The book bases Buddhist psychology on a sophisticated and thoroughgoing empiricism. Jamesean psychological concepts are used in order to clarify the Buddhist ideas. The first part of the book outlines the principles of psychology that can be traced to the Buddha himself with detailed comparison to James. The second part deals with the understanding of these principles by later disciples of Buddha. The substantial appendices present analyses of Maitreya's Madhyantavibhaga and Vasubandhu's Vijnaptimatratasiddhi.