What do you think?
Rate this book
Buddhist Scriptures
A volume of key writings on the Buddha, collected from a variety of languages and traditions
While Buddhism has no central text comparable to the Bible or Koran, there is a powerful body of scripture from across Asia that encompasses the dharma , or the teachings of the Buddha. In this rich anthology, eminent scholar Donald S. Lopez, Jr. brings together works from a broad historical and geographical range, and from such languages as Pali, Sanskrit, Tibetan, Chinese, and Japanese. There are tales of the Buddha's past lives, a discussion of qualities and qualifications for a monk, and an exploration of the many meanings of enlightenment. Together they provide a vivid picture of the Buddha and of the vast and profound nature of the Buddhist tradition.
For more than seventy years, Penguin has been the leading publisher of classic literature in the English-speaking world. With more than 1,700 titles, Penguin Classics represents a global bookshelf of the best works throughout history and across genres and disciplines. Readers trust the series to provide authoritative texts enhanced by introductions and notes by distinguished scholars and contemporary authors, as well as up-to-date translations by award-winning translators.
While Buddhism has no central text comparable to the Bible or Koran, there is a powerful body of scripture from across Asia that encompasses the dharma , or the teachings of the Buddha. In this rich anthology, eminent scholar Donald S. Lopez, Jr. brings together works from a broad historical and geographical range, and from such languages as Pali, Sanskrit, Tibetan, Chinese, and Japanese. There are tales of the Buddha's past lives, a discussion of qualities and qualifications for a monk, and an exploration of the many meanings of enlightenment. Together they provide a vivid picture of the Buddha and of the vast and profound nature of the Buddhist tradition.
For more than seventy years, Penguin has been the leading publisher of classic literature in the English-speaking world. With more than 1,700 titles, Penguin Classics represents a global bookshelf of the best works throughout history and across genres and disciplines. Readers trust the series to provide authoritative texts enhanced by introductions and notes by distinguished scholars and contemporary authors, as well as up-to-date translations by award-winning translators.
256 pages, Paperback
First published July 30, 1959
62 people are currently reading
1225 people want to read
About the author
Edward Conze
34 books27 followersEberhart Julius Dietrich Conze, who published as Edward Conze, studied Indian and comparative philosophy at the universities of Bonn and Hamburg. He later lectured in psychology, philosophy, and comparative religion at Oxford, held a number of academic appointments, and served as Vice-President of the Buddhist Society.
Ratings & Reviews
Friends & Following
Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!
Community Reviews
Displaying 1 - 30 of 34 reviews
March 27, 2014
Maybe it's just me, but Penguin seems to have the most aggressive Let's-Make-Texts-Boring strategy. There's great stuff in here, but whether it's because of the dry notes or the sawdust-translation, it just doesn't feel like a zinger.
August 5, 2018
A most excellent book. Buddhism is a difficult subject as it is so vast and varied, much more so than most realise. This brilliant work provides a fantastic insight and perspective into what comprises Buddhism without becoming constrained by the various branchings and specializations within the Buddhist mantle. I made an effort to read all the scriptures of all the major religions, and this work is the only one that stood out and made it onto my desert island bookshelf, which was just one shelf. From the thousands of books I read, (About 10-15% listed here.) so very very few stood out. This book is one of them. It's been a long time since I read this book and all those others, but what I remember is joy to the reading, rare in scriptures, a sophisticated innocence, which is even more rare.
March 12, 2017
Good collection of Buddhist scriptures. Another "made for Westerners" style document, with a rather diverse source of Buddhist documents from various traditions. I like how Conze organized it into a New Testament, but it should be noted, which I don't think Conze did a fully, that few traditions would be familiar with all of the documents presented in the book, and would agree with them 100% (obviously, since some are labelled "Mahayana" or (sorry) "Hinayana.")
Decent introduction to Buddhism for the Westerner. Fun read for others.
