Buddha

Product Description

Buddhism is a faith that commands over 100 million followers throughout the world. Buddha stands with Christ, Confucius & Mohammed as someone who revolutionized the religious ideas of his time to advocate a new way of living. All that is known about Buddha comes from a collection of ancient writings that fuse history, biography & myth. Karen Armstrong distils from these the key events of Buddha's life: his birth as Siddhartha Gotama in the fifth century BC & his abandonment of his wife & son; his attainment of enlightenment under the Banyan tree (the moment he became a buddha, or enlightened one; his political influence; the divisions among his followers; & his serene death. Armstrong also introduces the key tenets of Buddhism: she explains the doctrine of anatta (no-soul) & the concepts of kamma (actions), samsara (keeping going), dhamma (a law or teaching that reflects the fundamental principles of existence) & the idealised state of nibbana (literally the 'cooling of the ego'). Since it promotes no personal god, Buddhism, writes Armstrong, 'is essentially a psychological faith'. In our own age of secular anxiety, she shows that it has profound lessons to teach about selflessness & the simple life. Karen Armstrong's short book is a magnificent introduction to the life & thought of this most influential of spiritual thinkers.