Customer Reviews

Buddhist Thought: A Complete Introduction to the Indian Tradition

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4 star:		(3)
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2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(2)

 

 

This book has many strengths and a notable weakness. On the positive side, both authors are extremely knowledgeable and guide the reader through some extremely difficult ideas. Indian Buddhism is not a straightforward topic. There are many academic debates raging on extremely fundamental questions, and there has been quite a bit of revisionism in recent years. Williams (who wrote all of the book except for the last chapter) is clearly in command of this complex material, including recent scholarship. And he has very well-considered opinions on major topics. His insights can enrich just about anyone¡¦s views of the development of Buddhism.

This book is not for everyone. It is definitely not an introduction to Buddhism ¡V Williams assumes that the reader has a little bit of background. Nor is this for traditional Buddhists who like their myths intact. Williams takes a historical approach that leads him to poke holes in many common beliefs. I consider this a plus - it's intriguing to watch Williams demolishing so many tired stereotypes.

Unfortunately, this book has a major flaw. Williams may be quite knowledgeable about Indian Buddhism, but he isn¡¦t a very talented stylist. His prose is dull, and sometimes this lackluster writing makes it difficult to understand what he¡¦s getting at. This is a shame, because the content is so good. The pace picks up considerably toward the end; Anthony Tribe writes with much more vigor, and he gives an extremely lucid introduction to Indian Buddhist tantra. I fault the publisher ¡V Routledge should definitely have subjected this book to some major editing to punch up the dreary style.

Despite this drawback, I would still strongly recommend this book. For anyone who knows about the basics of Buddhism and wants to learn more, this is an excellent choice.

Also, the bibliography of sutras and secondary scholarship is superb. This alone is worth the price of the book. The bibliography is an excellent guide to further reading.

I'll be brief. This book is for readers interested in a good, relatively short, readable and useful book on the basics of Indian-tradition buddhism, which also touches on the confluence of Buddhism and Western philosophy. That said, it is an introductory work, and so it cannot cover everything.

Paul Williams is one of the finest writers on Buddhism and philosophy, and here he has written a wide-ranging book that -- while being devoted to doctrinal and practical and historical matters -- also touches on philosophy. The book is informed by his learning, and that of his co-author too (Tribe is responsible for just the one chapter.) I recommend it, and encourage readers to have a glance at Paul Williams' other books, and those of David Harvey as well.

Incidentally, the best short-and-sweet introduction to Buddhism must surely be Damien Keown's little book entitled Buddhism: A Very Short Introduction. And should the reader want to move to the other extreme and tackle philosophically weightier, cutting-edge topics, he or she should pick up works by Jay Garfield or (especially) George Dreyfus.

I found this book to be an excellent overview of Indian Buddhist history. The writing style is engaging and absorbing, and the book offers thoughtful explorations of a number of issues that are a matter of contention among scholars. I found that the book was able to answer a number of questions for me that I had not found addressed in other overviews of Buddhist history. I was particularly taken with the discussions of 1) the coexistence and relative influence of various Mahayana and non-Mahayana schools of thought in ancient India, 2)the different meanings of emptiness in the madhyamaka and yogacara schools, 3) the discussion of Buddha fields and Pure Lands and the cults of various Buddhas and Bodhisattvas, 4)the author's understanding of Mahayana thought as a continuation of the Abhidharma project rather than simply a rebellion against it, and 5) the explanation of the relationship of Indian tantra in general to Buddhist tantra, and the way to understand the relationship between and differentiation of terms such as "tantra" and "vajrayana." This is not necessarily the best book to read as one's very first book on Buddhist history, but it fills a great void between books that are intended for beginners and books that are intended for readers who are already accomplished scholars.

This book was recommended to me by a very serious student of Buddhism who
had the largest collection of Buddhist books I have ever encountered. I also recommend it without a second thought. In particular, after the first chapter entitled "Doctrinal position of the Buddha in context" the second chapter entitled "Mainstream Buddhism The basic thought of the Buddha" is the best 54 pages of description I have.

Three things: First, I think it is a logical error (ad hominem in particular) to assert that Dr. Williams scholarly analysis of Buddhism must be wrong because he became a Catholic Christian shortly after writing this book. I believe that his analysis revealing that some schools of Buddhist ontology share philosophic ground with nihilism is a valuable insight that should be pondered by serious Buddhists. A religion based on Suffering, Impermanence and No Self is at its core very rad stuff, and one should not get too comfortable about that. Perhaps an answer to a philosophic plunge into annihilationism in ontology and nihilism in ethics is still forming, Buddhism is new and growing in the West, as I learned in this book formed by many sources in India and I am hopeful that as Buddhism morphs yet again, it will help us all yet again.

