The Story of Buddhism: A Concise Guide to Its History Teachings By Donald S. Lopez Jr.

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This engaging introduction to Buddhism by leading Buddhist scholar Donald S. Lopez Jr. offers an expert but lucid account that demystifies Buddhism and explains its practices, teachings, and schools. Blending penetrating analysis with engaging storytelling, Lopez makes Buddhism accessible and compelling as he reveals the commonalities and differences among the major traditions. The Story of Buddhism focuses on actual lived practice and shows why Buddhism has been so appealing and helpful through many centuries and many cultures, including our own.

Lopez begins with the creation and structure of the Buddhist universe and then tells the story of the life of the Buddha, weaving a tapestry of history, legend, and doctrine (a traditional approach in Buddhist literature). He explores important concepts such as dharma -- including devotional practices and techniques of meditation -- and sangha -- the communities of monks, nuns, and laypeople who follow the teachings of the Buddha. Finally, the author probes the meaning of enlightenment as a path to the realization of one's true nature and freedom from suffering.

Complete with a glossary, detailed index, and comprehensive bibliography, The Story of Buddhism is a rich presentation of the Buddhist tradition. Whether you are a practicing Buddhist, a student of world religions, or both, this concise, accessible introduction to the teachings, practices, and historical development of Buddhism is an invaluable guide that will set the standard for years to come. The Story of Buddhism: A Concise Guide to Its History Teachings

As a non-Buddhist American living in Asia, I have found the various Buddhist traditions that I have encountered in Sri Lanka, Southeast Asia, China and Japan equally fascinating and hard to reconcile with each other or with the historical teachings of Siddhārtha Gautama (as described in a typical Wikipedia page or, for instance, in the PBS special The Buddha).

This book is helpful on that front - the author is clearly extremely knowledgeable on the MANY diverse Buddhist traditions and their historical relationship with each other. I can now get my hands around the various traditions and schools of Buddhism to a degree that I was not able to prior to reading this book.

Having said that, the text is dense, the author's writing style is more than a little discursive and the heuristic devices that he uses to organize the book (e.g., Monastic Life, Tantra, Pilgrimage) sometimes feel arbitrary and repetitive of each other.

Still, this has been the most objectively educational (and least proselytizing) of Buddhist books I've read. For that, I'll give it 4 stars. Religion, Spirituality A Scholar's Introduction To Buddhism

Donald Lopez, professor of Buddhist and Tibetan Studies at the University of Michigan, is one of the best scholars who attempt to present a balanced, accurate picture of Buddhism as it has been practiced over the generations. His book The Story of Buddhism considers the actual practice of Buddhism, in all its diverse forms, in Asia, superstitions, magic, idiosyncracies, and all. In this way, it differs from most books that present Buddhism to Americans. which typically focus on meditation, on the liberating, non-theistic character of the Buddha's teaching, and of Buddhism as a guide to life in the difficulties of secular 20th and 21st century America. Such works are valuable and important, but they fail to give the reader a historical sense of Buddhism.

Lopez's book opens with a short treatment of Buddhist cosmology, including its picture of the universe, the earth, and the heavens and hells. There is an all-to-brief discussion of the key Buddhist teaching of Dependent Origination.

The chapter on cosmology is followed by a discussion of the life of the Buddha, taken from a wide variety of textual sources, of the Dharma, Monasticism, Lay Life, and Enlightenment.

The focus of the book is on the various schools of Mahayana Buddhism and on the Buddhism of Tibet. I found surprisingly little discussion of Theravada Buddhism, (practiced historically in Sri Lanka, Burma, Thailand) which is likely the earliest version of Buddhism we have today. Lopez describes well how various Mahayana thinkers broke away from earlier teachings but doesn't tell us much about these early teachings themselves.

There is a great deal of emphasis in the book on how the Buddha's teaching was applied and modified over the years. Most of lay practice, Lopez informs us, was devoted to the accumulation of merit by the practice of good deeds. A regular meditation practice, much less textual study of the Sutras, was simply unavailable to most people who have over the generations called themselves Buddhists, either laity or monastic.

Lopez describes well the ritualistic practices of any number of Buddhist schools, emphasizing matters such as relic worship, ancestor worship, fortune-telling and horoscopes, miracle cures, magic, mandalas, and what the modern reader is likely to view as superstition. He briefly describes for the reader a number of Buddhist schools and practices, including Tantric Buddhism, the Pure Land School, and Zen, and their different paths to enlightenment. There is a wonderfully detailed picture of a ritual involving the Heart Sutra, repeated many times, with the use of icons and statues.

