Author Description

Introduction -- 1. The Buddha: The Story Of The Awakened One -- The Historical Buddha -- The Legend Of The Buddha -- The Nature Of A Buddha -- 2. The Word Of The Buddha: Buddhist Scriptures And Schools -- Dharma: Texts, Practice, And Realization -- The First Recitation Of Scriptures -- Sūtra And Abhidharma -- The Origin Of The Ancient Buddhist Schools -- The Mahāyāna Sūtras -- 3. Four Truths: The Disease, The Cause, The Cure, The Medicine -- The Orientation Of The Buddha's Teaching -- The Disease Of Suffering -- The Origin Of Suffering: Attachment, Aversion, And Delusion -- The Cessation Of Suffering: Nirvāṇa -- The Way Leading To The Cessation Of Suffering -- 4. The Buddhist Community: Monks, Nuns, And Lay Followers -- The Buddha's Followers And The Origin Of The Buddhist Order -- Ordination And The Buddhist Monastic Ideal -- The Underlying Concerns Of The Vinaya -- From Wandering To Settled Life -- The Spiritual Life -- The Lay Community -- Spiro's Schema: Apotropaic, Kammatic, And Nibbanic Buddhism -- 5. The Buddhist Cosmos: The Thrice-thousandfold World -- Of Space And Time: World-systems -- Cosmology And Psychology: Macrocosm And Microcosm -- Cosmology, Folk Religion, And Modern Science -- 6. No Self: Personal Continuity And Dependent Arising -- The Buddhist Critique Of Self As Unchanging -- The Problem Of Personal Continuity -- Ignorance, Attachment, And Views Of The Self -- The Elaboration Of The Teaching Of Dependent Arising -- Did The Buddha Deny The Existence Of The Self? -- 7. The Buddhism Path: The Way Of Calm And Insight -- Introductory Remarks -- The Role Of Faith -- Good Conduct -- The Practice Of Calm Meditation -- The Stages Of Insight Meditation -- The Relationship Of Calm And Insight -- 8. The Abhidharma: The Higher Teaching -- Stories, Legends, Texts, And Authors -- The Abhidharma As A System Of Buddhist Thought -- The Consciousness Process, Karma, And Rebirth -- Some Abhidharma Problems -- 9. The Mahāyāna: The Great Vehicle -- The Beginn