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Asceticism in Buddhism and Brahmanism: A Comparative Study. By RYOKAI SHIRAISHI. Buddhica Britannica, series continua, VI. Tring, U.K.: INSTITUTE OF BUDDHIST STUDIES, 1996. Pp. 257. Originally the author's doctoral dissertation at the University of Delhi, this study is intended "to depict and ascertain the style and nature of ascetic life during the period of Sakyamuni Buddha and his immediate disciples" (p. 1), and to recover "the incipient stage of original Buddhism" (p. 7). This goal is reiterated throughout the book: "the principal aim of this study is to depict Sakyamuni Buddha and his immediate disciples within the context of the society and world in which they lived" (p. 2). The author wants to discover the "Buddha's original preaching" (p. 2) in order to distinguish it from subsequent developments. The methodology proposed is to study Buddhist asceticism "not exclusively from the Buddhist point of view but rather from that of general Indian thought," an approach the author believes "has never been sufficiently taken into consideration" (p. 2).
Three chapters are devoted to Brahmanical modes of asceticism: historical background and development of the a&rama theory, the life of vanaprasthas, and the life of parivrajakas. The author covers "the life of Buddhist monks" in one chapter, and devotes the final chapters to "a comparative study of asceticism" and "the meaning of asceticism."
Shiraishi's aim of studying Buddhism not in isolation but as part of the larger history of religions in ancient India is laudable, although not as groundbreaking as he...