Franz-Karl Ehrhard – författare

With over fifteen hundred entries and forty-six illustrations, "A Concise Dictionary of Buddhism and Zen" is the most complete compact reference work of its kind available in the English language. It is designed not only for students and meditators but also as a tool to help familiarize all readers with Buddhist terms and concepts--such as "chakra," "karma," "koan," "nirvana," and "tantra"--that are encountered with increasing regularity in the literature of a wide range of fields today. The lives and teachings of important philosophers and meditation masters, the variety of practices, the basic texts and scriptures, and the range of sects and schools of thought are among the subjects covered. Pronunciation tables, a comprehensive bibliography, and a Ch'an/Zen lineage chart are also provided.

Descriptions of the World: Of all the Tibetan works dealing with geographical knowledge, not only in the sense of the Buddhist canonical description of Jambudvipa, but of descriptions of lands like India and Nepal, two texts come immediately to mind: the 'Gen-eral Description of the World' ('dzam gling spyi bshad) of Sum-pa mkhan-po Ye-shes dpal-'byor (1704-1788) and the 'Extensive Description of the World' ('dam gling rgyas bshad) of the Fourth bTsan-po No-min-han bsTan-'dzin phrin-las (1789-1839). The first work was written in the year 1777 and focuses on India and its peoples and regions, together with details of the major tantric places of pilgrimage; it then goes on to Nepal, pauses over Tibet, provides information on Manchuria, Korea and Japan, and leads finally to China and Russia. It has been observed that, while the author was by no means ready to abandon the authority of traditional book learning.

In this 3 volumes the great figures of Tibetan Buddhism and its literature a special place is held by Klong-chen Rab-byams-pa (1308-1364) of the rNying-ma-pa school. He is known for having tirelessly pursued all Buddhist learning available during his time and for having systematized the teachings of the "Great Perfection" or "Great Completeness" (rdzogs chen). Nevertheless, it seems that his writings were never collected together by his followers, as those of his contemporaries such as Bu-ston Rin-chen grub (1290-1364) have been.