Customer Reviews

Buddha (Penguin Lives)

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You will be disappointed if you read this 187-page biography expecting Karen Armstrong to bring Siddhartha Gotama to life, or if you are hoping to understand the man in the Buddha. She acknowledges that the Pali canon and other Buddhist scriptures leave the biographer with "little to work with," and the last twenty years of her subject's life "are almost entirely unrecorded" (p. 122). My criticism with this biography is not that Armstrong fails to reveal any "controversial new facts about the Buddha's life" (p. xxi), but that she treats her subject with distance.

Few Buddhists would disagree that any history of the Buddha's life is irrelevant (p. xix). "He who sees the dhamma (the teachings) sees me" (p. xx), the Buddha said. He preferred only to be remembered "as one who has woken up" (p. 161). Despite its shortcomings, Armstrong's biography succeeds in showing us that any attempt to examine the Buddha's life "can help us all to understand the human predicament" (p. xxi). As one would expect, she follows Siddhartha Gotama's life from his birth in 563 B.C.E, to his decision to leave his wife and newborn son at age 29 in search for liberation from the suffering of the world. Armstrong observes that in repudiating the "meaningless and trivial" (p. 3) life of a householder, Siddhartha also renounced the life of "the married man [who] kept the economy going, produced the next generation, paid for the all-important sacrifices and took care of the political life of society" (p. 28). After his "six year quest" (p. 85), resulting in Siddhartha's enlightenment at age 35 under a bodhi tree in Bodh Gaya, Armstrong follows the Buddha to Deer Park, where we find him beating "the drum of deathless Nibbana" (p. 97), committed to saving the world through his teachings. Before he died at age 80, the Buddha offered final words to live by: "All individual things pass away. Seek your own liberation with diligence" (p. 187).

Armstrong's biography succeeds in putting the Buddha's life into its historical context. Siddhartha lived during the Axial Age (800 to 200 B.C.E.), which also produced Confucius, Lao Tzu, Socrates and Plato. It was a pivotal time for humanity. We also learn that Siddhartha was born into a "violent, ruthless society," not much different from our own, in that "the economy was fueled by greed, and where bankers and merchants locked in aggressive competition, preyed upon one another" (pp. 22-23).

I finished Armstrong's book in a single sitting today. (Noticeably missing from its final pages is a bibliography, or a suggested list of dharma books for further reading.) Although Armstrong's biography provides interesting reading, it is not as engaging as Walter Nelson's BUDDHA: HIS LIFE AND TEACHINGS (2000).

G. Merritt

Karen Armstrong has made quite a career out of writing biographies, not only about manifestations of the divine, but the early history of the movements they inspire. If the potential reader is looking for esoteric tracts on yogic practice (and the Buddha would have abhorred such fascination) then this is not the book they need.

Rather, this delicious and brief treat of a book explains what Buddha and Buddhism meant in the context of their early history. India had become a place where great business republics were involved in rapid economic growth (like today's global economy) and were being consumed by the new monarchical states. A huge middle class was emerging that could not be pigeonholed into the old caste system, and therefore rejected it; life had become overly materialistic and people were desperately turning to anything for a sense of spiritual well-being (sort of like today.)

What Armstrong does simply and wonderfully is reveal this worldwide phase of history and the contribution of the Buddha in meeting its challenges. His teachings are decidedly NOT the mysterious, esoteric bunk that priesthoods of every religion have invented to maintain their exhalted position, but were in fact very practical means for bringing the unhappy people of the age into enlightenment-- sort of like what people are looking for today.

I was especially happy to read this book because of these larger, "global" contexts that are expressed or implied. Buddhism belongs in the hall of great world religions, as Buddha belongs among the great manifestations of the divine. Armstrong has delivered a fine portrait of the Buddha's life that puts them both in their proper place, yet she avoids the trap of making them such objects of adoration that the text would become a mere tract.

I sincerely hope that Karen Armstrong will see fit to examine other religions and manifestations like this. I would particularly like to read anything she has to say about Zoroaster or Baha'u'llah.

