Cross Currents in Early Buddhism (Second Edition)

Roughly about a century after Lord Buddha’s demise, his teachings came to be closely scrutinized, when the meanings and significance of traditional Buddhist ideas were intensely examined and diverse hypotheses advanced to elucidate and harmonize them internally within the context of Buddhist thought, as also with the ideas which were, then, current in the general intellectual milieu of the times. The present study attempts to analyze the world of thought presented in the Kath?vatthu, an important canonical text on doctrinal controversies. The tradition ascribes?it?to?the?age?of?Mauryan?Emperor?A?oka. It is indeed gratifying to place before the students of Buddhist studies a second edition of the Cross Currents in Early Buddhism. An important feature of the new edition is the addition of an exhaustive introduction to the work and a concluding chapter entitled, ‘Threshold of Mah?y?na’, which shows that its emergence was not accidental. lt was in the making for a long as reflected in the novel ideas put forth by the dissident sects like Mah?sa?ghaikas and their sub-sects. The new ideas took a definite shape, probably, not later than the close of the first century b.c. And, if its emergence is to be so placed, there is no reason why the roots may not be found earlier. Certain doctrines debated in the Kath?vatthu seem to delineate?a?bridge?between?the?H?nay?na?and?the?Mah?y?na?sects. About the Author Surendra Nath Dube (b. 1941) is a former Tagore Professor and Head of the Department of History and Indian Culture, University of Rajasthan, where he taught for 35 years. Beside several research papers, both in Indian and foreign journals, his major publications include, History of Indian Civilization and Culture (1985), Religious Movements in Rajasthan (1996), Ideas and Movements in the Age of the Mauryas (212), A History of Early Buddhism (222).