Lesson 1: The Buddha and his Doctrines
Bibliography and Exercises
Bibliography
Conze, Edward. Buddhist Scriptures. Toronto: Penguin Books, 1959.
Corless, Roger. The Vision of Buddhism. New York: Paragon House, 1989.
Keown, Damien. Buddhism: A Very Short Introduction. New York: Oxford University Press, 1996.
Oxtoby, Willard G., ed. World Religions: Eastern Traditions. New York: Oxford University Press, 2002.
Rahula, Walpola. What the Buddha Taught. New York: Grove Press, 1974.
Exercises
(1) Restate the Four Noble Truths in your own words – can they be explained in other ways and retain their original meaning? Must there be four? Are they valid without the idea of reincarnation?
(2) Which category of the Eightfold Noble Path do you find most important, and which is least important? Can it be condensed or expanded – what would you remove or add?
