> Bareau André. Heinz Bechert, Richard Gombrich et autres. The World of Buddhism, Buddhist Monks and Nuns in Society and Culture.
In: Revue de l'histoire des religions, tome 203, n°2, 1986. pp. 195-198. … ; (en ligne),
URL : https://www.persee.fr/doc/rhr_0035-1423_1986_num_203_2_2635

A formidable tome that I hope to devour with considerable haste.

An extremely well researched and scholarly work into whose creation has gone the painstaking work of several eminent minds.

Buddha in search of Nirvana, that exalted state that helps you break away from the eternal cycle of life, death and rebirth, finds that in the middle path. He finds out that neither extreme comfort nor extreme suffering (self imposed or otherwise) can lead you to this state, so after days and weeks of extreme corporeal punishment, he sees that this path is futile, has a hearty meal, sits under a Bodhi tree and viola, what do you know, Nirvana. So he chooses the middle path. Thus were born the Buddhist principles of leading a balanced life and yet achieve that supereme state.

Buddha essentially rejected the Hindu Caste System and a lot of the other practices associated with the religion. The Buddhist texts were written in Pali and Prakrit and not in Sanskrit which he associated with Hindu Brahminical Elitism. Buddhism provided a recourse to people who wanted to drop out of the rigid and discriminating Hindu Caste System.

It then describes in detail how this religion spread at first within India, where it would experience a steep decline and ultimately fade away due to the Islamic onslaught. It then spread very rapidly to Sri Lanka (through Mahendra, Ashoka's son), Thailand, Burma, China, Central Asia, Japan, Korea, Vietnam, Laos and Cambodia.

Buddhism was and is still practised in it's conservative form as Theravada Buddhism in Sri Lanka, Myanmar and Thailand. Interestingly, monks from Ceylon were invited to Burma and Thailand to inculcate and spread the form of Theravada Buddhism practised there. However in the other regions especially China and Japan, a sort of reform took place that let even laymen enter monkhood and other factors including the influences of Tantra, led to the development of another form of Buddhism called Mahayana or Greater Vehicle.

Before the advent of Buddhism, the regions comprising parts of Thailand, Vietnam and Cambodia were actually Hinduized regions that worshipped Hindu gods, esp Vishnu and build great Hindu temples of which Angkor Wat is a magnificient example. It is only later that they came under the spell of Buddhism.

The form of Buddhism practised in Tibet, a form of Mahayana Buddhism based on the Madhyamaka school of thought that originated in India, is also subjected to detailed examination. The Tibetans also managed to convert the Mongols to Buddhism and this form is now practised in Bhutan, Sikkim and parts of Nepal.

Indonesia is also subjected to detailed examination. Initially one of the Hinduized states, it later went on to adopt Buddhism and finally Islam. In the late 19th century there were movements to revive Buddhism and Buddhist practices in the Islands.

All in all a very, very fascinating read. Probably the most authoritative book on this topic.

A formidable tome that I hope to devour with considerable haste.

An extremely well researched and scholarly work into whose creation has gone the painstaking work of several eminent minds.

Buddha in search of Nirvana, that exalted state that helps you break away from the eternal cycle of life, death and rebirth, finds that in the middle path. He finds out that neither extreme comfort nor extreme suffering (self imposed or otherwise) can lead you to this state, so after days and weeks of extreme corporeal punishment, he sees that this path is futile, has a hearty meal, sits under a Bodhi tree and viola, what do you know, Nirvana. So he chooses the middle path. Thus were born the Buddhist principles of leading a balanced life and yet achieve that supereme state.

Buddha essentially rejected the Hindu Caste System and a lot of the other practices associated with the religion. The Buddhist texts were written in Pali and Prakrit and not in Sanskrit which he associated with Hindu Brahminical Elitism. Buddhism provided a recourse to people who wanted to drop out of the rigid and discriminating Hindu Caste System.

It then describes in detail how this religion spread at first within India, where it would experience a steep decline and ultimately fade away due to the Islamic onslaught. It then spread very rapidly to Sri Lanka (through Mahendra, Ashoka's son), Thailand, Burma, China, Central Asia, Japan, Korea, Vietnam, Laos and Cambodia.

Buddhism was and is still practised in it's conservative form as Theravada Buddhism in Sri Lanka, Myanmar and Thailand. Interestingly, monks from Ceylon were invited to Burma and Thailand to inculcate and spread the form of Theravada Buddhism practised there. However in the other regions especially China and Japan, a sort of reform took place that let even laymen enter monkhood and other factors including the influences of Tantra, led to the development of another form of Buddhism called Mahayana or Greater Vehicle.

Before the advent of Buddhism, the regions comprising parts of Thailand, Vietnam and Cambodia were actually Hinduized regions that worshipped Hindu gods, esp Vishnu and build great Hindu temples of which Angkor Wat is a magnificient example. It is only later that they came under the spell of Buddhism.

The form of Buddhism practised in Tibet, a form of Mahayana Buddhism based on the Madhyamaka school of thought that originated in India, is also subjected to detailed examination. The Tibetans also managed to convert the Mongols to Buddhism and this form is now practised in Bhutan, Sikkim and parts of Nepal.

Indonesia is also subjected to detailed examination. Initially one of the Hinduized states, it later went on to adopt Buddhism and finally Islam. In the late 19th century there were movements to revive Buddhism and Buddhist practices in the Islands.

All in all a very, very fascinating read. Probably the most authoritative book on this topic.