The Way of the Buddha

The book’s main content is organized into an introductory treatment of the Buddha’s path followed by eight chapters. “Birth and Youth” narrates Siddhartha Gautama’s royal birth, protected upbringing, marriage, confrontation with suffering, renunciation, ascetic discipline, and enlightenment. “The First Sermon” presents the discourse at Isipatana, focusing on the Middle Path, the Four Noble Truths, and the Eightfold Path as the doctrinal foundation of Buddhist practice. “Indian Thought before the Rise of Buddhism” explains the religious and philosophical background from which Buddhism emerged. “The Bhagavad-Gītā” places Buddhist teaching in comparative relation to Indian spiritual thought. “The Dhammapadam” highlights ethical verses on impermanence, sorrow, dependent existence, restraint, and the path of liberation. “The Master, the Law, and the Order” examines the Three Refuges and the religious structure of early Buddhism. “The Disciples” discusses the community surrounding the Buddha and the formation of the teaching lineage. “The Ideal Buddhist” concludes by identifying the Buddhist ideal with moral purification, avoidance of evil, cultivation of virtue, and purification of thought.