The Life of Buddhism

Each of the essays in this collection is preceded by a brief
introduction. These introductions contextualize the Buddhist practice
being discussed in terms of important structures and dynamics of the
Buddhist tradition as a whole. These individual introductions are also
intended to augment the general introduction that follows.

In most cases, the main body of each essay has been lightly edited to
suit and facilitate the purposes of this collection. The basic format and
style of each essay has been left intact, but we have made minor adjust-
ments that make each of them more suitable to the beginning student
of Buddhism by omitting diacritics (a policy that we have also followed
in our own introductory segments), by clarifying important references
with parenthetical notes, by removing overabundant non-English vo-
cabulary, and by slightly rewording certain sentences. However, we have
generally abided by the transliteration conventions adopted by the au-
thors of the individual essays.