The Best Book about Buddhism (FREE)

Ven. Dr. Walpola Rahula, ELECTRONIC EDITION (BuddhaSociety.com, PBS) Grove Press, Inc., New York, proofread by F. Ruzsa; online version by V. Máthé as a gift of Dharma

The entire core contents are available online. An expanded edition is also available.    What the Buddha Taught Countless volumes have been written on Buddhism. Wisdom Quarterly has gone through many of them -- finding a few diamonds and a great deal of dross in the process. This work stands the test of time. It manages to quickly explain, rather than outline, almost every important Dharma topic. How it does this is hard to understand.     But that it does it is easy to see. If one had only one Buddhist book to read, it might be a "best of" collection of well translated sutras (like In the Buddha's Words). But if one prefers a book about Buddhism that explains what the historical Buddha actually taught, one would be hard pressed to find a better book.    This indispensable volume is a lucid and faithful account of the Buddha’s teachings. “For years,” says the Journal of the Buddhist Society, “the newcomer to Buddhism has lacked a simple and reliable introduction to the complexities of the subject. Dr. Rahula’s What the Buddha Taught fills the need as only could be done by one having a firm grasp of the vast material to be sifted. It is a model of what a book should be that is addressed first of all to ‘the educated and intelligent reader.’ Authoritative and clear, logical and sober, this study is as comprehensive as it is masterly.”     Table of Content Foreword Preface The Buddha The Buddhist Attitude of Mind The Four Noble Truths The First Noble Truth: Dukkha The Second Noble Truth: Samudaya The Third Noble Truth: Nirodha The Fourth Noble Truth: Magga The Doctrine of No Soul: Anatta Meditation or Mental Culture: Bhāvanā What the Buddha Taught and the World Today             Abbreviations