A Concise History of Buddhism

by Andrew Skilton

Buddhism is a widely diverse religion, with many traditions handed down through the centuries. The newcomer seeking to understand the sometimes contradictory spiritual texts can find it daunting. A Buddhist and professor at Oxford University now unravels these varied religious threads and creates a wonderfully clear and compact look at Buddhist history. From the ancient Indian context to Buddhism in countries beyond, from the Mahayana sutras to Tantra, it presents an account of the religion's development up through the 19th century, its doctrines and its schools. But the study also covers the context in which Buddhism developed, the external events that had an impact on the religion. Using the most recent scholarship available, it reflects on the Buddha and his teachings, the paths to awakening, the development in the Sangha, the Tripitaka and the Abhidharma, the end of Buddhism in India, and the practice of Buddhism throughout Asia. A truly enlightening guide.

Genres: Buddhism, History, Religion, Philosophy, Nonfiction, Spirituality, India

272 pages, Hardcover

First published August 1, 1996

About the author

Dr. Andrew Skilton, Ph.D. (Oxford, 1991), who also publishes under the dharma name Dharmacārī Sthiramati, is a member of the Faculty of Asian and Middle Eastern Studies at the University of Oxford.

He previously taught at a number of universities, including Cardiff, McGill, and King's College London, and edits the journal Contemporary Buddhism.

Reviews

[Morgan Blackledge · Rating 5 out of 5]

Andrew Skilton’s fantastic (and yes concise) history of Buddhism.

Skilton does a great job of GROUNDING Buddhism in the (wonderful) early teachings. And then GRINDING your soul to dust with the next three thousand year long history of hermeneutical texts, doctrinal schisms, and power politics.

The parallels between Buddhist and Christian historical trajectories are striking. With similar schisms occurring over mysticism verses orthodoxy, and over the establishment and maintenance of patriarchal power and repression of women.

It’s enough to make your head spin.

Given all that problematic stuff.

Something ABSOLUTELY profound shines through.

Great book.

A must read for anyone interested in Buddhism.

5/5 stars ⭐️

[Merl Fluin · Rating 4 out of 5]

Thinking of reading this book? Then make sure you've clocked the title. It's a concise history of Buddhism.

Concise means "brief" – which this book certainly is. It covers all the major historical and doctrinal developments across Asia, from the historical Buddha's lifetime up to the 19th century. And it does all that in 200 pages.

But concise does not mean "easy" or "for beginners" – which this book certainly isn't. You need a decent prior grasp of key Buddhist ideas, and a high tolerance for Sanskrit and Pali terminology. Precisely because it's concise, there's no room for lengthy explanations of concepts, or for summaries of canonical texts.

The last 50 pages or so are devoted to bibliographies for further reading, ideal if you want to slow down and unpack a particular topic for yourself. The index is also good – for which you'll be grateful, because as you progress through the text you'll find yourself having to look up people and places you've already half-forgotten from previous chapters.

Overall this book is scholarly, meticulous, and at times a bit dry. I liked it for all those reasons, and I imagine I'll be using it repeatedly as a reference book from now on.

But if you want an introduction to the history of Buddhism, spare yourself a disappointment: this ain't it.

[Utsob Roy · Rating 5 out of 5]

নিরীশ্বরবাদীদের জগত বুদ্ধের একটা আলাদা জায়গা আছে। সেই ভাবে বুদ্ধের শিক্ষার সাথে একটা প্রাথমিক পরিচয় ছিল। গত বছর একটু গুরুত্বের সাথে পড়ার ফলে, বিশেষ করে নাগার্জুনের মূলমধ্যমককারিকা পড়ার পড় বৌদ্ধ দর্শনে অনেকটা আগ্রহ জন্মেছিল।

যে জিনিসটা বুঝতে অসুবিধা হচ্ছিল সেটা হচ্ছে বুদ্ধ একসময় নিজেই কীভাবে দেবতা বনে গেলেন। এরজন্য বৌদ্ধধর্মের ডেভেলপমেন্টের বিষয়ে পড়ার দরকার ছিল। এই বইয়ে হাত দেওয়া সেই কারনে।

