The renowned Sri Lankan metaphysician presents his enlightening insight into the essential kinship between Hinduism and Buddhism.
In this probing work, Ananda K. Coomaraswamy examines the foundational myths and spiritual underpinnings of Hinduism and Buddhism. Discarding the Western narrative of philosophical divergence, Coomaraswamy instead explores the essential unity between these two major religions. In his perspective, one is merely an outgrowth of the other.
Dividing the book into two parts, Coomaraswamy begins each section with an overview of each religion's foundational myths. The section on Hinduism then covers concepts such as karma, maya, reincarnation, sacrifice, and caste. In the section on Buddhism, he demonstrates that Buddha never intended to start a new religion, but to deepen the spiritual understanding of the existing one.
Frequently asked questions
Simply head over to the account section in settings and click on âCancel Subscriptionâ - itâs as simple as that. After you cancel, your membership will stay active for the remainder of the time youâve paid for. Learn more here.
At the moment all of our mobile-responsive ePub books are available to download via the app. Most of our PDFs are also available to download and we're working on making the final remaining ones downloadable now. Learn more here.
Both plans give you full access to the library and all of Perlegoâs features. The only differences are the price and subscription period: With the annual plan youâll save around 30% compared to 12 months on the monthly plan.
We are an online textbook subscription service, where you can get access to an entire online library for less than the price of a single book per month. With over 1 million books across 1000+ topics, weâve got you covered! Learn more here.
Look out for the read-aloud symbol on your next book to see if you can listen to it. The read-aloud tool reads text aloud for you, highlighting the text as it is being read. You can pause it, speed it up and slow it down. Learn more here.
Yes, you can access Hinduism and Buddhism by Ananda K. Coomaraswamy in PDF and/or ePUB format, as well as other popular books in Theology & Religion & Buddhism. We have over one million books available in our catalogue for you to explore.
Waz dunket dich, daz dich aller meist gefûeget have zuo der ewigen w
rheit? Daz ist, daz ich mich gel
zen h
n w
ich mich vant.
(Meister Eckhart, Pfeiffer p. 467)
Daz der ungetribenen menschen ist ein griuse, daz ist dem getribenen ein herzenfröide. Ez is nieman gotes r
che wan der ze grunde t
t ist.
( Meister Eckhart, Pfeiffer p. 600)
INTRODUCTION
The more superficially one studies Buddhism, the more it seems to differ from the Brahmanism in which it originated; the more profound our study, the more difficult it becomes to distinguish Buddhism from Brahmanism, or to say in what respects, if any. Buddhism is really unorthodox. The outstanding distinction lies in the fact that Buddhist doctrine is propounded by an apparently historical founder, understood to have lived and taught in the sixth century B.C. Beyond this there are only broad distinctions of emphasis. It is taken almost for granted that one must have abandoned the world if the Way is to be followed and the doctrine understood. The teaching is addressed either to Brahmans who are forthwith converted, or to the congregation of monastic Wanderers (pravr
jaka ) who have already entered on the Path; others of whom are already perfected Arhats, and become in their turn the teachers of other disciples. There is an ethical teaching for laymen also, with injunctions and prohibitions as to what one should or should not do,159 but nothing that can be described as a âsocial reformâ or as a protest against the caste system. The repeated distinction of the âtrue Brahmanâ from the mere Brahman by birth is one that had already been drawn again and again in the Brahmanical books.
If we can speak of the Buddha as a reformer at all it is only in the strictly etymological sense of the word: it is not to establish a new order but to restore an older form that the Buddha descended from heaven. Although his teaching is âall just so and infallibleâ,160 this is because he has fully penetrated the Eternal Law (ak
lika dharma)161 and personally verified all things in heaven or earth;162 he describes as a vile heresy the view that he is teaching a âphilosophy of his ownâ, thought out by himself.163 No true philosopher ever came to destroy, but only to fulfil the Law. âI have seenâ, the Buddha says, âthe ancient Way, the Old Road that was taken by the formerly All-Awakened, and that is the path I followâ;164 and since he elsewhere praises the Brahmans of old who remembered the Ancien...
