Textbook Buddhism Introductory Books On The Buddhist Religion

Religion
ISSN: 0048-721X (Print) 1096-1151 (Online) Journal homepage: http://www.tandfonline.com/loi/rrel20
Textbook Buddhism: introductory books on the

Buddhist religion
Stephen C. Berkwitz
To cite this article: Stephen C. Berkwitz (2016) Textbook Buddhism: introductory books on the
Buddhist religion, Religion, 46:2, 221-246, DOI: 10.1080/0048721X.2015.1091217
To link to this article: http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/0048721X.2015.1091217
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Download by: [Missouri State University]
Date: 19 April 2016, At: 08:12
Religion, 2016
Vol. 46, No. 2, 221246, http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/0048721X.2015.1091217
Textbook Buddhism: introductory books on the

Buddhist religion
Stephen C. Berkwitz*
Downloaded by [Missouri State University] at 08:12 19 April 2016
Department of Religious Studies, Southwest Missouri State University, 901 South National
Avenue, Strong Hall 269, Springeld, MO 65804, USA
Textbooks on Buddhism comprise a large, varied genre and have long been used
to introduce the religion to students in academic settings. This review essay
examines ten textbooks on the subject, noting their distinctive features,
strengths, and weaknesses, as well as the types of courses that are well suited
to each work. Additional information from a survey on Buddhism textbooks
conducted by the author is used to supplement our understanding of which
sources are regularly used in Buddhism courses and why. Unresolved tensions
over whether to stress the coherence or diversity of Buddhism, and how comprehensive a textbook should be, are noted. Arguing that Textbook Buddhism, as a
product of scholarly imagination, is a distinctive form of the tradition, it
behooves specialists to be more reective about their use of textbooks and to
be more intentional in helping students to read them critically.
K EY W ORDS
Buddhism; textbooks; Buddhist studies; India
Cantwell, Cathy. 2010. Buddhism: The Basics. London: Routledge. viii + 196 pp. US
$23.95.
Gethin, Rupert. 1998. The Foundations of Buddhism. Oxford: Oxford University
Press. xvii + 333 pp. US$29.95.
Harvey, Peter. 2013 [1990]. An Introduction to Buddhism: Teachings, History and
Practices. 2nd ed. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. xxviii + 521 pp. US
$34.99.
Lewis, Todd, ed. 2014. Buddhists: Understanding Buddhism Through the Lives of
Practitioners. Malden, MA: Wiley Blackwell. xv + 329 pp. US$44.95.
Mitchell, Donald W., and Sarah H. Jacoby. 2014 [2002]. Buddhism: Introducing the
Buddhist Experience. 3rd ed. Oxford: Oxford University Press. xxii + 436 pp. US
$49.95.
Prebish, Charles S., and Damien Keown. 2010 [2006]. Introducing Buddhism. 2nd
ed. London: Routledge. xviii + 322 pp. US$44.95.
*Email: StephenBerkwitz@MissouriState.edu
2015 Taylor & Francis
222 S.C. Berkwitz

Robinson, Richard H., Willard L. Johnson, and Thanissaro Bhikkhu. 2005 [1970].
Buddhist Religions: A Historical Introduction. 5th ed. Belmont, CA: Wadsworth/
Thomson Learning. xxiii + 357 pp. US$122.95.
Strong, John S. 2015. Buddhisms: An Introduction. London: Oneworld Publications. xxv + 442 pp. US$30.00.
Trainor, Kevin, ed. 2004 [2001]. Buddhism: The Illustrated Guide. 2nd ed. Oxford:
Oxford University Press. 256 pp. US$29.95.
Wynne, Alexander. 2014. Buddhism: An Introduction. London: I.B. Tauris. xv + 287
pp. 14.99/US$24.50.
Reading materials for Buddhism courses

Books used in survey courses on Buddhism make up a large and varied corpus of
textbooks, introductory volumes, anthologies, ethnographies, primary-source
texts, academic articles and, in some cases, novels and short stories. Although
one cannot expect that everyone who teaches a Buddhism course is an expert in
the eld, many instructors do bring specialized training into the design and teaching of their courses. An online survey conducted in December 2014 to subscribers of
the H-Buddhism listserv indicates that a majority of scholars of Buddhism (95
percent) do teach a survey course in Buddhism, and either always (60 percent) or
sometimes (28 percent) employ a textbook in their course.1 To the extent that this
survey reects current academic trends, we may conclude that despite the
wealth of textual, video, and online resources at an instructors disposal, the textbook remains a valuable tool for teaching students about Buddhism.
This essay seeks to examine and assess a number of Buddhism textbooks that are
available to students and scholars in the eld. As a modern form of academic
writing, the Buddhism textbook is a ourishing genre. There is almost an embarrassment of riches when it comes to pedagogical surveys and introductions to
the Buddhist religion written by scholarly experts. The list of ten textbooks
under review here combines texts that are in frequent use and other, newer texts
that are expanding the genre. Textbooks that were frequently cited by the survey
respondents are included. These are balanced by several recently published
works that offer some sense of the directions in which the eld is moving. Together,
these ten texts are indicative of the variety of scholarly interests and approaches to
the contemporary study of Buddhism. The authors selected comprise North American and British scholars, and they are with two exceptions all male. Textbooks as a
whole aim for a complete treatment of a subject and offer a normative standard of
what should be known (Stausberg and Engler 2013, 131). Of course, the normative
standards and perspectives of what constitutes completeness are wholly subjective
and will vary from author to author. The books chosen here all aim to convey an
understanding of Buddhism in its entirety, rather than a specic aspect of it (e.g.,
Buddhist philosophy) or a certain Buddhist school or geographical region. The
selection of these books is restricted to works written in English, although it is
1
The survey on Buddhism textbooks was created by the present author and administered on Survey
Monkey in December 2014. Subscribers to the H-Buddhism mailing list were invited to participate in
the four-question survey, which was anonymous and unscientic. The survey generated 116 total
responses from scholars and included the possibility for giving open-ended responses.
Religion
223
possible to nd some original textbooks on Buddhism in other European languages

and numerous others written in Asian languages for a variety of audiences.2
One might also expect a review essay to critique books for their accuracy. It is
worth pointing out, however, that such an approach generally works better for
monographs than textbooks, as the latter genre contains a wider range of material
presented in less depth than the former one typically offers. Nor is it an easy task to
measure and compare the accuracy of statements about a subject as large as Buddhism, partly since textbooks tend to rely in large part on the scholarship of others,
and also since the sheer amount of details and pages involved would require more
time and space than the present essay can afford. As a result, I will restrict my comments regarding accuracy to a handful of notable examples and instead concentrate
more on how different textbooks organize and present their information about the
Buddhist religion. To that end, this essay will focus on how ten textbooks attempt
to portray a complete picture of Buddhism, while reviewing their points of emphasis, distinctive features, strengths, and weaknesses, as well as the kinds of courses
best suited for their use. They will be discussed individually in chronological order
based on their publication dates.
When looking at these textbooks as a whole, they share a number of similarities
and could all be useful in introducing the Buddhist religion to new learners. They
usually begin with a discussion of the ancient Indian context out of which Buddhism developed and proceed to outline the life story of the Buddha. They introduce a number of key doctrinal points related to karma, sam sra (rebirth), the
Four Noble Truths, Eightfold Path, and Dependent Origination. They discuss
different forms of Buddhism most notably Theravda, Mahyna, and Vajrayna
but also at times particular sects, schools, and other geographical forms such as
Western Buddhism. In general, one might deduce that boundaries for the academic study of Buddhism have been conclusively and coherently set, as most of
these texts tend to cover the same ground. The resulting product of such research
is the creation of what we might call Textbook Buddhism, a largely coherent form
of the religion that is imaginatively produced by scholars by virtue of their efforts
to summarize and present a comprehensive overview of the tradition as it exists
across time and cultures.
Differences in Textbook Buddhism appear mainly in terms of the context and
interpretations given by the authors to their material on the religion. One nds
various topics of emphasis and different evaluative judgments in each overview
of the tradition. The degree to which each textbook incorporates pedagogical
tools also varies substantially. A key tension underlying all of these works is
whether one should highlight coherence or diversity with regard to Buddhist traditions. Some authors opt to identify and discuss a common core to the different
expressions of Buddhist thought and practice, while others emphasize the different
forms that Buddhism takes in different Asian lands. Indeed, assuming that these
textbooks speak to scholarly visions of the Buddhist religion, we can conclude
that the eld of Buddhist Studies has not reached a consensus about dening
what Buddhism is or how best to account for its differences. It is doubtful that
any specialists would argue that Buddhism could be reduced to a singular
2
A notable example of a recent textbook written in German is Freiberger and Kleines (2011). This work
covers an impressive collection of topics and is informed by a broad array of recent research in the eld.
224 S.C. Berkwitz

tradition. At the same time, there appears to be little unanimity about what should
follow a description of Buddhism in its plurality of forms. For some authors, the
mere fact of recognizing diversity in Buddhism is a worthwhile accomplishment.
For others, the obligation to be more denitive about what constitutes Buddhism
outweighs other considerations when teaching students. Many authors seem to
struggle with this choice and decide instead to move back and forth between highlighting diversity and identifying shared features.
Finding common ground

