Faces of Compassion : Classic Bodhisattva Archetypes and Their Modern Expression - an Introduction to Mahayana Buddhism

by Leighton, Taigen Dan; Halifax, Joan

• ISBN13: 9781614290148
• ISBN10: 1614290148
• Edition: 2nd
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 2012-05-01
• Publisher: Wisdom Publications

Summary

Faces of Compassion introduces us to enlightened beings, the bodhisattvas of Buddhist lore. They’re not otherworldly gods with superhuman qualities but shining examples of our own highest potential. Archetypes of wisdom and compassion, the bodhisattvas of Buddhism are powerful and compelling images of awakening. Scholar and Zen teacher Taigen Dan Leighton engagingly explores the imagery and lore of the seven most important of these archetypal figures, bringing them alive as psychological and spiritual wellsprings. Emphasizing the universality of spiritual ideas, Leighton finds aspects of bodhisattvas expressed in a variety of familiar modern personages—from Muhammad Ali to Mahatma Gandhi, from Bob Dylan to Henry Thoreau, and from Gertrude Stein to Mother Teresa. This edition contains a revised and expanded introduction that frames the book as a exciting and broad-scoped view of Mahayana Buddhism. It’s updated throughout to make it of more use to scholars and a perfect companion to survey courses of world religions or a 200-level course on Buddhism.

Author Biography

Taigen Dan Leighton is a SotoZen priest and Dharma successor in the lineage of Shunryu Suzuki Roshi and the San Francisco Zen Center. Leighton began formal Soto practice in 1975 at the New York Zen Center with Kando Nakajima Roshi and graduated in East Asian Studies from Columbia College. He is author of Faces of Compassion and Visions of Awakening Space and Time: Dogen and the Lotus Sutra and is co-translator and editor of several Zen texts, including Cultivating the Empty Field, as well as The Wholehearted Way and Dogen's Pure Standards for the Zen Community, both translated together with Shohaku Okumura. He currently teaches at the Institute of Buddhist Studies of the Berkeley Graduate Theological Union and leads the Ancient Dragon Zen Gate meditation group in Chicago, Illinois.

Table of Contents

List of Illustrations	p. 13
Foreword	p. 17
Preface	p. 19
Acknowledgments	p. 23
The Bodhisattva Ideal: Benefiting Beings	p. 25
Mahayana History: Major Sutras and Schools	p. 45
The Ten Transcendent Practices	p. 63
Säkyamuni As Bodhisattva: The Long Path to the Bodhi Tree	p. 83
Mañjusri: Prince of Wisdom	p. 109
Samantabhadra: Functioning in the World	p. 135
Avalokitesvara (Guanyin, Kannon): Heart of Compassion	p. 167
Ksitigarbha (Jizo): Monk As Earth Mother	p. 211
Maitreya: Bodhisattva As Future Buddha	p. 241
Vimalakirti: The Thunderous Silence of the Unsurpassed Layman	p. 275
Beyond the Archetypal: Sustained Awakening	p. 305
Bodhisattva Archetypes Chart	p. 313
Notes	p. 317
Selected, Annotated Bibliography	p. 321
Index	p. 339
About the Author	p. 349
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