Richard Gombrich at the book reading session. (Bishwarup Dutta)

Speaking at the Seagull Bookstore on Friday evening, Gombrich charmed the small gathering of academics, students and fellow enthusiasts with a witty account of how and why he went about writing the book.

Even after spending almost four decades studying, teaching and writing on Buddhism, Gombrich remains something of a radical academic. He admits, with a touch of wry humour, that his work will probably be dismissed as “intolerably simplistic” in most universities across America. It is highly unfashionable there to claim that the Buddha was a real person who lived centuries ago.

Most Buddhist Studies experts would hesitate to accept the fact of the Buddha’s existence. And even if they were to concede it, they would insist that it is incredibly difficult to know anything definitive about the Buddha’s life. Gombrich, who is credited with dating the Buddha, would strongly beg to differ.

No wonder, his book was turned down by Princeton University Press after a reviewer said it was out of time. Nothing could be far from the truth. Gombrich, who has written a pioneering study of traditional Buddhism in the rural highlands of Sri Lanka, is keenly aware of the Buddha’s relevance in modern life. Besides attracting millions of followers, Buddhism has influenced diverse areas of human knowledge. From cognitive psychology to Vipassana, the Buddha has left an indelible trail of ideas on human civilisation. It is another matter that much of what he said is either turned too simple or gets lost under a pile of esoteric theories.

Gombrich intends to rescue the Buddha, whom he considers to be on a par with thinkers like Plato and Aristotle, from the obscurity of jargon and pedantry. He explained how the basic tenets of Buddhism were informed by a live brahminical tradition. To appreciate the Buddha’s genius, it is important to know the intellectual framework that shaped his mind and made him respond to the debates of his day.

Most interpreters of the Buddha tend to focus too literally on his words, and thus lose sight of the larger historical context. However, as Gombrich put it, “Religion is a little like poetry”, so the Buddha, like Christ, probably spoke in metaphors. So there is no reason to feel alarmed when the Buddha says that we are all burning in the fires of passion, hatred and delusion. Buddhists probably don’t take to heart the view that everything in this world is suffering. Had it been so, it would have meant millions of depressives all over the world.

It requires a special kind of imagination to bring a genius like the Buddha to life, and Gombrich precisely has that spark of eccentricity. Although his book deals with some very complex ideas, Gombrich adheres to a lucid style. He can be quite scathing on those who do not subscribe to this mode.

“Mediocre academics like to use long words,” reads a sentence in the book. As for “methodology”, the secret password to academic glory that every doctoral student must swear by, Gombrich only reserves his scorn. Smiling, he tells his audience that “common sense” is his “only method”.

The Buddha would have approved.