This second edition is of incalculable value for its selection of text taken from the Buddha’s own statements, as translated from Pali texts. It includes selections such as: Causality, The Deathless and the Incomposite, Training of the Soul, and Relationship with Others.   Ananda Kentish Coomaraswamy, (born Aug. 22, 1877, Colombo, Ceylon—died Sept. 9, 1947, Needham, Mass., U.S.), pioneer historian of Indian art and...

“The aim of this book is to set forth as simply as possible the Gospel of Buddhism according to the Buddhist scriptures, and to consider the Buddhist systems in relation, on the one hand, to the Brahmanical systems in which they originate, and, on the other hand, to those systems of Christian mysticism which afford the nearest analogies. At the same time the endeavour has been made to illustrate the part which Buddhist thought has played in...

A highly original discussion of problems of philosophy of religion from the Indian point of view. The whole exposition shows that the Christian theologian who will take the trouble to study Indian religion seriously, and not merely “historically” will find in its teachings abundant extrinsic and probable proofs of the truth of Christian doctrine; and may at the same time, if he will abandon his “proselytising fury,” realize the essential...

Ananda K. Coomaraswamy (1877-1947) was a pioneer in Indian art history and in the cultural confrontation of East and West. A scholar in the tradition of the great Indian grammarians and philosophers, an art historian convinced that the ultimate value of art transcends history, and a social thinker influenced by William Morris, Coomaraswamy was a unique figure whose works provide virtually a complete education in themselves. Finding a universal...

This scarce antiquarian book is a facsimile reprint of the original. Due to its age, it may contain imperfections such as marks, notations, marginalia and flawed pages. Because we believe this work is culturally important, we have made it available as part of our commitment for protecting, preserving, and promoting the world’s literature in affordable, high quality, modern editions that are true to the original work.   Ananda Kentish...

Coomaraswamy’s Introduction to Indian Art traverses the historic panorama of Indian art, from its Indo-Sumerian and Vedic-Mound beginnings to the various peaks reached during the Maurya, Sunga, Andhra, Kusana and Gupta periods and beyond the seas to further India and Indonesia. It is a handbook of immense value both to the beginner and scholar alike. This present reprint, appearing after more than half a century, has been ably edited by...

To spare readers extended research into obscure back issues of French journals long out of print, Miscellanea gathers together for Anglophone readers various articles by René Guénon, and by ‘Palingenius’, his pseudonym during the time of La Gnose, a journal he founded in 1909. These articles have been divided into three categories: Metaphysics and Cosmology, Traditional Arts and Sciences, and Some Modern Errors. From the first...

This small volume brings together a number of Guénon’s early articles relating to Sufism (tasawwuf), or Islamic esoterism. A later article, ‘Islamic Esoterism’, has also been included, since it articulates so well the particularities of initiation in Islam by defining the fundamental elements of tasawwuf: shari’ah, tariqah, haqiqah. The first constitutes the necessary fundamental exoteric basis; the second, the Way and...