This book is a welcome, clear-minded corrective to those who approach Buddhism ahistorically. But there is, indeed, more to the story than this, as Professor Lopez realizes. For all his scholarly distance, Lopez understands the power of the Buddha's message which has attracted many people over the ages, including modern Americans. This is most clearly indicated in the final paragraph of Professor Lopez's book. He writes:

But there is also another challenge, the challenge provided by the dharma, which makes the remarkable claim that it is possible to live a life untainted by what are called the eight worldly concerns: gain and loss, fame and disgrace, praise and blame, happiness and sorrow.

This is a worthwhile critical introduction to an endlessly fascinating teaching.

Robin Friedman Religion, Spirituality i really did like this book a lot.
it is a very well written book written about buddhism and i bought it from a book shop in bangkok,thailand some time ago.
it took me over 2 to 3 days to read it,
it is the best book written on this topic.
it starts off my talking about the buddha and his life.
in the start the author starts by saying that there is no beginning or start to the universe.
he goes on to say that the buddha was born in what is called southern nepal.


it talks about how the buddha left every thing to become a buddha.

it was not that long a book but i enjoyed reading it and in the end the author gives a conclusion and thats how the book ends.
i would like to read more book by this writer and would like to meet him!. Religion, Spirituality Incredibly well-written, well-researched, and thorough - a highly accessible book that anyone curious about Buddhism should read. Religion, Spirituality binge read this as the woman from HR drove me to the portland airport. kept my head glued to this book to avoid awkward, forced conversation. i accidentally left it in the car. Religion, Spirituality

I am not an expert on Buddhism and would like to note that this review is coming from the perspective of an intellectual novice on Buddhism. Of all the books I have read with relation to Buddhism this is one of those books that breaks down the practices in more depth. Rather than coming from a place of purely philosophical observation Lopez provided insight into some more rigid practices and views that do come out of Buddhism and what it means to be an active and devout Buddhist. I enjoyed reading his account on the history. It is a complimentary counterpart to having read Ocean, which focuses on teaching the how to's of Buddhism where as Lopez is educating the reader on the what and why's. Religion, Spirituality Meh. Buddha knows why I decided to buy this book, when there are dozens of books on Buddhism that have been recommended to me through reliable sources, but I did want something that wasn't delving too deep, something that would fill in some of my basic gaps in the history and language. I don't know if this really did that, though perhaps it does fulfill its own purpose. What it did do was remind me that Buddhism can be just as messed up as any religion, that no one really agrees on more than a few things that the Buddha said or believed, and that culture has at least as much influence on a religion as the spiritual founder.

I suppose the good part of all that is to reaffirm that I'm not a religious Buddhist and not ready to move in that direction, and that it doesn't really matter what Gautama Buddha did or didn't say - we can pull so much good, such deep wisdom and philosophy and action out of it, regardless of the authenticity of our evolving dharma. Religion, Spirituality Muy completo, excelente redacción y abundantes libros recomendados sobre los temas tratados. Religion, Spirituality As this book says, there are four main concepts in Buddhism: 1- Life equals suffering; 2- This suffering is caused by misconducts in our past lives (karma), and we are trapped in a the cycle of rebirth; 3- There is an escape from rebirth, called Nirvana; 4- Buddhism can lead us to that scape, through meditation and understanding that there is no self (i.e. we do not exist).

There is also a shitload of local superstitions for each region of the Buddhist world.

One of my problems with Buddhism is the self-contradictory ideas of rebirth and no-self. If we do not really exist even in our current life, then who is the person who is experiencing the rebirth, and why do we suffer for what that imaginary person did in a another life?

The idea of rebirth is very fundamental to the Buddhist philosophy, because if there is no rebirth, the most rational solution to the problem of suffering would be suicide, and this act is not recommended by this philosophy.

Another discouraging fact about Buddhism is that it aspires to deaden our feelings. An ideal Buddhist is freed from feelings like happiness, sorrow, love, anger, and so on. Well, as I believe that I am going to live only once, I prefer to fully experience my life and savor the beautiful emotions that are available to me.

About the book:

'The Story of Buddhism' was not supposed to be a reference book and it just wanted to provide a deep report on the development and practice of Buddhism throughout Asia. It was full of stories and detailed description of stupid acts and rituals performed by Buddhists. It became a little boring toward the end of the book, and I skipped some passages.

Overall, the book helped me to correct my previous fantasies about Buddhism, and it showed me its true face as another testimony of the stupidity of our ancestors. Religion, Spirituality A great introduction to Buddhism, but found some language questionable. 3.5 stars for an easy and interesting read! ⭐ Religion, Spirituality