The Foundations of Buddhism PDF
Preview The Foundations of Buddhism
Rupert Gethin An OPUS book The Foundations of Buddhism Rupert Gethin is Lecturer in Indian Religions in the Department of Theology and Religious Studies, and co-director of the Centre for Buddhist Studies, at the University of Bristol. He is author of The Buddhist Path to Awakening (1992) and is a specialist in Theravada Buddhism. OPUS General Editors Christopher Butler Robert Evans John Skorupski OPUS books provide concise, original, and authoritative introductions to a wide range of subjects in the humanities and social sciences. They are written by experts for tlie general reader as well as for students. The Foundations of Buddhism Rupert Gethin Oxford New York OXFORD UNIVERSITY PRESS OXFORD UNIVERSITY PRESS Great Clarendon Street, Oxford oxz 6DP Oxford University Press is a department of the University of Oxford. It furthers the University's objective of excellence in research, scholarship, and education by publishing worldwide in Oxford NewYork Auckland Cape Town Dar es Salaam Hong Kong Karachi Kuala Lumpur Madrid Melbourne Mexico City Nairobi New Delhi Shanghai Taipei Toronto With offices in Argentina Austria Brazil Chile Czech Republic France Greece Guatemala Hungary Italy Japan South Korea Poland Portugal Singapore Switzerland Thailand Turkey Ukraine Vietnam Oxford is a registered trade mark of Oxford University Press in the UK and in certain other countries Rupert Gethin © 1998 The moral rights of the author have been asserted Database right Oxford University Press (maker) First published as an Oxford University Press paperback 1998 All rights reserved. No part of this publication· may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted, in ariy,fonn or by any means, without the prior permission in writingpf,Oxford Ul).iversity Press, or as expressly permitted by law, or under tenhs" agreed With the appropriate reprographics rights organization. Enquiries concerning reproduction outside the scope of the above should be sent to "the Rights Department, Oxford University Press, at the address above You must not circulate this book in any other binding or cover and you must impose this same condition on any acquirer British Library Cataloguing in Publication Data Data available Library of Congress Cataloging in Publication Data Gethin, Rupert. The foundations of Buddhism f Rupert Gethin. Includes index. 1. Buddhism. I. title. BQ4012.G47 1998 294.3-dc21 98-12246 ISBN 0-19-289223-1 11 Typeset by Graphicraft Typesetters Ltd., Hong Kong Printed in Great Britain by Clays Ltd, St Ives pic For my mother Acknowledgements My understanding of the Buddhist tradition owes much to many. Some of what is owed and to whom is apparent from the notes and bibliography of the present volume, but some deserve spe cial mention. To Lance Cousins, who first introduced me to Buddhism, I owe a special debt. A number of people have read drafts of parts of this book during the course of its writing; to Lance Cousins, Hugh Gethin, Michael Houser, Rita Langer, Ken Robinson, Alexander von Rospatt, Ornan Rotem, Gregory Schopen, and Paul Williams I am especially grateful for their com ments, criticisms, and encouragement. I am also grateful to my students and all those others whose questions and puzzled faces have prompted me to try to express what I understand of Bud dhism more clearly. Finally a word of thanks to my editor at OUP, George Miller, for his patience and help. siddhir astu subham astu
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