In What the Buddha Thought, Richard Gombrich argues that the Buddha
was one of the most brilliant and original thinkers of all time.
Intended to serve as an introduction to the Buddhas thought, and hence
even to Buddhism itself, the book also has larger aims: it argues that
we can know far more about the Buddha than it is fashionable among
scholars to admit, and that his thought has a greater coherence than is
usually recognised. It contains much new material. Interpreters both
ancient and modern have taken little account of the historical context
of the Buddhas teachings; but by relating them to early brahminical
texts, and also to ancient Jainism, Gombrich gives a much richer picture
of the Buddhas meaning, especially when his satire and irony are
appreciated. Incidentally, since many of the Buddhas allusions can only
be traced in the Pali versions of surviving texts, the book establishes
the importance of the Pali Canon as evidence. The book contains much new
material. The author stresses the Buddhas capacity for abstraction:
though he made extensive use of metaphor, he did not found his arguments
upon it, as earlier thinkers had done. He ethicized and radically
reinterpreted older ideas of karma (human action) and rebirth.
Similarly, building on older texts, he argued for the fundamental
importance of love and compassion, and analysed fire as a process which
could stand as a model for every component of conscious experience.
Morally, the Buddhas theory of karma provided a principle of
individuation and asserted each individuals responsibility for his own
destiny. To make the book completely accessible to the general reader,
the author provides an introductory section of Background Information,
for easy reference.
