How Buddhism Began by Ernest H. Gombrich
The Conditioned Genesis of the Early Teachings
A set of philological essays argues that the earliest teachings emerged through engagement with contemporary Indian religious thought, especially Brahmanical ideas, reinterpreting karma, ritual, and rebirth in ethical and psychological terms. It emphasizes the centrality of dependent origination, the use of metaphor, humor, and polemic in sermons, and the pragmatic, context-sensitive pedagogy of an oral tradition. Reading the Pali canon against its social and linguistic backdrop, it shows how doctrines and monastic rules evolved as contingent responses to lived circumstances rather than timeless abstractions.
- Published
- 1996
- Nationality
- British
- Length
- Short
- Pages
- 176-192
- Original Language
- English
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- Alternate Titles
- None
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