“This book proposes a radical and new understanding of the Buddha’s path to awakening (based on a detailed analysis of the earliest textual sources available to us) that will undoubtedly prove provocative and controversial. It will certainly generate much discussion in scholarly circles, within Buddhist communities, and among those interested in understanding the Buddha’s teaching and engaging in its practice.”

“This book is the culmination of fifty years of Roderick Bucknell’s Buddhist studies scholarship, in which he has explored issues in the nature of the path of practice in early Buddhism, especially by comparing a range of parallel texts in Pali and Chinese. The work is clear, informative, well written, and well referenced. It contains illuminating analyses of details of the Buddhist path – and of how they relate together, and evolved in different forms – in the first few centuries of Buddhism. It is thought-provoking and thus includes controversial aspects with which other scholars may not agree. It will prompt deeper thought on the nature of the path of Buddhist practice and be of great interest both to scholars of Buddhist studies and to Buddhist meditators.”