Leading Buddhist scholar Donald S. Lopez Jr. explores the origins of this 2,500-year-old religion and traces its major developments up to the present, focusing not only on the essential elements common to all schools of Buddhism, but also revealing the differences among the major traditions. Beginning with the creation and structure of the Buddhist universe, Lopez explores the life of the Buddha, the core of Buddhist tenets, and the development of monastic life and lay practices. Combining brilliant scholarship with fascinating stories, this useful and engrossing volume presents a fresh and authoritative history of Buddhism and Buddhist life. Donald S. Lopez Jr. is the Carl W.

Belser Collegiate Chair of Buddhist and Tibetan Studies at the University of Michigan. He is the author of many books on Buddhism and the editor of key religious texts by His Holiness the Dalai Lama. "[This is] the clearest book we have or are likely to have on the history, variety, and meaning of what we now call Buddhism."-Newsweek.