The Inner Science of Buddhist Practice contains translations of texts by two historically important Indian Buddhist scholars: (1) Vasubandhu's Summary of the Five Heaps and (2) Sthiramati's commentary on Vasubandhu's root text. The subject matter is the traditional Buddhist analysis of ordinary experience. These two works provide rich resources for a bridge connecting classical Buddhist and Western interpretations for the study of the psychology of spiritual development.

Engle's lengthy introduction explores how the material contained in the two translations can improve practice of the Tibetan teaching system known as Lamrim, or "Stages of the Path." Each of the three divisions of the Lamrim teaching is examined in an effort to demonstrate how an understanding of such doctrines as the five "heaps," or experiential constituents, can bring a deeper conviction regarding that portion of the instruction.

Hardcover, 2009, 472 Pages, $34.95

Artemus B. Engle has a Ph.D. in Buddhist Studies from the University of Wisconsin and has studied Tibetan Buddhism for more than thirty-five years. He teaches Tibetan literature at the Mahayana Sutra and Tantra Center in Howell, New Jersey, and is currently a fellow at the Tsadra Foundation.

	Contents: The Inner Science of Buddhist Practice: Vasabandhu's Summary of the Five Heaps
	Preface	xi
	Introduction	1
	PART ONE: Vasubandhu's Summary and the Practice of the "Stages of the Path"	35
1.	The Lamrim Teaching and Its Three Essential Forms of Knowledge	19
	An Overview of the Lamrim Tradition	19
	The Three Essential Forms of Knowledge	31
2.	The Fundamentals	37
	Understanding the Structure of the Lamrim Teaching	37
	The Worldly Correct View	42
	Recollection of Death	42
	The Suffering of the Lower States	45
	Arguments in Support of the Doctrine of Rebirth	49
	Taking Refuge	59
	A Logical Justification for the Doctrine of Karma	70
	A Spiritual Practice Based on the Doctrine of Karma	89
3.	Renunciation, the Four Noble Truths, and Closely Placed Recollection	99
	Renunciation	100
	A Brief Account of the Four Noble Truths	102
	The Three States of Suffering	105
	The Suffering of Change	111
	The Suffering of Conditioned Existence	120
	The Four Closely Placed Recollections	138
	The First Object of Closely Placed Recollection: the Body	151
	Achieving Quiescence	162
	The Second Object of Closely Placed Recollection: Feelings	166
	The Mundane Path	169
	The Transcendent Path	179
	The Third Object of Closely Placed Recollection: the Mind	184
	The Fourth Object of Closely Placed Recollection: Entities	187
4.	Mahayana Practice	193
	Great Compassion	194
	The Insubstantiality of Entities	198
	The Perfection of Wisdom Known as "Knowledge of Entities"	211
	The Four Closely Placed Recollections in the Mahayana Tradition	216
	Summary	223
	PART TWO: Translations
	Translator's Note	227
1.	A Summary of the Five Heaps by Master Vasubandhu	229
2.	A Detailed Commentary on the Summary of the Five Heaps by Master Sthiramati	245
	Introduction	245
	The Number and Order of the Heaps	246
	The Form Heap	247
	Derivative Form	252
	The Five Sense Faculties	253
	The Five Sense Objects	254
	Noninformative Form	262
	The Feeling Heap	267
	The Conception Heap	271
	The Formations Heap	273
	The Three Remaining Universal Mental Factors	276
	The Five Mental Factors That Have Specific Objects	277
	The Eleven Virtues	281
	The Six Root Mental Afflictions	291
	The Twenty Secondary Mental Afflictions	303
	The Four Variable Mental Factors	310
	The Formations That Do Not Accompany Consciousness	312
	The Consciousness Heap	327
	The Storehouse Consciousness	328
	The Afflicted Mind	344
	The Twelve Bases	347
	The Five Inner Bases of the Eye and the Rest	347
	The Four Outer Bases of Visible Form and the Rest	348
	The Basis of Tangible Objects	348
	The Mind Basis	348
	The Entity Basis	348
	The Eighteen Constituents	353
	Furthur Classifications of the Constituents	358
	Appendix 1: The Tibetan Translation of Vasubandhu's Summary of the Five Heaps	371
	Appendix 2: A Reconstruction of the Original Sanskrit Text of Vasubandhu's Summary of the Five Heaps	385
	Notes	395
	Abbreviations	515
	Bibliography	517
	Index	533