"Esoteric Buddhism" is one of the earliest works by its author, A.P Sinnett, and one of the foremost occult documents of its era. Explaining the religion and its tenets (and interactions with Hinduism especially) in a more authentic manner than understood then by most Westerners, it is to Buddhism as certain gnostic writings may be to Christianity as a whole. It describes the symbolism of the religion and a bit about the history of its Buddha.The treatment herein of Nirvana, and of the concept of the development of the human race through time and slow spiritual ascent, is of great interest.