What is the Dharma?: The Essential Teachings of the Buddha

by Sangharakshita

To walk in the footsteps of the Buddha we need a clear and thorough guide to the essential principles of Buddhism. Whether we have just begun our journey or are a practitioner with more experience, What is the Dharma? is an indispensable exploration of the Buddha's teachings as found in the main Buddhist traditions. Constantly returning to the question 'How can this help me?' Sangharakshita examines a variety of fundamental principles, karma and re-birth, nirvana and shunyata,conditioned co-production, impermanence, unsatisfactoriness and insubstantiality, ethics, meditation, and wisdom. The result is a refreshing, unsettling, and inspiring book that lays before us the essential Dharma, timeless and universal.

Genres: Buddhism, Religion, Spirituality, Nonfiction

272 pages, Paperback

First published August 1, 1998

About the author

Sangharakshita was born Dennis Lingwood in South London, in 1925. Largely self-educated, he developed an interest in the cultures and philosophies of the East early on, and realized that he was a Buddhist at the age of sixteen.

The Second World War took him, as a conscript, to India, where he stayed on to become the Buddhist monk Sangharakshita. After studying for some years under leading teachers from the major Buddhist traditions, he went on to teach and write extensively. He also played a key part in the revival of Buddhism in India, particularly through his work among followers of Dr B.R. Ambedkar.

After twenty years in the East, he returned to England to establish the Friends of the Western Buddhist Order in 1967, and the Western Buddhist Order in 1968 (now known as the Triratna Buddhist Community and the Triratna Buddhist Order respectively).

Sangharakshita has always particularly emphasized the decisive significance of commitment in the spiritual life, the paramount value of spiritual friendship and community, the link between religion and art, and the need for a ‘new society’ supportive of spiritual aspirations and ideas.

In recent years Sangharakshita has been handing on most of his responsibilities to his senior disciples in the Order. Based at the Adhisthana retreat centre in Herefordshire UK, he is now focusing on personal contact with people. For more, go to www.sangharakshita.org.

A collection of 27 volumes will represent the definitive edition of his life’s work as a Buddhist writer and teacher. Find out more about The Complete Works of Sangharakshita

A series of talks by Sangharakshita: ‘Launch of The Essential Sangharakshita and Living Ethically’.

Reviews

[EC · Rating 3 out of 5]

Excellent book.

[Patrick · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a comprehensive analysis of the Dharma in terms of theory, history and practice. There are many examples and interesting anecdotes but, it is 'essential' in terms of capturing the essence of the Dharma rather than being condensed in any way. Some of the terminology can be quite confusing at times but it is a resource that would definitely repay repeated readings.

[Sandeep Sudhakaran · Rating 4 out of 5]

A discursive introduction to Dharma, and there's a really strange part about flying monks

[Kaitlin Conti · Rating 5 out of 5]

Totally digestible and almost never boring.

[Tom · Rating 4 out of 5]

A good intro to Buddhist teachings which doesn't shy away from the spiritual elements of the dharma.

I found the book quite readable, the author makes conditionality and other elements of Buddhist philosophy very accessible indeed. Another nice thing is the writers voice which comes through well, not least with little anecdotes such as the one about not noticing bombs falling when meditating in London during the blitz.

There are two reasons why it gets 4 rather than 5 stars. One technical and the other personal. The technical reason is that the book doesn't seem to have a good sense of cohesion, or organisation. Perhaps if I knew more about dharma I would have seen the logical progression from one topic to the next, but the book is meant for beginners so I see the criticism as legitimate. The author didn't do an amazing job of placing me within dharma in a way I could understand. Again I am quite ignorant of the topic so doing that might not have been possible.

The personal reason for only four stars is that it is a lovely secular Buddhist book until about half way through when he mentions people being able to levitate when meditating, then later suggests that upon reaching a certain stage in meditation one is able to read minds and other supernatural things. The last chapter sounds almost biblical. As a post-Christian westerner this really turned me off, although I can hardly blame the author for that as he is being true to the subject matter.

[Juan Rivera · Rating 5 out of 5]

As the teacher comes when the student is ready, the right book comes when the reader is at the right time.

At least that it happened to me with this magnificent summary of the teachings of Buddhism.

Reading got me thinking: you can read a lot about cycling, but the only way to learn is by doing. That's my intention today on the practices of Buddhism.