Jan Nattier
Author of A Few Good Men: The Bodhisattva Path according to “The Inquiry of Ugra”
Book Recommendations:
Recommended by Jan Nattier
“The author has been a pioneer in the decipherment and translation of these previously unknown scriptures. Until now the study of Gandhari texts has been a highly technical field accessible only to specialists, but here Salomon makes the fruits of more than two decades of study accessible to general readers and specialists alike. This stunning achievement belongs on the bookshelf of every reader who is interested in the history of Buddhism.” (from Amazon)
by Richard Salomon·You?
Discover the fascinating history of a long-hidden Buddhist culture at a historic crossroads. In the years following Alexander the Great’s conquest of the East, a series of empires rose up along the Silk Road. In what is now northern Pakistan, the civilizations in the region called Gandhara became increasingly important centers for the development of Buddhism, reaching their apex under King Kaniska of the Kusanas in the second century CE. Gandhara has long been known for its Greek-Indian synthesis in architecture and statuary, but until about twenty years ago, almost nothing was known about its literature. The insights provided by manuscripts unearthed over the last few decades show that Gandhara was indeed a vital link in the early development of Buddhism, instrumental in both the transmission of Buddhism to China and the rise of the Mahayana tradition. The Buddhist Literature of Ancient Gandhara surveys what we know about Gandhara and its Buddhism, and it also provides translations of a dozen different short texts, from similes and stories to treatises on time and reality.