Product Description
An updated edition of a seminal study on the history of Zen Buddhism describes the development and the philosophy of the Zen school, traces its roots in the traditions of ancient India and the influence it received from Chinese Taoism. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (2)

Formidable
A detailed survey that begins in India with the historic Buddha, Sakyamuni, and finishes with the decline of Zen in China. The amount of detail would be overwhelming if Dumoulin hadn't digested it so well and hadn't written so well. Packed no only with historical events and persons, there are manyobservations and insights that reveal not only how Zen developed but the extent of diversity and challenges within it.

There were some highlights for me: the roots of Zen in yoga (hence the emphasis on the lotus pose for zazen), the importance of the Mahayana sutras with all the work to translate them into Chinese, the interplay of Buddhism with Taoism in China that led to Zen, the persecution of Buddhism in China that only Zen and Pure Land survived, and the settling down into the methods of regular zazen and koan practice. The differing views on enlightenment and other key Buddhist concepts as well as on meditation practice reveals that Zen was ever exploratory and many things to many of its masters and those who followed them.

Remarkably NeoConfucianism eventually gathered strength so as to be able to successfully pushed Zen into decline. This volume closes with Chinese Zen in a decline from which it never recovered. Dumoulin explains how NeoConfucianist scholars were able to weaken the hold of Zen upon the Chinese such that Zen only was able to progress outside of China. Thar Zen later prospered in Japan did not lead to its rehabiilation within China so one is left wondering if Japanese Zen largely succeeded due to not facing a NeoConfucian challenge within Japan: all the more reason to read carefully Dumoulin's history of why Zen declined in China. I find it impossible to wonder if Japanese Zen, however much it flourished there, did so to some extent by avoiding the challenges that Zen faced in China. Any such questions may be answered by a careful reading of both this Volume 1 and the companion but consensus seem less to be found than a struggle by many that shaped the traditionwithout bringing it closure.

Zen Buddhism, Volume 2: A History (Japan) (Treasures of the World's Religions)

A classic!
It's a real shame that this book is out of print.This is one of the great, classic studies of the history of the development of Zen.Volume 1 (this one) covers the antecedents of Zen in India to its development in China.Volume 2 covers Zen in Japan.I've only read volume 1, but I learned a lot about both the history of Zen and also its philosophy.Dumoulin is one of the great scholars of the history of Zen, and although he is not always philosophically acute, you will get some genuine insights into Zen doctrine by reading this.(Of course, according to Zen, the doctrine isn't really what's important!) ... Read more

Product Description
In Science, Civilization, and Empire in India, Zaheer Baber analyzes the social context of the origins and development of science and technology in India from antiquity through colonialism to the modern period. The focus is on the two-way interaction between science and society: how specific social and cultural factors led to the emergence of specific scientific/technological knowledge systems and institutions that transformed the very social conditions that produced them. A key feature is the author's analysis of the role of pre-colonial trading circuits and other institutional factors in transmitting scientific and technological knowledge from India to other civilizational complexes. A significant portion represents an analysis of the role of modern science and technology in the consolidation of the British empire in India. ... Read more

Product Description
Contributions in the volume highlight the growth and changing contours of historiography with regard to the agrarian history of early India. The papers deal with aspects of rural settlements, the concept of village community, the problem of ownership of land, agrarian change, the structure of rural sociology and rural unrest. ... Read more

Product Description
Descriptions of India are often woefully cliched. Foreigners may preserve old ideas of the exotic East, or reflect the preoccupations of Western media, or view India as a country of violence and disaster. Yet many Indians see their homeland as a modern industrial power, the world's largest democracy, and the country where an ancient civilization thrives alongside state-of-the-art computer technology. This accessible narrative account follows the entire path of Indian history from the Harrapans to today. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (2)

A very insightful history on India
Dr. McLeod does a wonderful job explaining the history and colonization of India.This was a wonderful supplement to accompany the trip Dr. McLeod and Dr. Furr hosted to India.They are both excellent professors and inspirational role models. Thank you for the wonderful experience and priceless memories.

Straight-forward and well-done
This is a good book to get a short introduction to India.I could not get too interested in the history before the 18th century but this covers the modern history well, right up to 2002. ... Read more

Product Description
From the Buddha and Alexander the Great to Genghis Khan, Akbar the Great and Mahatma Gandhi, an acclaimed historian offers a sumptuously illustrated history of five-thousand years of India.

In the 13th Century, Marco Polo described India as "a land of wonders," and his observation is no less true today. India is the world's largest democracy, a nuclear power, and a rising economic giant--but also the world's most ancient surviving civilization, with unbroken continuity stretching back into prehistory. It is a land of tremendous spirituality punctuated by terrible religious violence, of vast deserts and Himalayan peaks that disappear into the sky, of remote Mughal forts and jam-packed megacities, and of the world's most glorious architectural splendors: the Taj Mahal, the Red Fort, and Luyten's Delhi.

