This book was published under the Hibbert Lecture Series, 1881. The volume talks about Buddhism, its origins, and its development as a mainstream religion. The first lecture talks about philosophy during its emerging stage, and it is discussed in parallel to certain concepts which were prevalent before Buddhism such as monotheism, transmigration, pantheism, animism, polytheism, and other reformation made before the establishment of Buddhism, etc. This series also covers the assessment of certain Buddhist canons like Pali pitakas and discusses the fundamental Buddhist concepts such as karma.