প্রথমত, যে জিনিসটা পরিষ্কার হওয়া দরকার সেটা হচ্ছে সিদ্ধার্থ সবার মতই মানুষ। ফলত, তার একটা খুব বড় কৃতিত্ব থাকলেই যে সে সর্বাঙ্গে প্রগতিশীল হবে এমন আশা করা অন্যায়। আসল বুদ্ধ কী বলেছেন সেটা যাচাই করা কঠিন, তবুও বলা যায় জন্মান্তরবাদ বা সমাজে নারীদের অবস্থানবিষয়ক ভাবনাগুলো তিনি প্রশ্ন না করেই নিয়েছেন।

বুদ্ধের সবচেয়ে বড় কৃতিত্ব, আমার মতে, একটি দার্শনিক সঙ্ঘ প্রতিষ্ঠা। যেখানে বুদ্ধ বলেছেন বলে না, বরং যাচাই করে দেখতে বলা হয়েছে। তার ফলাফল কিন্তু দারুণ! আমরা যখন নাগার্জুনের দ্বান্দ্বিকতা পড়ি, আমরা দেখতে পাই মূল বুদ্ধের শিক্ষা থেকে সেটা কতদূর এগিয়ে গিয়েছে।

আমরা সহজেই বুঝতে পারছি যে বুদ্ধের পথে জ্ঞান খুবই গুরুত্বপূর্ণ। আরেকটা ভালো বিষয় হচ্ছে প্রেম (compassion) একইরকম গুরুত্বপূর্ণ। পৃথিবীর দিকে তাকালে যতরকম সমস্যা দেখা যায় তার মূলে আসলে এই দুটোরই অভাব।

বই হিসেবে এটা নাতিদীর্ঘ বলা চলে। তবে এর পিছনে লেখকের পড়াশোনা প্রচুর।

[Carlos · Rating 1 out of 5]

Let me start by saying that this book is definitely not intended for an audience cursorily interested in the history of Buddhism. Though the book may be concise, it is clear that it could have been made even more so. Skilton, to his credit, tries to treat the book as a rigorous explanation of the diverse Buddhist schools of thought and how they came to be formed. This results in the use of the transliterated Sanskrit terms of the likes of “Subahupariprccha”, among many others. Needless to say, this causes the reader unfamiliar with Sanskrit to be unable to keep track of the diverse schools, or terms which differentiate them. Finally, though the interested reader can certainly distil the overall progression of Buddhism from this book, it is clear that a reduction in the discussion of hair-splitting theological terms in favor of discussions of the impact of the evolving societal aspect would have made this book a lot better and much more inviting.

[Stephen Victor · Rating 3 out of 5]

A more accurate title would be "A Concise History of Buddhism in India, With Brief Summaries of Buddhism in Other Asian Countries." With no discussion of the rich (though more recent) development of Buddhism outside Asia, this book left me wanting either more or less. The discussion of Indian Buddhism is excellent, tracing the development of Buddhist thought from the time of Shakyamuni Buddha through at least the early years of Mahayana. It then comes to a screeching halt and appends quite brief summaries (sometimes just two or three paragraphs) of the spread of Buddhism to other Asian countries. A scholar of Sanskrit and Pali, Skilton could have written a more complete, even masterful, history of Indian Buddhism and left it at that. The addition of cursory reviews of Buddhist thought in other Asian countries, and with nothing on the spread of Buddhism to Europe and elsewhere outside Asian, renders the book a tantalizing glimpse of a work that has yet to be written.

[Sara · Rating 3 out of 5]

While my mind smeared over the many Sanskrit names of various sutras and authors, I did learn a few things from this quick history of Buddhism. Most encouraging to me was learning that the various different orders of Buddhists split not due to any argument over doctrine, but more over the lifestyle and rules of monks and nuns, which I think proves the practical nature of most of the Buddha's teachings. On the other hand, a lot of what I had assumed was directly from the Buddha's mouth were actually teachings and interpretations written hundreds and thousands of years later by other scholars, so really, the whole of dharma is a vast act of collaboration and constant testing by thousands of years' worth of meditators and Buddhists, which works for me, too.