Decent introduction to Buddhism for the Westerner. Fun read for others.
August 6, 2021
Sometimes when I wish to needle atheists who like to constantly praise Buddhism, I describe it as an atheist religion, since it is one that they accept without question.
A number of my fellow-atheists are distinctly soft on Buddhism, which they constantly tell me is a rational philosophy, not a religion. It is a self-critical philosophy, they cry, and then get angry when I criticise it.
Indeed they defend Buddhism in the same language that they would scoff if Christians or Muslims used it. You have to go back to the original text. There are bad Buddhists, but they are not following the original precepts. Buddhism may have monks and temples and all the trappings of a religion, but that is a corruption of the real words. We have all heard variations on these arguments in relation to Christianity and Islam, but here they are being offered by the very people who usually dismiss them.
For atheists like me, there is a scepticism that the answer to life’s problems lies in the East. The Eastern religions are for people who were born into those religions, just like any other, and for westerners who are intelligent enough to see what is wrong with western religions, but not quite intelligent enough to understand what is wrong with alternative belief systems.
Nonetheless like many atheists I pull my punches in such discussions, because I have little acquaintance with the detail of Buddhism. Reading this book was an attempt on my part to better inform myself, and see if the atheists who like Buddhism are right, or if my first instincts are correct.
It should be stressed that this is a small sample of a complex subject, and I may have misunderstood some of what I read. Indeed diehard fans of Buddhism will insist I have. Again we hear the same arguments in relation to the Bible and Qu’ran, so let’s plunge in.
The bad news for atheists who wish to claim Buddhism as their own is that Edward Conze in his introduction explains:
“Buddhism is often described as a purely rational religion, which dispenses with faith….This assumption is not borne out by the actual writings of the Buddhists.”
Oops, even a scholar and translator who knows more about the subject than any of us thinks that Buddhism is both a religion, and based on faith rather than rationalism. As we shall see, the extracts that Conze uses in this book only serve to bear this out.
Consider the many ways in which Buddhism only echoes familiar trends found in other mainstream religions. The Buddha is described in terms of great veneration just like any Messiah or prophet. He is given all kinds of bizarre qualities. My favourite line is when his father looks at him at birth:
“In wonderment he looked upon the wondrous royal babe, and noticed that the souls of his feet were marked with wheels, that his fingers and toes were joined by webs, that a circle of soft down grew between his eyebrows, and that his testicles were withdrawn like those of an elephant.”
This kind of hilarious description can be found in the Bible too which also describes a weird-looking deity (snowy white and with a sword protruding from his mouth in one passage, with horns on his hands in another).
There is even a Second Coming of sorts, the arrival of a future Buddha who will transform everything, though without the apocalyptic Judgement Day that western religions seem to like.
These magic properties apply not only to the Buddha but to his followers after they reach a certain stage of enlightenment. Conze directly refers to ‘magical powers’ and the description is an apt one. Let us have a giggle at what the enlightened follower can achieve after a time.
There are minor party tricks like removing dirt from a cloth, turning water into milk (shades of Jesus?) and invisibility. Indeed the follower can make other items visible or invisible at will too. Then there are the higher quality magic properties such as creating multiple versions of himself (like Michael Keaton), walking through walls, diving into the earth, transforming into other shapes such as dragons and fairy birds, reading thoughts and being able to tell when a person is about to die or be reborn.
Additionally there are the skills where, well we just have to take the follower’s word for it that he can do it. He can hear heavenly and faraway sounds, and he can recall his past lives. I say ‘he’ because Buddhism is as sexist as other religions. Only men can aspire to this.
In an echo of the Virgin Mary, we are told that Buddha’s mother was ‘undefiled’ (totally?), and that her labour was smooth and painless, though this is contradicted in other scriptures. Yes, even Buddhism has contradictions, and yes, Buddhism is just as prudish about sex which is often described with words like ‘depraved’ (we must allow for translation here).
