Why read The Golden Age of Indian Buddhist Philosophy?

Book cover of The Golden Age of Indian Buddhist Philosophy

Book description

Jan Westerhoff unfolds the story of one of the richest episodes in the history of Indian thought, the development of Buddhist philosophy in the first millennium CE. He starts from the composition of the Abhidharma works before the beginning of the common era and continues up to the time of…

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Why read it?

2 authors picked The Golden Age of Indian Buddhist Philosophy as one of their favorite books. Why do they recommend it?

Mark Siderits

Author

This is simply the best available study of the Indian Buddhist philosophical tradition as a whole. It starts with the thought of the Buddha and ends with some 12th-century Buddhist thinkers who tried to synthesize the different strands that Buddhist philosophers had developed in the intervening 16 centuries. Westerhoff does a fine job of laying out all the major figures and schools in a way that makes clear how they supported their different views. His interpretations of the figures he discusses are fair and well supported.

From Mark's list on The best books on Indian Buddhist philosophy.

Graham Priest

Author

Westerhoff’s book covers much the same period as Carpenter’s, but is goes in for more textual analysis, and focuses on the the metaphysical and epistemological aspects of Indian Buddhist philosophy.

From Graham's list on The best books to learn about Buddhist philosophy.