[Riley V · Rating 2 out of 5]

I mean, I know more now than I did before reading the book which is good but not nearly as much as I would have thought. Extra dry even for a history book and you definitely need a decent base level of Buddhism before starting this book to get a lot out of it.

The last fifty pages where the author gives quick histories of Buddhism outside of India was the best part of this book by far.

[Rob · Rating 2 out of 5]

It's really hard to find books about the history of Buddhism and this might be because it's extremely hard to write about. There are lots of Sanskrit and Pali terms which don't have a direct translation in English and so need to be kept in their original form; there are lots of schools and philosophies that really don't go anywhere; and there is a lot of historical happenstance that doesn't really say much about the nature of Buddhism then or now.

I also think Skilton wanted to avoid the mistake of writing a teleological history, in which all the wrong ideas fell by the wayside and the great and glorious *insert contemporary Buddhist sect* way triumphed. In this he succeeded, but it was at the cost of cohesion. I think it would have been helpful to have a couple of central theses - eg. that non-duality is central to Buddhism, that the role of compassion has been diminished, etc - and then structure the book around determining the truth of those. Even if that approach wasn't taken, something was required to tie the whole thing together.

There are also problems with Skilton's writing, which at the sentence level is usually fairly clear, but which at the paragraph, chapter and book levels leaves a bit to be desired. The most obvious example is that on page 149, in the chapter on Buddhism in Sri Lanka, the book says "The form of Buddhism that Mahinda brought was apparently...." Which would be fine if we'd been talking heaps about Mahinda, but in fact he was only referred to once before in the book, in a single sentence on page 55. This is an awfully long time to expect a reader to keep a peripheral actor in their head, but such missteps are not uncommon. The book asks too much even of a serious reader.

Having said all that, Skilton deserves praise for tackling a subject few others have and he certainly helped elucidate the historical origins of Zen, which is the Buddhist faith that most interests me. This book is a tough read, but would make an excellent reference either for writing an essay or to have around when you need help remembering the details of some long-distant split.

[Five · Rating 4 out of 5]

Listened to the audiobook which is a format this book is probably not well suited for due to its density. However, I enjoy letting information percolate into my brain to be absorbed later. The parts I did pick up on were interesting. Probably best studied with a notepad to joy down terms and different figures.

[Ana King · Rating 2 out of 5]

Perhaps too concise as it just steamrolls past important distinctions.

[Abhay Nanda · Rating 4 out of 5]

The book is a well researched work. Since the author has tried to wrap the history of Buddhism in just about 200 pages the book contains a lot of information some of which is not discussed in detail and hence it could get boring. But for those who seek answer to "how a religion that originated in India travelled to different parts of the world and flourished successfully in other countries but in India", this should be a must read.

[Neal Alexander · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is largely about the doctrine (Dharma) and conduct (Vinaya) of the first centuries of Buddhism. There's relatively little about Buddhism outside India, for example Japan has just six pages. The tone is fairly academic, for example in its heavy use of Sanskrit. Some of the names of schools of Buddhism have 10 syllables or more, which I found hard to manage.

In talking about the three levels of knowledge (prajna), the author suggests that faith, in the sense of passive belief, "is alien to the Buddhist outlook". Rather, knowledge and wisdom should be developed first through reasoning, then reaching one's own conclusions through reflection, and finally deep assimilation. It's suggested that this is one reason why the Buddha was not in favour of his teachings being compiled into canonical texts. This favoured a multiplicity of doctrine and perhaps makes it difficult to find a common essence in the teaching. As well as the four noble truths and the eightfold path, there are ten precepts and ten fetters to be broken.

The author emphasises that in one form of Buddhist institution, with a given set of practices, it was possible to find people holding different doctrines. Hence orthopraxy (correct practice) was at least as important as orthodoxy (correct doctrine) and one didn't imply the other.

One aspect of Buddhism that can be superficially confusing is the variety of representations in different cultures, e.g. the "laughing Buddha" who is not the historical Buddha but may be identified with Maitreya, who may be considered a Boddhisattva, or a future Buddha.

Overall the book does a good job in explaining, as clearly as possible, a complex and disputed set of ideas while maintaining academic rigour.

