The Lions Roar of Queen Srimala: A Buddhist Scripture on the Tathagatagarbha theory

The Lion’s Roar of Queen Srimala, or Sri-mala-sutra, became the Mahayana scripture preeminent for teaching that all sentient beings have the potentiality of Buddhahood. It was an inspiration for both the Lankavatara-sutra and the Chinese classic Awakening of Faith. The translators present evidence that it was composed in the Andhra region of South India in the third century A.D. Thereafter it had remarkable success in China, and through Korea entered into the beginnings of Buddhism in Japan, where it has been important up to the present time. This, the first complete rendering of the scripture into a western language, utilizes all the known Sanskrit fragments, the Tibetan, the two Chinese versions and the Japanese renditions, Chinese and japanese commentaries, and various studies in japanese.

Contents

Foreword, Preface, Translator’s Note, Introduction, I. Sri-Mala as a Text, II. Classification of Persons, III. Doctrine of Sri-Mala, Prologue, 1. Eliminating all Doubts, 2. Deciding the Cause, 3. Clarifying the Final Meaning, 4. Entering the one vehicle path, Epilogue, Appendix I. The Chinese Section Titles of Sri-Mala and Appendix II. Works Cited in Chi-tsang’s Commentary, Glossary, Bibliography, Index.

Review(s)

About the Author(s)

ALEX WAYMAN, formerly Professor of Sanskrit, Columbia University, New York is in the forefront of Western Buddhist Scholarship by his series of books in both tantric and non-tantric Buddhism based on over thirty years of researches. He employs both the Sanskrit and Tibetan languages in his books and articles. He has authored well over a hundred articles for professional journals and honorary volumes in various countries and in recent years almost exclusively by invitation. His authorship of various seminal works on Buddhist Tantra ensures that the present collection of tantric essays conform to high standards of authoritative texts and dependable citations.