An epicenter of trade and a land of extraordinary riches, India has played a prominent role in world history. At the beginning of the 21st century, India has once again become a leading player on the world stage.

In India, Michael Wood leads his audience on six eye-opening journeys into the subcontinent, where he uncovers the fabulous sights and sounds, the dazzling achievements, and the dramatic history of the world's most influential civilization. This sumptuously illustrated book is a magical mix of history and travelogue, and an unforgettable portrait of India--past, present, and future. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (9)

Well written history, lovely photos
I was delighted with Michael Wood's PBS series, "The Story of India," so decided I must have his book. (I am planning a second trip to India at the end of the year.) I have only completed the first few chapters at this writing. While the text is erudite, but lucid, I find it maddening to have to keep turning back to the only map the book has on pg. 6. And then, most of the places he speaks of in his narration aren't even on that map! How I wish that the beginning of each chapter would have had a close-up map of that part of the country he discusses! And, it would also be helpful if he gave a clue about the new name/old name for places, as well.

Excellent Book About a Fascinating Country
This is the companion to the PBS series narrated by the author regarding the history and culture of India.India is a fascinating country that is growing geometrically in importance, making this a particularly educational and worthwhile purchase.For what you get, the price is unrealistically LOW.

Below average effort for Michael Wood
I've got Michael Woods series on Troy on DVD, ditto for his Alexander the Great show. And I've picked up some of his books too including this one.

The real crux of the matter here is that Wood does not seem to have hit the nail on the head with this book. When covering Troy or Alexander The Great he provided a lot of detail and logical thought to his subject. The books flowed just as well as the made for TV history series(a much maligned sub genre). Here however the chronological history seems somewhat confusing, not terribly well defined in time and space and not overly engaging though thankfully the book has provided me with a few other products to chase down to fill in some of the shortfall.

Things do pick up somewhat in later chapters where Wood is covering more modern history and where the vibrancy and colour of India shine through and the authors obvious interest in his subject starts to engage the reader. Also the couple of groups of colour plates do help the reader glean some sense of the grandeur that is India.

As a fan of Wood I came a way a little non-plussed by this outing but I still intend at some point to get his DVD of the same name. Not bad or anything of the sort but not something a newcomer to the subject was looking for.

excellent companion to the DVD
The book helps in better understanding of the chronological events that Michael Wood lays out from first human migration into India to present times. The strongest parts are the early periods for which there is lack of written history and later where mythology and history have blended together. Not exhaustive but a great read. I would also recomment Abraham Eraly's book- Gem in Lotus Pond.

A vivid journey through the history of India
I had to write because I do not understand the negative reviews of this fabulous book. The writing is so vivid you can picture each of the places he discusses even without the beautiful photographs. Wood knows how to tell history as a rich narrative.I thoroughly enjoyed the recent books on Indian history,"Indian Summer" by von Tunzelmann and "In Spite of the Gods" by Luce, but this epic tale of the entire sweep of Indian history from prehistory to today is even better.I can't imagine what the negative reviewers are looking for.I find this a remarkably rich and varied tale, well told.I highly recommend it. ... Read more

Product Description
The Cambridge Economic History of India, published in two volumes, aims at tracing the changes in the economy of India from the thirteenth to the middle of the present century and beyond. The second volume covers the period 1757-1970, from the establishment of British rule to its termination, with epilogues on the post-Independence period. Part I opens with a broad description of the economy in the middle of the eighteenth century, then describes general economic trends in four main regions up to the middle of the nineteenth century, and includes a discussion of changes in the agrarian structure up to the end of 1947. Part II takes up various themes for the economy as a whole, while Part III deals with post-Independence developments in India and Pakistan. The Cambridge Economic History of India will be widely accepted as the standard work of reference on the subject, and the volumes will be of relevance to fields other than economic history, being the first major collaborative work of its kind to explore the shift of an advanced Asian civilization from pre-colonial times to independence. ... Read more

Product Description
Peasant Pasts is an innovative, interdisciplinary approach to writing histories of peasant politics, nationalism, and colonialism. Vinayak Chaturvedi's analysis provides an important intervention in the social and cultural history of India by examining the nature of peasant discourses and practices during the nineteenth and twentieth centuries. Through rigorous archival study and fieldwork, Chaturvedi shows that peasants in Gujarat were active in the production and circulation of political ideas, establishing critiques of the state and society while promoting complex understandings of political community. By turning to the heartland of M.K. Gandhi's support, Chaturvedi shows that the vast majority of peasants were opposed to nationalism in the early decades of the twentieth century. He argues that nationalists in Gujarat established power through the use of coercion and violence, as they imagined a nation in which they could dominate social relations. Chaturvedi suggests that this littletold story is necessary to understand not only anticolonial nationalism but the direction of postcolonial nationalism as well. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (1)

