This book 'Ekayana Philosophy of the Saddharmapundarika Sutra' starts from a thesis. Owing to the suggestion of a well-known professor and aspiration of the author on the Saddharmapundarika sutra, a very interesting and popular Mahayana text in the countries of East Asia, the Ph.d thesis on topic 'Philosophy of the Saddharmapundarika-sutra ? A Conceptual and Doctrinal Analysis' was presented and completed successfully by the author, a Vietnamese Buddhist monk, at University of Delhi, India in 2003 under the guidance of Prof. S. R. Bhatt, a former Head of the Department of Philosophy.
Since then the thesis has been kept there in the library of the University of Delhi and the author has also been busy with the university education in his country.
Until recently Prof. S. R. Bhatt suggested to publish the thesis into a book. This is good idea. In fact, the content of the thesis reveals a number of important concepts and doctrines of Mahayana Buddhism which hide behind the highly symbolic expressions of the sutra. Meanwhile, most Buddhists just know the stories, parables, scenes of the sutra, i.e, by words and even they learn the sutra by heart but very few can understand the full meaning of it. This concerns the author for a long time!
It is also fortunately, Low Price Publications in Delhi, India agrees to publish the book. Now, all conditions are good.
So, the book 'Ekayana Philosophy of the Saddharmapundarika Sutra' will be helpful not only for the Buddhists but also for those who want to study Buddhism as a philosophy system. |
