Table of Contents

List of Figures and Tables Acknowledgments Abbreviations 1. The Topic of the Twenty Samgha Methodological Considerations Tsong kha pa's Hermeneutical Strategy Hermeneutical Strategies in Approaching the Twenty Samgha 2. Tsong kha pa and the Abhisamayalamkara Commentarial Tradition Indian Predecessors in the Abhisamayalamkara Tradition Tsong kha pa's Tibetan Predecessors in the Abhisamayalamkara Tradition The Abhisamayalamkara and Twenty Samgha in Tsong kha pa's Life and Works Summary 3. Contextual and Doctrinal Presumptions Locating the Twenty Samgha in the Abhisamayalamkara Samgha in Early Buddhism and in the Abhisamayalamkara Avaivartika-Samgha as Refuge in the Abhisamayalamkara Path and Yogic Systems of the Abhisamayalamkara Cosmological Factors Summary 4. Analysis of the Twenty Samgha An Introduction to the Topic from the Root Texts The Allegorical Samgha of Sravakas 5. An Assembly of Irreversible Bodhisattvas The Actual Samgha of Bodhisattvas Enumerating Bodhisattvas in the Prajnaparamita Relationship between the Actual Samgha and the Allegorical Samgha Conclusion Notes Glossary References Index

About the Author

James B. Apple is University Lecturer in the Interdisciplinary Religious Studies Program at the University of Alberta.

Reviews

"Dealing with an interesting and understudied topic, Apple displays a thorough mastery of the Samgha in the Abhisamayalamkara and its surrounding literature." - Roger R. Jackson, translator of Tantric Treasures: Three Collections of Mystical Verse from Buddhist India