Great book
Item arrived on time and in good condition. Eye opening book about what it means to be an intellectual. ... Read more

Product Description
Revised throughout, the fourth edition of this highly accessible book brings the history of India up to date to consider, for example, the recent developments in the Kashmir conflict. Along with a new Glossary, this new edition also includes an expanded discussion of the Mughal Empire as well as the economic history of India ... Read more

Product Description
A vivid description of one of the most ambitious scientific projects undertaken in the 19th century, and the men who undertook the measurement of the Himalayas and the mapping of the Indian subcontinent: William Lambton and George Everest.The graphic story of the measurement of a meridian, or longitudinal, arc extending from the tip of the Indian subcontinent to the mountains of the Himalayas.Much the longest such measurement hitherto made, it posed horrendous technical difficulties, made impossible physical demands on the survey parties (jungle, tigers, mountains etc.), and took over 50 years. But the scientific results were commensurate, including the discovery of the world's highest peaks and a new calculation of the curvature of the earth's surface.The Indian Mutiny of 1857 triggered a massive construction of roads, railways, telegraph lines and canals throughout India: all depended heavily on the accuracy of the maps which the Great Arc had made possible. ... Read more

Product Description
Interest in the science, technology and medicine of India under British rule has increased in recent years and has played an important part in the reinterpretation of modern South Asian history. David Arnold's wide-ranging analysis combines a discussion of all three fields across the entire colonial period--from the 1860s through to Independence--offering both a survey of recent scholarship and an original overview. Arnold assesses the role of science in the making of colonial India and in the fashioning of Indian responses to British rule. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (1)

Surprisingly little studied till now
It is a little ironic that in some histories of science throughout the world, you can find greater coverage of India before the British arrived, than during the colonial era. Partly, perhaps, it may be from a desire to describe the purely Indian contributions to science.

But what happened in science, engineering and medicine when the British ruled India has been relatively neglected, compared to both the pre and post colonial eras. Arnold attempts to redress this deficit here. He describes how indigenous Indian scientists and doctors learned from and also influenced the British.

Especially in the area of tropical medicine. From their African colonies, the British also had experiences in this field. But India had much higher population densities and a more highly developed infrastructure than in Africa. Plus the Indians had perhaps better, though incomplete, knowledge of solutions.

It is still surprising that up till now, there has been little scholarly work done on this subject. One might speculate that previous British authors might have concentrated on science done in Britain itself. And Indian authors might have wanted, even if only subconsciously, to deprecate the colonial period. ... Read more

Product Description
In less that one hundred years, the British made themselves the masters of India.They ruled for another hundred, leaving behind the independent nations of India and Pakistan when they finally withdrew in 1947.Both nations would owe much to the British Raj: under its rule, Indians learned to see themselves as Indians; its benefits included railways, roads, canals, schools, universities, hospitals, universal language and common law.

None of this, however, was planned.After a series of emergencies in the eighteenth century transformed a business partnership-the East India Company-into the most formidable war machine in Asia, conquest gathered its own momentum.Fortunes grew, but, alongside them, Britons grew troubled by the despotism that had been created in their name.The result was the formation of a government that balanced firmness with benevolence, and had as its goal the advancement of India.

But the Raj, outwardly so monolithic and magnificent, always rested precariously on the goodwill of Indians.In this remarkable exploration of British rule in India, Lawrence James chronicles the astonishing heroism that created it, the mixture of compromise and firmness that characterized it, and the twists and turns of the independence struggle that ended it.
Amazon.com Review
When Robert Clive, a "harum-scarum schoolboy" not yet out ofhis teens, arrived in India in 1744, he found himself in the middle ofchaos: English merchants fought against French traders, Indian princeswarred among themselves, Portuguese and Dutch privateers plied thecoasts, and throughout the country, anarchy reigned. Clive flourishedamid the confusion. He quickly distinguished himself both in battle,showing bravery and unusual presence of mind, and in trade.Thecombination was profitable for his employer, the East India Company,and although Clive committed suicide in the wake of political scandalin 1774, he set in motion what would become the British conquest ofIndia and the establishment of the Raj, a mixed form of government inwhich the English ruled through a network of Indian politicians andcivil servants. Outwardly stable, the Raj was constantly under threatboth by Indian aspirations to self-rule and by other imperialists'intrigues, notably on the part of Russia, Britain's chief competitorin what would come to be called "the great game." Lawrence James, alongtime student of British military history, offers a sweeping, andwholly absorbing, narrative account of the Raj, taking it from Clive'stime to the era of Mahatma Gandhi and the flamboyant ViscountMountbatten, the last British viceroy of India.--GregoryMcNamee ... Read more

Customer Reviews (41)

Fearless History
Lawrence James gives his readers exactly what the title indicates--a narrative about the rise and fall of British power in India.This topic is obviously a loaded one in India itself and is still quite contentious in post-imperial Britain.

