Book Description
This heavily illustrated, fact-filled, pocket-size book makes an excellent supplement to a main textbook for students taking college humanities courses. This volume surveys Buddhism's origins, circa 500 B.C. in India, and follows the religion's spread through much of Asia in the centuries that followed. A biographical sketch traces the life and thinking of the Indian prince who founded this religion, Gautama Buddha. The most important Buddhist doctrines are briefly reviewed -- the early doctrine of life as suffering, Hinayana or the Little Crossing, Mahayana or the Big Crossing, and Tantrayana or the Mystic Crossing. Readers also review the variations of Buddhism as it is practiced in China, Japan, Tibet, and most recently in some Western communities. Illustrations show Buddhist images, monuments, and architecture.