Rupert Gethins The Foundations of Buddhism is notable among those on our list for
being the book that has been in print for the longest period of time. Originally published in 1998, Gethins work followed and responded to several older textbooks
that have either since been revised or have gone out of print. This work was also
cited most frequently in my survey as the textbook used by nearly 40 percent of
respondents who teach introductory courses in Buddhism.3 Its apparent popularity
may be due to factors such as its subject matter of foundational ideas and practices,
its long career in print, and its affordable price. The focus of this work is on what
the author describes as those fundamental ideas and practices that constitute
something of a common heritage of ideas and practices shared by the different traditions of Buddhism (Gethin 1998, 3). Gethin highlights aspects of Buddhism
found in its early traditions that have had a determinative impact on the religion
in its various forms. Such an approach, however, is not nearly as old-fashioned
as it might sound. Writing in the 1990s, the author was familiar with works that distinguished Theravda and Mahyna as the two major schools of Buddhism, with
the latter coming to supersede the former in an almost teleological manner. Instead
of rehashing and reproducing Buddhist sectarian polemics, Gethin seeks to emphasize how Indic traditions of Buddhism drew upon similar interests and ideas in
their texts and practices. In an era when the echoes of deconstructionist thought
are still clearly heard, an effort to mark out the foundations of Buddhism across
its various schools and sects appears quite radical.
Gethin focuses on the common ground between non-Mahyna and Mahyna
expressions of Buddhism in the formative phase of Indian Buddhist traditions. He
draws mainly from ancient mainstream forms gleaned from Pli works from Sri
Lanka and Sanskrit texts from Northern India. This emphasis means that
Gethins text relies heavily on canonical and scholarly works such as Buddhghosas
Visuddhimagga and Vasubandhus Abhidharmakoa for identifying the foundational
material in Buddhist thought and practice. Not surprisingly, then, among the distinctive features of this work is the authors specialized treatment of subjects
such as Buddhist cosmology, the No-Self doctrine, and Abhidharma thought.
Gethins areas of expertise lend themselves to an informed exposition of these
topics, which are often only briey discussed in other introductory works. The discussion of the theoretical parameters for the Buddhist religion makes a clear and
compelling case for acknowledging that different Buddhist sects and schools actually share many presumptions and ideas in common.
3
The relevant question asked: If you use a Buddhism textbook in your survey course, which book or
books do you use? Respondents were allowed to identify more than one text, which resulted in percentages that cumulatively exceed 100%.
Religion
225
Some of the strengths of Gethins work revolve around his awareness of those
ideas that might challenge and puzzle students. Reecting years of teaching
courses on Buddhism, Gethins text anticipates common student questions
and offers answers to them. For instance, he explains why Buddhist texts
were originally transmitted orally rather than in written form, and why this
form of transmission was signicant for Buddhist practice (Gethin 1998, 39).
While discussing Buddhist practices involving the petitioning of deities for
help with worldly matters, he points out that such practices are not inimical
to the theory of karma, since individual responsibility would not preclude
one from seeking assistance from others to cope better with lifes challenges
(129). An additional feature that students and scholars alike will appreciate is
Gethins incorporation of endnotes for citing scholarly sources and primary
texts used in his accounts. Including scholarly references in textbooks and introductory volumes is not normal practice, but it is wise to expose students to this
style of critical writing.
In terms of content, The Foundations of Buddhism includes numerous insights
on various features of the religion. Consistent with his approach to identifying
the shared heritage of different forms of Indic Buddhism, Gethin explains
how Madhyamaka and Yogcra thought represented a continuation and development of certain lines of older Abhidharma thought, and thus did not reject it
outright (Gethin 1998, 250). Likewise, in his discussion of the different scriptural
canons of Buddhism, he is careful to point out the doctrinal similarities
between the Pli Nikyas and Chinese gamas (44). At the same time,
Gethins choices on what to emphasize and include in his text leave some
notable gaps. The focus on the common heritage in Buddhist traditions is
founded mainly on his reading of Pli canonical and commentarial texts. He
eschews by design much consideration of Buddhism outside of India and Sri
Lanka, or Buddhism in later, post-commentarial eras. There is only an abridged
treatment of these other traditions of Buddhism. Although Gethin is careful to
acknowledge the diversity to be found across Buddhist traditions and cultures,
his book stops short of mapping out what this diversity actually looks like
outside of South Asia. In general, the focus of this textbook lies mainly with outlining the theoretical underpinnings for the development of the Buddhist religion. While Gethins approach has its merits, one might nd fault in that its
generalizations about what is common to Buddhism downplays the differences
across traditions.
These weaknesses notwithstanding, it is easy to see why many instructors use
Gethins The Foundations of Buddhism in their introductory courses. The text offers
a detailed examination of the theoretical bases for the Buddhist religion, supported
by insightful analyses and informed references to contemporary scholarly
opinions. The course it imagines would be one that focuses on the origins and
development of Buddhism in India in particular, while mapping out how this
ancient tradition was passed on to other cultures and historical eras. It is a textbook
that lends itself to viewing Buddhism as an Indian religion that developed in distinctive yet coherent ways, owing to an intellectual framework that was largely
retained by later Buddhist communities. Its content is made clearer by a handful
of tables and maps, but it presumes that the instructor will supplement this textbook with other materials to ll out the geographical coverage of the Buddhist
religion.
226
S.C. Berkwitz
Buddhism and material culture

The next book on our list to appear is the 2004 paperback edition of Buddhism: The
Illustrated Guide, edited by Kevin Trainor. Originally published in 2001, this text features lavish, full-color illustrations depicting Buddhist culture and practice. About
10 percent of the respondents to my survey indicated their use of this text in their
respective courses on Buddhism. It appeared around the time when scholars of
Buddhism began paying more attention to material culture, following the programmatic essays of Gregory Schopen and others who called for reorienting
research in Buddhist Studies away from an almost exclusive focus on textual
sources (Schopen 1997, 9). Trainor and his co-authors including Mark L. Blum,
David Chappell, Todd T. Lewis, John Peacock, and Michael Willis have composed
a work in which the subjects of Buddhist culture and ritual are emphasized over
philosophy and doctrine. Although it still begins in Ancient India with the life of
the Buddha, Buddhism: The Illustrated Guide highlights cultural expressions of the
religion, particularly in its material forms and practices. Indeed, devotional acts
of chanting, pilgrimage, and donations appear prominently in the text and are
not subordinated to doctrine as in many textbooks. Thematic topics are covered
in short essays accompanied by several illustrations, such that the work appears
to be a coffee-table book as much as a textbook. Credit Oxford University Press,
however, for recognizing that such a work could be used in courses and thus
should appear in paperback as well as a cloth edition.
Organized around the subjects of Origins, Principles and Practice, Holy Writings, and Buddhism Today, the various authors write about key aspects of Buddhist history and culture in clear prose and in the encyclopedic style of discreet
entries. The material is presented in short, easily digestible essays. The text contains
numerous pedagogical features such as textboxes, sidebars, a glossary, and of course
abundant illustrations. Further, in attempting to make the work accessible to the
widest possible audience, the use of diacritical marks has been forsaken for Sanskrit
and Pli terms. One of its distinctive qualities is the sections devoted to Buddhist art
and architecture found throughout the text and authored mainly by the Art Historian Willis. These sections enable readers to explore more closely aspects of Buddhism
such as stpas, man dalas, and depictions of the Pure Land in East Asian cultures. Few
other textbooks on Buddhism devote this amount of description, much less color
illustrations to the visual and material aspects of the religion.
The focus on imagery and materiality in Buddhism counts among the books
greatest strengths. The illustrations are attractive, compelling, and placed suitably
to complement the written text. These pictures, along with the readable short
essays, make this work exceptionally accessible to beginners. Nevertheless, the
essays also regularly make use of recent scholarship on their topics, although
this is not reected in every case. One welcome addition is the assessment of
current scholarly views on the beginning of the Mahyna as a monastic rather
than lay movement (Trainor 2004 [2001], 55). The work also benets from
remarks on the perspectives of Western scholarship on Buddhism, noting for
example the difculty many earlier scholars had in understanding devotional practice in Buddhism (108). Among the strongest essays are those that deal with Buddhist wisdom by summarizing the basic principles of the Dharma, and a separate
chapter on Dharma that considers the material forms and signicance of language
and writing for understanding the Buddhas teachings.
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Ironically, the strengths found in this textbooks illustrations and accessibility

