Books by Donald S. Lopez Jr.

Gendun Chopel is considered the most important Tibetan intellectual of the twentieth century. This title presents the English translation of the work, "Adornment for Nagarjuna's Thought", accompanied by an essay on Gendun Chopel's life liberally interspersed with passages from his writings.

"This book is an introduction to Buddhism told as the story of the Korean pilgrim Hyecho, who traveled through the Buddhist world during its eighth-century golden age. Lopez tells the story of Hyecho's journey, along the way introducing key elements of Buddhism--its basic doctrines, monastic institutions, relationship to Islam, and importance of pilgrimage.

Gendun Chopel is considered the most important Tibetan intellectual of the twentieth century. He dictated the "Adornment" for Nagarjuna's Thought, recognized as a controversial work of Madhyamaka or "Middle Way" philosophy. This book presents the English translation of this major Tibetan work, accompanied by an essay on Chopel's life.

The credit for creating Buddhism goes to the Buddha. But who was this Buddha, and how did he become the Buddha we know and love today? This book follows the twists and turns of Eastern and Western notions of the Buddha, leading finally to his triumph as the founder of a world religion.

Through incisive discussions of topics ranging from practice, power, and pedagogy to ritual, history, sex, and death, the authors offer new directions for the understanding of Buddhism, taking constructive and sometimes polemical positions in an effort both to demonstrate the shortcomings of assumptions about the religion and the potential.

Both practitioners and admirers of Buddhism have proclaimed its compatibility with science. This book explores how and why these two seemingly disparate modes of understanding the inner and outer universe have been so persistently linked.

A critical history of the study of Buddhism in the West, incorporating insights of colonial and post-colonial cultural studies. Social, political and cultural conditions that have shaped the course of Buddhist studies are discussed.