Foreword
Learning from Luis Gómez
as a Reader of Buddhist Sūtras
Charles Hallisey
vii

Acknowledgments
xxi

Introduction
Natalie Gummer
1

A Narratological Reading of the Aṅgulimāla-sūtra
(Majjhima-nikāya 86)
Bruno Galasek-Hul
17

Buddhas and Body Language:
The Literary Trope of the Buddha’s Smile
David V. Fiordalis
59

Transforming Through Words:
Sudhana’s Experience in the Gaṇḍavyūha-sūtra
Xi He
105

The Lotus Sūtra and the Art of Seduction
Alan Cole
147

Orality and Creativity in Early Buddhist Discourses:
Stock Formulas as an Aspect of the
Oral Textual Culture of Early Buddhism
Eviatar Shulman
187

Speech Without Conceptualization:
Language and Samādhirāja-sūtra’s Role in the Prasannapadā
Shenghai Li
231

Second Thought, Best Thought?
On Error, Correction, and the Transmission of Tradition
Richard Nance
263

Sūtra Time
Natalie Gummer
293

Bibliography
339

Contributors
383