Buddhism

The religion-philosophy known to the West as Buddhism is in number of adherents and range of teaching one of the largest in the world. Born in India in the sixth century B.C., it became the religion of Ceylon, Siam, Burma, and Cambodia, which adhere to the older or Southern School, while the developed Mahayana School is found in various forms in Tibet, Mongolia, China, Korea, and Japan. Its range of thought is equally vast. It includes the most exalted philosophy yet achieved by man, a psychology from which the West is slowly beginning to learn, a religion which has satisfied untold millions for 2,500 years, a Middle Way of self-development to self-enlightenment and a range and depth of spiritual science, mysticism, and religious art which cannot be found elsewhere.

To compress such a wealth of human thought - into a single volume is difficult, but here is not only the history and development of Buddhism and the teaching of the various Schools, but also its condition in the world today. On Buddhism in the West the author is an expert, having been President of the Buddhist Society, London, for forty years; on world Buddhism he speaks with forty-five years' experience. The subject is now of special interest, in view of the vast changes that are taking place in Eastern Asia.