"The Buddha and His Teachings" (Narada)

Ven. Narada (via UrbanDharma.org); Wisdom Quarterly

The Buddha and His Teaching by Ven. Narada is is one of the clearest and most detailed introductions to the fundamental teachings of Buddhism available in English.

In simple and lucid language the monk-author explains the doctrines and concepts that form the common bedrock of Buddhism as preserved by the Theravada school.

The first part of the work is devoted to the life of the Buddha. The remainder of the book explains in detail the Buddha's teachings, the final chapter showing the relevance of Buddhism to the problems of modern life.

 

Ven. Narada Maha Thera (born Sumanapala Perera, July 14, 1898-October 2, 1983) was a Theravada Buddhist monk and translator, the abbot of Vajirarama Temple in Colombo, Sri Lanka. He was a popular figure in his native island country and beyond.

 

Born in Kotahena in Sri Lanka's capital Colombo to a middle-class family, he was educated at St. Benedict's College and Ceylon University College and ordained as a Buddhist monastic at the age of 18.

 

In 1929 he represented Sri Lanka at the opening ceremony for the new Mulagandhakuti Vihara monastery in Sarnath, India, and in 1934 he visited Indonesia, the first Theravada monk to do so in more than 450 years.

From that point on he traveled to many countries as a Buddhist missionary: Taiwan, Cambodia, Laos, South Vietnam, Singapore, Japan, Nepal, and Australia.

In 1956, he visited the United Kingdom and the United States and addressed a huge crowd at the Washington Monument.

 

Along with others (such as Ven. Piyadassi) he contributed to the popularization of the sermon (bana) style Dharma talk in the 1960s and brought Buddhist teachings "to the day-to-day lives of the Westernized middle class in Sri Lanka." Free download (3.9 MB PDF)