The Buddha and His Teachings

by Sherab Chödzin Kohn (Editor), Samuel Bercholz (Editor)

Originally published as Entering the Stream, this book offers a simple and inspiring answer to the question "What is the Buddha's teaching?" primarily in the words of the Buddha and other masters. This anthology draws on traditional Indian, Chinese, Japanese, and Tibetan sources as well as teachings by contemporary Buddhist masters. Among the contributors, both classical and modern, Ajahn Chah, Pema Chödrön, The Second Dalai Lama, Dogen, S.N. Goenka, Dainin Katagiri, Hakuyu Taizan Maezumi, Milerepa, Padmasambhava, Reginald Ray, Shunryu Suzuki, Nyanaponika Thera, Thich Nhat Hanh, Chögyam Trungpa, and Burton Watson.

Genres: Buddhism, Religion, Philosophy, Nonfiction, Spirituality

352 pages, Paperback

First published December 1, 2002

About the author

Sherab Chödzin Kohn is coeditor of the best-selling anthology "The Buddha and His Teachings". He has been teaching Buddhism and meditation for more than thirty years, and he has edited a number of the books of his teacher, the Tibetan meditation master Chögyam Trungpa. He has also published numerous translations, including an acclaimed version of Hermann Hesse’s "Siddhartha". He lives in Boulder, Colorado.

Reviews

[Nicolas · Rating 5 out of 5]

I really enjoyed this book. I will definitely be revisiting various chapters to refresh my memory. It had a lot of variety and did a great job of explaining the basics and also the more esoteric teachings.
Every time I finish one of my books on Buddhism I feel really accomplished, but I need to remember that I’m just feeding the intellect. I could read all the books ever written about the Buddhas teachings but if I never tried to put them into practice or test them out myself, then I would never benefit from the them.
I think my favorite chapter was the 10 Bulls of Zen Buddhism. Look them up :)

[Prabidhik KC · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book is a good introduction to Buddhist philosophy. I would recommend reading this book.

[Michael Huang · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is a rather comprehensive book about Buddha and Buddhism. The book begins with the story of the historical Buddha. A typical biographical story of Shakyamuni only explains that he was a prince and abandoned princely life to become enlightened. This book tells a version with richer details. For instance, he was under the tutelage of a sage and learned about meditation and performed ascetics practices for many years and was close to death and yet didn’t become enlightened. When he resumed the meager one meal a day, his disciples thought he began indulging himself and left him.

The history on Buddhism is also very detailed covering stories of Buddha’s own teaching and the councils and other branching after his death. Although the details of these events are unlikely to be that accurate and frankly unimportant, the painting of the background does help understanding that the philosophy and beliefs are all results of generations evolution complete with copying errors as well as intentional reform.

The fact that it’s comprehensive is not always plus. Many aspects of the teachings are collected here. Most are in the form someone’s interpretation of a particular subject (e.g., emptiness). These essays are uneven. Some are very approachable. Others read like piles of unhelpful analogies.
Still others are perhaps too advanced for lay readers. Overall, I felt it would have helped at least me to put some entries in the appendix.

[J.M. Barbiere · Rating 5 out of 5]

Absolutely love this book, and re-reading for the third time. Had it buy it for class, but ended keeping it as it's one of my favorites. For the beginner, intermediary, or advanced practitioner of holistic Buddhism. This book will steep you in the ways and thoughts of multiple revered monks, and philosophers. As each little chapter has different contributors. Recommend!

[Devan Navaratnam · Rating 5 out of 5]

An excellent Buddhism 101 course that helps translate traditional texts to Western audiences. Some entries may be obscure or challenging to the reader, but that's to be expected with dense poems and philosophical treatise. I am excited to tackle the suggested readings and further my understanding of the religion.

[Simeon Mihaylov · Rating 5 out of 5]

Definitely an interesting book. Sometimes it might be way too specific and difficult, but all in all I really loved it. For anyone who is looking for a book to learn more about Buddhism - this is a great one. It covers pretty much everything in some depth.

[Joyce · Rating 5 out of 5]

I read this book for two classes. I found it most helpful in both giving a range of styles of teaching as well as elucidating key principles. There are classic and modern teachers here.

My favorite was the poem from the work of Patrul Rinpoche. It made me laugh.

[Nigel Morton · Rating 5 out of 5]

Much enjoyed this - an excellent anthology of Buddhist teachings - and good, probably either as an introduction, or for those more experienced.

[Chad R]

I got bored with this, so I'm going to have to put it back on the shelf.

[Billie Jean · Rating 5 out of 5]

I never knew Buddhism contained so many different branches of beliefs and similarities to Hunduism

[Sara · Rating 3 out of 5]

3 and a half stars. This was a good collection of (translated) pieces by historical Buddhist writers and saints as well as commentary by more contemporary authors, and would be a more than decent introduction to anyone curious about Buddhist philosophy. I especially liked the writings by the Zen folks, though some of the historical stuff was difficult to parse.

[Tom Wilusz]

New to Buddhism , from agnostic.
This book , like so many others, does not show why buddha was so unique among teachers.

I shelved this book when the history of Buddha did not address this quesssssstion.

To be fair I have to force myself to read farther. and the operative phrase is "Force myself".

[Amber · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was a good book, and I really enjoyed it. I would definitely recommend it to anyone who likes to research culture and belief systems across the world.

[Kimberly · Rating 3 out of 5]

Still can't stand academic spiritual texts--a lot of the times I was just bored, although there are a lot of interesting concepts for my brain to chew on. Still prefer more poetic, lyrical styles of spiritual literature.