Back of What the Buddha Taught

'The book is a luminous account of the fundamental principles of Buddhist doctrine, designed to be accessible to everyone,'  Professor Demieville warmly introduces it.

Acclaimed since its first publication in hardcovers as an authoritative and transparent account of the teaching of the Buddha and the philosophy of Buddhism, this book has been translated into French, German, Spanish, Sinhalese, Chinese, Burmese, and Korean.

The present edition has been revised and expanded to contain a selection of illustrative texts from the Suttas and the Dhammapada, which the author specially translated.

The author, the Venerable Dr. Walpola Rahula, is a renowned Buddhist scholar-monk from Sri Lanka. In this book, he analyses the teachings of the Buddha embodied in the original sources, relating his analysis to life in the world today.

'A model of what the book should be. Authoritative and clear, logical and sober, this study is as comprehensive as it is masterly,' as Dr. I. B. Horner, President of the Pali Text Society, praises in her review in The Middle Way, journal of the Buddhist Society, London. 

The book contains seventeen plates of reproductions of Buddhist art.