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The words and example of Gautama (often known by the title, 'Buddha') have affected billions of people. But what do we really know about him? While there is much we cannot say for certain about the historical Gautama, this persuasive new biography provides the fullest and most plausible account yet. Weaving ancient sources and modern understanding into a compelling narrative, Gautama Buddha places his birth around 484 BCE, his Enlightenment in 449 BCE and his death in 404 BCE, a century later than the traditional dates. Vishvapani Blomfield examines Gautama's words and impact to shed fresh light on his culture, his spiritual search and the experiences and teachings that led his followers to call him 'The Awakened One'. Placing Gautama in a credible historical setting without assuming that he was really just an ordinary person, this book draws on the myths and legends that surround him to illuminate the significance of his life. It traces Gautama's investigations of consciousness, his strikingly original view of life and his development of new forms of religious community and practice. This insightful and thought-provoking biography will appeal to anyone interested in history and religion, and in the Buddha as a thinker, spiritual teacher and a seminal cultural figure. Gautama Buddha is a gripping account of one of history's most powerful personalities.
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The words and example of Gautama (more often known by the title 'Buddha') have affected billions of people. But what do we really know about him? While there is much we cannot say for certain about the historical Gautama, this persuasive new biography provides the fullest and most plausible account yet. Weaving ancient sources and modern understanding into an engaging narrative, Gautama Buddha places his birth around 484 BCE, his Enlightenment in 449 BCE and his death in 404 BCE, a century later than the traditional dates. Vishvapani Blomfield examines Gautama's words and impact to shed fresh light on his culture and his spiritual search, as well as the experiences and teachings that led his followers to call him 'The Awakened One'. Placing Gautama in a credible historical setting, without assuming that he was just an ordinary person, this book draws on the myths and legends that surround him to illuminate the significance of his life. It traces Gautama's investigations of consciousness, his strikingly original view of life and his development of new forms of religious community and practice. This insightful and thought-provoking biography will appeal to anyone interested in history and religion, and in the Buddha as a thinker, spiritual teacher and seminal cultural figure. Gautama Buddha is a compelling account of one of history's most powerful personalities.
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews
9 of 9 people found the following review helpful
Format:Hardcover
As a member of the same Triratna Buddhist Order and Community as Vishvapani, I think this book is very welcome and long overdue. There just aren't many biographies of the historical Buddha around and those there are tend to uncritically rehash legendary material without any attempt to sort fact from fiction.
Vishvapani acknowledges the difficulty in writing about someone who wrote nothing himself and who is mostly known through a huge series of Discourses that were edited after his death to enable memorisation and come across to the modern reader as very formulaic. His approach, he says, is to sift through the Discourses looking for evidence of the strong personality that founded the Buddhist tradition. Vishvapani's book draws on the higher criticism of early Buddhist texts to sift out which stories are reliable and which are not. He adds knowledge from history and archaeology to give a very vivid sense of life in the ancient Ganges Valley civilisation where the Buddha lived and taught. At the same time Vishvapani is careful to make us aware of the world view of Axial Age India with its strong belief in the supernatural and to make us aware of the legends that arose around Gautama and the reasons why. He presents us with a view of Gautama as a real historical figure but someone who was anything but ordinary and who could have an overwhelming impact on the people who encountered him.
There are a few surprises for anyone who has read other versions of the Buddha's life. For instance the famous Four Sights are revealed as a late addition to the story of Gautama that was lifted from an altogether different story. Equally dubious is the personal name 'Siddhartha' which he is often given. Even the conventional dating of the Buddha's life is challenged here. Much of what we are offered are plausible deductions rather than certainties. We know of many incidents in the life of Gautama but not the order in which they occurred.
In spite of an impressive level of scholarship, Vishvapani writes in a clear readable style. The chapters deal with the historcal context Gautama was born into, the events after he left home to seek Enlightenment, the achievement of Enlightenment, his teachings, the community of homeless disciples, debates with Jains and other rivals, relations with lay people of all classes, the crisis both in Gautama's society and his community of disciples in the later years of Gautama's life and his death and legacy. There is a short appendix on the history of Buddhism.
I would have liked more maps in this book or more detail in the only one that we get but otherwise it is superb value for money even at the hardback price.
Vishvapani acknowledges the difficulty in writing about someone who wrote nothing himself and who is mostly known through a huge series of Discourses that were edited after his death to enable memorisation and come across to the modern reader as very formulaic. His approach, he says, is to sift through the Discourses looking for evidence of the strong personality that founded the Buddhist tradition. Vishvapani's book draws on the higher criticism of early Buddhist texts to sift out which stories are reliable and which are not. He adds knowledge from history and archaeology to give a very vivid sense of life in the ancient Ganges Valley civilisation where the Buddha lived and taught. At the same time Vishvapani is careful to make us aware of the world view of Axial Age India with its strong belief in the supernatural and to make us aware of the legends that arose around Gautama and the reasons why. He presents us with a view of Gautama as a real historical figure but someone who was anything but ordinary and who could have an overwhelming impact on the people who encountered him.
There are a few surprises for anyone who has read other versions of the Buddha's life. For instance the famous Four Sights are revealed as a late addition to the story of Gautama that was lifted from an altogether different story. Equally dubious is the personal name 'Siddhartha' which he is often given. Even the conventional dating of the Buddha's life is challenged here. Much of what we are offered are plausible deductions rather than certainties. We know of many incidents in the life of Gautama but not the order in which they occurred.
In spite of an impressive level of scholarship, Vishvapani writes in a clear readable style. The chapters deal with the historcal context Gautama was born into, the events after he left home to seek Enlightenment, the achievement of Enlightenment, his teachings, the community of homeless disciples, debates with Jains and other rivals, relations with lay people of all classes, the crisis both in Gautama's society and his community of disciples in the later years of Gautama's life and his death and legacy. There is a short appendix on the history of Buddhism.
I would have liked more maps in this book or more detail in the only one that we get but otherwise it is superb value for money even at the hardback price.
4 of 4 people found the following review helpful
Format:Hardcover|Amazon Verified Purchase
Vishvapani manages to piece together elements from a jigsaw of extracts from various Buddhist scriptures to create an image of the man behind the myth and the times in which he lived. I found this book an enjoyable and informative read, reminding me of things I once knew but had forgotten and many things I had previously not known. As someone who has frequently wondered what it must have been like to have encountered the Buddha as he wandered from place to place giving his remarkable and revolutionary understanding of the true nature of all things, I found it both extremely useful and hugely enjoyable.
5 of 6 people found the following review helpful
Format:Hardcover
This is a lucidly written and engrossing life of Gautama, the Buddha. The sense of India at the time is evident. And the differences and discrepancies between different accounts of events in his life are explained. The mythic dimension to Gautama is outlined. Basically, if you want to read a book on the Buddha, the beginnings of Buddhism and the way it spread in a historical context, this is the book for you! Gautama Buddha: The Life and Teachings of the Awakened One
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