Early Buddhism—Articles

Early Buddhism—Articles

Although the Thai Forest Tradition is a relatively recent development in the history of Buddhism, roughly dating from the beginning of the 20th century, it strives to recreate an imagined lifestyle of early Buddhism. The Pāḷi Canon of Theravāda Buddhism, as the earliest complete corpus of suttas, has become, therefore, the foundation of the practice.

Scholars have devoted considerable time to investigating what might be known about pre-sectarian and early schools of Buddhism. Our webpage on Buddhology provides easy access to searchable tables of the following academic journals of Buddhist studies:

• Journal of Internationational Buddhist Studies
• Buddhist Studies Review—Journal of the UK Association for Buddhist Studies
• Journal of Buddhist Ethics
• Journal of Global Buddhism
• Journal of Pāḷi Text Society

An absolutely wonderful resource is the website Handful of Leaves. Here is a selection of a few of the writings on Early Buddhism, which are accessible as PDF files (via the website’s Resources Page):

• Library (alphabetical by title)
  • Buddhology
    • Ascetic Figures Before and in Early Buddhism: The Emergence of Gautama as the Buddha, by Martin G. Wiltshire
    • Bones, Stones, and Buddhist Monks: Collected Papers on the Archaeology, Epigraphy, and Texts of Monastic Buddhism in India, by Gregory Schopen
    • Early Buddhist Monachism (600 B.C. – 100 B.C.), by Sukumar Dutt
    • History of Buddhism in Ceylon: The Anurādhapura Period, 3rd Century BC – 10th Century AC, by Walpola Rahula
    • How Buddhism Began, by Richard F.Gombrich
    • Studies in the Origins of Buddhism, by Govind Chandra Pande
    • The Earliest Vinaya and the Beginnings of Buddhist Literature, by E. Frauwallner
    • The Fundamental Teachings of Early Buddhism, by Choong Mun-keat (Wei-keat)
    • The Spread of Buddhism, by Ann Heirman and Stephan Peter Bumbacher (Editors) – Handbook of Oriental Studies (Handbuch der Orientalistik) Section Eight: Central Asia, Vol. 16
    • What the Buddha Taught, by Walpola Rahula
    • What the Buddha Thought, by Richard Gombrich
    • Yasodharā, the Wife of the Bōdhisattva: The Sinhala Yasodharāvata (The Story of Yasodharā) And the Sinhala Yasodharāpadānaya (The Sacred Biography of Yasodharā), by Ranjini Obeyesekere (Translation & Notes)
  • Studies in Early Buddhist Meditation
    • Mindfulness in Early Buddhism, by Tse-fu Kuan
    • On Being Mindless: Buddhist Meditation and the Mind-Body Problem, by Paul J. Griffiths
    • Samatha-yāna and Vipassanā-yāna, by L.S. Cousins
    • Satipaṭṭhāna: The Direct Path to Realization, by Anālayo
    • Secrets of the Lotus: Studies in Buddhist Meditation, by Donald. K. Swearer
    • Buddhist Path to Awakening, by Rupert Gethin
    • The Ideas and Meditative Practices of Early Buddhism, by Tilmann Vetter
    • The Origin of Buddhist Meditation, by Alexande Wynne
    • The Origin of Insight Meditation, by L.S. Cousins
  • Early Buddhist Epistemology
    • A Companion to Buddhist Philosophy, by Steven M. Emmanuel (editor)
    • Concept and Reality in Early Buddhist Thought: An Essay on Papañca and Papañca-Saññā-Saṅkhā, by Bhikkhu Kaṭukurunde Ñāṇananda
    • Cross Currents in Early Buddhism, by S.N. Dube
    • Earliest Buddhism and Madhyamaka; (Series) Panels of the VIIth World Sanskrit Conference – Kern Institute, Leiden: August 23-29, 1987 Vol. II, by David Seyfort Ruegg & Lambert Schmithausen (Editors)
    • Early Buddhist Metaphysics: The Making of a Philosophical Tradition, by Noa Ronkin
    • Early Buddhist Theory of Knowledge, by K.N. Jayatilleke
    • Identity and Experience: The Consitiution of the Human Being According to Early Buddhism, by Sue Hamilton
    • Knowledge as Salvation: A Study in Early Buddhism, by Donald Swearer
    • Nibbāna-The Mind Stilled, (Sermon Series I-VII) by Bhikkhu Ñāṇananda
    • Principles of Buddhist Psychology, by David J. Kalupahana
    • The Buddha’s Philosophy of Language, by David J. Kalupahana
    • The Buddhist Philosophy of Thought, by Alexander Piatigorsky
    • The Concept of the Mind in Early Buddhism, by Dickwela Piyananda
    • The Selfless Mind: Personality, Consciousness and Nirvāṇa in Early Buddhism, by Peter Harvey
• Articles (alphabetical by author)
  • The Oral Composition and Transmission of Early Buddhist Texts by Mark Allon
