In the second part of this interview with Will Buckingham on the ThinkBuddha blog, we discuss the place of nature in the Buddha’s life, his relationship with politics and the modern resonance of these subjects Read Part 1 | Part 3 of this interview ...
Here’s Part 1 of an email interview with Will Buckingham of the ThinkBuddha blog about my book, Gautama Buddha: the Life & Teachings of the Awakened One. It explores why I wrote the book and how I approached the distinction between legend and history in the...
What, if anything, do we ‘know’ about the Buddha? In addition to its importance for Buddhist studies, this question is — or at least should be — of fundamental interest to those who consider themselves the Buddha’s followers. But scholars have grown increasingly...
Like many literary youths just out of college, Pankaj Mishra dreamt in his early 20s of being a writer. He holed up in the Kashmiri Himalayas of his native India to read and reflect, and he found his imagination caught by the maroon-robed Ladhaki monks. Dreaming of...
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 was a keynote talk at the 2011 Triratna Buddhist Order Convention and reveals the Buddha to be a man of humour...
