This bok give an account of the life of the Buddha and an exposition of the religion and philosophy the Buddha propounded. This also analyses the origins of Buddhist thought and traces its development from Hindu philosophical systems. Developments in Buddhist thought since the death of the Buddha are also dealt with as are Buddhist literature, sculpture and painting, both in India and in other parts of the world to which Buddhism spread.

"The aim of the book," says the author, "is to set forth as simply as possible the Gospel of Buddhism according to the Buddhist scriptures, and to consider the Buddhist systems in relation , on the one hand, to the Brahminical systems in which they originate, and, on the other hand, to those systems of Christian mysticism which afford the nearest analogies. At the same time the endevour has been made to illustrate the part which Buddhist thought has played in the whole development of Asiatic culture, and to suggest a part of the significance it may still possess for modern thinkers."
Dr. Coomaraswamy has succeeded in achieving this objective as only he could. With his genius for lucid exposition and with a beauty of style and expression characteristically his own, he has succeeded in presenting some of the most complex concepts of Indian philosophy in terms which make them understandable even to the layman.