Sumeru News — History

Jewels, Jewelry, and Other Shiny Things in the Buddhist Imaginary Edited by Vanessa R. Sasson University of Hawai’I Press 2021Hardback: $72.00 / ISBN-13: 9780824887858Paperback: $32.00 / ISBN-13: 9780824889555 12 Chapters, bibliography, contributors, index, colour plates, 380 pages Chapters include: The Emerald Buddha as a Map Jewels of Recognition and Paternity in Buddhist, Jain, and Hindu Traditions Taking Refuge in Jewels Jeweled Renunciation: Reading the Buddha’s Hagiography Are We All Merchants? Buddhists, Merchants, and Mercantilism in Early India “I Don’t Want a Wife without Ear Cuffs”: Jewels, Gender, and the Market among the Newars of Nepal Ornaments of This World: Materiality and Poetics...

Pyrrho's Way: The Ancient Greek Version of Buddhism, by Doug Bates, the founder and moderator at pyrrhonism.org, is almost ready for publication. Editing, design and pagination are complete. Here's chapter 1... Pyrrho’s Journey to the East "…[Pyrrho] even went as far as the Gymnosophists, in India, and the Magi. Owing to which circumstance, he seems to have taken a noble line in philosophy…." Diogenes Laertius, Life of Pyrrho "…whatever Greeks acquire from foreigners is finally turned by them into something nobler…." Plato (or more likely his student, Philip of Opus), Epinomis Even in antiquity Westerners looked to India for wisdom....

There is often some confusion about the relationship between Shakyamuni Buddha's first teachings, Sanskrit and Pali. Here's an article from Bhikkhu Mihita explaining the origins of Pali as the lingua franca of early Buddhism. https://tspace.library.utoronto.ca/bitstream/1807/96735/1/Buddha%20as%20Progenitor%20of%20Pali_TSpace.pdf

Bhikkhu Mihita has graciously offered his small book as a free download for those interested in what actually happened on the night that Shakyamuni Buddha sat under the Bodhi tree some 2500 years ago. It is a revised version of Rebirth as Empirical Basis for The Four Noble Truths,  which Sumeru published in 2009. Here is the link to the free download.