Given its vast literature and its practice of teaching what is appropriate
for a particular disciple, the Buddhist tradition has long had to wrestle
with the question of which of his many scriptures represented the Buddha's
highest view. In response to that problem, Buddhist commentators developed
sophisticated systems of interpretation, Buddhist hermeneutics. The present
volume of essays by leading Western Buddhologists surveys the rich variety
of strategies employed by Buddhist thinkers of India, Tibet, China, and
Japan to interpret their sacred texts.
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