Henry's Reviews > What the Buddha Taught

Finished Reading What the Buddha Taught (Original English Version)

I read the Chinese version of Ven. Walpola Rahula’s What the Buddha Taught for several times. I have to say the translation is just perfect, by a Taiwan-based Chinese Buddhist scholar, Mr. Gu Fa-Yan. Today I just finished reading the book in its original English version for the first time. Nothing is like the original? I don’t know in this case, cuz it’s been really tough to me. It was written in a scholastic British style. Too many words I haven’t seen before are there along with some usage I’m not familiar with. Reading the Chinese translation may give a Chinese reader more, IMHO, if he is familiar with those common Buddhist terms.

Maybe I should read it one more time in the future? Maybe, but not now, cuz I have a long bibliography to spend time with.

It’s worth to mention that this book “What the Buddha Taught” has helped me so much in understanding Buddhadharma, since Year 2001 when I obtained the Chinese version from a colleague who, a Taiwanese Chinese, is a devoted Theravada Buddhist and believes only Theravada Buddhism is authentic. This kind of folks tend to look at things in a scholastic way. One of things he said was given the resemblance of religious signs, images and status on two sides of the Himalayas, Tibetan Buddhism just copied from Hinduism. That is too bold an opinion which I would never agree upon. Buddhism has a single aim: removing suffering. Whatever can help reach that goal is considered Buddhism, even if it appears anti-Buddhist superficially, let alone a Buddhist school like Mahayana and Vajrayana who follow Buddha’s path.

Mahayana needs Therevada, and Vajrayana needs both Mahayana and Theravada. There’s NO ONE SINGLE Vajrayana practitioner who doesn’t consider himself a Mahayanist. Therefore, everything carried and taught by Theravada is honored by Vajrayana Buddhists. Actually, when asked where to start in learning Buddhism by a Chinese disciple, my root guru Dzongsar Jamyang Khyentse Rinpoche referred to Theravada! (He did so when that student didn’t feel quite connected to Pure Land, the popular and predominant Mahayana school in China).

This book, written by a learned and reputable Sri Lankan master who spent many years studying and doing research in Western world, has served as one of my Buddhist bibles. Each time a friend showed me his/her interest in learning Buddhism, I recommended it to him/her. People with higher education background just can’t feel contented by the Pure land way of chanting Amitabha as the major practice. They want to and are able to learn more.

Buddhism is not a religion. It’s a philosophy. It doesn’t promote any superstition, but talks truth and way leading to ultimate truth. Bhante Walpola Rahula’s book of this introduces readers the core values of Buddhism in a way that suits those educated people. It reveals the true face of Buddhism. As a Theravada monk, he has successfully avoided putting too much mythology into the book, making it a book of rationality and reasoning.

I was so happy to know that my guru Dzongsar Khyentse Rinpoche included this book in this bibliography for his students. I believe EACH Buddhist MUST read this book.

Some more introduction about the Chinese translator Gu Fa-Yan (顧法嚴). He is a colleague of prominent Chinese Buddhist scholar Dr. Chang Cheng-Chi (張澄基), in Buddhist Translation Society founded by Mr. Chang. The society has translated quite some Buddhist works published in the West from original English version to Chinese. Actually Dr. Chang wrote the preface for the Chinese version of What the Buddha Taught.