Gautama Buddha
The Life and Teachings of the Awakened One, by Vishvapani Blomfield, Quercus, 2011.
There are many accounts of the Buddha’s life that mix legend and history. This compelling new biography discriminates between fact and fiction to reveal Gautama, the remarkable human being behind the legends, and shed new light on his teachings.
Plunging us into the noise, smells and jostling streets of Gautama’s world, Vishvapani Blomfield brings the Buddha to life as a passionate and determined individual — a strikingly modern figure who rejected contemporary beliefs and found his own answers by mastering his mind.
Even after he gained Enlightenment and became the Buddha (‘the Awakened One’) Gautama experienced struggles as well as triumphs as he trod India’s dusty paths. Vishvapani shows how he sought to establish a community of practitioners amid his society’s divided culture and perilous politics and how the ideas that became the Buddhist teachings grew from Gautama’s efforts to address the needs and beliefs of his listeners.
Drawing on years of meticulous research into original sources, Gautama Buddha takes us within touching distance of one of history’s greatest figures.
The Buddha’s Leadership Lessons
Everyone in a responsible position is asked to display leadership qualities. What kind of leader was the Buddha, and what lessons can modern leaders draw from his example?
Greek Buddha
What if the Greek philosopher who travelled to India with Alexander the Great had become a monastic practitioner and taught Buddhism to the Greeks, thus offering dramatic new evidence of the true character of Early Buddhism. Do the claims of ‘Greek Buddha’ stack up?
The Buddha’s Significance Today
As Buddhists mark the Buddha’s Enlightenment, Vishvapani asks, what is his significance today?
How The Buddha Discovered Nature
In the Buddha’s world, nature and the wilderness were frightening threats. The early Buddhist texts show how he forged a new relationship with nature, opening the way for the beautiful nature poetry of his followers
Reading Emptiness: Reflecting on Buddhism and Literature
There’s a tantalising affinity between Buddhist views of the insubstantial nature of the self and sophisticated ideas about the illusions created by literary texts. But there are also profound differences between Buddhist spiritual practice and nihilistic deconstruction
Seeking the Buddha in History
The Buddha of history is not the same as the archetypal Buddha, but we can come close to him through the words he left behind and though imagination. This article was a keynote talk at the 2011 Triratna Buddhist Order Convention and reveals the Buddha to be a man of humour and intelligence with an uncanny gift for communication as well … and something more as well
Discovering the Buddha
What’s left to say about the Buddha? Everything, I discovered in writing my biography: Gautama Buddha: The Life and Teaching of the Awakened One. And the funny, original, surprising Buddha of history is more relevant than ever
Gautama Buddha: paperback and new website
Gautama Buddha: the Life and Teachings of the Awakened One is now out in paperback, published by Quercus at £8.99. There’s also a new website for the book including all the reviews, talks, interviews and articles associated with it
Review of Gautama Buddha (AREIAC Newsletter)
“Excellent … thorough, carefully researched and well-written … A very readable and impressive account of one of the world’s most important religious leaders.”
Paul Hopkins reviews “Gautama Buddha” for the Association of Religious Education Inspectors, Advisers and Consultants: AREIAC Newsletter, Autumn, 2011
What the Buddha means … for me & the world
Reflections on the experience of writing Gautama Buddha: the Life & Teachings of the Awakened One, and the continuing relevance – and continuing misinterpretations of the Buddha. Part 3 of an email interview with Will Buckingham on the ThinkBuddha blog