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 continued to evolve in India for centuries afterward across a shifting cultural and political landscape. As one tradition within a diverse religious milieu that included even the Greek kingdoms of northwestern India, Buddhism had many opportunities to both influence and be influenced by competing schools of thought. Even within Buddhism, a proliferation of interpretive traditions produced a dynamic intellectual climate. Johannes Bronkhorst here tracks the development of Buddhist teachings both within the larger Indian context and among Buddhism's many schools, shedding light on the sources and trajectory of such ideas as dharma theory, emptiness, the bodhisattva ideal, buddha nature, formal logic, and idealism. In these pages, we discover the roots of the doctrinal debates that have animated the Buddhist tradition up until the present day. .

Buddhist Teaching in India, Johannes Bronkhorst, Wisdom Publications, 244 pp., $28.95

After initial studies of Mathematics and Physics with Astronomy at the Free University in Amsterdam (Kandidaats/B.Sc. in 1968), Johannes Bronkhorst took up the study of Sanskrit and Pali, first at the University of Rajasthan (Jaipur, India), then at the University of Pune (India). In Pune he obtained an M.A. in 1976 and a Ph.D. in 1979. After his return to the Netherlands he obtained a second doctorate from the University of Leiden in 1980 (with the highest distinction). He remained attached to the University of Leiden as a researcher until 1987, in which year he was appointed full professor of Sanskrit and Indian Studies at the University of Lausanne (Switzerland). He remained at the University of Lausanne until his (mandatory) retirement in 2011. He has published more than one hundred and sixty research papers, all in specialized journals, more than fifteen books, besides numerous reviews. His most recent books are: Greater Magadha (2007), Aux origines de la philosophie indienne (2008), Buddhist Teaching in India (2009), Language and Reality (2011), Buddhism in the Shadow of Brahmanism (2011), Karma (2011).

	Contents: Buddhist Teaching in India - Studies in Indian and Tibetan Buddhism
	Preface	ix
1.	The Teaching of the Buddha	1
	Preliminary Remarks on Methodology	1
	Main Teachings	9
	Self and Liberating Knowledge	19
	Asceticism and Meditation	44
	Recapitulation	56
2.	Arranging the Doctrine	61
	The Origin of the Dharma Theory	61
	Systematizing the Dharma Theory	81
	Concluding Observations	109
3.	Mahayana	115
	Early Mahayana	115
	Madhyamaka	135
	Further Developments in Mahayana	152
	The Logico-Epistemological School	168
4.	Final Observations	175
	Hermeneutics	176
	Influences outside Buddhism	179
	Landmarks	188
	Abbreviations	193
	Bibliography	201
	Index	235

	Contents: Buddhist Teaching in India - Studies in Indian and Tibetan Buddhism
	Preface	ix
1.	The Teaching of the Buddha	1
	Preliminary Remarks on Methodology	1
	Main Teachings	9
	Self and Liberating Knowledge	19
	Asceticism and Meditation	44
	Recapitulation	56
2.	Arranging the Doctrine	61
	The Origin of the Dharma Theory	61
	Systematizing the Dharma Theory	81
	Concluding Observations	109
3.	Mahayana	115
	Early Mahayana	115
	Madhyamaka	135
	Further Developments in Mahayana	152
	The Logico-Epistemological School	168
4.	Final Observations	175
	Hermeneutics	176
	Influences outside Buddhism	179
	Landmarks	188
	Abbreviations	193
	Bibliography	201
	Index	235