Introduction 3
reason it seems worth while trying to introduce Buddhism in a
more explicitly focused way.
The approach I have adopted in the present volume, then, is
to try to identify and focus on those fundamental ideas a,nd prac-tices that constitute something of a common heritage shared by
the different traditions of Buddhism that exist in the world
today. Of course, the precise nature of that common heritage is
open to question. Nevertheless, the fact remains that the areas
of Buddhist thought and practice outlined in the present volume
-the story of the Buddha (Chapter 1), a textual and scriptural
tradition (Chapter 2), the framework of the four noble truths
(Chapter 3), the monastic and lay ways of life (Chapter 4), a cos-
mology based around karma and rebirth (Chapter 5), the teach-
ing of no self and dependent arising (Chapter 6), a progressive
path of practice leading on from good conduct. and devotions
through stages of meditation to a higher understanding (Chap-
ter 7), the theoretical systems of either the Abhidharma or the
Madyamaka and Yogacara (Chapters 8 and 9), the path of the
bodhisattva (Chapter 9)-are all, in one way or another, assumed
by and known to all Buddhism. These are the foundations upon
which Buddhism rests.
Of course, I do not mean to suggest by this that a Buddhist
layman in Tokyo and a Buddhist laywoman in Bangkok, that
a monk in Colombo and a nun in Lhasa, would all respond to
questions on these topics precisely along the lines set out in the
relevant chapters below. None the less, it is not unreasonable
nor, I think, is it to commit oneself to an essentialist view of
Buddhism to suggest that, whatever the nature of the Buddhist
terrain, one cannot dig much below the surface without coming
across some trace of the patterns of thought and practice out-
lined here, even if at different times and in different places
the constructions built on their foundations present their own
distinctive and peculiar aspects. Moreover, the fact that those
patterns of thought and practice are not immediately apparent