Hans Penner takes a new look at the classic stories of the life of the Buddha. In the first part of the book, he presents a full account of these stories, drawn from various texts of Theravada Buddhism, the Buddhism of South and Southeast Asia. Penner allots one chapter to each of the major milestones in Buddha's life, with titles such as: Birth and Early Life, Flight from the Palace, Enlightenment and Liberation, Last Watch and Funeral. In the process, he brings to the fore dimensions of the myth that have been largely ignored by western scholarship. In Part II, Penner offers his own original interpretations of the legends. He takes issue with Max Weber's assertion that "Buddhism is an other-worldly ascetic religion," a point of view that remains dominant in the received tradition and in most contemporary studies of Buddhism. His central thesis is that the "householder" is a necessary element in Buddhism and that the giving of gifts, which creates merit and presupposes the doctrine of karma, mediates the relation between the householder and the monk. Penner argues that the omission of the householder - in his view one-half of what constitutes Buddhism as a religion - is fatal for any understanding of Buddha's life or of the Buddhist tradition. This boldly revisionist and deeply learned work will be of interest to a wide range of scholarly and lay readers.

Rediscovering the Buddha, Hans Penner, Oxford University Press, Hardcover, 260 Pages, $29.95

Hans H Penner is the John Philips Professor of Religion, Emeritus, at Dartmouth College. He is the author of Teaching Levi-Strauss and other books.

	Contents: Rediscovering the Buddha - Legends of the Buddha and Their Interpretation
	Part I
1.	Cosmology and the Great Declaration	5
2.	The Perfection of Giving	11
3.	The Birth and Early Life of Gotama	21
4.	Flight from the Palace	27
5.	Enlightenment and Liberation	33
6.	The Buddha Begins to Teach	39
7.	The Buddha Becomes a Wonder-Worker	49
8.	The Buddha Meets a King and Two Brilliant Ascetics	55
9.	Rules, Rules, and More Rules	59
10.	The Buddha Goes Home	65
11.	The Buddha Receives a Gift and Befriends a King	69
12.	Meeting a Murderer, a Visit Home, and a Quick Trip to Heaven	77
13.	Devadatta Attempts to Kill the Buddha	85
14.	The Buddha's Last Days	91
15.	Once the Buddha Was a Universal Monarch	101
16.	The Last Watch and the Funeral	107
	Part II
17.	The Quest for the Historical Buddha	123
18.	The Cosmological Stucture	143
19.	The Legends as Rites of Passage	161
20.	The Great Agent: Universal Monarchs and Buddhas	177
21.	The Gift, the Renouncer, and the Householder	201
	Notes	221
	Bibliography	235
	Index	239