This paper is a review of the book The Buddhist Tradition in India, China, and Japan, edited by William Theodore de Bary. His collaborators in this work were Yoshito Hakeda and Philip Yampolsky, and the book also contains contributions by A. L. Bashan, Leon Hurvitz, and Ryusaku Tsunoda. Each chapter has been written and compiled by a different combination of these co-workers.
The book is essentially an anthology of extracts from Buddhist writings, many here in new, modern translations. The editorsÆ goal was, as far as possible, to allow Buddhism and Buddhists to speak for themselves, rather than be filtered through the editorsÆ biases and opinions. Like most of the worldÆs religions, Buddhism exists in a vast variety of local variants, but the editors felt that the major historical thrust of the transition of Buddhism from its origins in India into China and then into Japan would give a reliable framework on which to hang a general picture of the religion. They admit with regret that the book does not deal with the Buddhism of Southeast Asia, Tibet, or Korea; hence the writings of the Theravada traditions are underrepresented, as is the Buddhism of the Dalai Lama.
Nevertheless, this is an immensely useful book for the student wishing to be exposed to ôrealö Buddhism in a comprehensible format. The discussions are aimed at the general reader, not the specialist, and the translations are into non-technical language; they are also supplemented by detailed notes wherever these are helpful. The reader has rich resources before his or her eyes, yet is not overwhelmed by an unmanageable amount of detail. The explanations offered along with each translated excerpt make them accessible to the new reader, yet do not attempt to replace the texts with any sort of oversimplified explanation.
The first chapter, ôEarly Buddhism,ö has been compiled by the eminent A. L. Bashan. It focuses on the teachings of the historical Budd...