A Few Good Men: The Bodhisattva Path According to the Inquiry of Ugra (Ugraparipṛcchā) : a Study and Translation

Jan Nattier

University of Hawai'i Press, 2003 - Religion - 383 pages

A Few Good Men is a study and translation of The Inquiry of Ugra (Ugrapariprccha), one of the most influential Mahayana sutras on the bodhisattva path, but also one of the most neglected texts in Western treatments of Buddhism. To achieve a better understanding of the universe of ideas, activities, and institutional structures within which early self-proclaimed bodhisattvas lived, the author first considers the Ugra as a literary document, employing new methodological tools to examine the genre to which it belongs, the age of its extant versions, and their relationships to one another. She goes on to challenge the dominant notions that the Mahayana emerged as a "reform" of earlier Buddhism and offered lay people an "easier option."

A Few Good Men will be compelling reading for scholars and practitioners alike and others interested in the history of Indian Buddhism and the formation of Mahayana.

Contents

• THE FORMATION OF THE INQUIRY OF UGRA: 10
• THE INSTITUTIONAL SETTING: 73
• GUIDELINES: 103

About the author

Jan Nattier is associate professor of Buddhist studies at Indiana University.

Bibliographic information

• Title: A Few Good Men: The Bodhisattva Path According to the Inquiry of Ugra (Ugraparipṛcchā) : a Study and Translation; Studies in the Buddhist traditions
• Editor: Jan Nattier
• Translated by: Jan Nattier
• Publisher: University of Hawai'i Press, 2003
• Original from: the University of Virginia
• Digitized: Jul 31, 2007
• ISBN: 0824826078, 9780824826079
• Length: 383 pages
• Subjects: Religion / General