained in parts I and IV which are largely basedon Pali sources, while Sanskrit original language technical terms, text titles and personalnames have been used in parts II and III which are largely based on Sanskrit and Tibetansources. Occasionally, this general rule has been ignored when the names of texts andpersons referred to in a given context actually occur in another one of the canonicallanguages. In as much as Pali and Sanskrit are in most cases quite similar, I trust theaverage reader will have no difficulty in coping with this arrangement.I owe a great debt to a very large number of people for the realization of this book. Firstand foremost, I would like to thank H.H. Sakya Trizin without whom my interest inBuddhism might well have remained superficial and merely intellectual. Next I would like tothank Yeo Eng Chen and many other members of the Singapore Buddhist communitywithout whose help and encouragement the lectures would never have been delivered andthe original transcripts on which this book is based, never made. Then, I would also like tothank a great many friends and students in Asia, Europe and America who encouraged meto think the lectures might be useful for an even wider readership.

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