There are other risible stories here too, often involving sacrifices that are not really sacrifices. A brother throws himself in front of a hungry tiger, but it does not eat him. A boy releases a rabbit that he could have killed for his sick mother, but she recovers. A man refuses to kill a deadly snake but it chooses not to attack him after all.
Such sacrifices are intended to show that all life is sacred, so one shouldn’t favour one’s own over that of any other life. However since, like Christ’s sacrifice, the gesture was reneged on later, then where is the sacrifice anyway?
Perhaps we should see this as karma, that popular Buddhist notion that insists we hold onto all our past good and bad deeds, and will be paid for them. Nonsense, you say? What about all those people who did terrible things and are doing well today? Or those good people who suffered? It’s ok. They will be repaid in a future life. These kind of claims of cosmic justice that are not substantiated with any proof are common in religions.
The same is true of notions of an afterlife, and Buddhism has that too. There are allusions to gods (sorry, Buddhism-loving atheists), and to heaven and hell. Mara is the nearest thing to Satan, a bad guy who stands in the path to Buddhist enlightenment. Hell is familiar to all westerners – it is the usual flames, burning and torture combo. It often seems strange to me that religions which lay so much emphasis on spirituality over materialism can only conceive of the afterlife in physical terms, but so be it.
Still maybe it is hell because these people did not shake off their material obsessions. What about heaven? It is full of expensive jewellery hanging around in trees, which reminded me of the pimped-out heaven full of bling in the Book of Revelation. There are also celestial nymphs providing libidinous enjoyment for ascetics. So if you refrain from dirty sex in this life as a matter of spiritual principle, you can have lashings of it later.
However this is only temporary, and heaven and hell will not last in Buddhist folklore. So the best thing is to work towards nirvana, a liberation from all the senses. Before we arrive there we must past through numerous past lives, lasting over many aeons.
This may all seem like harmless nonsense, and certainly Buddhism on paper is less dangerous than most of the mainstream religions. Nonetheless this kind of irrational thinking is damaging to the mind, all the more so when people insist on treating it as if it is reasonable. It is seductive for anyone who feels that the material goods of this world do not bring happiness, and there must be something more, but that hardly proves that Buddhism is that something we need.
Consider the idea of having many past lives. Buddhism teaches its followers not to be attached to family, friends or lovers because they are just temporary commitments while we inhabit our current body. All our ties in this world are rendered worthless by spiritual contemplation of some other state of being that may never come about.
Since sex, eating, drinking, and even sleeping are material comforts, Buddhism is down on them. We should spend our time in meditation and the like instead. Doing what exactly? Emptying our mind. Goodness knows many westerners are empty-headed enough without clearing their thoughts even more.
However thoughts are anathema to good Buddhism, just as thinking and intellect are the enemies of all other religions. Trust in blind faith instead. Live the parasitical life depending on others for charity if you are a monk, and try to pretend that your existence would still be possible if the material world did not exist. Here is the recipe for doing nothing, and never caring about anything.
After all why should you care? Everything is oneness, and duality must go. All likes and dislikes are pointless when everything is one. All religions can be encompassed in Buddhism because everything is one. Does it matter if your government takes away your civil liberties or lets you starve or tortures people? Everything is one. Just sit there in your complacent nihilism which you mistake for wisdom.
Such standards are of course impossible to live by, which is why most interested westerners only flirt with Buddhism. It’s fun to relax and meditate and talk about zen and mindfulness, but nobody really wishes to make the level of sacrifice required, only to achieve nullity.
However religions thrive on setting impossibly strict standards for their followers so that they feel unworthy, and less likely to question anything. In any case, if you doubt any part of Buddhism, you are a ‘fool’, a word often-used here, another eerie similarity to the Bible which also uses the word to dismiss non-believers, or the Qu’ran which calls them ‘losers’.
Still if everything is one in Buddhism, then I’m not sure why they need to abuse non-believers. For that matter, why does Conze include a section on doctrinal differences within Buddhism. Isn’t everything one?