may also represent some of its weaknesses. The manifold color photos along
with the textboxes and sidebars on most pages interrupt the narrative ow of the
essays, making it difcult for any reader to stay focused on the text. Indeed, the
large photos tend to overshadow the accompanying narratives. Frequently, the
textboxes and sidebars contain material that is tangential to the essays, possibly
raising questions for students on how they should read and interpret these
details. Were one to read Buddhism: The Illustrated Guide as a coffee-table book, a
focus on the illustrations to the subordination of the text would not be a
problem. As a textbook for teaching Buddhism, however, students would require
guidance in how to use and read this work. Similarly, the brief treatments of
select themes related to Buddhism, while easy to read, sometimes lead to generalizations and omissions of important material. Some complex historical matters are
treated very briey and oversimplied, as, for example, in the review of the decline
of Buddhism in India in three sentences, and the division of the Sangha in one paragraph (Trainor 2004 [2001], 54). Elsewhere, a short discussion of women and Tantra
suggests only a positive appreciation for women based on the rejection of dualistic
thought in tantric traditions, which is a stance that ignores more critical assessments of the marginal roles of women and their instrumental use for the male
yogins ends (cf. Davidson 2002, 9698). The short summaries also tend to elide
the differences among Buddhist traditions in favor of identifying what they have
in common.
Buddhism: The Illustrated Guide carves out for itself a distinctive niche as a textbook that gives more attention to art and material culture than any other work
of its kind. For instructors who wish to emphasize the visual and material
aspects of Buddhism, there can hardly be a more useful work than this. The distinctive focus on materiality makes the text an effective guide for surveying how Buddhism appears visually across Asia. At the same time, the brevity of its essays
means that additional lecture or reading material would be almost essential.
The classic overview
The standard modern textbook for surveying Buddhism, The Buddhist Religion: A
Historical Introduction, was originally written and published in 1970 by the late
Richard H. Robinson. Revised and republished multiple times under the guidance
of Willard L. Johnson, a fth edition appeared in 2005 after being extensively
revised and renamed Buddhist Religions: A Historical Introduction by Thanissaro
Bhikkhu (Geoffrey DeGraff). The updates made to this classic textbook have
brought it squarely up to date in terms of current scholarship in Buddhist
Studies. The change in title reecting a greater awareness of the plurality of Buddhist forms and traditions is a clear gesture to contemporary scholarly preferences.
Multiple revisions to this work have also made it quite long and dense, with
detailed chapters lacking any illustrations or other pedagogical aids save for a
basic glossary and some cross references to different sub-headings in the text.
Respondents to the survey on H-Buddhism indicate only about 6 percent of instructors employ Buddhist Religions in their courses. This result is likely due in part to the
high list price (US$122.95), which several instructors cited as a strong disincentive
against adopting the text. An accompanying anthology of primary-source readings
edited by John S. Strong 2008 [2002] and titled The Experience of Buddhism: Sources
228 S.C. Berkwitz

and Interpretations was rst published in 2002 as a companion to the Robinson and
Johnson textbook, but my survey indicates frequent use of this anthology without
the textbook.
The basic organization of Buddhist Religions remains similar to its previous editions. Starting with the Buddhas Awakening, it proceeds to discuss his teachings
and his exaltation as a recipient of devotion. It then discusses early and later developments of Buddhism India, before tracing its transmission and development in
various other Asian lands and nally in the West. This extensive overview of the
geographic spread of various Buddhist schools is recounted mainly within the framework of political history, as the relations between the Sangha and the rulers of
state forms the context for describing the establishment of Buddhism in different
countries and regions. To its credit, the text also offers interpretations on broad historical issues such as how we should understand the rise to prominence of Theravda Buddhism in Sri Lankan and mainland Southeast Asia, or the assimilation of
Buddhism in Chinese society (Robinson, Johnson, Thanissaro 2005 [1970], 150153,
175176). There is, in other words, valuable analysis as well as description. The
comprehensive scale of Buddhist Religions almost turns it into a reference work,
and its incorporation of current scholarly understandings on various aspects of
Buddhism make it useful even for advanced students and scholars. Unlike the
approach in Gethins book, the fth edition of Buddhist Religions treats the Three
Vehicles as distinct forms of Buddhism that are more different than alike. Nevertheless, this textbook clearly reveals a focus that rests on Dharma and doctrine
more than ritual and material history.
The breadth and depth of this texts treatment of Buddhist religions is surely its
most prominent strength. The amount of information given to Buddhism in India is
considerable, but it does not overshadow the lengthy and detailed discussions of
Buddhism in other geographical areas. The text makes copious use of technical
terms in Pli and Sanskrit to expand upon an understanding of traditional concepts
and build a vocabulary for further study in the eld. In short, Buddhist Religions is
the product of many years of deep and extensive research. It contains insightful discussions on a wide variety of topics including, for example, Aokas Buddhist orientation and role in promoting the Dharma (Robinson, Johnson, and Thanissaro 2005
[1970], 5962); an explanation for the rise of the Maitreya cult outside of the Ganges
Valley (79); the development and use of Buddha images; the rise of Mahyna out
of bodhisattva stras (80), which were themselves derived from jtaka stories about
the perfections and avadna tales on the use of a Buddha-eld to maximize merit
(8587); the bodhisattva ideal as originally directed toward a select elite rather
than a universal goal (91); an examination of the effects of different schools and
emperors on Buddhism in China (185205); an informed treatment of divergent
ideas and ideals in different classes of tantric texts (128131), and so on. The richness of these discussions conveys much of what one could expect specialists in the
eld to know. The fth edition also includes sections on modern Buddhism in Asia,
including a detailed treatment of Thai village practice of Buddhism (161163). In
general, however, the attention given to modern forms of Buddhism is lesser compared to ancient traditions.
Despite its many strengths, there are still notable weaknesses in Buddhist Religions as a textbook. The expensive list price and lack of images and other pedagogical tools have been mentioned already as key drawbacks. More generally, this
textbook is so comprehensive in scope and densely written in style that one
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imagines students having difculty using this text in an undergraduate survey

course. There is arguably an excess of information contained in this work, more
than perhaps most students could be expected to absorb. Although this may be
welcome from an instructors perspective, it nevertheless suggests a certain lack
of consideration for what students could reasonably be expected to retain and
use. The text at times presumes a prior familiarity with the subject, since it
employs certain terms such as the fabricated versus unfabricated types of experience that require more explanation and unpacking than what is given. Further, the
text uses comparatively few quotations from primary texts, preferring to utilize
paraphrases instead. As a whole, Buddhist Religions employs a historical framework
that foregrounds the development of Buddhist schools and political dynasties.
There is much to learn from this approach, but it also leads to an overly detailed
narrative that may overwhelm some students.
The ideal course for Buddhist Religions would be one that presents a comprehensive survey of the spread and development of different forms of Buddhism across
Asia. It would give comparatively more attention to ancient forms than Buddhist
traditions in the modern era. By offering so much information and interpretations
to the reader, there may not be much more for the instructor to add as supplementary material. Specialists in their elds will likely nd certain details with which to
quibble. Nevertheless, the instructor who uses this textbook could be condent
about its awareness of recent research in the eld, but she or he would be
obliged to develop interesting and creative ways to convey and expand upon its
material. Teaching to the textbook in this instance would be a challenge for both
instructor and students alike.
A utilitarian approach
The textbook Introducing Buddhism by Charles S. Prebish and Damien Keown was
rst published in 2006 before being revised and published in a second edition in
2010. According to my survey, roughly 14 percent of my respondents used this
book in their courses. Particularly noteworthy about this text is that it is also
sold separately as an ebook, of which at least two survey respondents indicated
their use (Prebish and Keown 2004). This textbook exceeds all others in its collection
of pedagogical tools, including an online companion website with essay questions,
pronunciation guide, self-tests for students, and a password-protected instructorresources page.4 The printed book comes with maps, chapter outlines, an extensive
glossary, chronology of Buddhist history, lists of canonical texts, and textboxes containing key points you need to know. Introducing Buddhism is written in a clear,
concise manner with topics including key thinkers, texts, and schools of Buddhism
identied by subheadings throughout the book. In fact, this book is organized in an
almost encyclopedic manner with a series of discrete, unconnected entries. Using
the index, the reader can go directly to the part of the book to nd information
on the topic of ones interest. Prebish and Keown have clearly put a great deal of
thought into the design of their textbook, making it as user-friendly as possible.
While the utilitarian design of this text is distinctive, the organization of its contents resembles several other textbooks. Starting in ancient India, the book proceeds
4
The companion website may be found here: http://cw.routledge.com/textbooks/9780415550017/
230 S.C. Berkwitz

