Edward Conze

Presents a definitive translation of The Diamond Sutra, one of the fundamental texts of Mahayana Buddhism, and The Heart Sutra, along with extensive commentary on the texts and the principles and practices of Buddhism. Reprint. 12,500 first printing.

Containing the Diamond Sutra and the Heart Sutra

Buddhist Wisdom

The literature on Prajnaparamita, vast, deep and vital to an understanding of the Mahayana. It has so far been neglected by the European scholars. With the aim of facilitating the study, the author has set out a certain amount of information about it. Thus this handbook records for the use of scholars the very limited knowledge acquired during the last century.

The Prajnaparamita Literature

The Perfection of Wisdom Sutras, The Prajnaparamita, is a collection of about forty texts. They were composed in India between approximately 100 BC and AD 600. Those contained within this volume are among the shorter ones; they are also some of the most well known such as The Heart Sutra and The Diamond Sutra. The Prajnaparamita texts are central to the Mahayana, the Great Vehicle tradition of Buddhism which today includes the Zen and Tibetan traditions. They are a magnificent work which offer guidance to those who wish to plumb the depths of their own mind and come face to face with the reality of existence by realising the truth of the Buddha's deep teachings on Emptiness and Great Wisdom. Dr Edward Conze (1904-1979) was the author of many books and the translator of much of the Prajnaparamita texts. He served on the faculties of several universities in Britain and the United States including Oxford, London, and California. Not only was he a great Buddhist scholar but also a serious practitioner, and his translations are very highly regarded.

The Short Prajñāpāramitā Texts

Perfect Wisdom

Buddhist Wisdom Books

The Memoirs of a Modern Gnostic: Politics, people, and places

With the Divisions of the Abhisamayālaṅkāra

The Large Sutra on Perfect Wisdom

One of the world's most distinguished writers on Buddhism briefly traces all the key aspects of 2,500 years of Buddhist history, Hinayina, Mahayana, Tantra, and Zen to provide a classic introduction to the development of Buddhism from the time of Buddha to the present day. "A valuable contribution".--Library Journal.

A Short History of Buddhism

Based on a series of Oxford lectures delivered by a well-known Buddhist scholar, this volume covers the entire range of Buddhist thought. It introduces Buddhism as both religion and philosophy, discusses its common ground with other faiths throughout the world, contrasts monastic and popular Buddhism, and defines old and new schools of thought.

Its Essence and Development

Buddhism

Originally published in 1962. This book discusses and interprets the main themes of Buddhist thought in India and is divided into three parts: Archaic Buddhism: Tacit assumptions, the problem of "original Buddhism", the three marks and the perverted views, the five cardinal virtues, the cultivation of the social emotions, Dharma and dharmas, Skandhas, sense-fields and elements. The Sthaviras: the eighteen schools, doctrinal disputes, the unconditioned and the process of salvation, some Abhidharma problems. The Mahayana: doctrines common to all Mahayanists, the Madhyamikas, the Yogacarins, Buddhist logic, the Tantras.

Three Phases of Buddhist Philosophy

Buddhist Thought in India

Il pensiero del buddhismo indiano

Philosophical Library

Ananda K. Coomaraswamy

This curated collection of primary texts and secondary scholarship offers an engaging and comprehensive view of Buddhism and its founder. The Wisdom of Buddha: Drawn from the sacred books of Buddhism, this collection reveals the core insights and beliefs of the world’s fourth-largest religion. It covers the birth and death of the Buddha, as well as the major tenets of Buddhism, including karma and the middle doctrine. Hinduism and Buddhism: A highly original discussion of the origins and tenets of the great Eastern religions by a Sri Lankan theorist who introduced ancient Indian art to the West. Buddhist Texts Through the Ages: A comprehensive collection of Buddhist texts and scriptures translated from the original Pali, Sanskrit, Chinese, Tibetan, and Japanese. This edition also includes a glossary of English and foreign terms.

The Wisdom of Buddha, Hinduism and Buddhism, and Buddhist Texts Through the Ages

Nyanaponika Thera

Bhikkhu Khantipalo

Francis Story

Various

Bhikkhu Sangharakshita

Sister Vajira

 C. B. Dharmasena

This book contains the first fifteen numbers of the renowned Wheel Publication series, dealing with various aspects of the Buddha’s teaching. Wheel Publication 61-2: The Simile of the Cloth & The Discourse on Effacement by Nyanaponika Thera; 63-4: Aids to the Abhidhamma Philosophy by C. B. Dharmasena; 65-66: The Way of Wisdom by Edward Conze; 67-69: Last Days of the Buddha by Sister Vajira & Francis Story; 70-72: Anagarika Dharmapala by Bhikkhu Sangharakshita; 73: The Blessings of Pindapata by Bhikkhu Khantipalo; 74-5: German Buddhist Writers.

Numbers 61 to 75

Collected Wheel Publications Volume V

Eine kurze Geschichte des Buddhismus

Conze’s monograph The Principle of Contradiction: On the Theory of Dialectical Materialism is his most important philosophical work and the foundation for his later publications as a Buddhist scholar and translator. The openly Marxist work was published under considerable risk to both printer and author alike in December 1932 in Hamburg, Germany. Only months later, in May 1933, almost all of the five hundred copies of the first edition were destroyed during the Nazi book burning campaign. It is only now, more than eighty years later, that Conze’s key philosophical work is made available to a broad audience in this English translation. In the work, Conze sets out to develop a detailed account of the historical and material conditions that support the emergence, production, and transmission of theoretical knowledge—as exemplified by the principle of contradiction—and, furthermore, to show that under different social and historical conditions the allegedly necessary truth and indubitable content of the principle would dissolve and be replaced by a radically different understanding of the principle of contradiction—a dialectic understanding of the principle that would compel a rejection of the Aristotelian dogma. From a Marxist perspective, the analysis and critique of the principle of contradiction is a crucial and necessary step towards a dialectical understanding of philosophical (and political) theory and practice. Conze’s monograph, which attempts to clear the ground for a deeper understanding of the very foundation of classical Marxist thought, may very well be the most comprehensive Marxist critique of the Aristotelian principle of contradiction available to this day. However, Conze’s pioneering 1932 monograph goes well beyond the constraints of an orthodox Marxist analysis. His erudite and scholarly account of the history and evolution of the principle of contradiction illuminates the thought of Aristotle, Marx, and Buddha, and provides the groundwork for a new cross-cultural and interdisciplinary approach to philosophical theory and practice.

The Principle of Contradiction

As an intensely practical religion, Buddhism has concentrated on devising a great number of meditations. In recent years psychologists have shown great interest in the therapeutic value of these meditations, but accurate information about them has been hard to come by. The most outstanding original documents have now been made accessible by Edward Conze, who translated them from Pali, Sanskrit and Tibetan. The volume, originally published in 1956, also deals with the meaning of Buddhist meditation, and the relation of its methods and presuppositions to modern psychology.

Buddhist Meditation

Some 2000 years ago Buddhism experienced a major reformation through a movement called the Mahayana, or "Great Vehicle," which dominated religious through in much of Asia for many centuries and still exerts considerable influence. The basic Mahayana texts, sermons ascribed to the Buddha and called "sutras" in Sanskrit, discussed the "perfect wisdom." The "Large Sutra on Perfect Wisdom" took shape between 50 and 2000 A.D. in southern India during one of the most momentous outbursts of religious creativity in human history.

Edward Conze

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