I am giving the book a generous three stars because Conze’s translations are elegant, and he compiles extracts very well and scrupulously, not pandering to people who wish to present Buddhism as a self-critical irreligious philosophy, which it isn’t.
As for Buddhism itself, I have now seen it up closer, and I am less convinced than ever. The main purpose of following the Buddhist life is to deny those material curses of our existence – death, illness and old age. Naturally, that is a strong pull to look to the spiritual life, but Buddhism goes further and rejects all the material comforts that make this world – the only world that we know for certain that we will ever have – bearable, and all in exchange for some elusive benefits that supposedly lie in another life.
A number of my fellow-atheists are distinctly soft on Buddhism, which they constantly tell me is a rational philosophy, not a religion. It is a self-critical philosophy, they cry, and then get angry when I criticise it.
Indeed they defend Buddhism in the same language that they would scoff if Christians or Muslims used it. You have to go back to the original text. There are bad Buddhists, but they are not following the original precepts. Buddhism may have monks and temples and all the trappings of a religion, but that is a corruption of the real words. We have all heard variations on these arguments in relation to Christianity and Islam, but here they are being offered by the very people who usually dismiss them.
For atheists like me, there is a scepticism that the answer to life’s problems lies in the East. The Eastern religions are for people who were born into those religions, just like any other, and for westerners who are intelligent enough to see what is wrong with western religions, but not quite intelligent enough to understand what is wrong with alternative belief systems.
Nonetheless like many atheists I pull my punches in such discussions, because I have little acquaintance with the detail of Buddhism. Reading this book was an attempt on my part to better inform myself, and see if the atheists who like Buddhism are right, or if my first instincts are correct.
It should be stressed that this is a small sample of a complex subject, and I may have misunderstood some of what I read. Indeed diehard fans of Buddhism will insist I have. Again we hear the same arguments in relation to the Bible and Qu’ran, so let’s plunge in.
The bad news for atheists who wish to claim Buddhism as their own is that Edward Conze in his introduction explains:
“Buddhism is often described as a purely rational religion, which dispenses with faith….This assumption is not borne out by the actual writings of the Buddhists.”
Oops, even a scholar and translator who knows more about the subject than any of us thinks that Buddhism is both a religion, and based on faith rather than rationalism. As we shall see, the extracts that Conze uses in this book only serve to bear this out.
Consider the many ways in which Buddhism only echoes familiar trends found in other mainstream religions. The Buddha is described in terms of great veneration just like any Messiah or prophet. He is given all kinds of bizarre qualities. My favourite line is when his father looks at him at birth:
“In wonderment he looked upon the wondrous royal babe, and noticed that the souls of his feet were marked with wheels, that his fingers and toes were joined by webs, that a circle of soft down grew between his eyebrows, and that his testicles were withdrawn like those of an elephant.”
This kind of hilarious description can be found in the Bible too which also describes a weird-looking deity (snowy white and with a sword protruding from his mouth in one passage, with horns on his hands in another).
There is even a Second Coming of sorts, the arrival of a future Buddha who will transform everything, though without the apocalyptic Judgement Day that western religions seem to like.
These magic properties apply not only to the Buddha but to his followers after they reach a certain stage of enlightenment. Conze directly refers to ‘magical powers’ and the description is an apt one. Let us have a giggle at what the enlightened follower can achieve after a time.
There are minor party tricks like removing dirt from a cloth, turning water into milk (shades of Jesus?) and invisibility. Indeed the follower can make other items visible or invisible at will too. Then there are the higher quality magic properties such as creating multiple versions of himself (like Michael Keaton), walking through walls, diving into the earth, transforming into other shapes such as dragons and fairy birds, reading thoughts and being able to tell when a person is about to die or be reborn.
