電子書籍

What Buddhism Really Teaches: The Buddha’s Life, Core Teachings, and the Japanese Tradition (English Edition)

(著) 松岡一彦

作品詳細

[About the Book]

You live each day as best you can, yet your mind finds no rest. Anxiety and doubt linger, and you find yourself asking, “What is life?” “Why do people suffer?”
—How has Buddhism engaged with such questions?

This book offers a clear and accessible exploration of what Buddhism truly teaches, tracing the life of the Buddha and the development of his thought. Rather than presenting Buddhism as an object of faith, it introduces it as a way of understanding human suffering and the nature of the world.

It also carefully examines the Mahāyāna concept of emptiness (śūnyatā). Emptiness is not mere “nothingness,” but a way of seeing that all things arise within relationships and interdependence. This perspective can help us let go of attachments and reconsider our relationship with ourselves, others, and the world.

Furthermore, the book explores how Buddhism evolved through esoteric traditions and in Japan, showing how it transformed within cultural and social contexts and influenced Japanese views on religion and life and death.

Rather than approaching Buddhism as a religion of salvation, this book offers it as a foundation for thought—for those seeking to better understand themselves and the world when faced with life’s uncertainties. A quietly illuminating read that invites reflection and insight.


［Brief Biography of the Author］

Kazuhiko Matsuoka
Born in Kyoto Prefecture, 1933
Graduated from the Department of English, Kyoto Gakugei University
Served as a junior and senior high school teacher in northern Kyoto Prefecture and then retired
Studied at the University of Edinburgh (1978)
Attended courses at Kyoto University, including seminars on eighteenth- and nineteenth-century English poetry
Conducted research on the Scottish poet Robert Burns, among other topics
This book is an e-book based on “Shaka no Shisō — Gensen kara no Nagare ni Sotte —” (“The Thought of the Buddha: Following the Flow from the Source”), originally published by Hokuto Shobō in 2006.