ePub The Queen: A Biography of Elizabeth II by Ben Pimlott in History

Description

This book takes a fresh look at the earliest Buddhism 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 brahminism led buddhists to forget that the Buddha had preached that love; like christian charity; could itself be directly salvific.