The book is highly informative.James loads facts on his readers.He uses quotes and anecdotes well.He is also even-handed in his treatments.The fact of the matter is: the British took power and maintained power in India for a reason.The United Kingdom was effective in using a "divide and conquer" approach to governance.Simply put, India is a region as diverse as Europe.The various ethnic and linguistic groups had different interests.The British used these differences to their advantage. (Imagine if the Indians took over the Roman empire and used the Spanish to control the English, and had the Greeks monitor the French).Technological superiority in military matters was far less significant than is commonly thought.Given the huge disparity in numbers, there is no way the British could have maintained their control without some form of acquiescence from the peoples of India.

When the Raj was wrong, James is more than willing to say so.He notes the incompetence and arrogance of British rule when it is appropriate.A sense of superiority among the British alienated the Indians and work against the long-term interests of the United Kingdom.Challenging the conventional wisdom, James criticizes the actions of Gandhi and Mountbatten in the 1940s.Gandhi never faced the cold hard fact that the Nazis were something far worse than the British and that there were important divisions in India that he could not simply ignore away out of existence.He also blames Mountbatten, in part, for the bloodshed that came with partition.

James's conclusion that British imperialism was something good for India, though, is a bit hard to swallow.It is true that the United Kingdom did made positive contributions to public life and it is also just as accurate that rule from another foreign power (Portugal, which arrived before and stayed after the British, or Japan, which threatened to take over in the 1940s), but no one wants foreign rule no matter how benign.

Management by Foreigners
This excellently written, highly recommended book tells the story of the British in India from 1740 to the departure of the Brits in 1947. Perhaps it greatest contribution to modern history is its recounting of the events that resulted in the division of India into Pakistan, Bangladesh (East Pakistan), Kashmir, and India. There appears to be much the United States can learn from Brittan's experience in India.

The crown jewel of the empire
A few months back an Amazon reader left a comment on one of my previous reviews encouraging me to investigate the works of British historian Lawrence James.I'm glad that he did; I had not heard of James before and would likely not have discovered this wonderful narrative history of the British imperial experience in South Asia otherwise.

There is an intriguing puzzle at the center of the "The Raj: The Making and Unmaking of British India."How did a relatively tiny island nation thousands of miles away subjugate and then for a century rule a subcontinent populated by hundreds of millions of natives with a proud history of self-government, literature, architecture, and warfare?

James suggests that two factors above all enabled this improbable conquest of Britannia in India.First, the native cultures of the subcontinent had long respected and remained loyal to centralized authority (e.g. the caste system), so long as that power was overwhelming and appeared destined to win.Thus, from beginning to end, the Raj rested on a tenuous foundation of prestige and the deliberate, often Ruritarian display of authority.Any threat to the guarded image of British invincibility threatened the entire enterprise.Second, the Raj was able to effectively divide-and-conquer.The upper castes and the rural princes were given a privileged, relatively secure role in the Raj and the ryots (peasants) ostensibly benefited from the peace and stability that British influence brought to India.James stresses that the British could only have succeeded with widespread and determined native collaboration, a fact that still rankles contemporary Indian self-consciousness.

In the end, James maintains that the Raj was unmade mainly by the British themselves.On the one hand, the empire failed to emulate the practices of the Romans, who offered conquered peoples the ability to eventually enter Roman public life on a level plane.The author notes continuously how highly talented and generally loyal Indians were stymied by British contumacy.In support of this claim, James chronicles the use of the "n-word" by the British and how it seemed to spread with each successive generation of British overlordship.On the other hand, the nature of the Raj was powerfully influenced by domestic political changes in England in the late 1880s.The British presence and conduct in India had no more vigilant and strident critic than Labor MPs back in London.

A major side theme of "The Raj" is the nineteenth century cold war between England and Russia that we know today as "the Great Game."A simple syllogism underpinned the British commitment to India and likewise motivated Russian foreign policy: Britain was strong and affluent because of the Empire; the Empire would be nothing without India; Britain would not be strong and affluent if India was lost.James sees the whole Russo-British contest as a farce.He compares it to the chess strategy known as "maskirovka" - a ploy to hide one's true focus by threatening a perceived weakness (James suggests that British India played the same role in nineteenth century Russian foreign policy as Cuba did in the mid-twentieth).James argues that the true national interest of the Tsars was always Constantinople and the Balkans; the much ballyhooed central Asian invasion route to India was a mere diversionary tactic.Thus, James sees "masterly inactivity" as clearly the right approach to British foreign policy, not the so-called forward school.