  • Early Buddhist Meditation Studies by Bhikkhu Anālayo
  • The Genesis of the Bodhisattva Ideal by Bhikkhu Anālayo
  • The Dawn of Abidharma by Bhikkhu Anālayo
  • The Foundation History of the Nuns’ Order by Bhikkhu Anālayo
  • An Introduction to Buddhist Archaeology by Gina L. Barns
  • The Date of the Buddha Reconsidered by Heinz Bechert
  • The Development and Elaboration of the Arahant Ideal in the Theravāda Buddhist Tradition by George D. Bond
  • The Early Saṃgha and the Laity by Torkel Brekke
  • Conditioned Arising Evolves: Variation and Change in Textual Accounts of the Paṭicca-samuppāda Doctrine by Roderick S. Bucknell
  • Gleanings from a Comparative Reading of Early Canonical Buddhist and Jaina Texts by Colette Caillat
  • On the Very Idea of the Pāḷi Canon by Steven Collins
  • Pāḷi Oral Literature by Lance Selwyn Cousins
  • The Dating of the Historical Buddha: A review article by Lance Selwyn Cousins
  • The ‘Five Points’ and the Origins of the Buddhist Schools by Lance Selwyn Cousins
  • The Origins of Insight Meditation by Lance Selwyn Cousins
  • Samatha-yāna and Vipassanā-yāna by Lance Selwyn Cousins
  • He Who Sees Dhamma Sees Dhammas: Dhamma in Early Buddhism by Rupert Gethin
  • On the Practice of Buddhist Meditation According to the Pāḷi Nikāyas and Exegetical Sources by Rupert Gethin
  • Early Buddhism and the Urban Revolution by Balkrishna Govind Gokhale
  • Ancient Indian Cosmology by Richard Francis Gombrich
  • How the Mahāyāna Began by Richard Francis Gombrich
  • Reccovering the Buddha’s Message by Richard Francis Gombrich
  • The Duty of a Buddhist: according to the Pāḷi scriptures by Richard Francis Gombrich
  • The Significance of Former Buddhas in the Theravādin Tradition by Richard Francis Gombrich
  • Anattā: A Different Approach by Sue Hamilton
  • Relying on the Dharma and not the Person: Refection on Authority and Transmission in
    Buddhism and Buddhist Studies by Paul M. Harrison
  • The Mind-Body in Pāḷi Buddhism: A Philosophical Investigation by Peter Harvey
  • The Symbolism of the Early Stūpa by Peter Harvey
  • Mindfulness: Diverse Perspectives on its Meaning, Origins, and Multiple Applications at the Intersection of Science and Dharma  by Jon Kabat-Zinn
  • The Early Buddhist Notion of the Middle Path by David J. Kalupahana
  • The Notion of Suffering in Early Buddhism compared with some reflections of early Wittgenstein by David J. Kalupahana
  • The Oldest Mahāyāna Sūtra: Its significance for the study of Buddhist development by Lewis R. Lancaster
  • The Buddhist Roots of Mindfulness Training: A Practitioners View by Edel Maex
  • The Theory of ‘Dependent Origination’ in its Incipient Stage by Hajime Nakamura
  • ‘I’ without ‘I am’: On the Presence of Subjectivity in Early Buddhism, in the Light of Transcendental Phenomenology by Khristos Nizamis
  • Aspects of Early Buddhism by Kenneth Roy Norman
  • Ways of Knowing and Transmitting Religious Knowledge: Case Studies of Theravāda Buddhist Nuns by Nirmala S. Salgado
  • A New Kharoṣṭhī Inscription by Richard Salomon
  • On an Alleged Reference to Amitābha in a Kharoṣṭhī Inscription on a Gandhāran Relief by Richard Salomon
  • The Senior Manuscripts: Another Collection of Gandhāran Buddhist Scrolls by Richard Salomon
  • Early Meanings of Dependent-Origination by Eviatar Schulman
  • Nuns, Laywomen, Donors, Goddesses: Female Roles in Early Buddhism by Eviatar Schulman
  • On the Buddha’s Use of Some Brahmanical Motifs in Pāḷi Texts by Brett Shults
  • Prakrit Versus Sanskrit: A Case Study of Pāḷi (Māgadhī) and Ardhamāgadhī by Sanghasen Singh
  • Sects and Sectarianism: The Origins of Buddhist Schools by Sujato
  • Hoary Past and Hazy Memory: On the History of Early Buddhist Texts by Oskar Von Hinüber
  • Early Evidence for the ‘no self’ doctrine? A note on the second anātman teaching of the Second Sermon by Alexander Wynne
  • Miraculous Transformation and Personal Identity: A note on The First anātmanTeaching of the Second Sermon by Alexander Wynne
  • The ātman and its negation: A conceptual and chronological analysis of early Buddhist Thought by Alexander Wynne
  • The Historical Authenticity of Early Buddhist Literature: A Critical Evaluation by Alexander Wynne
  • The Oral Transmission of the Early Buddhist Literature by Alexander Wynne