With the completion of Volume 51 (2008), this journal is no longer published by Springer. This journal is now published by Brill Publishers.
摘要
Claudia Weber’s study on “Light Metaphors in Early Mah¯ay¯ana Buddhism” deals with an important element in Buddhist literature: the imagery of light, darkness and fire with all their meanings and implications. In the Nik¯ayas, light and fire seem to be the most frequent upam¯anas next to water and animal metaphors,1 and one may intuitively assume that light imagery gets even more prominent in Mah¯ay¯ana literature. Therefore a study of this topic is highly welcome. The book presents the results of a DFG research project carried out at the University of Bonn. It is addressed to a broad readership, including scholars of Indian Studies and Religious Studies.2 The study is based on sources ranging from the As. t.as¯ahasrik¯aprajñ¯ap¯aramit¯a as the earliest work to the La˙nk¯avat¯aras¯utra (5th century?). They comprise eight of the S¯utras known as the “nine dharmas” in the Nepalese tradition (excluding the Guhyasam¯ajas¯utra) and the Sukh¯avat¯?vy¯uhas¯utra. The light metaphors in these Mah¯ay¯ana S¯utras are selectively compared with the canonical literature of non-Mah¯ay¯ana schools, with Buddhist works like the avad¯ana collections, the Abhidharmako’sa and the “Yoga Manual” (“Yogalehrbuch”) from......