It is also worth noting that James is positively hostile toward Gandhi."For all his public humility, Gandhi was at heart a vain man who wanted Indian freedom on his own terms and through his own methods...Gandhi was also a consummate showman and a shrewd politician, with a knack projecting himself in such a way as to attract the greatest possible attention in India and abroad...even [his] now familiar loin clothes was a prop in a well-though-out piece of political stagecraft."It takes a bold man to shred so thoroughly one of the few national leaders to emerge from the twentieth century with their reputation fully intact and growing by the decade.

The only person who is attacked more consistently than Gandhi is the last viceroy of India, Lord Mountbatten.He is described as vain, overly ambitious, self-absorbed, and the worst thing a British official in India could be, impartial (in this case, to the Hindu cause as represented by Gandhi and Nehru).James places the death of several hundred thousand Hindus and Muslims in Punjab during partition in 1947 - "one of this century's most appalling human catastrophes" - squarely at Mountbatten's feet for his lack of effort in preventing the sectarian violence.

In all, I cannot imagine a more informative and easily accessible history of the two hundred year British experience in India than this.

biased and incomplete treatment of facts...hardly pathbreaking
first the good things - the bibliography is impressive. the author has done a superb job garnering and putting together the immense about of material about the controversial 200 years of colonial rule in India. the writing style is good and to the point and doesnt bore the reader.

now the bad part -
the author conveniently bypasses almost all the horrendous acts of british rule - starting with doctrine of lapse to the great famines to an extremely one-sided view of the jalianwallahbag massacre and the indian freedon movement. on the 1857 revolt the author rejects views of indian historians in a single sentence. the indigo fiasco doesnt even find a mention. there is no mention about how the British systematically went about detroying Indian industry and entreprenersip and shored up its own instead. In fact the stance that colonial rule was beneficial and benign can be treated as a slap and slight to anyone's reasoning and intellect who knows something about the colonial times.

the book is written with absolute apathy to the affect that colonial rule had on Indians. it asserts british assumptions that all Indians cared about was pomp and show of power by the high and mighty and the peace and calm that the Raj brought. The assertion more than shows the deliberate ignorance and utter lack of understanding on part of the British rulers about what indians wanted.

While the book tries to indirectly praise the british rule, it actually unravels more the horrors, brutality and the apathy of british colonial rule.

there is no objective analysis which is very much required to truly understand the controversial subject. the book just tries to put the material gathered from various british sources and put together in a coherent fashion. it needs to be noted that many of these sources themselves could be biased and could have garbled the truth

there are some potentially incorrect interpretation of facts - on things like buring of locomotives and railways being interpreted as being anti-progress rather than being a sign of protest against the current regime...

there is no inclusion of thought and material from indian sources. while the bibliography shows number of indian writers, the author primarily mentions items where Indians praised the british rule (for whatever reason). this is a biased potrayal.

contributions of Gandhi, Nehru and Subhash Bose to Indian independence has been diminished and their personal stature significantly reduced. the armed revolutionary movement was shown in negetive light by potraying the particpants as losers in life and sexually depraved..... all this pretty much the potrait that the british have projected since the beginning about most of the indian personalities in Indian freedon movement.

something i was looking for is the real reason(s) why the britishers ended up leaving India. the book falls far short on this. All I got was that the britishers left because they had enough of the hot weather and had lost all the "good will" of the indians. the effect of WW2 and the immense pressure of quit india wasnt discussed.

as an afterthought -

colonialism was and can never be termed as good anywhere. It has always resulted in insult for the colonised and atrocities by the colonizers. the book has plenty to support this fact.

What would have made the book better is to present an unbiased view on British India. That would have been good history. The book instead tries to support the long existing views held by the british that colonization did a lot of good to India....which I think is laughable and the biggest drawback of the book.

A remarkably revealing and thought provoking book
This book spoke to me from the shelf in a college. I borrowed it and immediately knew I had to buy it. I consider it to be the single most informative book on the shaping of the world politics between 1600's and the 20th century. The details included in this book allowed me to understand what it took for Britain to be the greatest Empire ever.
Highly recommend it. Fiction books don't come anywhere close comparing to this, the real history, presented in such lively and witty way. I am very greatful for the author's effort in writing this book. I'm not British, by the way. I two citizenships, none of them British nor Commonwealth. ... Read more

Product Description
Unparalleled in scope and detail, this classic history of Zen covers all important ideas and developments in the tradition from its beginnings in India through the Sung period in China.It includes chapters on Sakyamuni, the Yogic Element in Buddhism, the relationship between Mayahana and Zen, the Sutra of the Sixth Patriarch, the course of Zen after Hui-Neng, and "the true human of no rank" in the teachings of Lin-Chi. Dumoulin’s work stands as a monumental study against which all other histories of Zen must be measured. Even though this is a history, the luminous heart of Zen still shines through these pages, and we are reminded time and again of the core spiritual ideas which have shaped the lives of generations of real Zen practitioners. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (6)

A Very to the point historical review of Zen/Ch'an in India & China
Hi all,

I really like this volume of work by a noted specialist/scholar in this field!

