Following the story of the historical Buddha`s life on earth, to each of the eight places of traditional pilgrimage, which are hallowed by the Buddha`s Birth, Enlightenment, Decease and other significant events. Other sites, which are important in the story of Gautama Buddha and have been rediscovered in recent years, are also described, and the author suggests where a search should be made for those that still remain hidden. He also discusses the problems that arose when attempts were made, little more than a hundred years ago, to identify these places in the light of the descriptions by Chinese pilgrims that have come down to us. He reveals the errors of that time, which have been rectified in the light of more recent evidence. This is a personal journey by a well-known travel-writer, whose lifelong interest in Buddhism leads him to present his own picture of the origin and development of the faith and to propose answers to questions that are still unresolved. The author has also provided an original plan for each of the sites visited as well as a full description of the place, and the book is illustrated by the author`s own photographs.

This is the first comprehensive study of all the major and many of the minor routes, The book also examines how the practice of circulatory pilgrimage developed among the shrines and temples for the Seven Gods of Good Fortune, and beyond them to the rather different world of Shintō.

This volume focuses on Buddhism and Jainism, two religions which, together with Hinduism, constitute the three pillars of Indic religious tradition in its classical formulation. It explores their history and relates how the Vedic period in the history of Hinduism drew to a close around the sixth century BCE and how its gradual etiolation gave rise to a number of religious movements. While some of these remained within the fold of the Vedic traditions, others arose in a context of a more ambiguous relationship between the two. Two of these have survived to the present day as Buddhism and Jainism. The volume describes the major role Buddhism played in the history not only of India but of Asia, and now the world as well, and the more confined role of Jainism in India until relatively recent times. It examines the followers of these religions and their influence on the Indian religious landscape. In addition, it depicts the transformative effect on existing traditions of the encounter of Hinduism with these two religions, as well as the fertile interaction between the three. The book shows how Buddhism and Jainism share the basic concepts of karma, rebirth, and liberation with Hinduism while giving them their own hue, and how they differ from the Hindu tradition in their understanding of the role of the Vedas, the “caste system,” and ritualism in religious life. The volume contributes to the debate on whether the proper way of describing the relationship between the three major components of the classical Indic tradition is to treat them as siblings (sometimes as even exhibiting sibling rivalry), or as friends (sometimes even exhibiting schadenfreude), or as radical alternatives to one another, or all of these at different points in time.