Rediscovering the Buddha
Subtitle: legends of the Buddha and their interpretation
By: Hans H. Penner.
Publisher: Oxford University Press
Published: 2009
Place of publication: Oxford; New York
Language: eng
Number of pages: 260
ISBN-13: 9780195385823
Subjects: Gautama Buddha; Religious biography -- India
Description: Hans Penner takes a look at the classic stories of the life of the Buddha. He takes issue with Max Weber's assertion that 'Buddhism is an other-worldly ascetic religion', a point of view that remains dominant in the received tradition and in most contemporary studies of Buddhism.
Notes: Includes bibliographical references and index.
Table of contents: title: Introduction to part I; title: Cosmology and the great declaration; title: The perfection of giving; title: The birth and early life of Gotama; title: Flight from the palace; title: Enlightenment and liberation; title: The Buddha begins to teach; title: The Buddha becomes a wonder worker; title: The Buddha meets a king and two brilliant ascetics; title: Rules, rules and more rules; title: The Buddha goes home; title: The Buddha receives a gift and befriends a king; title: Meeting a murderer, a visit home, and a quick trip to heaven; title: Devadatta attempts to kill the Buddha; title: The buddha's last days; title: Once the buddha was a universal monarch; title: The last watch and the funeral; title: Introduction to part II; title: The quest for the historical Buddha; title: The cosmological structure; title: The legends as rites of passage; title: The great agent : universal monarchs and Buddhas; title: The gift, the renouncer, and the householder.