I haven't found any other work like this yet, by the way.

One thing that is odd is that John McRae in the preface or intro, which ever,
says that this 2 volume set should NOT be used as a true guide to Zen/Ch'an history!

It kind of makes one wonder: "Well, Mr. McRae, Do YOUR books (He currently has one out on
the history of the "Northern" school with a supposed second on the "Southern" school to be
released) purport to be the "Real Deal" insofar as actual Zen/Ch'an history is concerned?

This is one thing about this book that I didn't like, even though it IS 5 star quality:
A different author dismissing both this volume and the companion Zen Buddhism: Japan, as
not being historically useful but ONLY useful as "Reference material." Whatever.

Until a 2 volume set of this proportion is produced, one author shouldn't slam another author, and
especially when that other author is dead (Demoulin in this case).

It is worth buying, end critique.

Zen bones
I name this review after Paul Reps' book, "Zen Flesh, Zen Bones."
The flesh can be found in Suzuki (DT or Shonru), or Cleary's koan collections, or the contemporary works of Red Pine, Thich Nhat Hanh, John Daido Loori etc etc.Herein are the bones--a Zen shorn of life, a dead imitation of living Ch'an, a merely historical collection of names and lineages.
Throughout, DT Suzuki is the authors' foil, as he argues that it *is* feasible to study and understand Zen from the outside--that is, historically--rather than from the inside, which is the view of a scholar/practitioner like Suzuki.
The book itself was first published in German in 1959;this text is a 2005 reprint. It is an idealized history of teachers and lineages and philosophical perspectives, but with unfortunately little real feel for the subject matter.He did seem to be genuinely interested in Zen.But he wrote from the perspective of a Jesuit theologian confronting an alien, even "pagan" religion, from which only so much sympathy--let alone understanding--should be expected.His goal was to ascertain the facts of what happened and put them in proper context, to understand the phenomenon of Zen by exploring its origins and historical roots [p. xx].According to John McRae, a contemporary scholar of Zen (who wrote the 2005 Preface) even this historical study is only of historical interest, a record of how academics *used* to study Zen:As he quips."By reading this book, we may be able to learn how the field of Zen studies developed over the course of the 20th century [p, xl]."But (and I quote): "it is actually *not* a guide to the historical development of Zen...[and] *not* a reliable source for understanding Zen Buddhism in India and China [p. xxxix]."

I offer this rather negative review because anyone who comes to this text expecting something other than what it is may, like me,be sorely disappointed.

An essential reference for all Zen students/practitioners
This book along with its companion volume (Zen Buddhism, Volume 2: A History - Japan), also by Heinrich Dumoulin, is a unique offering among the many fine books of Zen. As the only extensive single-set history of Zen Buddhism available it is an essential reference for all Zen students, teachers, and practitioners. It also has plenty to offer students of Buddhism of all traditions, especially those of Mahayana.

Zen Buddhism, Volume : A History - India and China, begins by offering an extensive examination of the rise and development of Buddhism in India. Starting with an introduction to the pre-Buddhist spiritual traditions, including discussions of the major ideas informing the various philosophies, literature, and practices of those traditions.

After furnishing the reader with a solid grasp of the cultural and spiritual landscape of the India of Shakyamuni's (the historical Buddha) time, Heinrich Dumoulin examines the life of the Buddha. Though brief, he gives a well-rounded explanation of the various facts, as well as the theories and legends surrounding both the historical and mythological significance of the birth, quest, enlightenment, teachings, and death of the Buddha (after teaching for nearly 50 years!).

Next, Dumoulin traces the developments of the major schools of Buddhism arising in the wake of the Buddha's death. He provides readers with solid insight of these schools by highlighting their various points of contention, and unique interpretations of the Buddha's teachings.

Heinrich Dumoulin also examines the development of the major sutras (scriptures) and shastras (treatises) offering the reader not only an outline of the main ideas informing this literature, but also highlighting how the various Buddhist schools related to and were influenced by it--focusing, of course, primarily on Ch'an (Zen).

By providing both, historical as well as legendary (or traditional) information each of the Indian Zen "ancestors", Dumoulin allows readers to "see through" the traditional accounts, without losing sight of the "mythic" elements that served to distinguish Ch'an from other Buddhist schools.

