The Buddha, a Great Mortal

Shakyamuni, the founder of Buddhism, was a real, flesh-and-blood person. For various purposes, those who passed down the Buddhist scriptures added a great deal of mythology to them, turning Shakyamuni into a god who could not possibly exist in the real world. His image was distorted beyond recognition. Drawing on a wealth of Buddhist texts, this book separates credible original material from unreliable mythology, piecing together an account of Shakyamuni's difficult but real life.