Buddhism: Its History and Literature

The book is organized into six lectures. Lecture I, “Religious Theories in India before Buddhism,” introduces the Indian religious and philosophical background out of which Buddhism emerged, including the meaning of religion, Vedic ideas, theories of God and soul, monotheistic developments, materialist and Jain thought, Sāṅkhya philosophy, and early speculative debates. Lecture II, “Authorities on which our Knowledge of Buddhism is Based,” explains the textual basis of Buddhist studies, especially Pāli literature, the Three Piṭakas, Vinaya, Nikāyas, Abhidhamma, miscellaneous canonical works, and the scholarly role of the Pali Text Society. Lecture III, “Notes on the Life of the Buddha,” discusses the Buddha’s life through available textual evidence, covering the Śākya clan, legends of birth and youth, renunciation, teachers, attainment of Nirvāṇa, first sermon, daily life, and relations with Brahmins. Lecture IV, “The Secret of Buddhism: The Signs, the Path, and the Fetters,” examines impermanence, suffering, individuality, self-delusion, karma, rebirth, the Noble Eightfold Path, the Four Noble Truths, the ten fetters, and Nirvāṇa. Lecture V, “The Secret of Buddhism: The Wheel of Life and Arahatship,” develops the doctrine of dependent causation, rebirth, salvation, Nirvāṇa, and the ideal of the arahant. Lecture VI, “Some Notes on the History of Buddhism,” surveys Buddhist historical development, including the Council of Vesālī, Kathāvatthu, early schools, Bodhisattva ideals, the Greater Vehicle, Tantra, Theosophy, and modern Western reflections on Buddhism.