[Fuzz · Rating 3 out of 5]

Libro di difficile fruizione se letto con l'idea di una lettura "di piacere"; questo libro andrebbe letto con un bloc notes sempre a portata per segnarsi l'interminabile sequenza di termini in sanscrito e pali presenti.
Il titolo di per sè non viene disatteso, ma il fatto che la storia del buddismo presentata sia concisa non riesce a renderla però più digeribile; solo i primi capitoli, che riprendono quanto storicamente accertato riguardo al Buddha, e gli ultimi capitoli relativi alla diffusione nel resto dell'Asia, risultano scorrevoli, grazie al fatto che le considerazioni teologiche non sono il fulcro del capitolo; i capitoli centrali sono invece sostanzialmente relativi solo agli avvenimenti di carattere teologico, che li rende particolarmente densi, pesanti e difficili da fruire dato la quantità di testo in sanscrito e palsi.

[Lucas Miller · Rating 4 out of 5]

Great intro text. Moves very quickly. I needed to consult other reference works to get a lot of the descriptions straight. Focused on the first section focused on the development of Buddhism in India, but the brief vignettes of Buddhism beyond India were illuminating. I often wished for more detailed descriptions, but that would require additional volumes.

[NeeL · Rating 3 out of 5]

When I picked this book, I had a different outcome in mind; something that sticks by me after the book, something more story-like, more emphasis on certain characters. However, the book did deliver what it says in its name 'a concise history of Buddhism'.

Only I am to blame for my expectations, as the teaching of the Buddha Sakyamuni goes... expectations (desires) are the root of all suffering.

[Joseph Wickland · Rating 3 out of 5]

Solid book but too surface level

[Tony Gualtieri · Rating 5 out of 5]

I found this short book to be quite useful in disentangling the various threads of contemporary Buddhism, even though the history stops short of the 20th century. For example, I've always been troubled by the division between the so-called "lesser" and "greater" vehicles (Hinayana and Mahayana). Why would someone claim to follow something lesser? What is made clear here is that, in the most common usage, these terms arise in the Mahayana tradition and a follower of the Hinayana would be more likely to identify as a follower of any number of schools founded before the Perfection of Wisdom sutras (an interesting exception is in Nepal, where the two vehicles are considered stages on the path to enlightenment).

Along with a thorough examination of Buddhism's development in India, the book does a nice job summarizing the characteristics of Buddhism outside of India and why the religion based in South-East Asia has a different flavor than that of Tibet, China, or Japan. My one complaint is that the text could use a glossary, as it tends to be liberally sprinkled with arcane terms that are only defined on their first appearance.

[Volodymyr · Rating 4 out of 5]

More history of Buddhism as an evolution of concepts (explained in a good dense form, which makes it a nice introduction book), and not as calendar events, but it would be better to see more historical records.

[Chad Kohalyk · Rating 4 out of 5]

After reading about 2 dozen books from various traditions of Buddhism, this was just the book I needed to tie it all together. Very fast-paced, but something I feel I can go back to to review certain chapters when I need to just get the bones of a particular period/tradition.

[dorje raf · Rating 5 out of 5]

A Concise History of Buddhism is a need to read if you have just started in any form of Buddhism. This entails the major schisms, the major folds of Buddhism and so much more. This is very needed for the Buddhist who is mostly "secular" as even that is based on a historical nexus.

[Jason Pym · Rating 2 out of 5]

For a 'concise' history this could have done with historical overviews, summaries, themes, instead it just plunges into the minutiae. I couldn't follow the thread of what happened when, let alone the why.

[Steve · Rating 4 out of 5]

Concise is right, it skims along without too much explication. An interesting book to get an overview.

[Andrea · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a very dense history of Buddhism. While it contains a LOT of information it is very well organized. Please note that the author addresses the history of Buddhism in India.

[Gcardoso · Rating 4 out of 5]

Boa bibliografia.

[Jessica Zu · Rating 5 out of 5]

it’s an awesome reference book ... some of the info is dated nooww.... but

[Luke Stevens · Rating 3 out of 5]

A good primer for delving deeper into Buddhist history !!