The Legends and Theories of the Buddhists : Compared with History and Science

Three centuries ago, Buddha, the founder of Buddhism, was an un-known religious figure in the Europe and Arabian Peninsula. However as the British and other European empires began exploring India, they documented the regions’ religious traditions. The Legends and Thoughts of the Buddhists describes the legends, philosophies, and ideologies surrounding Buddha and Buddhism through the lens of science and history. This volume focuses on the assessment of religious traditions, par­ticul­arly Buddha’s hagiography, the monastic system, the linguistic assessment of Pali, the canonical language of Buddhism. It also ex­plores the differences between Buddhist and the Western traditions.