The teacher: The Buddha's previous lives. Shakyamuni's meeting with Dipankara ; The bodhisattva and the hungry tigress ; The bodhisattva as a preacher of patience ; Outline of a bodhisattva's progress
The legend of the Buddha Shakyamuni
Doctrines: Morality. The five precepts, with Buddhaghosa's commentary ; Rules of monastic restraint ; The monk's life ; Verses from the Sanskrit Dharmapada ; Popular moral Buddhism ; Laymen and monks
Meditation. The advantages of meditation ; The practice of introversion ; The progressive steps of meditation ; The six types of persons ; The five miraculous powers ; Zen
Wisdom. The questions of King Milinda ; The heart sutra ; from the Diamond sutra ; Hymn to perfect wisdom / Rahulabhadra ; On believing in mind / Seng-ts'an ; from Treasury of songs / Saraha
Doctrinal formulas. Faith ; Vigour ; Mindfulness ; Concentration ; Wisdom
Doctrinal disputes. The personalist controversy ; Mahayana polemics against the Hinayana ; Can there be more than one Buddha at a time? ; The quietist controversy
Other worlds and future times: Other worlds. The bliss of the heavens ; The torments of the hells ; Life after death and the Book of the dead ; Celestial paradigms : the Pure Land of Amitabha
Maitreya, the future Buddha.
