Encyclopaedia of Buddhism: A World Faith, Volume 12: World of Sorrows and Sufferings

The central concern of this volume is the universal fact of suffering and the possibility of liberation from it. Chitkara interprets Buddhism primarily through its diagnosis of the human predicament: beings experience sorrow because of craving, attachment, ignorance, impermanence, and identification with conditioned existence. Against this background, the Buddhist path is presented as a disciplined movement toward wisdom, compassion, non-violence, contentment, and emancipation. The volume also extends this analysis beyond individual liberation, emphasizing the Mahāyāna ideal that spiritual development should express itself through active concern for the suffering of all beings. The introductory and prefatory materials explicitly frame the work around the Buddhist truth of suffering, its extinction, and the path leading to that extinction.

Table of Contents

The book’s contents list eighteen chapters together with its preliminary and reference sections. 

Message
Foreword
Preface
Appreciation

1. Introduction

2. All Avoid Suffering, Aspire Happiness

3. Bodhisattva in the World of Suffering

4. The Enlightened

5. Search for Truth & Non-Violence

6. Suffering and Transitoriness of Life

7. Existence is Suffering

8. Dukkha: Key Note with Buddhism

9. Saddharma Pundarika the Philosophy of Life

10. Universal Harmony and Tolerance

11. Lee Way to Adharma

12. Contentment, The Greatest Bliss

13. Craving and Desire: The Root of All Human Suffering

14. Pratiyasamutpada

15. Science of Peace, Social, Economic and Spiritual Development

16. Annihilation of Suffering

17. Liberation of Suffering Beings Through Kalachakra Tantra

18. Appraisal and Sum Up

Bibliography
Index