Indian Buddhism Quotes

“Only toward the middle of the nineteenth century did Indian Buddhism suddenly come to the forefront, with the discovery of the Lotus Sūtra in Nepal by Hodgson and its ground-breaking translation by Eugène Burnouf, a French scholar whom Max Müller called "the true founder of a scientific study of Buddhism" (Welbon 1968, 109). The romantic search for origins gave way, however, to cultural versions of evolutionism in which Buddhism, like Hinduism, was reduced to one early stage of mankind.”
― Bernard Faure, Chan Insights and Oversights

“Pessimism regards this world as imperfect, but it does not deny everything. In these terms, Indian Buddhism is certainly pessimistic, for it denies that the reality of this world is anything more than transmigratory existence. But it has one clear purpose, liberation, and it sets out along a defined road, religious training. Transmigration and liberation from transmigration: these are the two wheels of the chariot of Indian Buddhism, indispensable to its view of human life.”
― Akira Sadakata, Buddhist Cosmology: Philosophy and Origins

“Although different from Indian Buddhism from the standpoint of form and practice, in the end Zen seems to be more authentic than many other Buddhist schools. In particular, Zen emphasizes the necessity of practice aiming at enlightenment which is the very foundation of Buddhism.”
― Thich Nhat Hanh, Zen Keys: A Guide to Zen Practice