Armed with his rigorous examination of the canonical records, respected scholar-monk Bhikkhu Analayo explores - and sharply criticizes - four examples of what he terms "superiority conceit" in Buddhism:

• the androcentric tendency to prevent women from occupying leadership roles, be these as fully ordained monastics or as advanced bodhisattvas
• the Mahayana notion that those who don't aspire to become bodhisattvas are inferior practitioners
• the Theravada belief that theirs is the most original expression of the Buddha's teaching
• the Secular Buddhist claim to understand the teachings of the Buddha more accurately than traditionally practicing Buddhists

Ven. Analayo challenges the scriptural basis for these conceits and points out that adhering to such notions of superiority is not, after all, conducive to practice. "It is by diminishing ego, letting go of arrogance, and abandoning conceit that one becomes a better Buddhist," he reminds us, "no matter what tradition one may follow."

Thoroughly researched, Superiority Conceit in Buddhist Traditions provides an accessible approach to these conceits as academic subjects. Readers will find it not only challenges their own intellectual understandings but also improves their personal practice.
Superiority Conceit in Buddhist Traditions: A Historical Perspective, Bhikkhu Analayo, Wisdom Publications, Hardcover, 2021, 184 pp, $24.95

Bhikkhu Analayo is a bhikkhu (Buddhist monk), scholar, and meditation teacher. He was born in Germany in 1962 and went forth in 1995 in Sri Lanka. He is best known for his comparative studies of early Buddhist texts as preserved by the various early Buddhist traditions.

CONTENTS: Superiority Conceit in Buddhist Traditions
Acknowledgments			xi
Foreword			xiii
Introduction			1
I.	Buddhist Androcentricism		5
	Introduction		5
	1.	Nuns	6
	2.	Decline and Revival	8
	3.	The Legal Problem	10
	4.	A Legal Solution	11
	5.	Apprehensions	14
	6.	The Prediction of Decline	16
	7.	Problems with the Prediction of Decline	18
	8.	After the Buddha's Demise	20
	9.	The Buddha's Refusal	22
	10.	Narrative Strategies of Devaluation	23
	11.	Ancient Roots of Misogyny	25
	12.	Positive Images of Women	28
	13.	The Buddha as a Male	32
	14.	Only Males Become Buddhas	33
	15.	The Buddha's Past Lives as a Male	34
	Summary		36
II.	Mahayana Buddhism		41
	Introduction		41
	1.	The Conception of the Buddha's Marks	42
	2.	The Role of the Buddha's Mark	45
	3.	Past and Future Buddhas	46
	4.	Maitreya and Kassapa Buddha	49
	5.	The Buddha Gotama's Motivation	52
	6.	Changing Conceptions of Compassion	53
	7.	Burning for the Buddha	55
	8.	The Superiority of Bodhisattvas	56
	9.	The Luminous Mind	59
	10.	The Need for Authentication	61
	11.	Hinayana Rhetoric	63
	12.	The Superiority of the Mahayana	65
	13.	Superior among Superiors	67
	14.	In Defence of the Mahayana	68
	Summary		70
III.	Theravada Buddhism		73
	Introduction		73
	1.	Theravada	74
	2.	Pali	76
	3.	The Bodhisattva Ideal	78
	4.	The Buddha's Omniscience	80
	5.	Authenticating the Abhidharma	82
	6.	The Five Aggregates and Mindfulness	84
	7.	Mindfulness of Breathing	85
	8.	The Divine Abodes	86
	9.	Dependent Arising	88
	10.	Momentariness	89
	11.	Dukkha	91
	12.	Not Self	92
	13.	Clinging and Awakening	94
	14.	The Stages of Purification and Awakening	95
	15.	Insight Meditation	97
	16.	Absorption	99
	Summary		101
IV.	Secular Buddhism		105
	Introduction		105
	1.	The Colonial Heritage	106
	2.	The Construction of Buddhism	108
	3.	Buddh-ism	113
	4.	Monasticism	115
	5.	The Buddha	117
	6.	Awakening	121
	7.	Nirvana	122
	8.	Rebirth	123
	9.	The Four Noble Truths	126
	10.	The Notion of Truth	130
	11.	Subjective Belief	132
	12.	Methodology	134
	Summary		137
Conclusions			139
Bibliography			141
Image Credits			153
Index			155
About the Author			163