In summary, Armstrong's "Buddha" is a brief, sympathetic account of the life of the Buddha in the context of his time. It is marred by brevity and by a distanced, clinical treatment of the Buddha's dhamma that makes it seem little more than an antique, cultural artifact, not a relevant way of life.

I am guessing that the format for the Penguin "Lives" series accounts for some of the shortcomings of this book including: its brief length (less than 200 rather small pages); its lack of illustrations; its rather abrupt end with the Buddha's death (not a word of how one teacher's words grew into a worldwide religion); the absence of a guide to the pronunciation of the many Pali terms; and the omission of an index.

These lacks show the book is not intended as a definitive biography; nor it is it intended to have theological depth that would challenge a well-read Buddhist. This is a popular "life" intended to give a broad picture of the Buddha's life and dhamma to a curious non-Buddhist reader or to a student.

Within the scope of this limited goal Armstrong has done a reasonably good job. Certainly it could not have been easy to shape a conventional, biographical tale from the Pali canon and other Buddhist scriptures. Armstrong stresses that an integral part of the Buddha's teaching was the unimportance of the ego, and for that reason the Buddha's personal attributes virtually disappeared, both from his teachings and from his disciple's accounts. Little is left but the suttas themselves, and some highly-colored legends surrounding the key moments of the Buddha's life.

Armstrong is particularly good at taking the legends and drawing out their inner meaning. She recounts a legend sympathetically; then shows how it make clear sense, not as history but as a statement of belief in the context of the time, or as an archetypal portrait of the human condition. For example, she notes how Mara, Lord of Illusion, "represents ... all the unconscious elements within the psyche which fight against our liberation."

In large measure Armstrong explains the Buddha's dhamma clearly and sympathetically. Yet she always seems to handle it with metaphorical tongs, like an interesting specimen -- not as if it were a living tradition the reader might enter. Part of this impression comes from her consistent use of the perfect tense when describing the dhamma. For example, she writes "The purpose of both mindfulness and the immeasurables was to neutralize the power of that egotism that limits human potential." In this and many similar sentences, she uses the perfect ("was") or the conditional ("would"), as if the dhamma was a teaching that existed only long ago and among distant people. There is no hint that mindfulness IS used for the same purpose by people today.

This is a subtle matter of diction and tone; but its effect is to transmit an unspoken message that Armstrong herself has not entered into the Dhamma, and probably wouldn't care to recommend it to her reader, either. If you think of yourself as being in some degree "buddhist" you may find this air of faint praise makes you uncomfortable.

A less subtle problem is Armstrong's repeated insistence that the Dhamma "could not be understood by rational thinking alone. It only revealed its true significance when it was apprehended 'directly,' according to yogic methods, and in the right ethical context." By "yogic methods" she means the disciplines of mindfulness and meditation. By "ethical context" she means principly the practice of metta, empathy.

Armstrong seems sure that the dhamma is not capable of being defended or supported by discursive argument. Or at any rate, she does not even attempt to sketch its philosophical underpinnings. This is strange. Armstrong is certainly capable of dealing with abstracts and logical argument. And Buddhism is quite respectable as a philosophy, as coherent and complete in its account of the universe and the human condition as anything produced by Plato or Aquinas. Armstrong completely neglects this aspect of the dhamma, leaving the impression that it can only be entered through "yogic methods." In short, she writes as if the dhamma is unapproachable unless you are ready to enter into dubious Eastern practices.

As a student of Buddhism for some 40 years, I found Armstrong's engagingly written account one of the few books I have run across that clearly explains the social and historical context in which the Buddha lived and taught. It provides a basic introduction to the philosophical concepts of Buddhism, but its real focus is to reveal who the Buddha was and how he came to be that way. In this, I think, it succeeds admirably. I was a bit frustrated by the use of Pali rather than Sanscrit, and regretted the lack of a bibliography. But, I think, Armstrong successfully resisted the temptation to "go beyond the evidence," and she has no clear axe to grind or stake in any particular Buddhist sect. Criticisms of the book as "Theravada centered" are off the mark; she describes a period before sects and shows the roots of both Thervada and Mahayana. Her discussion of the Axial Age and her comparisons to other creeds and philosophies were helpful and insightful. I can't wait to read her book on Islam; if it's this good, I can see why it's a best-seller.

