The Life of Buddha as Legend and History

The book opens with a Preface and Introduction—the sources, where Thomas explains the need to reassess the Buddha’s life through Pāli, Sanskrit, Tibetan, Chinese, chronicle, and comparative materials rather than accepting any single tradition uncritically. Chapter I, “The ancestry of Buddha,” studies the legendary genealogy and the Buddhist adaptation of older Indian royal and cosmological traditions. The following sections examine the geography of early Buddhism, the home and family of Buddha, his birth, infancy and youth, and Great Renunciation, showing how historical memory and legend became interwoven. The chapters on Austerities and Enlightenment, The first preaching, and Spread of the Doctrine present the transition from seeker to awakened teacher and the emergence of the early community. Later chapters discuss Legends of the twenty years’ wandering, Rival Schools, Devadatta and Ajātasattu, The last days, and The Order, tracing the narrative growth around the Buddha’s ministry, conflict, final journey, and institutional legacy. The final thematic chapters—“Buddhism as a religion,” “Buddhism as a philosophy,” “Buddha and myth,” “Buddha and history,” and “Buddhism and Christianity”—move from biography to interpretation, assessing how the Buddha was understood as a religious founder, philosophical teacher, mythic figure, and historical personality. The Appendix, “The Buddhist Scriptures,” summarizes the Theravāda Pāli Canon and canonical works of other schools, reinforcing the book’s central method of historical comparison.