Theravada is the branch of Buddhism found in Sri Lanka and parts of South East Asia. The Buddha preached in north-east India in the fifth-century BC. He claimed that human beings are responsible for their own salvation, and put forward a new ideal of the holy life, establishing a monastic Order to enable men and women to pursue that ideal. For most of its history, the fortunes of Theravada have been identified with those of that Order. Under the great Indian emperor, Asoka, himself a Buddhist, Theravada reached Sri Lanka in about 250 BC. There it became the religion of the Sinhala state and from there it spread, much later, to Burma and Thailand. Widely recognized as the classic introduction to the field, Richard Gombrich's book shows how Theravada Buddhism has influenced and been influenced by its social surroundings. He explores the influences of the Buddha's predecessors, as well as the social and religious contexts against which Buddhism has developed and changed throughout history. This revised and updated new edition incorporates recent research, including recent controversies over the date of the Buddha and reflects recent social and political developments in Sri Lanka.

Theravada Buddhism: Social History from Ancient Benares to Modern Colombo (Library of Religious Beliefs and Practices)

History

Richard F. Gombrich

Historical Study & Educational Resources

Routledge& Kegan Paul

Buddhist Precept & Practice

Taylor&Francis

Written by one of the world's top scholars in the field of Pali Buddhism, this new and updated edition of How Buddhism Began, discusses various important doctrines and themes in early Buddhism. It takes 'early Buddhism' to be that reflected in the Pali canon, and to some extent assumes that these doctrines reflect the teachings of the Buddha himself. Two themes predominate. Firstly, the author argues that we cannot understand the Buddha unless we understand that he was debating with other religious teachers, notably Brahmins. The other main theme concerns metaphor, allegory and literalism. This accessible, well-written book is mandatory reading for all serious students of Buddhism.

How Buddhism Began: The Conditioned Genesis of the Early Teachings, Second Edition [Mass Market Paperback] [Jan 01, 2018] Richard F. Gombrich

Religion & Spirituality

Buddhism

Routledge (Distributed exclusively by Dev Publishers & Distributors)

When this book was first published in 1971, under the title Buddhist Precept and Practice, The Times Literary Supplement Wrote: This is an epoch-making piece of research which must mark a change in direction and appreciation if it is taken seriously and studied in details. Dr. Gombrich is concerned with religious change in belief and practice, not only in modern times but over the two and a half millennia during which Buddhism has flourished. He concludes that Sinhalese Buddhism has been remarkably conservative and rejects the assumption that it degenerated from an original high standard, by questioning whether it ever was as pure as a superficial reading of classical texts might suggest. It would be very difficult to provide a combination of scholarship and sympathy such as that which pervades Dr. Gombrich s book and makes it a landmark in the study of religion. Out of print for many years, the book is now republished corrected but substantially unchanged. Richard Gombrich has been Boden Professor of Sanskrit, Oxford University and Professor Fellow of Balliol College since 1976. He has published 8 books and about 40 articles, mostly on Buddhism. His most recent books are Theravada Buddhism: A social History from Ancient Benares to Modern Colombo and Buddhism Transformed: Religious Change in Sri Lanka; the latter is intended to do for modern Sinhalese Buddhism in the cities what Precept and Practice did for its traditional manifestation in the countryside.

Buddhist Precept and Practice: Traditional Buddhism in the Rural Highlands of Ceylon

Asia

Motilal Banarsidass

The impressive growth of Buddhist Studies in recent years is the result of several factors. Important collections of manuscripts have been found, and monuments unearthed, in nearly all parts of Asia where Buddhism existed; political and social events bringing East and West together have increased interest in both scholarly research and Buddhist religious practices. The spread of Buddhism outside its birthplace, Madhyadesa, first in India and soon throughout Asia, prompted its followers constantly to invent new discursive strategies and to adjust the rules to local customs and administrations. The essays presented here illustrate how why Buddhist literature adapted to a new and specific context, particularly in North-west India. They also discuss hermeneutical and exegetical practices of Indian Buddhism, the complex interrelation between the Brahmanical and the Buddhist milieu, as well as the role of the social and political context in determining the rules of the monastic code (vinaya).

Buddhist Studies: Papers of the 12th World Sanskrit Conference Vol. 8

Cristina Scherrer-Schaub

This book takes a fresh look at the earliest Buddhist texts and offers various suggestions how the teachings in them had developed. Two themes predominate; firstly, it argues that we cannot understand the Buddha unless we understand that he was debating with other religious teachers, notably Brahmins. For example, he denied the existence of a "soul"; but what exactly was he denying? Another chapter suggests that the canonical story of the Buddha's encounter with a brigand who wore a garland of his victims' fingers probably reflects an encounter with a form of ecstatic religion. The other main theme concerns metaphor, allegory and literalism. By taking the words of the texts literally-despite the Buddha's warning not to-successive generations of his disciples created distinctions and developed doctrines far beyond his original intention. .One chapter shows how this led to a scholastic categorisation of meditation. Failure to understand a basic metaphor also gave rise to the later argument between the Mahayana and the older tradition. Perhaps most important of all, a combination of literalism with ignorance of the Buddha's allusions to Brahmanism led Buddhists to forget that the Buddha had preached that love, like Christian charity, could itself be directly salvific.

How Buddhism Began: The Conditioned Genesis of the Early Teachings

Munshiram Manoharlal Publishers

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Books by Richard F. Gombrich