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What the Buddha Taught

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What the Buddha Taught

By: Walpola Sri Rahula
Narrated by: Taradasa
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About this listen

Long regarded as one of the best introductions to Buddhism, What the Buddha Taught draws on the actual words spoken by the Buddha to give a lucid and accurate account of the fundamental principles of Buddhist doctrine. Richly supported by extracts from the ancient texts, Walpola Rahula gives clear and direct explanations of Buddhism's essential teachings including:

  • the Buddhist attitude of mind
  • the Four Noble Truths
  • The Noble Eightfold Path
  • meditation and mental development
  • what the Buddha taught and the world today.

What the Buddha Taught also features an illustrative selection of texts from the Suttas and the Dhammapada. The Venerable Dr Walpola Sri Rahula was a Buddhist monk and scholar. He received a traditional training and education in his native Sri Lanka before studying at the University of Calcutta and the Sorbonne. He held a chair at Northwestern University, Illinois, and was Vice-Chancellor of Vidyodaya University, Colombo. He was widely regarded as one of the most qualified and enlightened scholars of the Buddhist tradition with a deep knowledge of the original texts.

©1959 The Estate of Walpola Sri Rahula (P)2016 Dharma Audiobooks Buddhism Meditation

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Critic reviews

"By far the best introduction to Buddhism available." (Professor R. F. Gombrich, Boden Professor of Sanskrit, University of Oxford)
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An interesting book, there was a lot of words that I didn’t understand, some were explained while others were not. The reader took a bit of getting used to but after a while I enjoyed his performance.

Meditation

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Narrator was excellent. The content was delivered in a meaningful and illuminated way. Thank you.

Easy for beginners to enjoy

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I liked that it drew from primary sources and showed what Buddha taught as opposed to how Buddhism is interpreted and practiced, particularly in the West.

People from other religious backgrounds need to brace themselves for their beliefs to be summarily dismissed. However it can work both ways and I was not convinced by the arguments presented.

Drawn from primary sources

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Well read and a good text selection allthough sometimes irritatingly repetitive in a probably very authentic way :-) I have nothing to compare it with, but I feel well informed and do not think I need other supplementing books. I may hear this one a few times more.

To me an exelent first book on this subject.

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I thoroughly enjoyed this well-read text. The narrator has a calm peaceful voice that enhances the text. Whilst there are a few mispronounciations of pali words and names of historical characters, this doesn't detract from the author's beautifllly presented, epic work. this id a highly recommended introduction to Buddhism, a way of life that distills many complex texts into an easy to understand reference book. It is worth listening to many times.

Beautiful introduction to Buddhism

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