Introducing Buddhism

The book is organized as a systematic pathway into Buddhist studies. It opens with the background to Buddhism, explaining the Indus Valley Civilization, Vedic religion, Vedic literature, the Age of the Wanderers, and the philosophical questions that shaped early Indian religious thought. Part I, “Foundations,” introduces karma and cosmology, the Buddha’s life, the Dharma, the Four Noble Truths, no-self, the five aggregates, and the Buddhist saṅgha. Part II, “Development,” surveys Buddhism in India after the Buddha’s death, early councils, Aśoka, stūpas, Buddhist art, the rise of Mahāyāna, tantric developments, Mahāyāna literature, celestial Buddhas and bodhisattvas, Madhyamaka, Yogācāra, Pure Land, and meditation traditions. Part III, “Buddhism beyond India,” presents the spread and institutional formation of Buddhism in South-east Asia, China, Korea, Japan, and Tibet, with attention to Theravāda, Mahāyāna, Tibetan schools, tantric texts, and the Dalai Lama tradition. Part IV, “Modernity,” discusses Buddhism in the Western world, globalization, American Buddhism, socially engaged Buddhism, Buddhist ethics, human rights, ecology, compassion, non-violence, war, terrorism, and the contemporary academic study of Buddhism. The appendices provide a chronology of Buddhist history and concise overviews of the Pāli, Chinese, and Tibetan canons.