This book deals with the confrontation of Buddhism and Brahmanism in India. Both depended on support from the royal court, but Buddhism had less to offer in ret

This is the first study to systematically confront the question how Brahmanism, which was geographically limited and under threat during the final centuries BCE

The earliest records we have today of what the Buddha said were written down several centuries after his death, and the body of teachings attributed to him cont

"This book argues for the central role played by absorption in the functioning of the human mind. The importance of absorption makes itself felt in different wa

Through a detailed analysis of the available cultural and chronological data, this book overturns traditional ideas about the cultural history of India and prop