For many years, "The Shambhala Dictionary of Buddhism and Zen" has been the best Buddhist dictionary in English. It now has a worthy competitor in Damien Keowns "Dictionary of Buddhism." Keowns dictionary includes over 2,000 entries, as compared with the Shambhala dictionarys 1,500+, and is more up-to-date. Keown includes long and helpful entries on the history of Buddhism in particular places (e.g., Sri Lanka, Japan, Britain) and entries for issues like abortion, cloning, diet, and reincarnation. And Keown has more extensive coverage than Shambhala of Western Buddhism (including entries on, e.g., Alan Watts, Christmas Humphreys, the Buddhist Churches of America, and Naropa University). But the coverage of Zen isnt as extensive in Keown as in Shambhala. E.g., Keown doesnt include entries for oryoki, rakusu, mokugyo, or tenzo--all in Shambhala. And Keown includes only the more prominent Zen teachers. E.g., there are no entries for two of Dogens teachers (Myozen and Tien-tung Ju-ching) or one of Hui-nengs two main successors (Ching-yuan)--all in Shambhala. The Shambhala dictionary also includes a Chan/Zen lineage chart. Keown includes many more cross-listings than Shambhala from English terms to their Sanskrit equivalents (e.g., if you look up "emptiness" in Shambhala, youll find nothing, not even a cross-listing to the entry for "sunyata"; in Keown theres a cross-listing). Keown also includes a helpful chronology of important events in Buddhist history and a listing of the major Buddhist scriptures in the Pali, Chinese, and Tibetan canons. Keowns pronunciation guide is not nearly as helpful as Shambhalas and offers no help at all for Chinese terms. Overall, I think the Keown dictionary is a bit better, but if youre particularly interested in Zen, you may want the Shambhala dictionary instead or in addition, and if price is an issue, the Shambhala dictionary is quite a bit cheaper than Keown (currently available only in hardback). Both are very good dictionaries, but Im still wishing for one that combines the virtues of each and is even more comprehensive than either.
Compiled and edited Damien Keown (Senior Lecturer in Indian Religion, Department of Historical and Cultural Studies, Goldsmiths College, University of London), the Dictionary Of Buddhism is a straightforward, alphabetically arranged, "user friendly" reference filled cover to cover with succinct entries regarding people, places, religious terms, figures of history, meditative states, English translations of terms occurring in connection with Buddhism (such as "upasika", a female lay Buddhist). The 2,000 brief yet illuminated entries make Dictionary Of Buddhism a highly recommended consulting resource for studying about this ancient and honorable religion -- and an essential part of any personal, academic, or community library Buddhist Studies reference and resource collection.
