"What the Buddha Taught"

Paper Summary:

This paper summarizes and reviews Walpola's study of Buddhism. It explains that one of Rahula's central goals as an author in writing "What the Buddha Taught" was to make Buddhism seem less intimidating to those who were raised in nations where Buddhism was not an integral part of the culture. It explains the religion in laymen's terms and exalts the Buddha.

From the Paper:

"Throughout his text, What the Buddha Taught, Rahula stresses the simplicity of Buddhist philosophy, rather than dwelling upon the complex mythological structure that forms its nationalist incarnation in nations such as Tibet or Japan. Rahula does give a brief and engaging introduction to the basic biography of the historical Buddha, but his main focus is to distill the principal tenants of Buddhism into a basic structure of speech, thought, and action for students of Buddhism in American and students studying introductions to religion in university classes (in which his text is now almost universally required) across the American nation. Rahula's own theological project in writing the book, as such, was to create an accessible form of Buddhism for aspiring Western practitioners, so that they may feel that they too, can enact the actions, words, and life of the Buddha after reading the book and for those who did not wish to practice, to at least gain respect for the tradition from which he came."

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