Updated eBook: Sasana

I have just posted a final or nearly final draft of Sasana: the blossoming of the Dharma, formerly Growing the Dharma (which I just finished serializing).

Draft, November, 2013.

Sasana: the Blossoming of Dharma.  Sasana is the living Dharma, that is, Buddhism in its personal, cultural, social and historical dimensions. The Sasana is something organic that can be located in time and space, that can grow, thrive, propagate or wither and disappear, that can uphold the authenticity of the Dharma in the midst of change, or degrade. “Sasana” has been variously translated into English as “the Buddha’s dispensation,” as “the Buddhist religion” or simply as “Buddhism.” The Sasana itself is not simply an arbitrary phenomenon of interest to the sociologist, historian or cultural anthopologist. Rather, the physiology of the Sasana was propounded in the early teachings of the Buddha with specific form and functionality in mind, and it has maintained these surprisingly faithfully over a span of a hundred generations. It is a living organism that knows how to self-regulate, to adapt, to propagate and to brighten any landscape with its civilizing influence. It produced the first world religion.

Most of the content, including the funny moments, is unchanged from the previous draft, except for the following:

• I’ve narrowed the focus to Sasana, providing more coherence, …
• … after removing the chapter on “Transcendence” (dealing with rebirth and having little to do with Sasana),
• I’ve added an exhaustive subject index.