Epochs in Buddhist History: The Haskell Lectures, 1921.

The lotus of Buddhism has grown apace; its seeds have germinated and borne rich fruit. But some have been pollinated from the plants of another species, production hybrids. As the streams of Buddhism have flowed in an ever widening bed out over the eastern world, tributaries pour into it from every side, swelling, coloring and sometimes defining it. The book is an attempt to describe that remarkable process. In doing so the author refrains from criticizing or discriminating between true and false, or original and attributed. He has performed the role of a sympathetic chronicler. The work is also a sincere effort to help lead Christian and Buddhist scholars towards a frank and friendly discussion, since the tributaries of both religious are many and diverse, and the streams are complex. There are several Christian elements, not much appreciated by the Christian Church, but which are the very breath of life to devout Buddhists the doctrine of the unity of all life and the practice of communion with it. In view of such a hand-shaking potential, the author intends this book to be in some measure a bridge between them.

Kenneth J. Saunders was born in 1883. He served as a professor of Pacific Schools of Religion at Berkeley until his death in 1937. His other published works include Gotama Buddha: A Biography; Gospel for Asia; The Heritage of Asia; and Lotuses of the Mahayana.