The Buddha saw the genesis of all problems and their solutions in the mind. An impure mind is the spring of all evils, of all kinds of problems and sufferings. And a pure mind is the panacea for all problems. Therefore the crux of his teaching is how to purify the mind. And mind can be purified by observing moral precepts (sīla), attaining concentration (samādhi) and developing insight wisdom (paññā). The importance of these three cornerstones of the Buddha's teaching has been shown everywhere and are written about in this book of essays. This book is a collection of 28 essays written over a period of two decades and covers a wide variety of topics such as why Dhamma is compared to a wheel, how it's founded on experience and reason, Buddha's social philosophy and view on caste, good governance, and human rights. Other essays ask whether the Buddha's views are relevant to modern issues like ecology, bioethics, and education while others focus on the cardinal teachings of the Buddha, the importance of Pāli literature, what real beauty is and how we can achieve world peace through peace of mind. Whether it is a spiritual problem or a social or material problem, the role of the mind is great. The three cornerstones of the Buddha's teaching, sīla, samādhi and paññā, find place in practically all the essays collected here. Most of these essays are published in different journals and proceedings of seminars, both national and international. The journals and proceedings include Journal of the Department of Buddhist Studies, University of Delhi; Proceedings of the International Buddhist Conference, Indosan Nipponji, (Japanese Temple) Bodh Gaya; Somaiya Publications Pvt Ltd, Mumbai; Indian Institute of Advanced Study, Shimla and Aryan Books International, New Delhi; Nava Nalanda Mahāvihāra, Nalanda Publications and Dr. Gustav Roth Felicitation Volume, Patna. (Note: This title was previously published under ISBN 978-1-681722-41-2 . Due to technical issues a new ISBN had to be assigned. Rest assured that both versions of this title are exactly the same.)
