Glimpses of Buddhism

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Buddha was a great thinker who by his revolutionary ideas, path breaking thoughts, revolutionized the 6th century B.C. of India not only in religious life of the people but also in their social and political life and it also exercised great influence on the King Ashoka, Kanishka, Dharampala, and another rulers of the time. Buddhism has exercised immense influence on the world and the Indian society from the time of Buddha till the present time. It became popular in countries like Nepal, Tibet, Sri Lanka, Burma, Siam, Cambodia, Vietnam, Indonesia, Japan etc where it has large number of followers. The relevance of Buddhism in the contemporary world lies in the teaching of Buddha which emphasized in the age old concepts of non violence, social justice and welfare of the people.
Sixth century B.C. in India was a period of an arrival of new ideas leading to the rise of new philosophical tenets and religious sects. Buddhism was one of the very important result of this revolutionary ideas. Buddhism started from the fundamental premise that the world is full of misery and the objective of religion is "to find peace and Nirvana".

Prof.(Dr.) Diwakar Lal Srivastava was born in 1958, at Basantpur, Varanasi. He received his primary education from his village and higher education from Mahatma Gandhi Kashi Vidyapith. Varanasi.
He was awarded his doctorate degree in History from Mahatma Gandhi Kashi Vidyapith, Varanasi. He is an eminent scholar and he joined as a lecturer in his mother institution in 1984. Dr. Srivastava is a Professor in the Department of History and the Director of Buddhist Study Centre at Mahatma Gandhi Kashi Vidyapith.
He is a distinguished scholar and veteran teacher of more than three decades. His area of research and interest is Buddhist culture and social history. His publications, includes 'Vinay Pitaka Main Bhartiya Samaj', 'Prachin Bhartiya Aitihasik Nibandha', 'Shudro ke Uthan Main Bauddha Dharma ki Bhumika.'
He has also edited a book 'Bauddha Chintana' and his up covering book is" Glimpses of Buddhism.
Prof. Srivastava has participated and organized numerous Conferences, Seminars, Symposium and Workshops, and he contributed in the field of history.

The preachings of Gautam Buddha in 6th century B.C. is known as Buddhism. The basic aim of Buddha's preachings was common welfare. Buddha taught, that pain is a part of life, and desire is reason of pain. He also showed the path to end desire, and end pain by doing good things and training one's mind with positivity. This is done to end pain an attain Nirvana. He said Noble Eight fold Path is the path to the end of suffering. He insisted upon right understanding, right attitude, right speech, right action, right livlihood, right effort, right mindfulness and right concentration. He also insisted to control upon senses. He created an organisation to spread the message of truth to each and every human for welfare of all. In that era the inequality in society was at extreme. Buddha explored and presented logical way to bring equality in the society. He included people of all caste, class and religion in his organisation and also they go for 'pabbajja'. He also included women in his organisation and also for 'pabbajja'. Buddha propounded a path which leads to Nirvana. He inspired people to live the life of good conduct and abandon all superstitions. His preachings are compiled in Tripitaka, in which he tells about the path of truth and good behaviour, which is known as Buddhism. Buddhism has made remarkable contribution in the development of Art, Literature and Philosophy. The impact of Buddhist's Art is seen in Asian and other countries. Buddhism has contributed in the development of Indian Culture. It has influenced the life style of people all over the world.
Today the most burning problem in the world is violence and impact of materialism. Years ago Gautam Buddha has preached, how to overcome this problem. In Buddhism, the concept of Dharma is an ideal duty. The solution of global problem is in the preachings of Buddha. His logical talks are fruitful for human society. Today the existence of Indian Culture is influencd by the preachings of Buddha. To encourage the study and research of Buddhist Philosophy, University Grant Commission, New Delhi has established a Buddhist Study Centre at Mahatma Gandhi Kashi Vidyapith, Varanasi in 2006. This Study Centre has been organizing seminars, symposium, Conferences and workshops to extend and spread the teaching and preachings of Buddhism. The present book includes the reasearch papers of the talks delivered in the Conferences, seminars and workshops organised by the centre.
This herculean task acknowledges the most valuable source of inspiration by our honourable Vice Chancellor Dr. Prithvish Nag, whose constant encouragement and insight brought this book in the present form. He blessed the book by giving the title of the book 'Glimpses of Buddhism'.
I also acknowledge the scholars whose scholary efforts from time to time which made this task possible.