to examine the Buddha, Dharma, and Sangha, before moving on to various schools
of Buddhism in other parts of Asia and the West. It includes separate chapters on
meditation (authored by Stephan V. Beyer), ethics, and the study of Buddhism,
revealing the interests of the authors. The presentation of key topics and terms
has the effect of deemphasizing any overarching historical narrative, as found in
several other works such as the Robinson, Johnson, and Thanissaro textbook.
One also nds frequent comparisons made to Western religious concepts and philosophical ideas, such as likening Buddhist hells to Christian purgatory (Prebish
and Keown 2010 [2006], 15). This method may aid understanding by Western students, but it also risks oversimplifying and distorting the Buddhist material.
Certain sections of Introducing Buddhism are particularly strong. The work
includes a detailed discussion of monastic Vinaya texts and related practices that
yields more information on these subjects than most other textbooks. Its in-depth
treatment of Buddhist monastic life, including helpful distinctions made about
early versus modern conceptions of the Sangha, address a subject that in my experience is of considerable interest to many students (Prebish and Keown 2010 [2006],
6061). Likewise, the text includes a detailed, well-researched section on Buddhism
in the West that goes beyond mere description to apply a sophisticated analysis of
its development. A notable addition is a separate chapter on Socially Engaged Buddhism, which is a subject that seems to nd its way into many Buddhism textbooks.
The brief sections addressing select key terms, thinkers, and schools offers information on certain aspects of Buddhist traditions without trying to be exhaustive
in its coverage. One result of this approach is that students who are relatively
new to the subject can easily engage the text and pick up key facts.
At times, however, the utility of the textbooks design works against its broader
pedagogical interests. Certain chapters bring together diverse topics in a manner
that tends to jump back and forth without showing how the concepts are
related. For example, in the Buddhism in India chapter, one moves rapidly
from the early schools to Aoka, stpas, Gandhran art, the Milindapaha, Abhidharma, Vasubandhu, the rise of Mahyna, and Tantra in the span of about a
dozen pages (Prebish and Keown 2010 [2006], 7892). Taken individually, such sections are useful overviews. When read in succession however, the change from one
topic to the next can feel abrupt. Another drawback with Introducing Buddhism is
that some sections convey older scholarly ideas that have undergone revision in
recent years. For instance, when discussing the rise of Mahyna, the authors
suggest it was a broad-based movement with an expanded role for the laity,
which is a theory that runs counter to current consensus (cf. Nattier 2003). Likewise, the description of Tantras ancient roots and mysterious origins seems to
ignore more recent research on esoteric Buddhism. The sources listed as further
reading for each chapter are somewhat dated and of questionable use. Another
shortcoming of this text is that it devotes a total of only 20 pages to discuss Buddhism in China, Korea, and Japan. Major schools are listed separately and summarized, but minimal historical details are given. Buddhism in Tibet is given similar
treatment.
In a course where a textbook need only cover the basics of Buddhism, the Prebish
and Keown text would likely work quite well. Students can read it quickly and
easily identify what they need to learn. Introducing Buddhism also comes with
numerous textual and online features conducive to student learning. Its utilitarian
approach is fairly minimalist in terms of content, and thus instructors would be
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required to ll in the gaps with lectures or other readings. The material that appears
to be dated may be revised more quickly in the ebook version. Otherwise, after
having produced a second edition only four years after the text rst appeared,
we might cautiously look forward to the appearance of a third printed edition soon.
A condensed overview
Cathy Cantwells Buddhism: The Basics was also published in 2010 in the expansive
Routledge series entitled The Basics. One assumes that the length and format for
this book was predetermined by the series requirements. Cantwells text differs
from most others on our list for presenting a condensed treatment of the Buddhist
religion5. The bulk of this textbook deals with the Buddha, the Dharma, and the
Sangha, utilizing familiar emic categories to organize the work. Written in a succinct manner, Buddhism: The Basics offers limited pedagogical features consisting
of a single map of Asia, a short glossary of technical terms, chapter summaries
in outline form, and several textboxes to highlight certain concepts and quotations
from texts. My survey suggests that it has not as yet been widely adopted for classroom use, but its slim size and affordable price would make it easy to incorporate
into existing courses. Cantwell opens her work with an introduction that includes
some remarks on Buddhism as it appears today and some popular misconceptions
about the religion. She is also careful to explain that a book on the basics should
not imply that Buddhism has certain timeless truths but that rather even the most
common, longstanding aspects of the religion have appeared and change at particular moments in history (Cantwell 2010, 2). Indeed, although this work is marketed as a concise guide to Buddhism, it approaches the subject with
considerable critical reection and analysis.
Given the limited size of this textbook, Cantwell cannot cover certain material
that one typically nds in other works. She gives some emphasis, however, to
topics such as ethical reection on some moral dilemmas related to meat-eating
and abortion (7680), the role of the oral transmission of Buddhist texts (9496),
and the participation of women in Buddhism despite the stratication of gender
roles and statuses (129136). The additional coverage given to such topics is
welcome, but it also means that other important subjects are treated in brief or
not at all. One also nds frequent comparisons to other religions such as Islam
and Christianity to contextualize certain aspects of Buddhism. Another distinctive
feature is the relatively lengthy discussion of how Buddhism has changed in
todays world, including accounts of political activism, laicization, and globalization. Importantly, Cantwells textbook includes some consideration of nationalism,
political resistance, and ethnic defense in her accounts of Buddhist activism,
demonstrating that Engaged Buddhism is not the only type of modern Buddhist
practice in society.
In assessing the strengths and weaknesses of Cantwells work, we can commend
her for its balanced coverage between different regions and traditions of Buddhism.
She sets up a regional division of Southern, Northern, and East Asian forms of
Buddhism, and proceeds to draw illustrative examples and comparisons from all
three areas. Unlike many other textbooks that deemphasize Tibetan traditions,
5
The short introductory work by Keown (1996) is another example of this type of textbook.
232 S.C. Berkwitz

Cantwell draws on her specialization in this eld to contribute examples of Buddhist thought and practice. Again, given the limits of the format, Cantwell often
focuses on points of larger signicance for understanding Buddhism. For
example, beyond the specic codes of conduct, she notes how the basic role of Buddhist monastics is to represent the Buddha, while acting to help themselves in their
individual spiritual paths and providing the means to help others make progress
too (109). She frequently makes astute, brief comparisons to illustrate the different
features of some Buddhist traditions, such as pointing out how a tendency towards
specialism in East Asian schools led to a focus on a single text, whereas Northern
Buddhist schools tended to emphasize a broad curriculum (102). While employing
fairly broad generalizations, Cantwell often renes her categories by adding key
details such as the fact that Theravda was located far from where Mahyna
developed its identity in northern India, so that the usual attempts to characterize
these two schools as polemical opponents is problematic (5). While her focus is on
the basics, she never fails to include a diversity of interpretations and mention of
exceptions to offer a more accurate picture of the religion.
The weaknesses of Buddhism: The Basics are largely the result of its condensed
treatment. There simply is not enough space to provide specic examples or commentary to explain certain points. Complex ideas, such as the use of magical formulae to invoke protection, are often introduced and covered in a sentence or
two (86). Cantwell also elected to leave out the names of several key personages
in the life-story of the Buddha and in the historical development of Buddhist
thought and schools. The discussion of Buddhist texts is limited mainly to canonical discourses and scriptures in the classical languages. The use and popularity of
non-canonical literature in vernacular languages is completely ignored. Moreover,
missing from the text are photos and drawings that could illustrate some of the
material she discusses. While space limitations make some of these shortcomings
understandable, there are other elements that take away from Cantwells work.
Her discussion of Tantric Buddhism focuses on the inversions of moral precepts
as psychological mechanisms for rooting out delements, and neither mentions
the possibility of transgressive acts nor species the worldly motives of tantric
texts (74, 114). A few other claims made in the text are questionable if not erroneous. The notion that the fth precept means that laity should not indulge in alcoholic drink or other recreational drugs to the extent of becoming intoxicated is
surely a modern rather than an orthodox interpretation (71). The idea that meditative practices pervade everyday Buddhist ritual seems like an overstatement (81).
And the report that monks in Colombo have begun to preside over deity shrines
and conduct rites for divine assistance is highly suspect and dubious (170).
Leaving aside these problems, Cantwells book offers instructors a useful tool for
teaching about Buddhism. It would work well as a brief overview for courses
where the instructor seeks to incorporate more primary-source texts or scholarly
articles within a structure of his or her own design. It covers a great deal of
ground quickly and effectively, allowing instructors to decide which subjects to
develop in more detail through lectures and other assignments. Her book is exceptionally readable and thought-provoking, while adding some welcome details
(such as material on Central Asia and the greater Mongolian region) not often
found in other textbooks.
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233
An insiders perspective
First published in 1990, Peter Harveys An Introduction to Buddhism was revised and
published in a second edition in 2013. He has substantially updated and expanded
his textbook, adding new material to what was already a comprehensive treatment
of the Buddhist religion. The organization of the text resembles what one nds in
several other textbooks. It begins in ancient India; outlines the life of Gotama
Buddha; discusses karma and rebirth; examines the early Sangha and the subsequent rise of Mahyna philosophies; considers the spread of Buddhism to
other lands; includes a focused examination of practices related to devotion,
ethics, and meditation; and concludes with an analysis of contemporary forms of
Buddhism in Asia and the West. Harveys textbook relies more on the Pli literature
of the Theravda and includes copious quotations from canonical works in the
body of his text. This attention to the teachings of early Buddhism as found in
Pli texts is counterbalanced by coverage of the modern practice of Buddhism in
different regions of the world. Based on the results of my survey, Harveys text
remains a popular choice among instructors, with nearly 20 percent indicating
that they use this work in their courses. It features tables and a helpful list of
web resources for students, and the sources he employed for this text appear in
footnotes.
One of the notable qualities of An Introduction to Buddhism is that it is written
largely from viewpoint of a sympathetic practitioner. When Harvey writes, [i]n
a sense, Buddhism begins and ends with the Buddhas awakening experience,
he conveys the perspective of those who are inside the tradition (Harvey 2013
[1990]], 32). He also includes material that speaks directly to modernist Buddhist
values and concerns. In parts of this textbook, Harvey seems to address the
reader both as a spiritual teacher and an academic one. We are told, for instance,
that we should not passively accept karma but should strive to improve difcult
situations (41). On the subject of ethics, he writes: A moral life is not a burdensome
duty or set of bare oughts but an uplifting source of happiness (264). Such advice
and admonitions help to contextualize the Buddhist material and would probably
be welcomed by most students. It is important to note, however, that such statements also signal the interests and concerns of an insider to the tradition.
Related to this, Harvey also includes various phenomenological descriptions of
everyday Buddhist practices. Readers may thus obtain a better sense of what it is
like to be a Buddhist in the present day a perspective useful both to students in
courses and practitioners of Buddhism. Harveys sensitivity to what students
want to learn also appears in statements where he is clearly anticipating classroom
questions that many instructors have encountered. He explains the human population explosion in terms of animals and other invisible beings that are also
included in the cycle of rebirth (33). He then explains why Buddhism is not pessimistic (54). Further, he relates how Buddhists have variously reconciled the rst
precept against taking life with both vegetarian and non-vegetarian lifestyles
(271275).
Harveys textbook provides detailed, comprehensive explanations of the teachings and practices of Buddhism. His second edition is greatly enlarged over the
rst, and he has clearly taken pains to include new material that brings his textbook
up to date. Throughout his text, Harvey addresses religious and philosophical concerns that Buddhists had in the past and have in the present. Presenting the reader
234 S.C. Berkwitz

