Given its vast literature and its practice of teaching what is appropriate for a particular disciple, the Buddhist tradition has long had to wrestle with the question of which of his many scriptures represented the Buddha's highest view. In response to that problem, Buddhist commentators developed sophisticated systems of interpretation, Buddhist hermeneutics. The present volume of essays by leading Western Buddhologists surveys the rich variety of strategies employed by Buddhist thinkers of India, Tibet, China, and Japan to interpret their sacred texts. Donald S.Lopez., Jr. is Professor of Buddhist and Tibetan Studies at the University of Michigan. He is author of A Study of Svatantrika and The Heart Sutra Explained: Indian and Tibetan Commentaries.
