Details

Format: Paperback
ISBN: 9782915255560
Collection: Hors Collection
13.6 x 21.5 cm
Weight: 457 gr
Pages: 383
First publication: 11/01/2008
Last printing: 01/2008
CLIL: 3354
BISAC: REL007000

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Sur les traces du Bouddha

René Grousset follows the two Chinese pilgrims Hiuan-tsang and Yi-tsing across the Gobi desert and the Pamir mountains, as they risk their lives to find knowledge, manuscripts, and Buddhist religious objects in India. The setting is the 7th century, a time when India and China are experiencing explosions of growth in their spiritual, intellectual, and artistic cultures. Hiuan-tsang is the main hero of the book. The detailed description of the lands they travel through, of monuments, of traditions and ceremonies, of the social mores of the peoples they encounter, and of the dramatic episodes of the voyage, make this story extraordinarily vibrant. This book includes a biography of René Grousset by Pierre-Lucien Lamant, color and black and white photographs by André Bareau, Dominique Darbois, Hélène Disrens, Gérard Fussman, and a large format color map that traces the path of the two pilgrims. René Grousset, who died in 1952, was an expert who has put within reach of the public the knowledge he acquired over many years of research and reflection. He is the author of Les Civilisations de l’Orient (The Civilizations of the Orient), Histoire de l’Asie (History of Asia), L’Épopée des croisades (The Epic of the Crusades), L’Empire des steppes (The Empire of the Steppes), Bilan de l’histoire (Balance of History). The author of the preface, André Bareau was an expert in Buddhist studies who also taught at Collège de France. He died in 1993. His warm preface celebrates the talent of René Grousset and the merits of Sur les traces du Bouddha.

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CONTRIBUTORS' BIOGRAPHIES

Rene Grousset

René Grousset (1885-1952) is part of a family of academics. He studied in Montpellier where he obtained his degree in history and geography at the age of 18. He is passionate about Asia, which he considers in its entirety and with the desire to make orientalist scholarly works accessible to the educated public. After the Great War, where he was seriously injured, he divided his activities between three areas: museum administration, an impressive production of books and education. A great humanist, his abundant publications arouse both astonishment and admiration by the extent and mastery of the knowledge they imply. With "In the footsteps of the Buddha" (1929), Grousset takes the reader along in a description of civilizations in connection with the trip from China to India by the pilgrim Hiuan-tsang (7th century). He was elected to the Académie française in 1946.


TABLE OF CONTENTS

Préface (Preface)
Avant-propos (Foreword)
Chap. Ier. Dans la Chine des épopées (Chap. 1. Into the China of epics)
— II. Les appels du bouddhisme (2. The calls of Buddhism)
— III. À travers le Grand-Ouest (3. Across the Great West)
— IV. Peintures persanes au fond du Gobi (4. Persian paintings in the Gobi)
— V. En attendant l’ébranlement des hordes (5. Waiting for the hordes to shake)
— VI. Au pays gréco-bouddhique (6. In the Greco-Buddhist land)
— VII. Vers la terre sainte du Gange (7. To the holy land of the Ganges)
Cahier hors texte couleur de onze photographies (Off-text color booklet of eleven photographs)
— VIII. Aux lieux saints bouddhiques (8. To the buddhist holy places)
— IX. Voyage au Dékhan, au temps d’Ajantâ (9. Journey to Dekhan, at the time of Ajantâ)
— X. Nâlandâ, la cité monastique (10. Nâlandâ, the monastic city)
— XI. Harsha, le roi poète (11. Harsha, the poet king)
— XII. Du Pamir à Touen-houang (12. From the Pamir to Touen-houang)
— XIII. La gloire des T’ang (13. The glory of the T'ang)
— XIV. Pèlerins des mers du Sud (14. Pilgrims of the South Seas)
— XV. Les navigations de Yi-tsing (15. The navigations of Yi-tsing)
Neuf photographies en noir et blanc (Nine black and white photographs)
— XVI. Dans la paix des pagodes (16. In the peace of the pagodas)
— XVII. L’envol métaphysique du Mahâyâna (17. The metaphysical flight of the Mahâyâna)
—XVIII. Aux cieux mystiques du bouddhisme (18. To the mystical skies of Buddhism)
— XIX. La révélation de l’esthétique indienne (19. The revelation of the Indian aesthetic)
Biographie de René Grousset (Biography of René Grousset)