The Foundations of Buddhism

Introduction 5

'mainstream' Buddhism;^3 and while the Mahayana certainly

criticized aspects of mainstream Buddhist thought and practice,

much more was taken as said and done, and just carried over.

Thus, instead of seeing Mahayana as simply superseding earlier

forms of Buddhism in India, the approach adopted in the pre-

sent volume is to try to focus on the common ground between

the non-Mahayana and Mahayana in the formative phase of

Indian Buddhist thought and practice, and by referring to both

the Pali sources of Sri Lanka and the Sanskrit sources of north-

ern India to present an outline of 'mainstream' Buddhist thought

and practice as the foundations for developments in India and

beyond. Such an approach, then, does tend to privilege what is

ancient, but throughout· I have attempted to give some indica-

tion of how these basic principles of Buddhist thought and prac-

tice might relate to more recent developments.

Let me add here a few words on my specific approach to my

material. In describing Buddhist thought and practice, my aim

has been, in the first place, simply to act as spokesman for its

principles, and to try to articulate those principles as Buddhist

tradition itself has understood them. In the second place, I have

tried to give some indication of and pass some comment on the

critical and scholarly issues that have emerged in the modern aca-

demic study of Buddhism over the last rso years or so.

Some might question the need for yet another introductory
volume on Buddhism, yet as a teacher of introductory courses
on Buddhism at a university I find myself somewhat dissatisfied
with the available teaching materials. Certainly there are avail-
able a number of survey-type books ranging from short and
sketchy to more moderate-sized treatments. In addition there
are some solid introductions to various aspects of Buddhism
-the social history of Theravada, Mahayana thought, Chinese

Buddhism, Tibetan Buddhism-but if one looks for a volume

giving a more focused account, reflecting recent scholarship, of

what, for want of a better expression, one might refer to as the

principles of 'mainstream' Buddhist thought and practice, there

appears to be a gap. It is hoped that the present work will go

some way to filling that gap.