Additionally there are the skills where, well we just have to take the follower’s word for it that he can do it. He can hear heavenly and faraway sounds, and he can recall his past lives. I say ‘he’ because Buddhism is as sexist as other religions. Only men can aspire to this.
In an echo of the Virgin Mary, we are told that Buddha’s mother was ‘undefiled’ (totally?), and that her labour was smooth and painless, though this is contradicted in other scriptures. Yes, even Buddhism has contradictions, and yes, Buddhism is just as prudish about sex which is often described with words like ‘depraved’ (we must allow for translation here).
There are other risible stories here too, often involving sacrifices that are not really sacrifices. A brother throws himself in front of a hungry tiger, but it does not eat him. A boy releases a rabbit that he could have killed for his sick mother, but she recovers. A man refuses to kill a deadly snake but it chooses not to attack him after all.
Such sacrifices are intended to show that all life is sacred, so one shouldn’t favour one’s own over that of any other life. However since, like Christ’s sacrifice, the gesture was reneged on later, then where is the sacrifice anyway?
Perhaps we should see this as karma, that popular Buddhist notion that insists we hold onto all our past good and bad deeds, and will be paid for them. Nonsense, you say? What about all those people who did terrible things and are doing well today? Or those good people who suffered? It’s ok. They will be repaid in a future life. These kind of claims of cosmic justice that are not substantiated with any proof are common in religions.
The same is true of notions of an afterlife, and Buddhism has that too. There are allusions to gods (sorry, Buddhism-loving atheists), and to heaven and hell. Mara is the nearest thing to Satan, a bad guy who stands in the path to Buddhist enlightenment. Hell is familiar to all westerners – it is the usual flames, burning and torture combo. It often seems strange to me that religions which lay so much emphasis on spirituality over materialism can only conceive of the afterlife in physical terms, but so be it.
Still maybe it is hell because these people did not shake off their material obsessions. What about heaven? It is full of expensive jewellery hanging around in trees, which reminded me of the pimped-out heaven full of bling in the Book of Revelation. There are also celestial nymphs providing libidinous enjoyment for ascetics. So if you refrain from dirty sex in this life as a matter of spiritual principle, you can have lashings of it later.
However this is only temporary, and heaven and hell will not last in Buddhist folklore. So the best thing is to work towards nirvana, a liberation from all the senses. Before we arrive there we must past through numerous past lives, lasting over many aeons.
This may all seem like harmless nonsense, and certainly Buddhism on paper is less dangerous than most of the mainstream religions. Nonetheless this kind of irrational thinking is damaging to the mind, all the more so when people insist on treating it as if it is reasonable. It is seductive for anyone who feels that the material goods of this world do not bring happiness, and there must be something more, but that hardly proves that Buddhism is that something we need.
Consider the idea of having many past lives. Buddhism teaches its followers not to be attached to family, friends or lovers because they are just temporary commitments while we inhabit our current body. All our ties in this world are rendered worthless by spiritual contemplation of some other state of being that may never come about.
Since sex, eating, drinking, and even sleeping are material comforts, Buddhism is down on them. We should spend our time in meditation and the like instead. Doing what exactly? Emptying our mind. Goodness knows many westerners are empty-headed enough without clearing their thoughts even more.
However thoughts are anathema to good Buddhism, just as thinking and intellect are the enemies of all other religions. Trust in blind faith instead. Live the parasitical life depending on others for charity if you are a monk, and try to pretend that your existence would still be possible if the material world did not exist. Here is the recipe for doing nothing, and never caring about anything.
After all why should you care? Everything is oneness, and duality must go. All likes and dislikes are pointless when everything is one. All religions can be encompassed in Buddhism because everything is one. Does it matter if your government takes away your civil liberties or lets you starve or tortures people? Everything is one. Just sit there in your complacent nihilism which you mistake for wisdom.
Such standards are of course impossible to live by, which is why most interested westerners only flirt with Buddhism. It’s fun to relax and meditate and talk about zen and mindfulness, but nobody really wishes to make the level of sacrifice required, only to achieve nullity.
