Buddhism: A Short History by Edward Conze (PDF)

Description

A classic introduction to this ancient faith from one of recent history’s greatest scholars of Buddhism.In this authoritative guide, one of the world’s most distinguished scholars of Buddhism provides a compact summary of the tradition’s development, from the time of the Buddha to the 20th century exile of the Dalai Lama. With skill, sympathy, and insight, Conze traces 2,500 years of Buddhist history, providing a lively explanation of the origins of Buddhism and its most basic doctrines. Covering all the Buddhist schools from Maháyána to Zen, this comprehensive, concise study is widely acknowledged as the classic introduction to the history of the Buddhist tradition, perfect for students and interested readers alike.

User’s Reviews

Reviews from Amazon users which were colected at the time this book was published on the website:

⭐It is a book of a Christian trying to fit the Buddhism into his understanding, and into the western history accepted rules. So, he tries to take into account only ‘facts’ (this in western history methodology means that there should be at least a document that could be used as a prove of facts; as if documents were always true). On the other hand, Buddhism is not interested in history or leaving documents to prove anything, but, as it is a tradition of people achieving outstanding memory and directly transmitting from teacher to student, he does not takes into account important events. I think is a good effort of trying to fit something that is bigger than history rules and that has no explanation of many things within the Christian theories. Then, it seemed to me that it was like trying to put the clothes of a slim person in a very overweighted person. But it is a good effort to explain in terms of what westerners would like to see. It gives a good idea of the evolution of Buddhism, but it is just a dimension of something having many dimensions (practical, esoteric, philosophical, etc).

⭐This “Short History” of Buddhism attributed to Edward Conze (1904-1979)was copyrighted after his death by Muriel Conze in 1980, 1982, and 1983, and first published 1993, according the publication information page. It is not to be confused with Conze’s popular “Buddhism: Its Essence and Development” (New York: Philosophical Library, 1951) although it may be seen as a useful supplement to that work.After a half-century Conze still has important ideas to clarify for us and is well worth a re-read.

⭐Conze makes the history of Buddhism both interesting and informative. I found it very helpful in understanding how the various lines of Buddhism developed, and especially how the many variations were produced by the various cultures. Sadly we still don’t know for sure what Gautama actually taught as no writings have been found for the first 200 years or so after he died.

⭐In very good condition. No time to write more.

⭐”Buddhism a Short History” is a scholarly work that attempts to cover 2500 years of Buddhist history into a relatively short book. The result is an overwhelming amount of factual information that is impossible to digest in an introductory book. A much better book is “Buddhism” by Joan Duncan Oliver.

⭐Edward Conze (1904-1979) was a notable translator of Eastern texts into English, as well as the author of books such as

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⭐, etc.Here are some quotations from this posthumously published 1980 book (NOTE: page numbers refer to the 154-page 1993 Oneworld edition):”The division of Buddhist history into periods of 500 years does not only agree with the facts, but it is mentioned in many Buddhist writings dating from the beginning of the Christian era. These five periods of 500 years are enumerated as marking the continued degradation of the doctrine.” (Pg. 5)”Some modern European books abound in confident assertions about what the Buddha Himself has personally taught. They are all mere guesswork. The ‘original gospel’ is beyond our ken now. The farthest we can get back in time is the period when the community split up into separate sects.” (Pg. 9)”Little attempt was made to weave all these stories into one consecutive biography (of Buddha). At present we are not in a position to decide which ones of them are trustworthy historical information and which ones are the pious inventions of a later age.” (Pg. 20-21)”Our Hinayana sources … were practically incredulous of all these innovations (by the Mahayana sect) and they refused to take seriously the claim that the new Mahayana works gave the Buddha’s actual words. In fact they rejected these works as just so many ‘concoctions’ and unworthy of serious consideration.” (Pg. 54)”Unlike the early Mahayanists, the Tantric authors no longer link their scriptures with Sakymuni, but frankly assign them to some mythical Buddha who is said to have preached them at some remote and distant past.” (Pg. 77)”What had of course happened was that in the course of 1,700 years of co-existence the Hindus had taken over a great deal from the Buddhists and the Buddhists likewise from the Hindus. In consequence the division between them had increasingly diminished and it was no great thing for a Buddhist to be absorbed into the largely Buddhified Hindu fold.” (Pg. 109)”In Japan our industrial age has put a premium on those sects, Zen, Shin and Nichiren, which have most radically departed from tradition.” (Pg. 143)

⭐For a short book, it is too ambitious. It wants to touch on every school of Buddhist thought over more than 2000 years. The end result is a barrage of names of people, monasteries, and philosophies. Most of them are described in just a few sentences or a short paragraph. Parts are good, notably the introductions to the major branches such as Mahayana and Tantric. On the whole, however, the author has not done enough to pare his knowledge back judiciously to meet the needs of an introduction. He seems bent on cramming as much as he can into a few pages so that most topics get short shrift.

⭐Excellent copy. Most interesting book.

⭐Wanted a hard copy and was given a kindle edition which I am unable to down load.

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