Nancy Wilson Ross, in Buddhism: A Way of Life and Thought, does not present anything new about the first of the world religions, but after more than 2500 years this is not surprising. Ross does not aim to discover something new about Buddhism, but rather intends to clearly and simply describe the most important elements of the religion from the birth of Siddhartha Gautama. What makes her book special, aside from the clarity of her presentation and style, is the fact that she is a Westerner who in midlife became a practicing Buddhist. Although Ross includes her personal experiences only when directly helpful to the specific subject at hand, the entire book is illuminated by the author's obvious respect, knowledge and love for this religion. She does not want to write a scholarly analysis of Buddhism, but tries to bring the reader inside the religion as much as she can with a book. Ross also does not intend to present a comprehensive portrait of Buddhism in only 181 pages of text. Instead, she aims for an intimate portrait which highlights only the more essential parts of three branches of the religion--Theravada (Hinayana), Tibetan, and Zen.
The major problem of the book is the author's insistence on again and again comparing Buddhism favorably to other religions, particularly Christianity. This effort only weakens Ross' argument that Buddhism in general, and especially her own embracing of the Buddhist way of life and thought, brings about a transformation in the individual's being which leads to a sense of compassion for all humanity. It is unlikely that the Buddha himself would make such petty comparisons in order to elevate his own approach.
From the very first sentence of the book, Ross shows the clarity of her style and her ability to summarize effectively: "Buddhism, the religion of reason and meditation, was born in India in he sixth century before Christ and, down succeeding centuries, spread over vast stretches of Asia"...