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What the Buddha Thought (OXFORD CENTRE FOR BUDDHIST STUDIES MONOGRAPHS)

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This book is a terrific read for anyone who is interested in coming to a fresh understanding of not just what the Buddha thought, but the way his mind worked. It demonstrates how and why one should read the suttas critically. Gombrich is not a Buddhist himself, but has been a professor of Sanksrit and Pali at Oxford in England for decades. This book can serve, as well, as an overview of what the Buddha taught, but as the title indicates, it's more about what and how the Buddha thought -- which is often in metaphors. The author gives evidence for several ways in which the suttas have been misunderstood when we have interpreted the words literally, shorn of their context in poking fun at Brahmins and Vedic beliefs. He covers self-as-process; fire as an analogy; and presents the argument that Theravadin Buddhism has misinterpreted a playful metaphor about "being with Brahma" in a way that has caused us to lose understanding of the Buddha's teaching that development of the four immeasurables (lovingkindness, compassion, sympathetic joy and equanimity) can be a path to nirvana. The book supports the traditional Buddhist view that the Buddha taught karma as part of a literal ("after the breakup of the body") rebirth process and Gombrich even argues that without this, the Buddha's philosophical system falls apart. The evidence he presents on this falls far short of convincing me, but since the Professor has not had a chance to practice what the Buddha taught and has studied Buddhism primarily from the Theravadin perspective it's not surprising that he misses the many ways in which the evidence he presents throughout the book supports an alternative understanding. Overall this is a wonderful read, both as a bare introduction to Buddhism, to the Buddha's thought, and to the issues of Buddhist scholarship. Highly recommended.

In "What the Buddha Thought" Pali-Sanskrit scholar Richard Gombrich demonstrates why understanding the Buddha's message requires first understanding something about the culture in which the Buddha taught.

Using the example of an advertisement for a "jumbo hamburger," Gombrich illustrates the pitfalls in our own common metaphor. We all know the "jumbo" claim is to largeness, but jump ahead two thousand years and we may find that scholars have not only missed out on the possible pun intended by the advertisement writer, but may also have attributed a literal interpretation distorting the historical reality. Imagine a 22nd century anthropologist claiming on the basis of the above advertisement that fast food chains served elephant meat sandwiches. These are the kinds of difficulties facing those who wish to unlock the message of the Buddha as preserved in the Pali cannon.

In fact this kind of example is more simple and straightforward than many of those Gombrich discusses, which depend on a knowledge of abstract concepts (such as consciousness, mind, nirvana) in propositions often conveyed through metaphor (fire for consciousness, for example) in ancient languages (Pali and Sanskrit) and presented to the reader in English. If it does nothing else, the book will impress on you the monumentally difficult task of the modern scholar of Buddhism.

Gombrich stresses at several points throughout the text that we can make sense of Buddha's teaching only within the framework of his audience. What did they know or believe about the world? How could the Buddha best relate his message to these people? Just as a modern western Buddhist might make a presentation using words and concepts borrowed from Christian theology and cosmology, so too the Buddha borrowed from Brahmanical sources. To understand one requires some understanding of the other.

One important example Gombrich covers in some detail is the Tevijja Sutta, in which the Buddha converses with two young brahmins about the path to salvation. Using their own ideas and terminology, the Buddha assures them that in following his rules of morality and conduct and in practicing kindness, compassion, empathetic joy and equanimity they can achieve the qualities of Brahma and thereby join Brahma at death. Essentially, the Buddha is telling them they don't have to abandon their spiritual goals, as if telling modern Christians that if they practice the Buddha's method they can achieve the qualities of Jesus and even join Jesus when they die. The young brahmins are convinced and enter the Buddha's monastic community. Years later a scholar puzzles over this sutta and is convinced that since the Buddha promised these young men, there must be a plane of Brahmas somewhere in the Buddhist cosmology. And so one was invented - and exists to this day. Gombrich argues that the Buddha was simply being practical. He used metaphors and ideas to which his audience could relate. In this instance Gombrich sees the metaphor as quite crude, as Brahma the creator god, rather than as brahma the substance of the universe. More importantly for the Buddha (and for us), it didn't matter that these young men imagined they were going to meet Brahma; what was important was that they practiced morality and loving kindness. Unfortunately for the sangha, the literal interpretation led to the conclusion that practicing kindness, compassion, empathetic joy and equanimity (known as the brahma-vihara) could take a practitioner only as far as the Brahma plane. Gombrich believes that the Buddha's message was that practicing the brahma-vihara was itself a path to enlightenment.

There are other such case studies in this text, and I'm still puzzling over some of them, even after reading through selected sections twice. Gombrich claims in the introduction that the book is intended for a general audience familiar with the basics of Buddhism, but the water gets pretty deep pretty quickly. Nevertheless, this an enlightening book that will enrich the view of anyone interested in Buddhist studies. Those who haven't yet might like to start their reading with How Buddhism Began, an earlier volume by the same author introducing much the same themes (with different examples) and to which Gombrich refers on more than a few occasions.

For a couple of academic reviews of "What the Buddha Thought" search online for:
1. Dhivan Thomas Jones in Volume 5 of the Western Buddhist Review
2. Jay L. Garfield in Volume78: Issue3 of the Journal of the American Academy of Religion

A distinguished scholar of the Pali Canon, the earliest texts about the Buddha's teaching, has turned a series of public lectures he gave into the best summary of the context of those teachings. Only by understanding the metaphors and thoughts of the times can one apppreciate what the Buddha was saying--and *not* saying. As one who has studied these texts in translation for some time, I found it extremely valuable. Highly recommended.

