A Short History of Buddhism

Reviewed by Eric Glasgow

Contemporary Review

Vol.264 No.1536

1994.01

Pp.51-53

Copyright by Contemporary Review Company Ltd.

            Studies in Comparative Religion in Oxford are heavily dependent upon 
            the 'J. Estlin Carpenter' Collecton at Manchester College (chiefly 
            donated between 1921 and 1927) and the works donated to Lady 
            Margaret Hall in 1946, in memory of J. G. Jennings (1866-1941). Both 
            of these invaluable archives are rich in materials about Buddhism, 
            whose common ground with Christianity -- particularly its tenets of 
            pacifism, reverence for life, meditation, and monasticism -- has 
            over the last half-century been increasingly recognized, despite (or 
            perhaps because of) the consumerism of the contemporary societies of 
            the West. We have largely inherited from the nineteenth century our 
            Western understandings of Buddhism -- for example, from the poet and 
            orientalist, Sir Edwin Arnold (1832-1904), author of the pioneering 
            work The Light of Asia (1879) -- but it is widely acknowledged now 
            that before 1945, and the end of the Second World War, what we knew 
            in England about Buddhism was not only too academic, but it also 
            involved frequent misunderstandings about Buddhist terminology, 
            which lost a lot in its various translations. The atomic 
            catastrophes of Hiroshima and Nagasaki in 1945, releasing 
            indescribable death and destruction, led to a revival of Buddhism in 
            Japan, organized by the influential 'Soka Gakkai', led by a 
            'muscular Buddhist' named Daisaku Ikeda. This movement for 
            reconciliation between East and West, based in Japan, was well 
            supported by the learning of the historian, Arnold Toynbee 
            (1889-1975), who visited Japan to lecture in Kyoto and Tokyo on two 
            separate occasions: in 1956 and 1967. Japanese Buddhism, in 
            particular, has thus been publicized in the West: a curious benefit, 
            arising out of the horrors of war. But Buddhist 'Enlightenment' in 
            general -- whether emanating territorially from Japan, Tibet, or 
            Ceylon -- has, since 1945, spread quite remarkably in the West, 
            fostered by such books about it as that of the English barrister, 
            Christmas Humphreys. It seems to have found favour in the West, in 
            proportion as the West has lost its spiritual bearings, obsessed by 
            materialism and by commercial competition, much as in Asia the 
            pressures on Buddhism have been those of Marxism and of Communism. 
            At any rate, the West in recent years has accepted, more than ever 
            before, the religious insights of the East; and Buddhism is by far 
            the most important and conspicuous of these. Although we have in 
            English a rich diversity of rather learned books about Buddhism, we 
            have hitherto lacked a brief, up-to-date and lucid description of 
            Buddhism for our Western purposes and insights. This is invaluable, 
            in order to deepen spirituality of any sort; and whether in West or 
            East. Edward Conze is no stranger to professed British students of 
            Buddhism: books by him on the subject have been coming out since the 
            1950s. The work now under review is a convenient and most readable 
            summary of this distinguished author's lifetime of knowledge and 
            perception on the subject. 
            Perhaps its most remarkable feature is its easy combination of 
            history and doctrine about Buddhism, minimizing the complexities of 
            schism and division of the true Buddhist legacy. So we may find here 
            in potted but reliable form an historical tradition, which is even 
            older than that of Christianity. Buddhism in Asia has so far 
            persisted for about 2,500 years; although during that long period it 
            has undergone profound and radical changes. Within the twentieth 
            century, especially, it has stood up to driving forces of modernity, 
            which have tested to the fullest its spiritual resources, and yet, 
            for the most part, these have not been found wanting: as in Tibet 
            under Communist China, or in Ceylon under the threat of Hindu 
            aggression from the Tamils. 
            As the strongholds of Buddhism have been destroyed one by one in 
            Asia, Buddhism seems to have been re-invigorated in the West. Even 
            Western Capitalism has become receptive to it. Comparative religion, 
            within the Christian ethos, has also fostered its study and 
            appreciation. Active Buddhist societies have sprung up in many 
            Western countries, including Britain. Buddhist influences in Europe 
            today exist on various levels: the academic, the philosophical, and 
            the popular. It must be chiefly for the popular that Edward Conze 
            has written this wholly admirable and highly instructive little 
            book. Its small size disguises alike its profound learning and its 
            comprehensive coverage. It certainly deserves a wide and observant 
            readership in Britain, and it helps greatly to elucidate for British 
            readers what may still seem to be rather a difficult and erudite 
            subject.