India in the World - Two Lectures

How far did India’s stories, philosophies, and religious practices travel? In these two lectures from 1907, Matsumoto Bunzaburō traces connections from Indian fables to European literature, from ascetic discipline to philosophical reflection, and from sacred syllables to the religious traditions of other lands.

“India in the World” ranges through the Panchatantra, Pythagoras, Schopenhauer, Chinese philosophy, and the lecturer’s controversial theories of religious borrowing. “Indian Saints” turns to extraordinary accounts of meditative absorption, including reports of the ascetic Haridās being buried and revived. It also considers the ideals of renunciation and the stages of life that gave such practices their meaning.

A Japanese scholar of Indian philosophy and Buddhism, Matsumoto speaks with the ambition and assumptions of his time. This complete English translation preserves his arguments, anecdotes, long paragraphs, and spoken manner. Concise notes identify historical errors, explain unfamiliar terms, and make uncertain readings visible, allowing readers to encounter these lectures as documents of an influential period in the study of Asian thought.