This is an epoch-making piece of research which must mark a change in direction and appreciation. Dr. Gombrich is concerned with religious change in belief and practice. He concludes that Sinhalese Buddhism has been remarkably conservative and rejects the assumption that it degenerated from an original high standard. It would be very difficult to provide a combination of scholarship and sympathy such as that which pervades Dr. Gombrich's book and makes it a landmark in the study of religion.