Second, Amazon has this book under the wrong author, the last chapter on Tantric Buddhism in Indian is written by Anthony Tribe the rest are written by Dr. Paul Williams.

Third: I think some of the comments about Dr. Williams' writing style and motives are unfair and unfounded, the concepts he deals with are based on translations and the concepts complex. Patient readers reap great understanding. Perhaps Routledge should not pitch the book with a cover tag of "Complete Introduction" I think it is more of a guide for folks with some background.

Overall, there are few books worth re-reading many times and this is one of them, I thank Dr. Williams for his great work.

I've only read chapter seven of Williams' "Buddhist Thought," which was actually written by Anthony Tribe. However, on the strength of this one chapter alone, I feel moved to recommend this book. Put simply, chapter seven is the single best brief introductory overview of tantric Buddhism that I have ever encountered. I was stunned by the amount of useful, intelligent, accurate information that was provided in such a short space, especially since this is one of the most misunderstood topics in all of Buddhist Studies. Bravo to Tribe; this chapter alone is probably worth the price of the book, and if the rest of the book is up to this standard, this is a volume of rare excellence indeed.

I was so excited to purchase this book, but I find it unfortunately obtuse. Buddhist thought is a complex topic, but the authors make it even less penetrable with their rambling writing style. It's too bad their editors did not help them make their language more crisp, and their presentation of ideas more organized and, generally, lucid. Sounds like others out there appreciate the text more than I; I find Rupert Gethins "The Foundations of Buddhism" much better in its treatment of every topic that I've looked up.The Foundations of Buddhism (OPUS)

Williams trumps his masterful classic "Mahayana Buddhism" with an even better book. This is vastly superior to any previous effort (David Kalupahana, eat your heart out!). Williams has a superb talent for explicating difficulty ideas with clarity and simplicity, and his prose has a pleasant and inviting tone. He is also completely up to date on the state of current specialized scholarship, so even those readers already endowed with a good grasp of the development of Buddhist philosophy will find an abundance of interesting material here. This book is destined to be a classic.

Coming to see things the way they really are, is the path of Buddha Dharma, the Buddhist doctrine, that leads to enlightenment, as clarified by the author Paul Williams. Ironically, in the Western world Buddhism itself is still very far from being adequately seen the way it really is, despite the considerable amount of popular and academic studies which were being pursued in the last century. The ever increasing interest in Eastern philosophy and religion notwithstanding, the vast majority of people in Europe and the US is still merely acquainted with a rarely coherent and sometimes motley patchwork of woolly catchword outlines regarding the supposed teachings of Buddha. Especially the obtrusive invasion of zeitgeist esoterica, which have been cramming the bookshops full of shelf-metres of oh so edifying and devotional tomes since the late 1960's, their authors daring to claim to have grasped the only true essence of Buddhism, contributes to the maintenance of confusion and ignorance about this in fact not so easily understood religious philosophy. Accordingly, it was mostly by sheer luck, whenever an interested and unbiased layman happened to come upon an objectively informative and authoritative work on Buddhist thought, before losing track within the maze of all those fashionable titles on the market concerning Buddhist topics. More than anything else, suitable up-to-date introductions to the sophisticated field of academic Buddhist studies have been virtually inexistent. Fortunately, this poor situation has now changed for the better through the publication of an outstanding work that meets perfectly all requirements reason and logic impose to my greatest satisfaction: "Buddhist Thought" by Paul Williams and Anthony Tribe, two internationally leading scholars in the field of Buddhist studies. Their brilliant, well-written book is undoubtedly by far the best introductory summary available, shedding bright light of objective comprehension and knowledge on the complex spiritual world of Buddhism by laying bare and concisely expounding its quintessence, to whose fascinating intellectual power many great men like, for instance, the German philosopher Arthur Schopenhauer have succumbed. If you intend to gain a first, yet thorough and actually reliable understanding of the extensive realm of Buddhism, choose this book as your indispensable guide without the slightest hesitation and forget about all those unscholarly and sorry esoteric efforts producing the kind of joss stick literature hardly worth the paper, that will make your mind swim and won't get you any further with your quest for clear information. As I cited at the beginning, the Buddha is the one who is seeing things the way they really are. Correspondingly, Williams & Tribe are the ones who are seeing Buddhism the way it really is. So we have come full circle. Your awakening is awaiting you! ;-)

