Beautiful Adornment of Mount Meru

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“This is a masterful translation of an extraordinary work by the great Tibetan polymath Changkya Rölpai Dorjé, a Geluk master of the eighteenth century. By providing a deep and systematic overview of the various schools of Indian Buddhism, it provides unique insights into some of the central tenets of Buddhist philosophy such as no-self and emptiness. This is the kind of work that one can return to again and again.”
Georges Dreyfus, Jackson Professor of Religion, Williams College

BEAUTIFUL ADORNMENT OF MOUNT MERU

A Presentation of Classical Indian Philosophy

Donald S. Lopez, Jr.

The lucid literary style of Beautiful Adornment of Mount Meru has made it a classic in the study of Indian philosophical thought, both in Tibetan monasteries and contemporary academic circles.

Beautiful Adornment of Mount Meru is a work of doxography, presenting the distinctive philosophical tenets of the Indian Buddhist and non-Buddhist schools in a systematic manner that ascends through increasingly more subtle views. It is a Tibetan corollary to contemporary histories of philosophy. The “Mount Meru” of the title is the Buddha’s teachings, and Changkya’s work excels in particular in its treatment of the two Mahayana Buddhist schools, the Yogācāra (here called the Vijñaptimātra) and the Madhyamaka. Beautiful Adornment is often praised for the clarity of its prose and its economical use of citations from Indian texts. It skillfully examines core philosophical issues, supplemented with several intriguing ancillary discussions, and draws heavily on the works of Tsongkhapa and his disciples in the Geluk tradition he founded.

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book information
  • Hardcover
  • 632 pages, 6 x 9 inches
  • $79.95
  • ISBN 9780861714636
  • ebook
  • 632 pages
  • $54.34
  • ISBN 9781614296249
about the author
Beautiful Adornment of Mount Meru

Donald S. Lopez, Jr. is the Arthur E. Link Distinguished University Professor of Buddhist and Tibetan Studies in the Department of Asian Languages and Cultures at the University of Michigan. He is the author and translator of numerous books, including Beautiful Adornment of Mount Meru, Opening the Eye of New Awareness, and In the Forest of Faded Wisdom: 104 Poems by Gendun Chopel (University of Chicago 2009).

Other books by Donald S. Lopez, Jr.:
Science and Philosophy in the Indian Buddhist Classics, Vol. 3

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