However religions thrive on setting impossibly strict standards for their followers so that they feel unworthy, and less likely to question anything. In any case, if you doubt any part of Buddhism, you are a ‘fool’, a word often-used here, another eerie similarity to the Bible which also uses the word to dismiss non-believers, or the Qu’ran which calls them ‘losers’.
Still if everything is one in Buddhism, then I’m not sure why they need to abuse non-believers. For that matter, why does Conze include a section on doctrinal differences within Buddhism. Isn’t everything one?
I am giving the book a generous three stars because Conze’s translations are elegant, and he compiles extracts very well and scrupulously, not pandering to people who wish to present Buddhism as a self-critical irreligious philosophy, which it isn’t.
As for Buddhism itself, I have now seen it up closer, and I am less convinced than ever. The main purpose of following the Buddhist life is to deny those material curses of our existence – death, illness and old age. Naturally, that is a strong pull to look to the spiritual life, but Buddhism goes further and rejects all the material comforts that make this world – the only world that we know for certain that we will ever have – bearable, and all in exchange for some elusive benefits that supposedly lie in another life.
Read
November 30, 2021Don’t think it would be fair to rate this book because I went into it not knowing enough about Buddhism (and this is not a good place to start). Nevertheless what I could fully engage with I did enjoy. Hoping that one day I can come back to this with a better understanding of the vernacular, the different sects, and their philosophies so that I can enjoy the book fully!
July 16, 2019
"Mindfulness" helped lower my Blood Pressure from 130/135 over 75/80. This first blush for me of Buddhist thought, theology, and meditative practice has lowered the BP to 120/70. Very helpful and healthful. For that alone it gets a five.
Read
July 27, 2025guys what the helly religion is boring to read. might have to go full monk to see what’s really going on.
May 21, 2016
Boiling down a huge canon to a few choice selections is a thankless, if not impossible, task. The editor did a reasonably good job of including representative excerpts from a wide range of texts to illustrate major points, but there is so much that is left out it compromises the value of the work as a whole.
August 30, 2023
20/100
There are, in my mind, three facets of Buddhism: 1. Its moral theory, 2. its philosophy, and 3. its religion. Its moral theory, while not being analytically rock solid, is a fantastic gem that everyone should try to keep in mind. We ought to train ourselves to be compassionate and reduce the suffering of others, focusing on building our patience to improve our ability to carry out this goal. The philosophy is surprisingly interesting in its conclusions, bringing to mind continental metaphysics of the outer mind and abandonment of the reliance on sense-perception, though the arguments it makes to reach these conclusions are often pretty elementary. Its religion is, in my opinion, an absolute mess. It is self-contradictory and frequently disgusting in its scriptures. This book is 75% religion, with the other 25% being philosophy and morality viewed through a religious lens, tainting them.
I was revolted by the story towards the end, where a King was having trouble staying on the Buddhist path because he loved his wife so much, so the Buddha brought him to heaven and showed him the hot and horny nymphs that will pleasure him for all eternity if he stays true, and so he did. What the fuck is this? This completely goes about the ideas of self-control and outward compassion of the belief, or is this really just doing good deeds so you can get your dick wet? This legitimately infuriated me, and the various other treatments of afterlife and deific beings are equally ridiculous if not repugnant. The philosophizing is told through saltine-dry stories where a king asks some wise monk questions that plague him, and the monk responds in analogies that have no logical merit whatsoever, and the king says "Well said O genius of the Way!" I'm going to try not to hold Buddhism's scriptures against it, but if this is what Buddhists believe is true and enviable, I'm a bit turned off. Would not recommend.