Coming to see things the way they really are, is the path of Buddha Dharma, the Buddhist doctrine, that leads to enlightenment, as clarified by the author Paul Williams. Ironically, in the Western world Buddhism itself is still very far from being adequately seen the way it really is, despite the considerable amount of popular and academic studies which were being pursued in the last century. The ever increasing interest in Eastern philosophy and religion notwithstanding, the vast majority of people in Europe and the US is still merely acquainted with a rarely coherent and often motley patchwork of woolly catchword outlines as regards the teachings of Buddha and the historical developments that originate in them and have thence yielded a diversity of exegetical schools branching out in many directions. Especially the obtrusive invasion of zeitgeist esoterica, which have been cramming the bookshops full of shelf-metres of oh so edifying and devotional tomes since the late 1960's, their authors claiming to have grasped the allegedly only true essence of Buddhism, contributes to the maintenance of confusion and ignorance about this in fact not so easily understood religious philosophy. Accordingly, whenever an interested and unbiased layperson happened to come upon an objectively informative and authoritative work on Buddhist thought, before losing track within the maze of all those fashionable titles on the market concerning Buddhist topics, she/he could count her-/himself very lucky indeed. More than anything else, exemplary up-to-date introductions for beginners without previous experience in the sophisticated field of academic Buddhist studies were virtually inexistent until recently. Fortunately, this poor situation has now changed for the better through the publication of an outstanding work that meets perfectly all requirements reason and logic impose to my greatest satisfaction: "Buddhist Thought" by Paul Williams and Anthony Tribe, two internationally leading scholars in the field of Buddhist studies. Their brilliant, well-written book is undoubtedly by far the best introductory summary available, shedding bright light of objective comprehension and knowledge on the complex spiritual world of Buddhism by laying bare and concisely expounding its quintessence, to whose fascinating intellectual power many great men like, for instance, the German philosopher Arthur Schopenhauer have succumbed. If you intend to gain a first, yet thorough and actually reliable understanding of the extensive realm of Buddhism, choose this book as your indispensable guide without the slightest hesitation and forget about all those unscholarly and sorry esoteric efforts producing the kind of joss stick literature hardly worth the paper that will make your mind swim and won't get you any further with your quest for clear and valid information. As I cited at the beginning, the Buddha is the one who is seeing things the way they really are. Correspondingly, Williams & Tribe are the ones who are seeing Buddhism the way it really is. So we have come full circle. Your awakening is awaiting you! ;-)

This is one of the better (I hesitate to say "best") surveys of Buddhist intellectual history I've read. As such I'd say it's good for relative--i.e. not total--beginners. The author, Paul Williams, is a British academic with many publications under his belt, but is perhaps best known for his Mahayana Buddhism: The Doctrinal Foundations, often used as a textbook in Buddhist studies. (A second edition of the 1989 original is imminent.) The writing, while intelligent and at times demanding, is not so academic as to be stultifying. Williams even displays a bit of English wit now and then.

I always appreciate illuminating passages, no matter what the sort of book I'm reading happens to be. I mean the sort that make you snatch out a pen and scribble something next to it, or underline a sentence or paragraph. There are quite a few in this book, particularly, I'd say, in the first two chapters, which make up 40% of the book's text proper.

Chapter one, entitled "The doctrinal position of the Buddha in context," offers an excellent starting point. Indeed, some things said here need to be remembered by everyone venturing into the world of Buddhism. Consider the following from pages 2-3:

"Buddhism is thus...concerned first and foremost with the mind, or, to be more precise, with mental transformation, for there are no experiences that are not in some sense reliant on the mind. This mental transformation is almost invariably held to depend upon, and to brought about finally by, oneself for there can also be no transformation of one's own mind without on some level one's own active involvement or participation."

How different the history of the world would be if every religion and philosophy understood and acted upon this seemingly simple and self-evident truth!

This section discusses the historical background of Brahmanism and shramanism, smartly noting that any characterization of the Buddha as a "Hindu reformer" is anachronistic at best (8). Williams points out that the story of the Buddha's life demonstrates what is most important in his teachings. For starters, unlike in Christianity, the message (Dharma/Dhamma) is preeminent over the messenger (the Buddha). The Buddha was just a man who found Dharma; it is Dharma that really counts. You can have Dharma without the Buddha, but you cannot have the Buddha without Dharma. Williams' discussion of elements in the Buddha's hagiography and how it exemplifies and illuminates the Teaching is one of the most insightful and satisfying I've read on this subject.

