A History of Indian Buddhism: From Sakyamuni to Early Mahayana

A History of Indian Buddhism, the summation of a lifetime of research on Indian Buddhism, is an exceptionally comprehensive discussion of Indian Buddhism, with detailed chapters on its history, doctrine and bibliography.  The text also presents some of the debates on Indian Buddhism that have occurred in the Japanese academic community and emphasizes issues that have often been treated only in passing in India and the West.  Hirakawa’s extensive use of Chinese translations of Indian Buddhist sources and his references to Japanese studies of these works are particularly noteworthy.  Finally, the book includes an extensive bibliography of Western scholarship compiled by the translator.