Mapping the Buddhist Path to Liberation

Ven. Dr. Jianxun Shi, FHKAH, born as Yi-jung Tsai, is a Buddhist bhiksuni of the Mahayāna tradition. She was ordained in 1996 at the Luminary Buddhist Institute in Taiwan and received five years of monastic training there. Between 2005 and 2007, she studied Pāli and the Pāli Nikāyas under the personal guidance of Ven. Bhikkhu Bodhi in the U.S. In 2016, she earned a Ph.D. in Buddhist Studies at the Centre of Buddhist Studies of the University of Hong Kong. In 2018, she won the First Book Prize awarded by the Hong Kong Academy of Humanities ("HKAH") and has been recognized as an Early Career Fellow of HKAH ever since. She is currently a research fellow for the Noble Path Buddhist Education Fellowship, a non-profit Buddhist organization in New York. Her research interest focuses on the practical aspects of the Early Buddhist texts preserved by all Buddhist schools. Both traditionally and academically trained, she hopes to play a role in making the profundity of the Buddhist teachings understandable and relevant to the modern practitioners of Buddhism.

Preface.- Acknowledgements.- Abbreviations.- Introduction.- The Path to Liberation.- The Prototype: the Buddha's enlightenment accounts.- The Sequential Process: Gradual Training.- The Factorial Analysis: Path Factors.- Comprehensive Discussions of the Three Aspects of the Path.- Types of Variation.- An Integrated Whole.- Conclusion.- Appendix.- Bibliography.- Index.