This book provides a vivid and detailed picture of the daily life and religious practices of Buddhist monks and nuns in the classic period of Theravada Buddhism. The author describes the way in which the Buddha's disciples institutionalized and ritualized his teachings about food, dress, money, chastity, solitude, and discipleship. This tradition represents an ideal of religious life that has been followed in India and South Asia for more than two thousand years. The introduction by Steven Collins describes Theravada Buddhist literature, discusses the issue of the historical reliability of...

Comme on dit's companion website includes all homework exercises, enabling students to practice vocabulary, grammar, listening, and speaking. It capitalizes on technology to enrich the experience of students and teachers and improve learning outcomes. Following the sequence of the textbook, the website gives students their homework on a convenient and easy-to-use platform. Automatically graded and teacher-graded exercises provide students feedback on understanding the points of grammar discussed in the textbook, as well as on practicing, vocabulary, pronunciation, and listening and reading...