From stone to flesh : a short history of the Buddha

Resource Information

The work From stone to flesh : a short history of the Buddha represents a distinct intellectual or artistic creation found in Waubonsee Community College. This resource is a combination of several types including: Work, Language Material, Books.

Label

From stone to flesh : a short history of the Buddha

Title remainder

a short history of the Buddha

Statement of responsibility

Donald S. Lopez Jr

Creator

• Lopez, Donald S., Jr., 1952-

Subject

• Buddhism -- Study and teaching -- Europe -- History
• Gautama Buddha
• Gautama Buddha -- Christian interpretations
• Gautama Buddha -- Cult -- Europe -- History

Language

eng

Summary

We have come to admire Buddhism for being profound but accessible, as much a lifestyle as a religion. The credit for creating Buddhism goes to the Buddha, a figure widely respected across the Western world for his philosophical insight, his teachings of nonviolence, and his practice of meditation. But who was this Buddha, and how did he become the Buddha we know and love today? The author, a historian of Buddhism tells the story of how various idols carved in stone, variously named Beddou, Codam, Xaca, and Fo, became the man of flesh and blood that we know simply as the Buddha. He reveals that the positive view of the Buddha in Europe and America is rather recent, originating a little more than a hundred and fifty years ago. For centuries, the Buddha was condemned by Western writers as the most dangerous idol of the Orient. He was a demon, the murderer of his mother, a purveyor of idolatry. Here the author provides a history of depictions of the Buddha from classical accounts and medieval stories to the testimonies of European travelers, diplomats, soldiers, and missionaries. He shows that centuries of hostility toward the Buddha changed dramatically in the nineteenth century, when the teachings of the Buddha, having disappeared from India by the fourteenth century, were read by European scholars newly proficient in Asian languages. At the same time, the traditional view of the Buddha persisted in Asia, where he was revered as much for his supernatural powers as for his philosophical insights. This book follows the twists and turns of these Eastern and Western notions of the Buddha, leading finally to his triumph as the founder of a world religion

Member of

• Buddhism and modernity

Biography type

contains biographical information

Cataloging source

ICU/DLC

Dewey number

294.3/63

Index

index present

LC call number

BQ894

LC item number

.L67 2013

Literary form

non fiction

Nature of contents

bibliography

Series statement

Buddhism and modernity