Richard K. Payne is Yehan Numata Professor of Japanese Buddhist Studies at the Institute of Buddhist Studies, Graduate Theological Union, Berkeley, USA. He specializes in Japanese tantric Buddhism, particularly its ritual practices, and is co-editor of Homa Variations (2016).

Payne has rewritten, expanded upon, and integrated recent research into this monograph. The result is a sleek volume containing critiques of “Buddhist modernism,” a sustained investigation of Euro-American philosophy of language, detailed overviews of Indic and East Asian approaches to language, and an exploration of Buddhist epistemology.

• Introduction1. Extraordinary Language Use2. Is Language Communication?: Extraordinary Language in the face of Philosophy of Language3. Indic Understandings of Language—from Vedas to Tantra4. East Asian Understandings of Language5. Emptiness and Cosmogenesis in the Tantric Buddhism of Japan6. The Clear Light Mantra Homa— Religious Agency in Medieval Japanese Buddhist Ritual7. The Authority of the Speech of the Buddha: Aural Dimensions of Epistemology8. Dhara?i in the Lotus Sutra: Indic Context for the Power of Words9. Ajikan: Visualizing the Syllable A10. Concluding ReflectionsBibliography Index

Richard K. Payne is Yehan Numata Professor of Japanese Buddhist Studies at the Institute of Buddhist Studies, Graduate Theological Union, Berkeley, USA. He specializes in Japanese tantric Buddhism, particularly its ritual practices, and is co-editor of Homa Variations (2016).

Payne has rewritten, expanded upon, and integrated recent research into this monograph. The result is a sleek volume containing critiques of “Buddhist modernism,” a sustained investigation of Euro-American philosophy of language, detailed overviews of Indic and East Asian approaches to language, and an exploration of Buddhist epistemology.

• Introduction1. Extraordinary Language Use2. Is Language Communication?: Extraordinary Language in the face of Philosophy of Language3. Indic Understandings of Language—from Vedas to Tantra4. East Asian Understandings of Language5. Emptiness and Cosmogenesis in the Tantric Buddhism of Japan6. The Clear Light Mantra Homa— Religious Agency in Medieval Japanese Buddhist Ritual7. The Authority of the Speech of the Buddha: Aural Dimensions of Epistemology8. Dhara?i in the Lotus Sutra: Indic Context for the Power of Words9. Ajikan: Visualizing the Syllable A10. Concluding ReflectionsBibliography Index

Richard K. Payne is Yehan Numata Professor of Japanese Buddhist Studies at the Institute of Buddhist Studies, Graduate Theological Union, Berkeley, USA. He specializes in Japanese tantric Buddhism, particularly its ritual practices, and is co-editor of Homa Variations (2016).

Payne has rewritten, expanded upon, and integrated recent research into this monograph. The result is a sleek volume containing critiques of “Buddhist modernism,” a sustained investigation of Euro-American philosophy of language, detailed overviews of Indic and East Asian approaches to language, and an exploration of Buddhist epistemology.

• Introduction1. Extraordinary Language Use2. Is Language Communication?: Extraordinary Language in the face of Philosophy of Language3. Indic Understandings of Language—from Vedas to Tantra4. East Asian Understandings of Language5. Emptiness and Cosmogenesis in the Tantric Buddhism of Japan6. The Clear Light Mantra Homa— Religious Agency in Medieval Japanese Buddhist Ritual7. The Authority of the Speech of the Buddha: Aural Dimensions of Epistemology8. Dhara?i in the Lotus Sutra: Indic Context for the Power of Words9. Ajikan: Visualizing the Syllable A10. Concluding ReflectionsBibliography Index