Buddhism/Bibliography

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A wide range of books in this field can be obtained through Wisdom Books.

Works of scholars

For the general reader

• Bechert, Heinz, & Gombrich, Richard, eds, The World of Buddhism: Buddhist Monks and Nuns in Society and Culture, Thames & Hudson, London, 1984: written by 11 scholars; includes nearly 300 illustrations, 82 in colour; arranged by country; assessed in 1987 as much the best (Macmillan Encyclopedia of Religion, volume 2, page 382)
• Lopez, Donald S., Jr., Buddhism, Penguin/The Story of Buddhism: a Concise Guide to Its History and Teachings, Harper, San Francisco, 2001 (same book, though different pagination): arranged topically; rather impressionistic, not always making clear which Buddhists believe and practise which things

Textbooks

• Cantwell, Cathy, Buddhism: the Basics, Routledge, 2010
• Gethin, Rupert, Foundations of Buddhism, Oxford University Press, 1998; mainly on early Buddhism, which the author treats as the "foundations", always present in the background if not the foreground
• Habito, Ruben L. F., Experiencing Buddhism: Ways of Wisdom and Compassion, Orbis Books, Maryknoll, New York, 2005; Table of contents; treats the subject by analogy with a tree: the "root experience", the "trunk", and the "branches": Theravada, Zen, Tantra (mainly Tibetan), Pure Land and Lotus (mainly Nichiren)
• Harvey, Peter, Introduction to Buddhism: Teachings, History and Practices, Cambridge University Press, 1990: teachings are embedded in historical context, but practices are dealt with in parallel
• Keown, Damien, Buddhism: a Very Short Introduction, Oxford University Press, 1996
• Klostermaier, Klaus K., Buddhism: a Short Introduction, Oneworld Pub, 1999: as stated in the Introduction, this is actually an account of Indian Buddhism, based on the "assumption" that the "substance" of the teaching has been preserved
• Mitchell, Donald S., Buddhism: Introducing the Buddhist Experience, 2nd ed, Oxford University Press, 2008; review of 1st ed in Philosophy East and West, volume 54
• Olson, Carl D., The Different Paths of Buddhism: a Narrative-Historical Introduction, Rutgers University Press, 2005
• Prebish, Charles S., & Keown, Damien, Introducing Buddhism, 2nd ed, Routledge, 2010
• Robinson, Richard H., revised by Johnson, Willard L., and Thanissaro Bhikkhu, Buddhist Religions: a Historical Introduction, 5th ed, Wadsworth, Belmont, California, 2004: the s is new to this edition; particularly popular (Routledge Encyclopedia of Buddhism, page 629); review (Journal of the American Academy of Religion, volume 74, number 3, September 2006, pages 765-70) also makes brief comments on several other books in this list

Reference

• Chapter 8 in Penguin Handbook of the World's Living Religions, 3rd edition, 2010
• Kitagawa & Cummings, Buddhism & Asian History, Macmillan, 1989: selected articles from Encyclopedia of Religion, 15 vols, Macmillan, New York, 1987
• Encyclopedia of Buddhism, 2 vols, Macmillan, 2004: written by over 200 scholars
• Encyclopedia of Buddhism, Routledge, 2007: written by 23 scholars
• Oxford Dictionary of Buddhism, 2003

Research

• Williams, Paul, ed, Buddhism, 8 vols, Routledge, 2005: reprints of papers by many scholars, 1958-2003

Compilations of Buddhist writings

• Lopez, Donald S., Jr, ed, Buddhist Scriptures, Penguin Classics, 2004: a broad selection of Buddhist literature
• Morgan, Kenneth W., ed, Path of the Buddha, Ronald Press, New York, 1956; reprint Motilal, Delhi, distributed by Wisdom Books: the editor travelled round the East asking leading Buddhists to recommend contributors; he ended up with 7 Japanese professors, 3 Theravada monks and a Tibetan official

Some major scriptures

While all major Buddhist traditions recognize large quantities of scriptures, at least some of them give a special place to a few. For example:

• In the Burmese tradition, the title of Teacher of Religion is awarded on the basis of an examination on three set texts:
  • Parajika: The Book of the Discipline, tr I.B. Horner, Pali Text Society, volume I, 1938, and the first part of volume II, 1940
  • Silakkhandha Vagga:
    • Dialogues of the Buddha, volume I, tr T.W. Rhys Davids, 1899, Pali Text Society
    • first part of Thus Have I Heard: the Long Discourses of the Buddha, Wisdom Pubns, 1987, reprinted under the original subtitle
  • Dhammasangani:
    • A Buddhist Manual of Psychological Ethics, tr C.A.F. Rhys Davids, 1900, Royal Asiatic Society, reprinted Pali Text Society
    • tr U Kyaw Khine, reprinted Sri Satguru, Delhi, 1999

TBC