This book is a collection of 32 papers written over a period of more than ten years and for different kinds of audience. It includes papers such as Traditional Biography of the Buddha, Development of his ideas, his discovery of vipassana-a great improvement on Samatha type of meditation, its importance in personal as well as social life, and its role in the development of panna (wisdom) that purifies and liberates one. One papergives an outlines of how vipassana was brought to India by Acarya Satyanarain Goenka in modern times and how it spread here an abroad. Three papers namely The Noble eightfold Path, Tilakkihana, and Nibbana explain the basic teachings of the Buddha. There is one well researched paper her which proves that Uddaka Ramaputta was not the teacher of the Bodhisattva, as wrongly held by practically all scholars of the east and the west. It also contains papers bringing out the universal nature of Dhamma based on laws of nature that apply to all alike. Buddha Dhamma is based on universal laws which are scientific. The Dhamma propounded by the Buddha is completely different from other sectarian religions, which give importance to different Gods and different rites and rituals. Whereas sectarian religions divide people, the Dhamma propounded by the Buddha unites them. The Dhamma described in Pali Literature really gives the key to understand what Dharma described elsewhere in other scriptures really means. There are three papers here which bring out the Buddhist heritage of Magadha, Bihar’s contribution to the preservation of Buddha’s teachings, and the role of Asoka in not only preserving the teaching of the Buddha but also in spreading it to neighbouring countries by sending Dhammadutas there.
