The Story of Buddhism

A Concise Guide to its History and Teachings

Donald S. Lopez

HarperSanFranscisco 2001; $25/£17.65 p/b

Written by a renowned Buddhologist, The Story of Buddhism is a sophisticated overview, particularly emphasising Buddhism's diversity in practice. In his introduction Lopez summarises approaches to his task that he has opted not to follow. He does not, for instance, give a philosophical account of the evolution of Buddhist doctrines nor attempt to present a coherent historical narrative. He points out that writing a single book called The Story of Buddhism would, until recently, not have been a very 'Buddhist' undertaking. For there have been many times and places when particular Buddhist schools have found each other mutually unintelligible in both their theory and practice.

This is a salutary thought, since Buddhism is often regarded as a single world. Lopez doesn't so much reject this claim as show the problematic nature of demonstrating in what the unity of Buddhism consists. Not only, says Lopez, is Buddhism always changing but the actual process of characterising and reviewing Buddhism changes it. So, while aspiring to avoid the errors and prejudices of the past, he recognises that his work is a product of a time when scholarly interest has begun to focus more on Buddhist practice than on Buddhist philosophy; more on the local manifestations of Buddhist themes than on global overviews; and more on ritual than on doctrine.

Primarily, Lopez approaches Buddhism 'as a religion to which ordinary people have turned over the centuries for the means to confront, control, or even escape the exigencies of life'. The task he sets himself is to describe the various activities in which Buddhists have engaged with reference to their doctrinal background, rather than to evaluate their credibility.

Refreshingly, the book is organised according to a traditional Buddhist teaching: the Three Jewels. The first chapter signals the approach that is to follow by offering an overview of Buddhist cosmology, a subject often glossed over by accounts of Buddhism that present the subject historically. Already we are invited to perceive the Buddha and the development of his teachings within a mythic-imaginative rather than a purely historical framework. This enables Lopez to give an account of the Buddha that takes 'magical' events as seriously as 'historical' ones. The Buddha is presented as much as a mythic personality as an historical individual. Thus Lopez takes traditional Buddhist understandings of who the Buddha was and how he is to be appreciated as seriously as critical-historical approaches.

In examining the Buddha, Lopez introduces not only what are regarded as the main teachings of the historical Buddha but also the concept of different 'bodies', and this enables him to introduce the archetypal Buddhas as found within the Mahayana traditions, and the Tibetan Buddhist practice of tulku succession. Thus he shows how a fundamental theme of Buddhism - the Buddha - evolved and manifested in different ways within different Buddhist traditions.

In approaching the Dharma section, Lopez concentrates on the problem of how the Buddha's teaching is to be determined and interpreted - rather than giving an account of the 'main' Buddhist teachings. He shows that claiming a certain teaching to be authentically 'Buddhist' is not at all straightforward; he characterises Buddhist teaching as a dialogue - sometimes amicable, sometimes aggressive - that has evolved over many centuries. Rather than assume the authority of any particular teachings, he presents what at times seem bewilderingly inconsistent doctrines and practices as all worthy of serious attention.

His account of the Sangha covers monasticism and lay practice, including many engaging stories, not a few of which show Buddhism in practice to be just as degenerate and doctrinally inconsistent as medieval Christianity. For instance, he notes the practice of 'posthumous ordination' in Japan, where - for a fee - a deceased person may be ordained as a monk, a ceremony that brings him or her 'merit' in their after-life. Many of his stories indicate a relationship between the monastic Sangha and the laity underpinned more by economic than spiritual considerations.

Throughout the book Lopez is prepared to take the mythical stories of Buddhist tradition as seriously as the doctrine, which means that it is strongly perfumed by 'popular' or 'folk' Buddhism, as embodied in many delightful legends and even superstitions. This is perhaps both the strength of the book and a shortcoming. Lopez shows the breadth and diversity of practice and belief within different Buddhist cultures and this encourages readers to broaden their conception of what might be defined as 'Buddhism'. At the same time, from this book it would be difficult to see how Buddhism might be practised by, for instance, a contemporary westerner - since so much of the material seems embedded in culturally specific assumptions and beliefs.

Nevertheless the book is rich, both in the variety of the stories and practices Lopez records and in his elegant and insightful comments. While this is definitely not a first book on Buddhism, anyone who knows a little about the subject, or even a lot, could profit significantly from reading this distinctive and well-crafted work.