The Buddha and His Dhamma
| Author | Dr. B. R. Ambedkar |
|---|---|
| Country | India |
| Language | English |
| Genre | Buddhism |
| Publisher | Siddhartha College Publications, Mumbai |
|
Publication date
|
1957 |
| Pages | 599 |
| Followed by | Dr. Babasheb Ambedkar, writings and speeches, v. 12. Unpublished writings ; Ancient Indian commerce ; Notes on laws ; Waiting for a visa ; Miscellaneous notes, etc. |
The Buddha and His Dhamma, a treatise on Buddha's life and Buddhism, was the last work of Indian statesman and scholar B. R. Ambedkar. The book is treated as a holy text by Indian Buddhists. It was first published in 1957 after Ambedkar's death on 6 December 1956.
It was again Published in 1979 by the Education Department of the Government of Maharashtra as the eleventh volume of Ambedkar's collected writings and speeches, with a list of sources and an index.
Written in English, the book has been translated to many languages including Hindi, Gujarati,Telugu, Tamil, Marathi, Malayalam, and Kannada.
Dr. B. R. Ambedkar mentioned that it is one of the three books which will form a set for the proper understanding of Buddhism. The other books are: (i) Buddha and Karl Marx; and (ii) Revolution and Counter-Revolution in Ancient India.
While explaining the purpose of writing the book Ambedkar writes:
The urge to write this book has a different origin. In 1951 the Editor of the Mahabodhi Society's Journal of Calcutta asked me to write an article for the Vaishak Number. In that article I argued that the Buddha's Religion was the only religion which a society awakened by science could accept, and without which it would perish. I also pointed out that for the modern world Buddhism was the only religion which it must have to save itself. That Buddhism makes [a] slow advance is due to the fact that its literature is so vast that no one can read the whole of it. That it has no such thing as a bible, as the Christians have, is its greatest handicap. On the publication of this article, I received many calls, written and oral, to write such a book. It is in response to these calls that I have undertaken the task.
The book is written as an answer to the questions the modern students of Buddhism face. In the introduction, the author lists out the four questions:
The first problem relates to the main event in the life of the Buddha, namely, Parivraja. Why did the Buddha take Parivraja? The traditional answer is that he took Parivraja because he saw a dead person, a sick person and an old person. This answer is absurd on the face of it. The Buddha took Parivraja at the age of 29. If he took Parivraja as a result of these three sights, how is it he did not see these three sights earlier? These are common events occurring by hundreds, and the Buddha could not have failed to come across them earlier. It is impossible to accept the traditional explanation that this was the first time he saw them. The explanation is not plausible and does not appeal to reason. But if this is not the answer to the question, what is the real answer?
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