Buddhism in Practice

This is but one book in a series. The Religions in Practice series covers Buddhism, Tantra, Religion in China, Japan, Tibet, etc. This book provides a scholarly presentation of a diverse body of Asian religious traditions. Anyone who has spent time learning about Buddhism in Asia will find this book, and other books in this series, infinitely valuable to gaining a good foot hold on Buddhist traditions. However, many who have never had contact with a Buddhist tradition in practice (i.e. outside of books written by misinformed westerners) may find it lacking in mystique. I enjoyed every minute of these books in this series. This one especially. It covers a lot of ground and provides the reader with a knowledge base that is not easily grasped in one book. Anyone seriously interested in the academic study of Buddhism will find this book valuable.

This book lives up to its title in that it is an excellent introduction to the ways Buddhism is actually practiced. However, readers looking for an introduction to Buddhist philosophy should start somewhere else. Lopez seems to take for granted that readers know about the basic precepts of Buddhism, and spends his time in this book expounding on how different sects put those precepts into practice. If someone reads this before developing a familiarity with the beautiful philosophical side of Buddhism, he or she runs the risk of coming away dissilusioned and thinking that Buddhism is too steeped in religiosity and obsession with ritual to have much philosophical merit.