The Awakening of the Hinterland: The Formation of Regional Vinaya Traditions in Tang China, by Anna Sokolova. Brill Publishing, 2024. v+288pp. Hb, €105.00, ISBN: 9789004686236; eBook €105.00, ISBN: 9789004686236.

Conjuring the Buddha: Ritual Manuals in Early Tantric Buddhism, by Jacob P. Dalton. Columbia University Press, 2023. 334pp. Hb. $140.00, ISBN 9780231205825; Pb. $35.00, ISBN: 9780231205832; eBook $34.99, ISBN: 9780231556187.

This paper examines accounts regarding the nature of “cessation” as a paradigmatic type of “absence” located within the Cheng weishi lun 成唯識論 (Demonstration of Consciousness-Only), the cornerstone doctrinal digest of East Asian Yogācāra Buddhism, in which Xuanzang 玄奘 (602?–664 CE) and others employ the exemplar of cessation to investigate the characteristics of an absence in relation to “dharmas.” To Xuanzang and the other compilers of the Cheng weishi lun, cessation refers to the termination of the causally productive activity of a dharma, the extinction of which results in an absence, a form of negative entity. Through their investigations into the nature of cessation, Xuanzang and Sinitic Yogācāra scholars take on several knotty philosophical and doctrinal questions concerning the nature of negative entities, and address broader problematics within Buddhist philosophy and praxis.

Perfect Awakening: An Edition and Translation of the Prāsādika and Prasādanīya Sūtras, by Charles DiSimone. Dīrghāgama Studies Volume 1. Wisdom Publications, 2024. 504pp. Hb. $69.65, ISBN: 9781614296539.

Several scholars have claimed that vedanā should not be confused with emotion and that it does not include emotions among its members. I argue this is misleading and mistaken. From the perspective of the Pāli discourses at least, the categories of vedanā and emotion overlap. Happiness and sadness, which modern psychology and society call emotions, fall under the rubric of vedanā—specifically “secondary vedanā.” The confusion I point out may stem from misusing a modern concept (emotion) to understand early Buddhist maps of experience that lack an equivalent notion. This distorts how and on what criteria Buddhism set up those maps and their categories. These should be understood with reference to Buddhist ethics and soteriology, not parameters such as intensity, duration, or cognitive complexity. Thus, Buddhist models of the inner life are closer to Christian models than to modern scientific ones. This perspective underscores the ethical component of cittānupassanā.

Out of Sight, Into Mind: The History and Philosophy of Yogic Perception, by Jed Forman. Columbia University Press, 2025. 296pp. Pb. £30, ISBN: 9780231215534; Hb. £117, ISBN: 9780231215527; eBook £30, ISBN: 9780231560801.

This article explores the “body-witness” (kāya-sakkhin), one of the types of person who are “noble ones” (ariyas): people with different levels of enlightenment on the noble path. It begins by examining the types of noble ones and how they differ, to focus on what is particular to the body-witness. This is their emphasis on samādhi, meditative concentration, rather than on faith or wisdom. They are seen to excel in the four meditative absorptions known as jhānas, the four formless states, and the cessation of perception and feeling. They experience these in a deeper way than the freed-by-wisdom type of arahat (who can also experience these states to a degree), but in a similar way to the freed-both-ways arahat. Analysis of relevant canonical passages show that jhānas and formless states can be experienced in a range of depths and with different degrees of accompanying wisdom. Then, after examining the nature of “witnessing” in the suttas, the range of meanings of kāya is analysed: the physical body, the tactile sense, a route of action, the body of mental states other than consciousness, the sentient body that encompasses these and the physical body, and also all aspects of a person, all five khandhas. A key aspect of the jhānas is that joy and happiness, then just happiness, then an equanimous mindful mind, completely pervade the experienced, sensed body. Hence jhāna very much involves the body, in a positive way. The formless states which build on the jhānas, though, are purely mental states, beyond any sense-impressions or ideas related to material form. Here the mental body comes to the fore, yet in cessation mental states may completely cease, leaving just a living physical body. So “body-witnessing” works in a range of ways but, for a body-witness then freed-both-ways person, in a very deep way in which there is a direct mindful “touching” of the states of samādhi, so as to be in close “contact” with them. This also provides a basis for a further range of “witnessing” in the “higher knowledges” in which the body and sensing are seen to go far beyond their usual range.

This chapter explores the Buddha’s relationship with his family after his awakening, as related in the monastic law code of the Mulasarvastivadins, the Mulasarvastivada-vinaya. It concentrates on the account of the Buddha’s return to his family seat, Kapilavastu, contained in the Vinayavibhanga, the part of the Mulasarvastivada-vinaya that analyses individual monastic offences. We encounter a very human Buddha who devotes great care to the conversion of his father, King Suddhodana, and to the spiritual progress of his kinsfolk, the Sakyas. At the same time, this Buddha is a glorious superhuman being who makes judicious use of his miraculous powers, always in the service of his kith and kin. In this episode, the compilers of the Mulasarvastivada-vinaya combine their task of legislating for the sangha with a didactic agenda which puts forward the Buddha as the exemplar of the good son and the good monk living a simple life. They craft a sophisticated narrative that is both memorable and entertaining.