It might be true to say that there are two Buddhas the Buddha of legend and popular imagination, and the Buddha of history. The first of these started to appear four or five centuries after the Buddha’s passing in response to devotes’ desire to know more about the man they admired so much and whose Dhamma guided their lives. The second Buddha is the one depicted in the Pali Tipitaka, the most ancient records we have of him and what he taught. Many people will be surprised to discover that there is a considerable difference between the two. The 1 legends are colourful, engaging, and sometimes fantastic, whereas the Buddha of history and the Tipitaka is more down-to-earth-spiritually extraordinary but still humano In this book, the author carefully assembles everything the Tipitaka says about the Buddha as a person his appearance, habits and daily routine, how he responded to criticism, his travels, his method of teaching, and much more. The result is a fascinating and very different portrait of how the great man is usually understood.

Born in Australia in 1951, Bhante Shravasti Dhammika become a monk in India in 1976 under Venerable Matiwela Sangharatana, the last disciple of Anagarika Dharmapala. He studied at Sri Lanka Vidyalaya in Maradana and later at Kelaniya University’s Post-Graduate Institute of Pali and Buddhist Studies, and was one of the founders of the Nilambe Meditation Centre. Bhante has written 25 books on subjects related to the Dhamma and Buddhist culture, many of which have been translated into various Asian and European languages. After two decades in Sri Lanka and another two in Singapore, he returned to Australia in 2017 where he now lives in semi-retirement.