[kullukid]

Hi, Just finished reading yet another amazing book by one of Indias top historian come storytellers Charles Allen called "The Buddha & the sahibs" where I was amazed to find out that up until around 1800 "the british" were not even aware that Buddha had existed in India or anywhere else for that matter. It was only when british employees of "john company" started digging around & doing surveys that they discovered places like Sarnath, Bodh Gaya, Sanchi & caves of Ajanta etc. It was the mid 1800's before anyone (british) peiced all this info together & concluded that there had been a major religion in India called Buddhism.    kk

[vistet]

Well , as you point out : there is a  difference between existing and being esttablished in Western perception. The British constructed their view of Buddhism using a text and artifact based view which gave them the opportunity to define the "true" version , untainted by by additions from actual living persons who could challenge their views.
Another perspective to how Buddhism came in to the western mind is "The British Discovery of Buddhism" by Philip Almond.

I´m not saying this to diss Allens book (it´s on my bookshelf )or the work of "Oriental" Jones and other British scholars. The archeological work was also linked to revitalising Buddhist traditions, not only in India, and later the formation of the Mahabodhi Society, which tied together Indians, Tibetans like Gedun Chöpel and Westerners.

[susanj]

Hi Kullukid

Reckon your the person to recommend something instantly readable and easy for my flight to Delhi and then bus ride upto MG. Where are you? hope youre having fun.

Counting down the weeks now. Susanj  

kullukid, on May 4 2006, 01:21 PM, said:

Hi, Just finished reading yet another amazing book by one of Indias top historian come storytellers Charles Allen called "The Buddha & the sahibs" where I was amazed to find out that up until around 1800 "the british" were not even aware that Buddha had existed in India or anywhere else for that matter. It was only when british employees of "john company" started digging around & doing surveys that they discovered places like Sarnath, Bodh Gaya, Sanchi & caves of Ajanta etc. It was the mid 1800's before anyone (british) peiced all this info together & concluded that there had been a major religion in India called Buddhism.    kk

[kullukid]

susanj, on Jan 14 2007, 04:28 PM, said:

Hi Kullukid

Reckon your the person to recommend something instantly readable and easy for my flight to Delhi and then bus ride upto MG. Where are you? hope youre having fun.

Counting down the weeks now. Susanj  

Hi Susan, i'm back in Luvvly Leeds? If you haven't read "Tibets Great Yogi Milarepa" yet then i think that would be a very good choice, other alternatives are "With Mystics & Magicians In Tibet" & "My Journey To Lhasa" both by Alexandra David Neel or "The Way Of The White Clouds" by Lama Govinda Anagarika. You should find all these online if you Google the titles, if not let me know & i'll suggest some others. Happy reads! KK