Description
Book SynopsisThe first systematic discussion of the bodhisattva path in Māhayāna Buddhism from a Christian theological perspective.
Table of ContentsPreface and Acknowledgments ix
Introduction: The Bodhisattva Path and the Christ Path 1
Comparative Theology as Christian Theology • Some Historical Background • Theology of Religious Pluralism • Plan of This Book
I Two Paths
1 Two Problems,
Two Miracles 25
What to Study? • Bridging Gaps • The Miracle of the Bodhisattva • The Miracle of the Great
Exchange • Matchless Wonders
II Perfection of Wisdom and the Bodhisattva
Path in Śāntideva
2 The Bodhisattva Path 59
Undertaking the Way of Enlightenment: Text and Reader • Cultivating Awakening Mind: Starting Where We Are
3 Extreme Wisdom, Groundless Compassion 82
Expanding and Dispelling the Self • Perfection of Wisdom • Back to the Bodhisattva • Being Buddha
III Christian Reflections
4 The Bodhisattva as Aspirant: Creatures and No-Self 127
Creatures and No-Self • The Blessings of Emptiness • Mimetic Self: Too Little or Too Much? • No-Self and the Cross
5 The Bodhisattva as Buddha: Immanence and Emptiness 165
Buddha Nature • Theosis, Divine Energies, and Bare Awareness • Attainment and History • Attainment and Self-Consciousness • Practicing Bare Immanence • Christ and the Bodhisattva
6 How Do Buddhas Help?: Bodhisattva as Benefactor and Christ as Savior 209
Many Faces of Compassion • Three Ways That Bodhisattvas Help • Deity and Benefactor Meditation • Christian Reflections • Benefactor Practices in Christian Perspective • Bodhisattva and Christ I: Diversity and Person-Making • Bodhisattva and Christ II: Why Christ Suffers and Bodhisattvas Don’t
Conclusion: Crucified Wisdom 261
Notes 271
Works Cited 309
Index 321