There are, in my mind, three facets of Buddhism: 1. Its moral theory, 2. its philosophy, and 3. its religion. Its moral theory, while not being analytically rock solid, is a fantastic gem that everyone should try to keep in mind. We ought to train ourselves to be compassionate and reduce the suffering of others, focusing on building our patience to improve our ability to carry out this goal. The philosophy is surprisingly interesting in its conclusions, bringing to mind continental metaphysics of the outer mind and abandonment of the reliance on sense-perception, though the arguments it makes to reach these conclusions are often pretty elementary. Its religion is, in my opinion, an absolute mess. It is self-contradictory and frequently disgusting in its scriptures. This book is 75% religion, with the other 25% being philosophy and morality viewed through a religious lens, tainting them.
I was revolted by the story towards the end, where a King was having trouble staying on the Buddhist path because he loved his wife so much, so the Buddha brought him to heaven and showed him the hot and horny nymphs that will pleasure him for all eternity if he stays true, and so he did. What the fuck is this? This completely goes about the ideas of self-control and outward compassion of the belief, or is this really just doing good deeds so you can get your dick wet? This legitimately infuriated me, and the various other treatments of afterlife and deific beings are equally ridiculous if not repugnant. The philosophizing is told through saltine-dry stories where a king asks some wise monk questions that plague him, and the monk responds in analogies that have no logical merit whatsoever, and the king says "Well said O genius of the Way!" I'm going to try not to hold Buddhism's scriptures against it, but if this is what Buddhists believe is true and enviable, I'm a bit turned off. Would not recommend.
October 2, 2018
This is a book of selected scriptures attributed to various Buddhist schools of several centuries. Thus, while the book is put together so that it flows well, the scriptures that it quotes may seem a little piecemeal. I have enjoyed small Buddhist quotes, and have often used them for my various social sites. However, this is the first time that I have actually experienced reading the sources of this philosophy for myself. This book gives a good outline of this belief, and is therefore a good starting point for any who wish to know more about the philosophy. It contains the legend of the Buddha Shakyamuni and the words to various hymns, as well as outlines on meditation and doctrinal disputes, and a brief discourse on the prophecy of the future Buddha, known as Maitreya. The philosophy of Buddhism, which seems to be that life is horrible and the only way to escape it permanently is to become part of Nirvana, or, in other words, absolutely nothing, is not something that I feel that I can agree with. I do know that there are many people who have used meditation as a way to control anxiety, anger issues, and depression, so I am aware that at least some good can come from using the methods. However, it is the belief of surrendering one's individuality that I have a problem with. For me, salvation comes from joy in living, love from my family and friends, and hope for the future. I prefer a belief system that accepts me for myself, allows me to revel in my own identity, and promises me something beautiful at the end of it all.
Read
November 25, 2022The Buddhist Scriptures is a collection of stories and instructions that introduces the novice to those beliefs and teachings that are widely accepted by the various schools of Buddhism. As organiser and translator, Edward Conze, begins by informing the reader of the legends surrounding Buddha Shakyamuni. Conze, then, compiles several scriptures and commentaries that summarise Buddhism's key doctrines. The first doctrine is the subject of morality. Here, the text illuminates the five precepts (abstaining from murder, theft, 'sensuous misconduct', lying and intoxication) and the monastic life. The second doctrine is meditation, particularly, its advantages, the practice of introversion, the levels of meditation, six different types of people, miraculous powers (sustained attention, invisibility, intangibility, walking on water, floating, bodily control, shapeshifting, divine hearing, mind reading, the recollection of former lives, decease and rebirth), and Zen. The Buddhist Scriptures, then, address the subject of wisdom, before sharing doctrinal formulas on faith, vigour, mindfulness, concentration and prudence, and several doctrinal disputes (e.g. can there be more than one Buddha at a time?). The final section generalises Buddhism's eschatology—the joys of the heavens, the very detailed fiery torments of the hells, life immediately after death, the Book of the Dead, and the Second Coming of the Buddha, Maitreya.
