Buddha: His Life, His Doctrine, His Order (Classic Reprint) - Softcover

Kavanagh, Morgan

Softcover

ISBN 10: 1440050937 ISBN 13: 9781440050930

Publisher: Forgotten Books, 2012

Synopsis

Buddhism as tlie highest effort of pure intellect to solve the problem of being, is attractive. It is not less so to the metaphysician and sociologist who study the philosophy of the modern German pessimistic school and observe its social tendencies. To them Dr. Oldenberg swork will be as valuable as it is to theO rientalist. My aim in this translation has been to reproduce the thought of the original in clear English. If I have done this, I have succeeded. Dr. Oldenberg has kindly perused my manuscript before going to press: and in a few passages of theE nglish I have made slight alterations, additions, or omissions, as compared with the German oi iginal, at his request. I have to thank Dr. Rost, theL ibrarian of the India Office, at whose suggestion I undei took this work, for his kindness and courtesy in facilitating some references which I found it necessary to make to tlie India Office Library. W. HOEY. Belfast, Octoher 21, 1882. At p. 241-2, Dr. Oldenberg refers to the impossibility of Buddliist terminology finding adequate expression in the German language. I may make a similar complaint of theE nglish tongue, and point in jiroof to the same word which occasioned his remark: Sankhara. This term is translated in the German by Gestaltungen, which would be usually rendered in English by shapes or forms: but the shape or form, and the shaping or forming, are one to Buddhist thought: hence I have used for sankhara anE nglish word which may connote both result and process, and is at the same time etymologically similar to, though not quite parallel to, sankhara. The word chosen is conformations. The selection of the term is arbitrar as all such translations of philosophical technicalities must be until a consensus of scholars gives currency to a fixed term. The conception intended to be conveyed by the term sankhjira has, as far as I know, no exact parallel
(Typographical errors above are due to OCR software and don't occur in the book.)

About this title

From the Back Cover:

Buddha, His Life, His Doctrine, His Order is a comprehensive introduction to Buddhism, first written in 1881. In order to better understand Buddhism from a scholarly viewpoint, Oldenberg goes back to the Aryan religion based on the Vedas.

Since the Buddha was raised in the Brahmanic culture, those beliefs will have a natural influence on the development of Buddhist belief. After exploring the roots of Buddhism, Oldenberg moves on to detailing the life of the Buddha and eventually introduces the basic tenets of the Buddhist religion.

Throughout, Oldenberg contends that Buddhism is an essentially pessimistic philosophy, which modern readers and Buddhists may find controversial. Suitable for anyone interested in Buddhism, this book is a scholarly work that remains accessible to the lay reader.

About the Author:

German scholar HERMANN OLDENBERG (1854-1920) was a professor of Indology. His translations of Buddhist texts are still published today, including Vedic Hymns (1897) and The Religion of the Vedas (1894).

About this edition

• Publisher: Forgotten Books
• Publication date: 2012
• ISBN 10: 1440050937
• ISBN 13: 9781440050930
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 470