The book is based on material taken from several periods of Sangharakshita's speaking career: from his addresses to the Theosophists in Singapore in the 1940s; from talks given in the sixties to Londoners getting their first taste of Buddhism as practical proposition; from the eighties in India, where he addressed thousands of new Buddhists; from the talks given under the auspices of the Friends of the Western Buddhist Order, the Western Buddhist movement which he founded in 1967; and from lectures given in America in the nineties. These talks were addressed to diverse audiences at different points in the early development of Buddhism in the West. This book brings together a series of variations on a single fundamental theme, to which Sangharakshita has returned again and again: what is the Dharma? The result is a basic starter kit of teachings and practices, which emphasizes the fundamentally practical nature of Buddhism. In turn refreshing, unsettling, and inspiring, this book lays before us the essential Dharma, timeless and universal: the Truth that addresses the deepest questions of our hearts and minds and the path that shows us how we can renew our lives. This book puts together the very essence of Buddhist teachings and practices to help us towards Enlight-enment.