May 9, 2021
Interesting. I hadn't really studied the history or ideas of Buddhism until around the time that I read this book. Definitely a book that benefits from understanding the context in which these ideas arose. Otherwise it kinda feels like a less concise version of the Tao Te Ching. Before anyone protests, I understand the differences in the ideas that the two espouse. I just mean that it's essentially a lot of moralizing stories, whereas the Tao Te Ching is kinda like a bunch of moralizing poems. (I'm sure this is the random internet post of mine that somehow upsets the most people).
July 7, 2023
The texts included in this volume make a lot more sense after some preliminary work in understanding the different currents of Buddhist thought. Although the author tried to focus on what unites the different schools, it could be misleading to read without such contextual grounding. Otherwise, this is a very interesting book.
July 20, 2025
This book contains and summarizes some basic Buddhist scriptures. There are some topics in the book, from the life history of Buddha, basic morals and dogma of Buddhism, meditation method, Buddhist hereafter, and the prophecy of future Buddha. It so suitable for anyone, including Buddhists, who want to know about basic belief of Buddhism.
April 14, 2019
A super broad selection of basic Buddhist texts... but I wish it included more.
October 11, 2021
The version of this edited by Edward Conze is significantly better than the Donald S. Lopez version
November 25, 2022
A dry dry dry anthology. Also, the lack of Theravada scriptures, despite them being the oldest and most complete scriptures out there, is questionable.
September 12, 2023
pretty lit
Read
April 3, 2025Conze is a great translator. He makes the scriptures readable even if you are not a yogi.
December 19, 2013
A great and diverse collection. As a practitioner of Zen Buddhism, it did not take too long to recognize that most of the texts within this compilation are drawn from the Pure Land school of Mahayana Buddhism. Zen Buddhism and Pure Land Buddhism are two major schools of Mahayana Buddhism, which is the form of Buddhism that has exercised the greatest amount of influence over the West. Zen Buddhism has a greater presence in the US, specifically, but Zen Buddhism would not exist without Pure Land Buddhism; and so whether one practices Pure Land or Zen, these scriptures of Pure Land Buddhism are a shared tradition of both schools. The texts of Mahayana Buddhism are great in number and the traditions passed from generation to generation are greater and so the texts contained within this collection are only a very small fraction of Mahayana Buddhist scriptures. However, the compilation is of much worth to any who are serious about studying Mahayana Buddhism; the texts are inexhaustible and contain much wisdom. Highly recommended.
May 12, 2024
Buddhism doesn’t strike me as being that different from Christianity. I’m not sure about denying the self. Fine if they’re aren’t people out there to exploit you. Their vision of Hell makes Dante look like a week in a health spa. Their Heaven like the Islamic one, 72 virgins and more. At least Hell and unfortunately, Heaven does come to an end.
November 22, 2007
This classic brings amazing translations of tantras, sutras, poems, and more from way back in the Buddhist canon. Also contains succinct description of Siddhartha's getting of wisdom, and even a description of the future Buddha of the next age, Maitreya.
March 12, 2008
I only read the story of the life of Buddha (this collection has other things in it) and it was pretty much the worst telling of that story I have ever read. If you want to know about Buddhism I would recommend The Words of My Perfect Teacher.
February 21, 2009
The only thing about this book I didn't like is the fact that the labguage has not been updated since it was originally published. This can be a little distracting, as the lingo used is definitely dated. I hope to see a revised version in the future!
September 16, 2013
9 years reading this, on and off - because I kept getting bored. Some pieces were valuable and insightful to me, and many of Lopez's introductions are excellent (not to mention helpful), but much of it I found hard-going and impenetrable, unfortunately.
November 17, 2012
A pretty heavy read for a dive into Buddhism. it takes some time to get through.
April 3, 2013
The narratives of legends from ancient times that have shaped the cultures and values of people all over the world are more than worth looking into, but beware of some of the boredom that may ensue.
November 7, 2013
ehhhhhhhh
Displaying 1 - 30 of 34 reviews