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

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

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

Author: Walpola Rahula
Edition: Paperback
Audio: English (Original Language); English (Unknown); English (Published)
Published: 1974
ISBN: 0802130313
Number of pages: 151
Publisher: Grove Press

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

Book Review: Good, but incomplete
Summary: 4 Stars

For decades, Walpola Rahula's book has been part of what we might call a Western Buddhist Canon, along with Shunryu Suzuki's "Zen Mind Beginner's Mind", Goddard's "Buddhist Bible", and a handful of others. While Rahula is from the Theravada tradition, the book has been highly praised by Mahayana scholars and monks since its publication, as a truly universal book that talks about the teachings common to each Buddhist tradition.

Is it well-written? Absolutely. It won't duplicate the feeling some of us got when first we read the Dhammapada or the Heart Sutra; on the other hand, it could give an accurate picture of Buddhist philosophy to the kind of person who is looking for information rather than inspiration. A book on Buddhism that a Muslim or Christian can read and understand conceptually that doesn't seem like a call to conversion is very necessary from where I stand.

One problem is, though, that we don't actually know what the historical Buddha said. We have some ideas; the Pali canon is probably somewhat closer to the truth than the Mahayana sutras (and I say this as someone who practices a Mahayana method). And we have certain core teachings held in common by all "Orthodox" Buddhist schools of thought. But realistically, at the end of the day, we're no more certain about what the Buddha actually said than what Jesus actually said, or whether Laozi actually existed. Rahula downplays this, to what I think it the book's detriment. It makes it sound as if the corpus of Buddhist literature is a lot more solid, unbiased, and unambiguous than it really is.

There are also many assertions that are not explained and could very easily be misunderstood. For example, Rahula states when explaining what a Buddha is that a man, and only a man, may become a Buddha. Now, it's my understanding that in pre-Mahayana Buddhism, there is a distinction between Buddhas and Arahants, and then a further division between Buddhas who could share their enlightenment to establish a dharma and those who couldn't. A common enough explanation was that women in pre-industrial society could not have wielded the social respect to spread a dharma and thus can't be Buddhas in the technical sense, but can still achieve enlightenment. To a casual reader though, it looks an awful lot like someone just writing women off and saying they don't have the spiritual chops to reach Buddhahood. A little explanation could go a long way here.

Despite such reservations, this is a very good beginner's guide to Buddhism for someone who wants enough scholarship to get the facts but not a confusing or inaccessible academic tome.

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

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. The author, himself a Buddhist monk and scholar, removes a number of common misconceptions about Buddhism, and provides a comprehensive, compact, lucid, and faithful account of the Buddha's teachings that persistently enjoys great popularity in colleges, universities, and theological schools both here and abroad. "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."

Beneath the enormous umbrella of Buddhism, there is a diverse galaxy of customs and beliefs, but there is also a kernel of truth that every sect holds dear. Rahula Walpola, scholar and monk, discovers this foundation of Buddhism for us first through straightforward explication, never skipping over a point that has yet to be substantiated, then through translations from key scriptures. Logical and focused, these are the essentials of Buddhism; know them first, then move comfortably on to other Buddhist works.

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