Wordsworth Classics of World Literature

1 total work

A Buddhist Bible with The Light of Asia

by Sir Edwin Arnold and Dwight Goddard

Published 5 June 2009

A Buddhist Bible has inspired and delighted readers since its publication in 1934. It contains key texts from the Zen (or Chan) Buddhist tradition. The Lankavatara Sutra shaped the teachings of the Zen (originally Lanka) school; a copy of the Sutra was passed from the patriarch of this school to his successor. The Diamond Sutra and the Sutra of Transcendental Wisdom are key texts from the canon of Mahayana Buddhism. The Sutra of the Sixth Patriarch tells the remarkable story of Huineng, the sixth Chan patriarch, and is the basis for all later schools of Chan and Zen Buddhism. Details of the life of the Buddha are well documented in the literature of early Buddhism, but the first inspirational account of his life was not written until five hundred years after his death. The Light of Asia is in that inspirational tradition, a charming poetic retelling of the Buddha's life by the Victorian poet Sir Edwin Arnold. These two texts, never previously available in one volume, offer an inspiring introduction to anyone interested in the more mystical side of Buddhist thinking.