Indaka Weerasekera – författare

Exploring how notions of solitude in Pali literature are encompassed in various literary forms, such as stock formulae, poetry, narrative, and imagery, this book includes close analysis of some of the most famous Buddhist verses about solitary practice.Indaka Nishan Weerasekera considers how solitude is valued as one significant aspect of the Buddhist path, including how the imagery of landscape, especially the forest, serves to both inspire solitary practice as well as functions as a metaphor for meditation.The author employs a cross-section of primary sources to explore the practical and psychological aspects of solitude in relation to Buddhist meditation, as well as relational/attitudinal concepts such as renunciation or desirelessness, independence, and self-reliance. This ‘lonely’ aspect of the Buddhist path sits alongside the ‘communal’ aspect of the Buddhist teachings. Together, they serve to maintain monastic harmony, while the ‘social’ aspect preserves monastic relations with wider society.

Exploring how notions of solitude in Pali literature are encompassed in various literary forms, such as stock formulae, poetry, narrative, and imagery, this book includes close analysis of some of the most famous Buddhist verses about solitary practice.Indaka Nishan Weerasekera considers how solitude is valued as one significant aspect of the Buddhist path, including how the imagery of landscape, especially the forest, serves to both inspire solitary practice as well as functions as a metaphor for meditation.The author employs a cross-section of primary sources to explore the practical and psychological aspects of solitude in relation to Buddhist meditation, as well as relational/attitudinal concepts such as renunciation or desirelessness, independence, and self-reliance. This ‘lonely’ aspect of the Buddhist path sits alongside the ‘communal’ aspect of the Buddhist teachings. Together, they serve to maintain monastic harmony, while the ‘social’ aspect preserves monastic relations with wider society.

Bringing together contributions from North America, UK, Europe and Asia into a single volume, this book advances scholarship in Buddhist studies and celebrates Rupert Gethin’s immense contribution to the field. Essays include explorations of Buddhist teachings, scriptural studies and cover the fields of research that engage Rupert Gethin’s scholarship: Buddhist cosmology, textual translations, Abhidharma and the interface between Buddhism and modern science.Scholars address themes associated with Buddhist thought and practice, including philosophy of mind and the relationship between artificial intelligence and Buddhist ethics. Translations and analyses of a variety of written materials span several genres and ages: Gandhari manuscripts, Vinaya commentaries, Buddhist Sanskrit imagery and Tibetan translations of late Indian texts. To acknowledge Rupert Gethin’s important and expansive contribution to the field of Abhidharma, the book offers explorations into Abhidharma terminology, its commentaries and texts associated with early Buddhist schools. The volume also highlights the intricacies of Abhidharma, the interplay of Buddhism and modern technology, and how language shared between Pali and Sanskrit illuminates Buddhist doctrines.