The book then presents an overview of the transmission of Buddhism to China through the Indian Buddhist master, Bodhidharma, the semi-legendary founder of Ch'an (Zen) in China.Dumoulin again offers both historical and traditional accounts of how the teaching slowly took root and over several generations of development and adaptation with Confucian and Taoist elements of Native China.

Next Heinrich Dumoulin describes how Ch'an (Zen) finally came into its "own" distinctive, and specifically "Chinese" flavor with the teachings of the revered Sixth ancestor of China, Huineng. Extensively covering the great masters of Ch'an history, Dumoulin describes how the various "schools" came to be identified through a number of factors including the "styles" of great master, the development of specific techniques or doctrines, emphasis on particular aspects of the path, etc.

Finally, this book explains how later generations of Ch'an teachers, students, and practitioners came to collect, and systemize the teachings of the "Seven schools and Five houses" of Zen in efforts to preserve, maintain, and transmit the teachings of Buddhism in light of the uniquely vivid, liberating, humorous, and powerful tradition Ch'an.

While this book, in offering such an extensive overview, does not go into great depth, it does deliver the goods. Even though some of the material is not up-to-date with recent scholarship, all in all, most of the "out dated" content is of minor significance.

With all the trimmings, front and back matter of quality scholarship (notes, detailed index, glossary, etc) this two-volume history of Zen offers plenty of unique material that will be welcomed by Zen students for many generations to come.

Formidable
A detailed survey that begins in India with the historic Buddha, Sakyamuni, and finishes with the decline of Zen in China. The amount of detail would be overwhelming if Dumoulin hadn't digested it so well and hadn't written so well. Packed no only with historical events and persons, there are manyobservations and insights that reveal not only how Zen developed but the extent of diversity and challenges within it.

There were some highlights for me: the roots of Zen in yoga (hence the emphasis on the lotus pose for zazen), the importance of the Mahayana sutras with all the work to translate them into Chinese, the interplay of Buddhism with Taoism in China that led to Zen, the persecution of Buddhism in China that only Zen and Pure Land survived, and the settling down into the methods of regular zazen and koan practice. The differing views on enlightenment and other key Buddhist concepts as well as on meditation practice reveals that Zen was ever exploratory and many things to many of its masters and those who followed them.

Remarkably NeoConfucianism eventually gathered strength so as to be able to successfully challenge Zen for the Chinese heart. This volume closes with Chinese Zen in a decline from which it never recovered. Dumoulin explains how NeoConfucianist scholars were able to weaken the hold of Zen upon the Chinese such that Zen only was able to progress outside of China. Thar Zen later prospered in Japan did not lead to its rehabiilation within China so one is left wondering if Japanese Zen largely succeeded due to not facing a NeoConfucian challenge within Japan: all the more reason to read carefully Dumoulin's history of why Zen declined in China. I find it impossible to wonder if Japanese Zen, however much it flourished there, did so to some extent by avoiding the challenges that Zen faced in China. Any such questions may be answered by a careful reading of both this Volume 1 and the companion but consensus seem less to be found than a struggle by many that shaped the traditionwithout bringing it closure.

Zen Buddhism, Volume 2: A History (Japan) (Treasures of the World's Religions)

a wonderful introduction to the history of Zen
Basically the book is just what it claims to be: a history of Zen Buddhism in China (it says "India" because it discusses the precursors to Zen in the Mahayana tradition and yoga). It is perfect for students interested in the topic.

I've heard from a few people (and the preface of the book admits it as well) that this book is somewhat dated because scholarship in this field has ballooned in the past decade or two. However, there is no equivalent introduction to all of Zen history. Thus, if you plan to study Zen history in depth, this is still the best place to start and you can move on to more recent books covering more specific movements and time periods. On the other hand, if you're not going to study in depth, then the new developments are not so radical as to render this unhelpful. Within ten years a better, up to date history of Zen is bound to come out. If you can wait...

On the other hand, I believe that a background in Chinese religion would be helpful, since Dumoulin really doesn't provide the background that a student needs in that area. But he does refer to them--Taoism and other strands of Chinese Buddhism--enough that perhaps he ought to have given a bit of introduction to them. He does give an interesting coverage of Neo-Confucianism, although not in much depth and only discussing their relationship to Zen. I was glad I had some familiarity with Taoism, but I found myself wishing I'd had more familiarity with Chinese Buddhism.

For that reason, if you are a beginning student, I'd strongly recommend some other books first.

If you're new to Zen, start with "An Introduction to Zen Buddhism" by D. T. Suzuki.

If you don't know much about Taoism, I recommend Livia Kohn's "Daoism and Chinese Culture."

