Ernest J. Eitel

Ernest J. Eitel (1838–1908), a German-born Protestant missionary and later Inspector of Schools in British Hong Kong, delivered his survey of Buddhism as a series of lectures in the winter of 1870–71. In this work he examines the religion across three dimensions — its historical development, its theoretical or philosophical aspects, and its forms of popular practice — making it one of the early systematic Western introductions to Buddhist thought.