The field of Buddhist studies is an international and interdisciplinary one. By its nature, the study of Buddhism must take into account phenomena that cross national and cultural boundaries, as well as the more artificial boundaries of modern academic fields. This volume presents 18 studies, the subjects of which range over India, China, Tibet and Japan, and deal with an ever broader range of subjects. It includes many essays on Buddhist philosophy, a number of which deal with the Madhyamaka tradition of Nagarjuna and his successors, while others examine the Yogacara tradition of Asanga, Vasubandhu, and their successors. These essays investigate areas of doctrinal interest such as the so-called "Two-Truth" theory, and the doctrine of the equivalence of nirvana and samsara, as well as such topics as the nature and practice of compassion, and Indian Buddhist cosmology.
Still other studies examine topics such as the meditation practices of the Japanese Pure Land founder Honen, some of the earliest Chinese Buddhist art objects yet known and their importance for the transmission of Buddhism to China, later Indian logic, epistemology and the theory of meaning, what we know about the ear The contributors include Noritoshi Aramaki, Mark L. Blum, Luis O. Gomez, Masaaki Hattori, Gadjin M. Nagao, Ernst Steinkellner and Akira Yuyama.