I bought the book based on good reviews I read here. But I was very disappointed. I want to warn anyone who is thinking about buying this book to think twice before you buy it. You may want to borrow a copy from your local library before you buy it.

Based on his publications, I do believe that Richard Gombrich knows a lot about Buddhism. In case you fail to notice, he will tell you again and again how much he knows.

He writes, "the book is intended to serve as an introduction to the Buddha's thought." But as a reader, I must say that he fails to achieve his stated goal for the book.

There are two reasons for his failure. First, he admits that he has larger aims for the book. His larger aims include picking a fight with his academic critics about some disputed issues about early historical development of Buddhism that no newcomer to Buddhism will be able to appreciate. Second, his writing is not easy to read. His writing makes difficult materials even more difficult to understand.

If you are looking for an introduction to the Buddha's teaching, this book is not for you. As he suggested, and I agree, you may be better of reading "What the Buddha Taught" by Walpola Rahula. It is a superior book for someone who is looking for an introductory book on Buddhism.

I am an middle-age man, born in Burma, and have been a Buddhist all my life. Buddhism is the national religion of Burma. So I can follow the author's argument. But I can't claim that I understand fully what he is saying. Even at that level, he fails to convince me what he is proposing is new and path-breaking. He keeps stating how profound his arguments are. But I just can't see it. His arguments may be path-breaking for his academic colleagues, but not for a Buddhist like me.

More importantly, this book does not actually introduce you to the Buddha's teaching that really matters. As Richard Gombrich repeatedly tell you, the Buddha was a very pragmatic man, who repeatedly warned us not to waste time thinking about things that don't really lead to the end of suffering. The issues that the author introduces in this book has no relevant to the prescriptive nature of Buddha's teaching.

Talking about wasting time. Richard Gombrich concludes his book by suggesting that his readers should learn how to read the Pali Cannon themselves to judge whether he is right. Learn to the Pali Cannon to learn what the Buddha thought! He claims that he is just following the Buddha's advice to the Kalamas. But he totally misses the point. The Buddha told the Kalamas to experience the truth for themselves. He didn't ask them to learn an ancient language to end their suffering.

In short, this book is an academic exercise disguised as an introductory book for what the Buddha thought.

...and it's useful to read that one as well. This is not, nor is it intended to be, a comprehensive survey of Buddhist philosophy, a vast subject. But as the title states, it attempts to pin down what we can understand of what Gotama himself tried to convey in his teaching. Gombrich makes, I think, some very salient arguments about the original meaning of terms and passages whose context was lost by later commentators, and sheds welcome light based on recent scholarship. Recommended for readers interested in getting to the heart of the Dhamma as the Buddha intended.

This is a difficult book to review given that the book lacks a coherent theme except for pointing out how the Buddha used pre-Buddhist Vedic and Upanishad thought to enhance and illustrate his own teachings relating to Karma, Nirvana, rebirth and the notion of the Brahmin. If this is the main idea in the book, then the title seems misplaced except to ride on a previous book of a similar title that is somewhat better known.

Much of the book seems to be critical of the commentarial and Abhidhamma tradition and overall, the prose is long on references and short on content. This is very much a scholarly discussion book and many such as the present reviewer, lacking a good knowledge of the modern scholarly sources cited (e.g. by Jurewicz) would not be able to agree or disagree.

Gombrich is selectively dismissive of topics he does not like including aspects of Buddhist cosmology such as the formless realms and obviously cannot accept certain suttas earnestly. On the other hand, he re-vivifies and strengthens fragments of other suttas. This lack of impartiality begs the question of how he differentiates between the wheat and chaff? Presumably, this is tied up with excellent scholarly works of late that the reader simply would not have a clue about.

We almost get the impression that the Indian critiques of Buddhism, that Buddhism is no more than a modified form of "Hinduism" may be true. Though Gombrich is at pains to show how the Buddha's own concepts were unique, he expresses a vantage that the Buddha's teachings were grafted on to the existing vocabulary of pre-Buddhist spirituality, including a great deal of punning, word play and subtle put downs of rival systems. We seem to get the impression that the Buddha was effectively reformulating Indian thought with a new spin. I'm afraid, to what extent the Buddha's thought was original gets lost in all this.

The words Cataphapic and Apophatic will be added to the reader's lexicon along with slivers of various Vedic and related texts that would be difficult to pronounce to the uninitiated.

This is not a book for beginners or even those who think they know something about Buddhism. Rather it is a book for scholarly circles and those who may wish to read this book more than once and do a lot of research on the side before they can get the gist of what Gombrich is trying to argue. I found this book informative but confusing, pedantic and the author is far too selective in his treatment of the Pali canon for some of his views to be given any credence. Having said this, he does display his deep knowledge of Pali and Sanskrit and is somewhat self deprecating. I don't think this book does much credit to its title or subject, but rather teases out and attempts to flesh out all sorts of new discoveries in the hands of scholars. At least the book leaves you wishing for more.

Being a fan (not follower) of Buddhism, I decided to take an Asian Cultures course where this book was part of the curriculum. This book is very insightful, but I don't recommend reading it unless you have a decent knowledge of Buddhism and its history. I found myself having to look up words and ideas online because Gombrich quotes himself in other works that he's done.

I recommend buying this book after you've read up on Buddhism as this book takes a different approach on Buddhism rather than the more widely known view.