with a clear sense of what it means to be a Buddhist, this text highlights the ethical
understandings and values that one could expect to nd among practitioners of the
religion. From an historical perspective, for example, the informative account of the
bodhisattva path shows how Buddhist values can be put into practice (Harvey 2013
[1990], 151161). Aspects of contemporary Buddhist ethics are also discussed in a
chapter that explores ethical values, expressions, guidelines, and the processes by
which such judgments are made. Such topics would likely be of considerable interest to students who likewise are prone to explore and ask questions related to how
one should live their lives. These students will also surely appreciate the clarity of
his metaphysical and philosophical explanations on subjects such as nirvana and
the Arahat (7479).
The comprehensive presentation of Buddhism in Harveys book arguably gives
rise to a few shortcomings. The book can appear rather dense and overelaborate
in some places, including the occasional linguistic discussions on the best translations for certain technical terms. The cumulative work may well be too lengthy
to assign and read in full over a course lasting 12 to 15 weeks. The textbook also
retranslates some conventional terms used for discussing common Buddhist concepts. The term pua, normally translated as merit, is rendered here as karmic
fruitfulness. The set of Four Noble Truths is re-named the Four True Realities
for the Spiritually Ennobled. Other conventional translations for Buddhist terms
are given new forms as well. Harvey generally provides good arguments to
support his new translations, but this does not take away from their unnaturalness
compared to how they appear in the wider eld of Buddhist Studies. Further, as we
have seen in some other textbooks, the material on early Indian Buddhism outweighs the coverage given to later developments outside of the subcontinent.
Despite the substantial size of the text, the amount of attention given to the
history of Buddhism in specic regions and in its encounters with other religious
traditions is limited. Finally, when it comes to discussing the modern history of
Buddhism in Asia, the sources used for conveying a contemporary picture of the
practice of Buddhism are often decades old.
An Introduction to Buddhism would be a good choice for a course that aims for a
comprehensive presentation on the Buddhist religion. Instructors wishing to highlight key concepts and themes more than historical developments could employ
this textbook to great effect. One might detect a slight bias toward Theravda as
the standard form of Buddhism against which other traditions are implicitly compared and discussed more concisely. However, we have seen several textbooks
similarly privilege early Indian Buddhism as the subject of closest attention and
analysis. In setting out to present a comprehensive, sympathetic overview of Buddhism, Harveys book sets a high bar.
The spirituality of Buddhism
Another notable Buddhism textbook that rst appeared in 2002 but was revised
and published in a third edition in 2014 is Buddhism: Introducing the Buddhist Experience by Donald W. Mitchell and Sarah Jacoby. Jacoby was added as co-author after
serving as a reviewer for an earlier edition of the work. As a result of this collaboration, the work has been signicantly updated and transformed to include more
attention to the globalization of Buddhism and to Buddhism in Tibet, a subject
that is often underdeveloped in other textbooks. This work covers much the
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235
same ground as other textbooks by offering a comprehensive look at the cultural

diversity of Buddhist traditions from around the world. It does so, however, in a
rather innovative style that focuses attention on Buddhist experiences and spirituality as seen in various processes of religious cultivation (Mitchell and Jacoby
2014 [2002]], 2). In other words, the book highlights the personal experiences and
testimonies of Buddhists from around the world. These stories are woven into
each section of the book from the religious world of ancient India, through the
life and teachings of the Buddha, Theravda Buddhism, Mahyna Buddhism,
Tibetan Buddhism, Chinese Buddhism, Korean Buddhism, Japanese Buddhism,
and Global Buddhism. As a result, there is a pronounced aspect of contemporary
views and expressions of the Buddhist religion alongside the more typical historical
accounts. This textbook appears to be a popular choice among instructors today,
since slightly over 20 percent of the survey respondents indicated that they use it
in their courses.
Along with its distinctive focus on the experience and spirituality of Buddhism,
Mitchell and Jacobys work incorporates other features that set their textbook apart.
It incorporates passages in translation from primary-source texts to reinforce doctrinal ideas and expose readers to different styles of Buddhist writing. Although
other authors include material from Buddhist texts in their works, Mitchell and
Jacoby do so more consistently and in a manner that is clearer and better correlated
to their own writing. One also nds a considerable amount of pedagogical features
to help students learn. There are numerous text boxes, gures, and maps that serve
to break up and clarify the readings. Each section comes with suggestions for
further reading. A glossary of technical terms and denitions appears in the back
of the book. More generally, Mitchell and Jacobys Buddhism has a clear and engaging writing style that makes protable use of both analysis and description in a
manner that remains accessible to students.
The authors careful consideration of contemporary Buddhist thought and practice as found in various cultures around the world is one of the books merits. There
are even brief sections on Buddhism in Europe, Brazil, and Africa, which are hard
to come by in other textbooks. This contemporary focus also involves relating Buddhist teachings to contemporary ideas and experiences. For instance, one nds
explanatory remarks on what duhkha could mean for people in todays world
(Mitchell and Jacoby 2014 [2002] , 48). Other notable sections include the works
detailed and insightful discussion of Mahyna schools and their systems of
thought. As alluded to above, this work also contains the most descriptive and
informative material on Tibetan Buddhism. Overall, one nds an exceptionally
good balance between historical and modern accounts on how Buddhism has
been practiced and understood across a myriad of different cultures.
Like all books, however, Mitchell and Jacobys Buddhism has its share of weaknesses. While many Buddhism textbooks give ample consideration of the ancient
Indian context, this text gives a decidedly cursory account of the setting from
which the Buddhist religion arose. The subsequent discussion of early Buddhism
is also unfortunately more or less conated with Theravda, whereby the early
elder monks are directly linked to later Theravda ones without qualication
(Mitchell and Jacoby 2014 [2002], 71). Recent scholarship has called into question
just how ancient the Theravda School really is, making its attribution as one of
the original Indian schools debatable (Skilling et al. 2012). More worrying to this
reviewer is the texts reliance on a fairly uncritical, under-theorized notion of
236 S.C. Berkwitz

