Read a Dhamma book today

Book title : Theravāda Buddhism
(A Social History from Ancient Benares to Modern Colombo)

Author : Richard F. Gombrich

ISBN : 0-415-36509-0

An exploration of the legacy of the Buddha's predecessors, the social and religious contexts in which Buddhism has developed and changed throughout history.

(From its book cover) :

Theravāda Buddhism is widely recognised as the classic introduction to 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 BCE, and 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 of Theravāda, the most ‘conservative’ form of Buddhism, have been identified with those of that Order.  Under the great Indian emperor, Asoka, himself a Buddhist, Theravāda reached Sri Lanka in about 250 BCE.  There it became the religion of the Sinhala state, and from there it spread, much later, to Burma and Thailand.

Contents

A social history of Buddhism

Vedic civilisation

The social conditions of His day

The Buddha’s Dhamma

The Sangha’s discipline

The accommodation between Buddhism and society in ancient India

The Buddhist tradition in Sri Lanka

Protestant Buddhism

Current trends, new problems

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