Description: There is no dearth of books and monographs on Indian Buddhism but a related account of the rise, development of Buddhism and its decline has not been attempted. The present work is a modest contribution in this direction. It provides an indepth study of Indian Buddhism and traces its history, development and decline and places it in proper perspective. Divided into fourteen chapters covering three major themes: introduction, progress and decline of Buddhism, the book discusses its various stages. It based mainly on primary source's, focusses attention on different aspects of Buddhism that helped it to rise and to reach at the zenith of its glory.

Comprises some articles from previously published sources and a lecture.

Enlightenment in Dispute is the first comprehensive study of the revival of Chan Buddhism in seventeenth-century China. Focusing on the evolution of a series of controversies about Chan enlightenment, Jiang Wu describes the process by which Chan reemerged as the most prominent Buddhist establishment of the time. He investigates the development of Chan Buddhism in the seventeenth century, focusing on controversies involving issues such as correct practice and lines of lineage. In this way, he shows how the Chan revival reshaped Chinese Buddhism in late imperial China. Situating these controversies alongside major events of the fateful Ming-Qing transition, Wu shows how the rise and fall of Chan Buddhism was conditioned by social changes in the seventeenth century.

Whereas in the open society traders, landowners and 'tribals' coexisted, from Gupta times onwards pressure on kings and direct Brahmanical rule led to the requistions of the land and the impositions of a varna state society.

The Buddha and His Dhamma was B.R. Ambedkar's last work. Published posthumously, it presented a radical reorientation of Buddhist thought and literature, aptly called navayana. It deals with Ambedkar's conceptualization of Buddhism and the possibilities it offered for liberation and upliftment of the Dalits. It presents his reflections on the life of the Buddha, his teachings, and the spread of Buddhism by interweaving anecdotes with detailed analyses of the religion's basic tenets. The author also includes important elements of the Buddhist canon and tradition to make the teachings more accessible. In the first critical and annotated edition of this work, the editors address the on-going debate on Ambedkar's interpretation of the Buddha's dhamma by focusing on the accuracy of his citations and providing missing sources. They also discuss Ambedkar's modification of source materials. The introduction contextualizes the scholarly work related to the text.