what experience actually means, and how it has been used to study Buddhist cultures (cf. Sharf 1995). The term appears to serve as a kind of catch-all term to
describe how Buddhists think and feel on the inside when practicing their religion.
Such insights would be valuable indeed, but they are certainly more difcult to
come by than what the authors presume in their text. An example of this move
is seen when the authors rationalize the story of the Buddhas conquest of the
hostile deity Mra, positing that Buddhists see an important lesson in this
legend, namely, that when one makes a sincere commitment to the true path of
spirituality, there arise certain trials that test ones resolve (Mitchell and Jacoby
2014 [2002], 16). It may be, of course, that some Buddhists interpret the traditional
account of the event in this manner. And yet we can still doubt that many Buddhists
would offer this particular interpretation of the battle with Mra, or that they
would describe the bodhisattvas path as a spiritual one.
Indeed, the effort to portray the Buddhist religion in a positive and rational
manner is particularly conspicuous in Mitchell and Jacobys work, but by no
means unique to it. Many Buddhism textbooks take similar steps to present
material about the religion in a largely sympathetic light. When one considers
the overt hostility and negative biases displayed by some early Orientalist scholars
on Buddhism, as well as contemporary evangelical Christian authors, it seems perfectly reasonable to write about Buddhism in a more generous and fair manner. It
does lead, however, to a less critical assessment of Buddhist movements. In Buddhism, the descriptions of contemporary Buddhism are almost exclusively imagined in terms of Engaged Buddhism. The work on gures and movements like
Thich Nhat Hanh, Buddhadsa Bhikkhu, and Sarvodaya receive disproportionate
attention, while more politicized and nationalist Buddhist groups are politely overlooked. A review of Buddhism textbooks makes it seem that Western scholars are
reluctant to discuss the more nationalistic, xenophobic Buddhist groups such as U
Wirathus 969 Movement in Myanmar or the Bodu Bala Sena (Buddhist Power
Force) in Sri Lanka who organize protests against local Muslim populations.
While such groups might be objectionable to many, they still belong in any discussion of contemporary Buddhism.
Mitchell and Jacobys textbook is an informative and expansive work that would
suit many types of courses on Buddhism. It would work particularly well for
instructors who wish to stress how Buddhism is practiced and experienced. The
textbook also gives special focus to autobiographical writings, which makes for
interesting perspectives to discuss with students. There is much to be gained by
reading rst-person accounts of how people practice and identify with the religion.
The ease in which this work makes it possible for students to sympathize and relate
with Buddhists would surely be appealing to many of them. Further, in those
courses where one wishes to give signicant attention to modern forms of Buddhism, this textbook appears especially well designed for such an aim.
Stories of Buddhists
A new textbook edited by Todd Lewis appeared in 2014 and takes an innovative
approach by using short biographical essays about particular Buddhists to learn
about the Buddhist religion. Buddhists: Understanding Buddhism through the Lives
of Practitioners picks up on some of the same themes of lived experience and contemporary expressions as seen in Mitchell and Jacobys work. The key difference
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237
with Lewis book is that its accounts of the modern practice of Buddhism completely supersede an examination of historical developments and doctrinal teachings.
It is included in this survey as an example of a textbook that takes a wholly different
approach to teaching about Buddhism. The book contains short biographical
essays on 33 Buddhist practitioners, including monastics and laypersons from
ancient legends, to the recent past, up to the contemporary period. Only a
handful of these Buddhist practitioners are widely known, whereas the majority
are somewhat obscure but are deemed to be representative of one or another
facet of Buddhist practice. Each short biography, composed by a different scholar
who responded to Lewis call to contribute to this text, serves to convey in different
ways what it means to be Buddhist. Lewis adds a brief introduction at the beginning of each essay to place the material into a wider context for learning about Buddhism. One nds a measure of coherence in these essays in their examination of
lived Buddhism, or the religion as it is actually practiced by people in the world
for mundane reasons. Lewis designed this textbook to focus on non-elite views
of Buddhism, or the perspectives and interests of the vast majority of Buddhists
who are otherwise not represented in texts composed by celibate monks (Lewis
2014, 1).
Organized in chronological and geographical terms, the book presents several
short biographies of Buddhists who lived in premodern India and Tibet, but
focuses more heavily on modern Buddhists who live (or lived) in the West, in
South and Southeast Asia, in the Himalayan region, and in East Asia. Clearly,
the familiar divisions between Theravda, Mahyna, and Vajrayna are still at
work, even in a textbook as unconventional as this one. Rather than rehearsing
the distinctive histories and teachings of these schools, however, Lewis text
employs life stories as an entry into understanding how ordinary Buddhists practice their religion. The not-so-subtle implication of this approach is that Buddhist
texts are poor sources for conveying any information other than what a small percentage of learned elites dene as Buddhism. To underline this distinction, Lewis
acknowledges the difference between pragmatic and transcendental Buddhism,
before further asserting that most Buddhists have a primary concern with earning
merit rather than attaining nirvana (Lewis 2014, 45). Since many textbooks in
Lewis opinion tend to ignore or downplay the lived experiences of ordinary Buddhists, he undertook this project to introduce this perspective into survey courses
on Buddhism.
The 33 essays are consistently strong and written in a lively, readable style. The
textbook succeeds in humanizing Buddhists and making them appear more complicated and relatable as real-world people, as opposed to exotic others who
function merely as stereotypes. By focusing on what these Buddhists do as
they live their lives and practice their religion, the text privileges ritual over doctrine, and ethnography over textual analysis. For instance, one learns from the
life of a Thai lay upsik how the ideas of merit and gender play out in a Buddhist context (Lewis 2014, 151154). Elsewhere, the altruistic ethos of a bodhisattva is enacted by a contemporary Tantric master who practices medicine to
help others (243). We also meet the Auntie Li, the owner of a dumpling shop
in a Chinese city, who seeks to reconcile her personal practice of being a good
Buddhist with the demands of operating a business (312313). In these stories
and others, the reader learns rsthand, as it were, how people engage, value,
and embody the religion. The pragmatic orientations of such Buddhists are in
238 S.C. Berkwitz

this way brought to the fore rather than being submerged next to abstract discussions of doctrine and philosophy. Likewise, accounts of Buddhists in the West are
integrated more seamlessly into other parts of this textbook, rather than simply
being tacked on as the last chapter that details recent developments in the
religion.
At the same time, this novel approach to studying Buddhism carries with it some
signicant drawbacks. The broad cross-section of individuals and themes inevitably leaves some gaps. The 33 essays are organized into thematic sections and prefaced by brief introductions, but they are otherwise not directly connected with
each other. The collection of Buddhists discussed in this textbook is thus somewhat
idiosyncratic. We meet people who are said to represent typical Buddhists, but with
few exceptions we do not learn about other gures who would be universally
recognized as important and inuential for the tradition. It is not entirely clear
why these individuals, who are often informants, teachers, and friends of the contributing authors, should be considered as representative or paradigmatic. While
the boundaries of what counts as Buddhism are expanded by these biographical
essays, the reader might not learn much more about the religion other than an
appreciation of its diversity. It should also be said that these stories are told in
the third person rather than by the gures themselves. Thus, the purported
realism of Lived Buddhism in this work is still mediated by the choices and
interpretations of scholarly authors.
The course that Lewis textbook imagines is one with an anthropological
approach that highlights the diversity found in the modern practice of Buddhism.
It would work well for instructors who wish to emphasize the human side of the
religion, especially in its popular, non-elite forms. It is also a textbook that would
require a considerable amount of supplementary materials, since it contains very
little on the history of Buddhism and its spread across Asia. This fact is acknowledged by Lewis himself, as he remarks that Buddhists is intended to complement
other textbooks and translations that serve to introduce the doctrinal foundations
of the religion (Lewis 2014, 3). For accounts of Lived Buddhism, this textbook is
without rivals. Students could, however, obtain similar information in a more
meaningful way by visiting temples and meeting with Buddhists themselves.
Nevertheless, as pointed out by one of the contributors, stories about people
have long been used to teach about the Dharma (18). Buddhists takes a similar
approach to help students learn about Buddhism through the memorable stories
of some of its practitioners.
An interpretive analysis
Alexander Wynnes Buddhism: An Introduction is a recent addition to our list of Buddhism textbooks. It covers familiar ground but takes a distinctively critical
approach by going beyond mere descriptions to offer explanations for the development and spread of Buddhism. Wynnes interpretations offer something substantively novel to the textbook genre, even if not everyone will concur with his
reasoning. The introduction explains the distinction he makes between a world
religion with universal aims and a predestined mission of its founder, and a religion of the world that lacks a religious teleology and missionary impulse (Wynne
2015, 12). According to Wynne, only Buddhism, Christianity, and Islam qualify as
world religions, and he sets out in his book to account for the remarkable spread
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239
and impact that Buddhism has had, especially in Asia. Chapters follow on the
Buddha, Meditation, the Dharma and Vinaya, before the book shifts to examine
the historical development of the religion in India and other parts of the world.
There is, however, a greater emphasis on Buddhist India, and much of Wynnes
interpretive work takes place in the earlier chapters.
The distinctive features in Wynnes Buddhism are numerous and noteworthy. This
textbook makes a strong argument for coherence to be found in the various forms
of Buddhism and tends to trace these features back to the Buddha and the initial
development of the religion. Wynne cites, for example, how the canonical teachings
and material culture of the religion derive from the early movement founded by the
Buddha (Wynne 2015, 6). Other descriptions of early Buddhism highlight the
central role of meditation and its reformulation of karma as intention to allow
city-dwellers to participate more fully in the soteriological path (2223, 65). Buddhism in its original form is said to have been universal in its scope and pragmatic
in its approach, and these features are largely responsible for its geographical
spread and cultural diversity. At the root of this approach is a conviction that
knowledge of the Buddha and his teachings are recoverable and form the basis
from which to understand how the religion developed and, at times, departed
from its origins. Key developments according to Wynne include the transformation
of the constructed realism of the early canonical teachings discounting the objective reality of both the world and individual existence for the workings of the mind,
to the reductionistic realism of Abhidharma thought on no-self, and nally to the
meditative realism of Pudgalavda Buddhist thought about the inexpressible
reality behind existence (67). Another signicant feature is his use of the models
guild monasticism and state Buddhism, which account for how various Buddhist
communities engaged the traditions ascetic ideal either closer or further from the
centralized rule of political power across Asia. These two models are then used
in place of the problematic Theravda-Mahyna dichotomy to describe the development of Buddhist traditions chiey in terms of how they functioned in society
(212213).
Scholars can appreciate the original approach Wynne takes in discussing the
characteristics and development of Buddhism. His approach emphasizes the philosophical and institutional types that underlie the traditions diverse cultural
expressions. Early teachings related to karma, virtues, and divine abodes are
explained philosophically and said to have had popular appeal. Even in instances
where later teachings are said to deviate from the early foundations of the tradition,
such as in the cases of an economy of merit and merit-transfer, Wynne explains how
these later developments contributed to the needs of devotees and monasteries
(Wynne 2015, 121). Further, Wynne does the reader a service by pointing out the
limitations of the Theravda-Mahyna dichotomy, how these terms refer to different things rather than simply Buddhist schools, and how these communities share
signicant commonalities in a mythic heritage, as well as devotional and ethical
norms (178179). Intentionally downplaying the signicance of this division,
Wynne chooses instead to discuss later forms of Buddhism in terms of portraying
either guild monasticism (as found in ancient India and China) or state Buddhism
(as seen in Sri Lanka, Korea, Japan, and Tibet). The authors critical analyses of the
Buddhist material contribute much that is new and signicant to the textbook
genre.
240 S.C. Berkwitz

