How and when did the many schools and subjects of Buddhism emerge? How does the historical figure of Siddhartha Gautama relate to the magical ritual of the Tantra or to the agent devotion of the Pure Land schools? Did Buddhism modify the cultures to which it was introduced, or did they modify Buddhism?
A Concise History of Buddhism explores the origins of this twenty-five-centuries-old religion and traces the major developments in Buddhism through the nineteenth century, focusing on the roots of present-day forms of the religion. Andrew Skilton describes and correlates the diverse manifestations of Buddhism--in its homeland of India and in its spread across Asia, from Mongolia to Sri Lanka and from Japan to the Middle East. Drawing on the latest historical and literary research, the book explains the basic concepts of Buddhism, their development and their historical framework.
Complete with a detailed index and comprehensive bibliography, A Concise History of Buddhism is a rich history of the Buddhist tradition.
About the Author
Born in 1957 in Croydon, Surrey, Andrew Skilton began to develop an interest in Buddhism for a number of years before being ordained in 1979. Increasingly drawn to the study of Buddhist doctrine and history, he studied for his first degree in Theology and Religious Studies, which he was awarded in 1988, at the University of Bristol. Having begun a study of the Sanskrit and Pali languages there, he moved to Oxford in 1991 where he completed his doctoral thesis on the Samadhiraja Sutra. His other publications include a translation and study of Santideva’s ‘Bodhicaryavatara’ (co-author Kate Crosby) and ‘How the Nagas Were Pleased’, a translation of the Buddhist drama, the Nagananda. He has taught at a number of universities, including Cardiff and McGill, and is currently a research fellow at King’s College London. He edits the journal ‘Contemporary Buddhism’. He is writing an introduction to the study of Pali language.
