We have come to admire Buddhism for being profound but accessible, as much a lifestyle as a religion. The credit for creating Buddhism goes to the Buddha, a figure widely respected across the Western world for his philosophical insight, his teachings of nonviolence, and his practice of meditation. But who was this Buddha, and how did he become the Buddha we know and love today?





Leading historian of Buddhism Donald S. Lopez Jr. tells the story of how various idols carved in stone -- variously named Beddou, Codam, Xaca, and Fo -- became the man of flesh and blood that we know simply as the Buddha. He reveals that the positive view of the Buddha in Europe and America is rather recent, originating a little more than a hundred and fifty years ago. For centuries, the Buddha was condemned by Western writers as the most dangerous idol of the Orient. He was a demon, the murderer of his mother, a purveyor of idolatry.





Lopez provides an engaging history of depictions of the Buddha from classical accounts and medieval stories to the testimonies of European travelers, diplomats, soldiers, and missionaries. He shows that centuries of hostility toward the Buddha changed dramatically in the nineteenth century, when the teachings of the Buddha, having disappeared from India by the fourteenth century, were read by European scholars newly proficient in Asian languages. At the same time, the traditional view of the Buddha persisted in Asia, where he was revered as much for his supernatural powers as for his philosophical insights. From Stone to Flesh follows the twists and turns of these Eastern and Western notions of the Buddha, leading finally to his triumph as the founder of a world religion.

• We started tracking this book on May 2, 2013.
• This book was $9.90 when we started tracking it.
• The price of this book has changed 114 times in the past 4,505 days.
• The current price of this book is $3.99 last checked one day ago.
• This book is at its lowest price in the past six months.
• This lowest price this book has been offered at in the past year is $2.99.
• The lowest price to date was $0.75 last reached on July 20, 2024.
• This book has been $0.75 one time since we started tracking it.
• The highest price to date was $21.52 last reached on August 11, 2016.
• This book has been $21.52 one time since we started tracking it.

• HistoryAsiaIndia

• Text-to-Speech: Disabled
• Lending: Disabled
• Print Length: 302 Pages
• File Size: 23 KB