The second chapter also considers "mainstream Buddhism" (i.e. non-Mahayana) and is entitled "A Buddha's basic thought." Williams does a good job here, except a few stumbles (more on this below); in fact, his approach is unique in ways. On 60ff he does a wonderful job debunking the notion the Buddha posited a Self outside the five aggregates:

"On the basis of [the Buddha's discussion of the aggregates] there are those who consider that all the Buddha has done here is to show what is not the Self. I confess I cannot quite understand this. If the Buddha considered that he had shown only what is not the Self, and the Buddha actually accepted a Self beyond his negations, a Self other than and behind the five aggregates, fitting the paradigmatic description for a Self, then he would surely have said so. And we can be quite sure he would have said so very clearly indeed. He does not" (60).

This passage illustrates another aspect of Williams' writing I find admirable--a sort of humble, commonsensical honesty that is rarely displayed in writing by scholars. I think many would be sympathetic, for example, when he says (on page 68) "...it is not at all obvious in detail what the twelvefold formula for dependent origination actually means." And I liked it even better when he wrote "This twelvefold formula for dependent origination as it stands is strange" (71). Rather than pretending scholarly omniscience and superiority in regards to the texts (I'm thinking of E.J. Thomas at his worst), Williams expresses understandable puzzlement as, no doubt, most people do when encountering the Buddha's thought for the first (or even hundredth) time.

Chapter two is really a core piece of Buddhist writing in that it hits every significant point (the four truths, anatta, cosmology, nirvana, etc) and does so in an intelligible and intelligent fashion. This is not an easy feat to pull off, as anyone who has read a good many dharma books can tell you. In fact, I might even say that Williams goes about as far in his understanding as a scholar qua scholar can. But while surveying so much and dealing with so many difficult concepts, he (perhaps inevitably) takes a few pratfalls.

I won't go into detail about what I think he does wrong; a brief list and comments should be enough:

-When referring to atta ("self") he consistently capitalizes the S, inferring that the Buddha was discussing only the transpersonal Atman or True Self. This is not the case; the Buddha was referring especially to the experience of a subjective controller, doer, or identity (sakkaya), the self of everyday experience. The Self as an ontological construct follows upon this.

-He fails to thresh out the distinction between "intention," "desire" and "wanting" as these pertain to the liberated person (an arhat or Buddha) (44). This may seem like nit-picking, but it is in fact an essential issue that spells the difference between insight and its lack.

-He states (67) that Ananda was unenlightened at the time of the Buddha's death--in fact Ananda was a sotapanna.

-On 69 he perpetuates the thesis that the being reborn is "neither the same nor another" than the one who died. This teaching comes from the Milindhapanha and has infected Buddhism everywhere ever since. It is a view entirely at odds with the Suttas, falling into attavada. This is perhaps Williams' biggest stumble from a doctrinal point of view. (The correct answer, when asked "who is reborn?" is to reject the question as meaningless on account of its presupposition of self in some form or another.)

-He continues the old saw that dependent origination is "causality." Causality (as a descriptive concept) certainly applies to karma ("intentional action") but it has nothing to do with paticcasamuppada. I have discussed this at length in other reviews. Part of the problem may arise from the 12-factor formulation, wherein the first ten elements are certainly structural as opposed to temporal, and then the last two are cause-effects. Williams gets it right (I think) when he suggests the list may well be "a compilation from originally different sources" (71). In other words, I suspect the 12-factored formula is a later intellectual (though still pre-scholastic) description of the original assertion: "When there is this, that is..." etc.

-Description of satipatthana as the "sole way" (83). This is a frequent mistranslation. The word here is ekayana, meaning a course that goes one way or one direction.

-His discussion of meditation (83ff) is palpably second-hand. Once again I must lament the unnecessary divorce of scholarship from practice.

The rest of the book discusses Mahayana--its early formulation, development, key concepts and texts. This area is Williams' forte, and for the most part I think his discussions are quite good, though he does sometimes confusingly mix the names of schools, terms, and people together into a less than lucid jumble. Neophytes are likely to get lost or frustrated at times; I did myself (though I was once again, quite viscerally, reminded why I so dislike Nagarjuna's thought!).

A special note on the last chapter, written not by Paul Williams but Anthony Tribe. This is an excellent introduction to and overview of tantric Buddhism, an area often inadequately covered in texts like this. (E.J. Thomas' survey not only neglected but maligned it.) Tribe's writing is clear and organized and he offers an invitation to everyone to better get to know this unique phase of Buddhist thought. I confess that while I am not convinced that tantra has added substantively to Shakyamuni's philosophical thinking, I am now totally in the camp that affirms it possesses a host of valuable and powerful practices/techniques that can facilitate one's spiritual journey. Lastly, the book has a lengthy bibliography tacked on at the end to enable further exploration of texts the authors drew upon during the course of their survey.