Baegun Press, Seoul, 2004, 200 pages, ISBN number: 89-952304-3-6
The book includes reproductions of five thangkas belonging to the Hahn
Cultural Foundation.
It has originally been published for a pure academic purpose. Now, however,
it costs 20,000 Korean Won (approximately 17 US dollars, excluding shipping
costs). If you like to order it, please contact Noma.
Description by the author:
The Nispannayogavali, which consists of 26 chapters, is a very important
work for studying Buddhist tantra because it describes with great precision
the visualization of the most representative mandalas of late Indian
Buddhism. It complements the Vajravali, the magnum opus of Abhayakaragupta,
by supplying the three-dimensional mandalas with a condensed essence;
these two works can serve together as a standard for exploring the mandala,
the basis of tantric rituals. The intrinsic value of the Nispannayogavali
has become all the greater due to the unavailability of most of the
original Sanskrit texts which Abhayakaragupta used to describe various
mandalas. A critical edition of the Sanskrit text of the Nispannayogavali
was initially published by Benoytosh Bhattacharyya in 1949, but it suffers
from many incorrect readings. Thus some scholars have said that its
new edition is a desideratum. Abhayakaragupta, one of the key religious
figures in the last phase of Indian Buddhism, is responsible for accepting
the Kalacakra into the monastic centers such as the Vikramasila. Thus
the last chapter of the Nispannayogavali is devoted to the description
of the Kalacakramandala in visualization and is probably its best introduction
we have.
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