If you don't know much about Chinese Buddhism, I recommend "Buddhism in China" by Kenneth Ch'en.

I think, at that point, if you want to get into the history of Zen Buddhism in greater depth, then you'll be ready to get a lot out of Dumoulin's fine book.

Of course, if the history of Zen really is the ONLY thing you're interested in, not how it interacted with Taoism or other kinds of Chinese Buddhism, then go ahead and just jump straight into this one. ... Read more

Product Description
The Politics of India since Independence provides a concise but comprehensive analytical study of the major political, cultural, and economic changes and crises in India during the past forty-five years.The organizing focus is on the consequences of the centralizing drives and tendencies of the national leadership of the country to create a strong state, a unified nation, and a dynamic economy, all of which have been placed in serious doubt in recent years. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (2)

Impressive in Scope and Merit
Paul Brass has produced an excellent academic text that is ideal for use in upper level college courses."The Politics of India since Independence" will acquaint the reader with the parliamentary style government of India.It sketches in the challenges and accomplishment of a few of its major leaders such as Jawaharlal Nehru, Indira Gandhi. Rajiv Gandhi, and V.P. Singh (the second edition leaves off in the early 90s; one shortcoming), as well as some of its major issues: linguistic and Hindu-Muslim tension, caste conflict, and the agrarian problem.Readers will find a wealth of information contained herein, and teachers will find it an invaluable aid in the classroom.The text does not go into much detail on India-Pakistan relations, and might comment more on untouchability, but should be regarded as a highly praiseworthy achievement for its scope and detail.Admittedly the text can be dry and not the most readable, but it has great merits as an academic work.

2008 Edition
it would be nice if amazon would have posted the 2008 3rd edition information; all this info is photocopied from the 1994 2nd edition. ... Read more

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This carefully crafted study presents the fascinating story of the development and establishment of India’s culture and civilization from early pre-history through to the early second millennium.

Encompassing topics such as the Harappan Civilization, the rise of Hindu culture, the influx of Islam in the eighth and the eleventh/twelfth centuries and key empires, states and dynasties, India: The Ancient Past engages with methodological and controversial issues.

Key features of this illustrated guide include:

• a range of maps illustrating different temporal and geographical regions
• selected source extracts at the end of each chapter, for review and reflection
• questions for discussion.

This book provides comprehensive coverage of the political, spiritual, cultural and geographical history of India, making it an enriching read for anyone with an interest in this captivating period of history.

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The Vijayanagara rajas ruled a substantial part of the southern peninsula of India for over three hundred years, beginning in the mid-fourteenth century.During this epoch the region was transformed from its medieval past toward a modern colonial future.Concentrating on the later sixteenth- and seventeenth-century history of Vijayanagara, this book details the pattern of rule established in this important and long-lived Hindu kingdom that was followed by other, often smaller kingdoms of peninsular India until the onset of colonialism.Through an analysis of the politics, society, and economy of Vijayanagara, the author addresses the central question of the extent to which Vijayanagara, as a medieval Hindu kingdom, can be viewed as a prototype of the polities and societies confronted by the British in the late eighteenth century.The book thus presents an understanding and appreciation of one of the great medieval kingdoms of India as well as a more general assessment of the nature of the state, society, and culture on the eve of European colonial rule. ... Read more

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The British divided and quit India in 1947. The partition of India and the creation of Pakistan uprooted entire communities and left unspeakable violence in its trail. This volume tells the story of partition through the events that led up to it, the terrors that accompanied it, to migration and resettlement. In a new shift in the understanding of this seminal moment, the book also explores the legacies of partition which continue to resonate today in the fractured lives of individuals and communities, and more broadly in the relationship between India and Pakistan and the ongoing conflict over contested sites. In conclusion, the book reflects on the general implications of partition as a political solution to ethnic and religious conflict. The book, which is accompanied by photographs, maps and a chronology of major events, is intended for students as a portal into the history and politics of the Asian region. ... Read more

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This is an invaluable book for those who want to understand the geography of their cities, as well as for students of Indian architecture. In lucid language that speaks to laymen and architects alike, Jon Lang provides a history of Indian architecture in the twentieth century. He analyses its tangled developments from the founding of the Indian Institute of Architects during the 1920s to the present diversity of architectural directions. He describes the often contradictory tugs of the international and the local as he reviews architects efforts to be up-to-date in their work.Lang examines the early influences on Indian architecture both of movements like the Bauhaus as well as prominent individuals like Habib Rehman, Jawaharlal Nehru, Frank Lloyd Wright and Le Corbusier. He looks at monuments, museums, resettlement colonies, housing, offices and movie halls all over India in his wide-ranging survey. Over 150 photographs and line drawings explain and illustrate concepts outlined in the text. ... Read more