To be sure, the innovative approach taken by Wynne in Buddhism will invite its
fair share of criticism. For scholars less condent in our ability to know what the
Buddha taught and thought, Wynnes readiness to use the Pli Canon and traditional narratives about early Buddhist Councils as historical source materials
may cause some unease. His approach results in some debatable conclusions
such as positing that Buddhism was originally apolitical, shunning social and political affairs for the most part (Wynne 2015, 78). This view, however, does not lead
Wynne to argue that later forms of Buddhism are somehow inauthentic. Instead, he
suggests that such later developments were pragmatic responses to new cultural
and political realities. Another shortcoming to this work is that it tends to
presume a substantial amount of knowledge in the reader about Buddhist
thought. It contains fairly complex philosophical arguments that might need
unpacking for students. An example of this is when Wynne considers how the
accounts of miracles performed by the Buddha may be the logical consequence
of teachings about beings beyond the conceptual construction of individual existence in space-time (65). Complex philosophical observations in the rst part of
the text are accompanied by highly condensed, detailed descriptions of Buddhist
traditions beyond India in the latter part. Aspects of this text will surely prove challenging to novice learners.
Wynnes Buddhism is a text for courses that wish to stress the Indian origins of
Buddhism, along with its points of coherence with later developments elsewhere.
It would work well in classrooms where groups of students can engage thoughtfully with the authors interpretive analyses and likewise participate in the practice
of forming their own hypotheses. For instance, in the insightful section on Western
Buddhism, Wynne proposes that one of the reasons behind Buddhisms popularity
in the West is the spiritualized sort of enchanted individualism that it offers to
people who typically live in a world determined by scientic materialism
(Wynne 2015, 267). Such a theory should not simply be accepted and memorized,
but rather students should discuss and debate it vigorously. Wynnes book offers a
ne starting point to exercise the critical thinking of its readers.
The variety of Buddhisms
The most recent Buddhism textbook under consideration here is John S. Strongs
Buddhisms: An Introduction. Composed by a senior scholar in the eld based on
several decades of experience in teaching undergraduate Buddhism courses,
the Buddhisms textbook both complements previous approaches as well as
strikes out in some new directions. Its guiding principle is to recognize both
the multiplicity and unity found in Buddhism. Although computer databases
do not allow for the term Buddhism/s to be used in the title, Strong employs
it in the body of the text to signify how there are aspects of both plurality and
singularity across the tradition. One nds reverence for the Triple Gem
among all Buddhist communities, but the text highlights the idea that the understanding of who and what the Buddha was (or is) has varied radically from place
to place, from tradition to tradition, and from time to time (Strong 2015, xx). The
emphasis in this text is on the tremendous variety of ideas, practices, and
symbols within Buddhism, a fact signaled by the opening chapter that takes
the reader on a tour of the different Buddhist temples established around the pilgrimage site of Lumbini in Southern Nepal. This original approach foregrounds
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241
the bewildering variety of Buddhist communities that co-exist, while offering a

snapshot of the various traditions to be discussed in more detail later in the
text (5). Subsequent chapters examine the story of the Buddha, strategies for
overcoming the problem of the Buddhas absence from the world, different concepts of the Middle Way employed in Buddhist thought, the formation and division of the early Buddhist community, the development of Mahyna and
Vajrayna forms of tradition, before dealing with contemporary Sam gha Situations that describe particular places and practices of Buddhism in Thailand,
Japan, and Tibet.
Strongs approach in Buddhisms reects a kind of Middle Way between breadth
and depth found in other Buddhism textbooks. Favoring a cultural history of religion that focuses on the importance of place, Strong gives an in-depth treatment of
select Buddhist traditions, preferring to give an indication of the great variety of
Buddhisms without discussing each and every type. Ethnographic details from
certain Buddhist sites are used as examples through which one can speak more
generally about different traditions. Helpful pedagogical features include chronologies of events for Buddhist traditions in different lands and ample footnotes for an
array of scholarly texts to reference his sources and offer guidance for additional
reading. The organization of the textbook as well as frequent reminders from
the author himself continually emphasizes the existence of a diversity of Buddhisms. The idea of coherence is noted but largely outweighed by the focus on
the sheer variety of Buddhist forms found throughout history and in the present.
The text is written in a clear and engaging style, which makes it possible to introduce various important and complex ideas about the religion in a manner that
remains accessible to students. Strong is particularly good at correcting mistaken
conceptions about the religion, such as noting that despite is modern popularity,
meditation was not universally practiced by Buddhists in Asia (Strong 2015, 19
20). The focus on concrete examples offers vivid portrayals of what Buddhism
can look like on the ground in different lands.
Scholars might nd fault with some of Strongs choices in this textbook. One
nds little on Buddhist traditions in Cambodia, Korea, Nepal, and Mongolia,
for example, which may be problematic omissions for some instructors.
Strongs decision to emphasize the variety of ways people have understood
and transmitted the Buddhas teachings, while devising various ways to encounter him in devotional practice makes for informative and insightful reading. Likewise, his discussion of sudden versus gradual paths for the bodhisattva, the
Tantric siddha, and the Chan/Zen monk is well suited to help students recognize
some distinctive differences in Buddhist practice. At the same time, one does not
nd a recounting of the history of Buddhism in specic countries, or a detailed
discussion of broader movements like Tantric Buddhism. The chronologies
offered at the end of the text seemingly take the place of fuller, narrative histories
of these topics. Furthermore, the discussion of Buddhisms in the West remain
limited and anecdotal, signaling the authors preference to focus more on
Asian traditions.
Strongs Buddhisms is an intriguing and informative book that would work well
in courses that aim to emphasize the diversity of the religion while still offering
detailed discussions of certain expressions and traditions. The historical development of key aspects of Buddhist thought and practice is covered in the text. Yet
there is equal coverage given to ethnographic descriptions of contemporary
242
S.C. Berkwitz
forms of Buddhism. The text includes many helpful tables that organize relevant
details related to Buddhist texts, concepts, and schools. This recent addition to
the textbook genre takes an exceptionally thoughtful and balanced approach to
the subject. As the product of wide, up-to-date research, Buddhisms offers students
and instructors a reliable guide to make sense out of the religions diversity and
complexity.
Textbook cases of Buddhism

