I detest source books. This "document at a glance" version of literature for religious studies, English, or world history has always struck me as inherently patronizing toward students and robbing them of an opportunity to engage fully with a religious text. Well, John Strong's the Experience of Buddhism has proved nicely that I need to rethink my ideas about source books.

The major problem with early Buddhist scholarship, remnants of which are still floating around today, were to focus translation efforts on specific types of philosophical and ethical texts to the exclusion of everything else. The result was that readers and students were left with a rarified picture of a deliberately constructed Buddhism. The second major problem, which still remains today, is the enormity of the translation project. Although the use of the word canon to describe the sacred scriptures of Buddhism is somewhat problematic, if we followed that paradigm the tradition would have at least four. The languages they are written in are vastly different and roughly 98% of the largest, the Taisho, remains untranslated in any western language. This complexity makes it very difficult for secondary teachers to present a full picture of Buddhism. John Strong has done that for us. Moving across the cultures and varied languages that have encompassed Buddhism, Strong has created a source book that is not only carefully and thoughtfully planned theoretically and pedagogically, but exposes us to a much richer and fuller picture of Buddhism than has been done in the past.

The book is organized first to be either a text in its own right or to be used to supplement a reader or a more standard textbook. It is useful for either function. The book is divided into two main sections. The first section of five chapters concentrates on South Asia and thematically follows the pattern of the three refuges: the Buddha, the Sangha, the Dharma. One chapter is devoted to the "Life Story of the Buddha and Its Ramifications," one to the "Experience of the Sangha," two for the Dharma, "Nikaya Perspectives," and "Mahayana perspectives," and the last chapter to "The Mahayana Pantheon and Tantric Buddhism." Within each chapter the pattern is basically the same. Each text or portion of text is preceded by a clearly written introduction that orients the reader to the whys, wherefores, and brief summary of the text's content. This structure is very helpful in orienting the reader. Below each text is a citation from the sources John Strong used, and he lists alternative translations as well.

The second section deals with Buddhism outside of South Asia and has separate chapters devoted to Sri Lanka (Chapter 6), Tibet (Chapter 7), East Asia (Chapter 8), and Buddhism and the West (Chapter 9). Each of these chapters follows a thematic structure of dealing with nine categories of inquiry. These categories are: mythic histories, divisional issues, rituals and festivals, meditational endeavors, sacred biography, regulations and reform, interactions and syncretism, sangha and society, and women and the sangha. Teachers and students have a creative choice of reading these same categories through each culture, or they could read single or multiple categories across cultures. Once again each text within the last chapters is preceded by Strong's clear prose and very understandable explanations of textual content and context.

"The Experience of Buddhism" is supported by a good map, an excellent glossary, and a subject, text, and author index that makes accessing the material all the easier. For both secondary teachers and students the "Experience of Buddhism" works very well as reference work, complete textbook, textual support book for a wide variety of courses in Asian religions or Buddhism. I highly recommend it.

review ©1999 Tom Collins and RSiSS

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