Product Description

Buddha is synonymous with the term 'enlightenment'. Although we see him as a calm, benevolent figure, the actual life story of Buddha was tumultuous and dramatic. No other human being has lived such a life.

What better way to grip the reader than to tell Buddha’s story from the inside?

Chopra carries the reader from Buddha’s birth to the time of enlightenment - how he experienced such depths of despair and heights of ecstasy, renounced love in favour of spiritual perfection, and contained in one body enough wisdom to change the world.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #24064 in Books
• Published on: 2008-08-21
• Original language: English
• Binding: Paperback
• 288 pages

Review
' ... sewn together through the use of incident and event [this book] illuminates the iconic figure whose name is synonymous with enlightenment.' (Times Literary Supplement )

'Fast and easy-to-read ... teaches without being didactic. Chopra scores a fiction winner.' (Publisher's Weekly )

'So fresh and unpretentious... Bravo Deepak!' (James O'Dea, President, Institute of Noetic Sciences )

'**** This is a very clever, very readable book.' (Prediction Magazine )

'An astonishing narrative, a veritable literary feast...' (Brian Grazer, Emmy-award winning producer of A Beautiful Mind )

'Outstanding!' (Arvind Sharma, Professor of Comparative Religion, McGill University )

About the Author
Deepak Chopra has sold over 20 million copies of his books worldwide and he has been translated into 25 different languages. He is author of the megaseller, The Seven Spiritual Laws of Success, and a dozen of his books have been on the New York Times bestseller list. He has appeared on numerous top television shows.

Customer Reviews

A Modern Tale
Deepak is best known for presenting Eastern ideas to a Western audience with a clear vision and penetrating insight. When I saw this book at a local store, I just had to buy it, since I wanted to read how Deepak would convey his ideas in fiction - in retelling the tale of Buddha's journey to enlightenment. I found this book to be mesmerizing almost as if I was right there with the Buddha experiencing everything.

Buddhism has always interested me with its ethic of compassion, mindfulness and emphasis on meditation. So to understand the Buddha's journey in a contemporary tale has been most spell-binding. My own understanding of the Buddha started with Siddhartha a classic by Herman Hesse and I also loved a unique spiritual novel on compassion called Nexus: A Neo Novel.

Enjoyable, Insightful, Inspiring
Having long been drawn towards the peaceful ideology and practical approaches to living that buddhism offers (and having read the Hesse book) I wasn't sure about a fictionalised version of Buddha's life, but it works really well.
Chopra writes superbly, showing skill and sensitivity in putting across the ideas, especially in giving one a chance to understand what achieving enlightenment might actually mean.
I particularly liked his Epilogue where he speaks to the reader about the process of writing the book, and the short Practical Guide to Buddhism. I learned more from these 13 pages than from many hours of previous study and meditation with my buddhist friends!

Opening your mind
A thought provoking read that presents the background to a spiritual approach to life in line with the modern day growth in popularity of yoga and medition.

The way the book discusses spiritual concepts in the format of a story, makes it easy for readers of all backgrounds to open their mind to the content discuss and perhaps even see the benefits of adopting some of the approaches to life into their own.

Particularly interesting to me as a yoga and meditation enthusiast to understand the Buddhist background to this practice and way of life.