Over the last few decades, scholars of Buddhism have produced a range of works to
introduce the religion to students. Each work presents a particular textbook view
of what denes Buddhism as a distinctive and inuential religion in human history.
Although not without their faults, the ten works examined in this essay could all
serve as informative guides to the religion. Certain textbooks focus more on the
Indian origins of Buddhism, while others stress the cultural variations of the tradition across the globe. Some works deal more with philosophy and doctrinal
teachings, while others emphasize ritual and material culture. Some textbooks
include generous excerpts from primary texts, while others rely more on narrative
summaries or ethnographic descriptions. The ten textbooks under review here generally cover the same material on Buddhism, but employ rather different
approaches in their presentations. Their differences are usually more a matter of
form than content, and they reect some of the different perspectives in the eld
of Buddhist Studies more generally.
Buddhism textbooks are distinguished in part by the aims of their authors and
the pedagogical tools used to achieve them. Some books work to build a vocabulary for talking about Buddhism, employing and dening technical terms to do
so. When this occurs, the addition of a glossary can be particularly helpful. Some
books incorporate pronunciation guides, but this feature seems superuous
when many of those same terms are discussed aloud in the classroom. For
authors who wish to impart a comprehensive picture of basic facts related to Buddhism, the use of maps, chronologies of key events, and tables of texts and doctrinal
notions are useful. Indeed, for generations of students who rely on visual sources
for information and entertainment, it seems unwise not to employ illustrations and
charts in some measure. Many scholars seem to want to convey some acquaintance
with original Buddhist texts, although there is no consensus on how to accomplish
this. Mitchell and Jacoby incorporate quoted passages from texts into the body of
their work, which helps to integrate these two types of writing. Others rely on textboxes that separate primary-source material from the instructional material, but
this method often fails to show how they are connected and why one should
bother reading the primary texts. It would be refreshing to see authors explain
why the primary sources are important for students to read or, alternatively,
why they downplay or omit them from their textbooks. Such a decision should
be made more transparent and intentional in a eld like Buddhist Studies, which
relies heavily on reading and interpreting texts.
As we have seen, authors of textbooks typically wrestle with the tension over
whether to stress Buddhisms coherence or its diversity. Textbook Buddhism,
that idealized form of religion that emerges out of scholarly writing, can appear
to share certain basic features or, alternatively, it can be a diverse set of traditions
that have become thoroughly reworked by cultures and communities in different
Religion
243
lands. There are risks in overemphasizing either aspect. On the one hand, recognizing and demarcating a common core for Buddhism easily leads to essentialist views
of the religion and overshadows the particular ideas and expressions that make
Buddhism look different in various cultural and historical settings. On the other
hand, simply remarking on the cultural diversity of Buddhism can become a rote
exercise in listing different forms and features without attempting to explain
their signicance or account for their discontinuities.
One example of how existing textbooks could deal more productively with the
challenge of coherence versus diversity in Buddhism would be in their discussion
of the three main Buddhist schools Theravda, Mahyna, and Vajrayna Buddhism. A few textbooks (e.g., Wynne, Cantwell) acknowledge the difculties in
using these categories, since they refer to different things about Buddhism (e.g.,
a textual transmission and monastic lineage, an ideological position, and an esoteric movement) and emerged in different contexts. Most, however, simply adopt
these terms for describing the development of different types of Buddhism in
ancient India. Scholars would do better to stress that the connections between
Early Buddhism on the one hand and Theravda, Mahyna, and Vajrayna on
the other are more diffuse and complicated than usually acknowledged. Conating
Theravda with Early Buddhism or Hnayna is an oversimplication that distorts the different histories attributed to all three of these traditions. Likewise,
more authors need to recognize that Mahyna was not a popular, lay-oriented tradition in ancient India. Scholarly discomfort with positing the origins of Vajrayna
and with recognizing the transgressive and sexualized rites of some of these traditions ought to be overcome.
As such, depicting the development of Buddhism in terms of polemics and a
rivalry between Theravda and Mahyna schools is a serious distortion of
these traditions. This conventional opposition, which ignores the divergent interests and locations of these communities, is rarely expressed in our textbooks.
Many could, however, do more to dispel the misunderstandings about this
common portrayal of Buddhism as found in other scholarly and popular works.
More generally, authors of textbooks could advance the understanding of Buddhist
traditions by explaining more clearly how Theravda, Mahyna, and Vajrayna
do not simply originate in India and then spread to other lands as more or less
fully realized schools. It is more accurate instead to remark how Theravda,
Mahyna, and Vajrayna represent distinct conceptualizations of Buddhist identities that took shape largely outside of India proper, in places like Sri Lanka,
China, and Tibet due to conditions and processes specic to their newer settings.
The geographic spread of Buddhism is a conventional feature of textbooks, but
the subject requires a more nuanced historical discussion than what can be
found in works with an Indo-centric bias.
A further issue for any survey of Buddhism textbooks is the question whether
comprehensiveness is a virtue or a liability. There is of course an impetus for the
author of a textbook to present a comprehensive picture of Buddhism in all of its
forms and traditions. Textbook Buddhism is typically a pan-Asian tradition with
ancient roots in India and later formations across East, Southeast, and Central
Asia. More recently, it has spread to newer locations, notably in Europe and
North America. As a scholarly construct, Textbook Buddhism exists nearly everywhere and nowhere at the same time, since no individual or community can
embody the full range of its features. As in other religion textbooks, such a
244
S.C. Berkwitz
presentation of Buddhism inevitably departs from its particular manifestations on

the ground, leaving us with maps that are only approximations of territories
(Andreassen 2014, 3). The panoramic scope of Buddhism in such textbooks leads
many of them to be written in densely detailed fashion in well over 300 pages in
length. As research in Buddhist Studies expands, almost exponentially, with each
generation of scholars, it is becoming more difcult, if not impossible to convey
a complete picture of Buddhism in a single text. As evidenced by my survey,
some instructors are opting to use alternative texts that are narrower in scope.
Some instructors opt for more regionally based studies such as my South Asian Buddhism: A Survey (Berkwitz 2010) or Paul Williams Buddhist Thought: A Complete
Introduction to the Indian Tradition (Williams et al., 2011) in order to examine
certain, culturally contiguous forms of Buddhism in greater depth. Another
option is found in works that focus more specically on doctrinal thought such
as William Edelglass and Jay L. Garelds Buddhist Philosophy: Essential
Readings (Edelglass and Gareld 2009) or Stephen J. Laumakis An Introduction to
Buddhist Philosophy (Laumakis 2008). Finally, there are many scholars who rely
on anthologies of primary texts, such as Strongs The Experience of Buddhism or
Donald S. Lopez, Jr.s Buddhist Scriptures (Lopez 2004), to present textual material
for students to read and interpret directly.
The various approaches to Textbook Buddhism represent different scholarly
interpretations of a tradition that can and should occasion critical analysis and
reection in the classroom (Derris 2009, 356; Berkwitz 2004, 143146). Textbook
Buddhism may be an inevitable byproduct of the World Religions approach to
teaching major traditions on a global scale. Indeed, much of what one nds in Buddhism textbooks resonates with Tomoko Masuzawas account of the development
of Buddhism as a world religion in the 19th century. Accordingly, Textbook Buddhism tends to reect a tradition that places a premium on the supposed thoughts
and deeds of the reputed founder [i.e., the Buddha] and on a certain body of
writing that was perceived to authorize, and in turn was authorized by, the
founder gure (Masuzawa 2005, 126). The life-story of the Buddha and the texts
used to explain his Dharma occupy central places in the modern expression of Textbook Buddhism. Normative judgments on what constitutes Buddhism as a universal tradition, including but also exceeding what may be found in any particular
corner of the Buddhist world, are commonplace. In the process of outlining what
gets included in an overview of the tradition, Textbook Buddhism represents a
type of power text that depicts some aspects of the tradition as important while
omitting what the author views as less so (Andreassen 2014, 4). Note that such a
move occurs even in textbooks that articulate and emphasize the diversity of Buddhist traditions. Any attempt to convey in a comprehensive way that which characterizes Buddhism, or that which connects different forms of the religion, yields an
authoritative claim about the nature of the religion. This, of course, differs little
from the assertions of practitioners and polemicists from within Buddhist traditions, who also dene what is within and outside of the religion. To be fair, to
teach about the Buddha and the discourses attributed to him is an exercise that
has educational value. And to ignore the features that give coherence to different
forms of Buddhism would result in an incomplete picture of the religion and effectively deny what generations of Buddhists have asserted about their own tradition.
Nevertheless, while seeking to satisfy student interests in learning about Buddhism
as a whole and its core teachings around the world Textbook Buddhism in a
Religion
245
nutshell those of us who teach survey courses on Buddhism would be well

advised to assess both openly and critically the assumptions found in the source
materials we choose to use.
Acknowledgements
I wish to thank the respondents to the survey I created and administered through a
request on the H-Buddhism listserv. Their answers and comments inuenced my
choice of texts and my understanding of how such texts are regularly used in
Buddhism courses. Jan Nattier and Naomi Appleton shared several helpful
observations about Buddhism textbooks at the outset of this project. I also wish
to acknowledge the assistance I received from the keen observations and suggestions made by Michael Stausberg and an anonymous reviewer of this essay.
Disclosure statement
No potential conict of interest was reported by the author.
Notes on contributor
Stephen C. Berkwitz is Professor of Religious Studies at Missouri State University. His research focuses
on Buddhist literature and culture in Sri Lanka. His most recent book is Buddhist Poetry and Colonialism:
Alagiyavanna and the Portuguese in Sri Lanka (Oxford University Press: Oxford, 2013).
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Derris, Karen. 2009. How to Learn from World Religion Textbooks. Teaching Theology and Religion 12
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Edelglass, William, and Jay L. Gareld, eds. 2009. Buddhist Philosophy: Essential Readings. Oxford: Oxford
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Submitted: May 28, 2015
Revised version submitted: July 27, 2015
Final version submitted: August 16, 2015
Accepted: September 2, 2015

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Textbook Buddhism: introductory books on the

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Buddhism; textbooks; Buddhist studies; India

222 S.C. Berkwitz

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Reading materials for Buddhism courses

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possible to nd some original textbooks on Buddhism in other European languages

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Finding common ground

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Buddhism and material culture

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Ironically, the strengths found in this textbooks illustrations and accessibility

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228 S.C. Berkwitz

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imagines students having difculty using this text in an undergraduate survey

The companion website may be found here: http://cw.routledge.com/textbooks/9780415550017/

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230 S.C. Berkwitz

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same ground as other textbooks by offering a comprehensive look at the cultural

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240 S.C. Berkwitz

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the bewildering variety of Buddhist communities that co-exist, while offering a

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Textbook cases of Buddhism

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presentation of Buddhism inevitably departs from its particular manifestations on

nutshell those of us who teach survey courses on Buddhism would be well

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246 S.C. Berkwitz

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