| The dissertation comprises two major sections. The first section consists of Chapters One through Three. After dealing with general problems of methodology, Chapter One provides some discussion of the nature of religion itself, briefly considers religious truth, differences and similarities between Buddhism and Christianity, ethical issues, and other background material of a general nature. Chapter Two gives an analysis of the concept of omniscience within the history of Indian Buddhist philosophy, drawing on a variety of textual sources, and attempts to trace an underlying continuity in Buddhist treatment of this concept. Chapter Three serves as an introduction to the latter half of the dissertation, giving biographical data about Haribhadra, the author of the text on which Haribhadra composed his commentary, and the general significance of Haribhadra's work within the history of Indian Buddhist philosophy and the later Tibetan tradition. Some attempt is made to portray the relevance of Haribhadra's work for a wider audience.;The second section is a partial translation of Haribhadra's short commentary on the Abhisamayalamkara, known as the Sphutartha. Haribhadra's work consists of 9 chapters, of which the first seven are translated, based on the Tibetan translation and the recently discovered Sanskrit manuscript, which begins from the second chapter. Reference is made to Edward Conze's earlier translation of the Abhisamayalamkara, and similar passages in other Mahayana works are cited in the footnotes. No glossary is included, but a majority of the footnotes contain Sanskrit and Tibetan equivalents of the English chosen for the translation. The translation also includes most of the topic headings from rGyal Tshab Dar Ma Rin Chen's commentary on Haribhadra, the rNam bShad sNying Po rGyan. The dissertation concludes with a Bibliography.;The author's ambition in undertaking this work unfortunately exceeds his competence in this field, but it is to be hoped that the many inadequacies of this work will serve to encourage others to improve on it. |
