The present book collects research papers by Bhikkhu Anālayo with translations of Ekottarika-āgama discourses and comparative studies of their Pāli parallels, together with three appendices on the terms Mahāyāna, Hīnayāna, and Theravāda. Several papers study aspects of the Ekottarika-āgama as a collection distinct from other Nikāya and Āgama collections. In addition, topics taken up in the course of this book are seclusion, the lion's roar, the wheel-turning king, Paccekabuddhas, and the four noble truths, as well as depictions of accomplished nuns and their significance.

Dharma Drum Institute of Liberal Arts (DILA) Series

In 1994, Master Sheng Yen (1931-2009), the founder of Dharma Drum Buddhist College, began publishing the series of the Chung-Hwa Institute of Buddhist Studies. The purposes of publishing this series were to provide a venue for academic research in Buddhist studies supported by scholarships from the Chung-Hwa Institute of Buddhist Studies, to encourage top-quality Buddhist research, and to cultivate an interest in Buddhist research among the readership of the series. Moreover, by encouraging cooperation with international research institutions, Master Sheng Yen hoped to foster the academic study of Buddhism in Taiwan.

In keeping with this vision, in order to promote different aspects of exchange in academic research, we at Dharma Drum Buddhist College began to publish three educational series in 2007:
- Dharma Drum Buddhist College Research Series (DDBCRS)
- Dharma Drum Buddhist College Translation Series (DDBCTS)
- Dharma Drum Buddhist College Special Series (DDBCSS)

In July 2014, the Taiwanese Ministry of Education deliberated on the merging of the Dharma Drum College of Humanities and Social Sciences and the Dharma Drum Buddhist College into the newly formed Dharma Drum Institute of Liberal Arts (DILA).

The new DILA incarnations of the former three series are now:
- Dharma Drum Institute of Liberal Arts Research Series (DILA-RS)
- Dharma Drum Institute of Liberal Arts Translation Series (DILA-TS)
- Dharma Drum Institute of Liberal Arts Special Series (DILA-SS)

Among our goals is the extensive development of digital publishing and information to adapt to the interactive and hyperconnective environment of the Web 2.0 age. This will allow research outcomes to be quickly shared and evaluated through the participation of individual users, through such media as blogs, shared tagging, wikis, social networks and so on. Our hope is to work towards developing an open environment for academic studies (perhaps called Science 2.0) on digital humanities that will be more collaborative and efficient than traditional academic studies. In this way, the Dharma Drum Institute of Liberal Arts will continue to help foster the availability of digital resources for Buddhist studies, the humanities, and the social sciences.
Bhiksu Huimin

President, Dharma Drum Institute of Liberal Arts
15 August, 2014

作者簡介：

Bhikkhu Anālayo was born in Germany in 1962 and ordained in Sri Lanka in 1995. He completed a Ph.D. thesis at the University of Peradeniya (Sri Lanka) in 2000 and a habilitation thesis at the University of Marburg (Germany) in 2007. At present he is a professor at the University of Hamburg, Numata Center for Buddhist Studies (Germany).