Starting with an overview of the personality and doctrines of Buddha, the author elaborates upon significance of various elements like knowledge, spirit, causation, salvation, and fundamental character of Being. Step by step it traces emergence of Mahayana, Hinayana and various schools of thought that developed under respective sects. This work attempts to dispel many misconceptions about the origin and development of Buddhist thought and philosophical systems. The approach adopted by the author steers clear of the customary attempts which try to assess the measure in which Buddhism, in the course of its development, attains conceptions familiar in the modern thought. About the Author Arthur Berriedale Keith (1879-1944) was a Scottish constitutional lawyer, scholar of Sanskrit and Indology. He became Regius Professor of Sanskrit and Comparative Philology and Lecturer on the Constitution of the British Empire in the University of Edinburgh. He served in this role from 1914 to 1944.