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    Unavailable
    What the Buddha Taught: Revised and Expanded Edition with Texts from Suttas and Dhammapada
    Unavailable
    What the Buddha Taught: Revised and Expanded Edition with Texts from Suttas and Dhammapada
    Unavailable
    What the Buddha Taught: Revised and Expanded Edition with Texts from Suttas and Dhammapada
    Ebook444 pages3 hours

    What the Buddha Taught: Revised and Expanded Edition with Texts from Suttas and Dhammapada

    By Walpola Rahula and Paul Demiéville

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    About this ebook

    This comprehensive, compact, lucid, and faithful account of the Buddha’s teachings persistently enjoys great popularity in colleges, universities, and theological schools both here and abroad. An exposition of Buddhism conceived in a resolutely modern spirit.”from the Foreword.

    For years,” says the Journal of the Buddhist Society, the newcomer to Buddhism has lacked a simple and reliable introduction to the complexities of the subject. Dr. Rahula’s What the Buddha Taught fills the need as only could be done by one having a firm grasp of the vast material to be sifted. It is a model of what a book should be that is addressed first of all to the educated and intelligent reader.’ Authoritative and clear, logical and sober, this study is as comprehensive as it is masterly.”

    A classic introductory book to Buddhism, What the Buddha Taught, contains a selection of illustrative texts from the original Pali texts, including the Suttas and the Dhammapada (specially translated by the author), sixteen illustrations, and a bibliography, glossary, and index.
    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherGrove Press
    Release dateDec 1, 2007
    ISBN9780802198105
    Unavailable
    What the Buddha Taught: Revised and Expanded Edition with Texts from Suttas and Dhammapada
    Author

    Walpola Rahula

    The Venerable Dr Walpola Sri Rahula was a Buddhist monk and scholar. He received a traditional training and education in his native Sri Lanka before studying at the University of Calcutta and the Sorbonne. He held a chair at Northwestern University, Illinois, and was the Vice-Chancellor of Vidyodaya University, Colombo. He is widely regarded as one of the most qualified and enlightened scholars of the Buddhist tradition, with a deep knowledge of the original texts.

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    Reviews for What the Buddha Taught

    4/5

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    • 4/5
      This was a great introduction to Buddhism. Way of life or philosophy more than religion.
    • 4/5
      It's hard for me to give a rating since this is the firs book I read about Buddhism, but it seems like a great introduction to me, very readable but with enough depth for me to feel that I really know more about it after finishing the book (OK, not hard, but still).
    • 3/5
      On the whole, this book gave me what I wanted: the straightforward low-down on Buddhism from a clear Buddhist. Well, almost. The author most of the time sticks to presenting ideas, with relevant quotations for our consideration - he mostly stays away from forceful argument, yet does indulge in a lot of repetition... perhaps a reflection of Buddhism itself. However a line here or there spoils the effort, as pointed out by others, when he seems to betray a haughtiness.

      Another point that quite bothered me is that he often criticises others for fussing meaninglessly over words without making content clear, whilst displaying this exact behaviour himself: "Of course, not in a petty individual self with small s, but in a big Self with a capital S"

      The pictures did nothing for me.

      Oh and this is the silliest line: "His reply was highly philosophical and beyond comprehension"

      It's nice to see the Buddhist texts at the end.
    • 4/5
      A nifty introduction, intellectual and philosophically rich.