I think the somewhat mixed reviews of this book are off mark. It is true that I was also expecting biographical insight into the historical person, Siddharta Gautama, but as Armstrong carefully qualifies there is scant historical data on which an educated biography could be based. I don't think educated speculation would serve much purpose. By providing some of the historical context (e.g., axial age and the concerns of new city dwellers in northern India) surrounding the time when Siddharta was active, the reader gets a meaningful feel for the times (even this is, to some extent, conjectural) that may have influenced Siddharta Gautama's motivations and thinking. I am also most impressed by the acuity and knowledge she has about Buddhism and her confidence to paraphrase others' works (as she freely admits) to fit the flow and development of the book. I have found no theoretical flaws in her reasoning, and she is ultra-careful and respectful by not conveying simplistic accounts of Buddihsm's deep ideas which so many books are prone to do. I would say the book is as blunder-free and void of nonsense as well-known books by the Dalai Lama and Thich Nhat Hanh are. This is no simple feat.

The only two issues I would remark are: (a) she uses "western" a few times to contrast the difficulty that "westerners" might have understanding Buddhism vis-a-vis asians, which is an outdated cliche that too many "Zen writers" still make; Buddhism is as difficult to understand for asians as africans, south americans, or europeans (except possibly Tibetans which is a special case); I think it's time to dispense with the "western" adjective (Dalai Lama included); (b) a little more serious, it would help clarify to the lay/novice reader if Armstrong maintained a clear separation of "suffering" and "pain" which she mixes up now and then. From the context, one understands that she is not in the dark about their essential differences, but that may not be evident to the beginning student. Otherwise, buy this book if you're interested in Buddhism, beginner or advanced practioner/theoretician alike. There are few books as good as this.

There are special difficulties in writing a life of Buddha. Information is scarce or hidden beneath mythology, and there seems to have been almost an ideological aversion to recording personal information about someone whose main insight was that there is no self to write biographies about. Buddha would have approved of that benign neglect, as he probably would have approved of the Taliban's recent destruction of his colossal statues. Armstrong has tackled the problem well. She situates Buddha within the specific philosophical and theological world of the Ganges Basin and in the general movement of the Axial Age, when in the middle of the first millennium B.C.E. from Greece to China human consciousness took a great leap upward. To the framework of what is historically known about the man she weaves what is known about the influences he would have felt, the stages he would have gone through, and the doctrine he taught. She uses the mythology to portray the meaning if not the history of the man. The book is as much the story of the Dhamma (she prefers the less familiar Pali spellings) as of the Buddha; and why not, who sees one sees the other. Armstrong is a captivating writer and has a gift of elucidating whatever she turns her attention to. The book is enjoyable, informative, and spiritually profitable.

This attempt at capturing the life of the Buddha missed the mark in my opinion. While it is well researched and is most likely a sincere attempt of capturing the life of one of the most influential religious figures of all times, I don't think Karen Armstrong has a strong enough understanding of Buddhism from the inside to pull this off.

I found myself being annoyed at various points in the text, especially when she was commenting on the teachings of the Buddha. This is because I don't think she really understands what Buddhism is about and she certainly doesn't come across as a Buddhist scholar.

I think the best short book on the life of Buddha that does convey the history and spirit of his message is Huston Smith's book on Buddhism. You can also purchase a copy of the WORLD'S RELIGIONS by the same other and get this information and a whole lot more for about the same money.

There are many good biographers who have written about the life of the Buddha. However, I can't say that Karen Armstrong belongs in this group. I know she has written other good books, but I think she this was too ambitious for her and she was too far removed from the essence of the Buddha's teaching and culture to do it justice.

I have little background in Buddhism, the study of yoga, or related topics. I read this book because I had lately been reading some of the Dali Lama's thoughts and wanted to understand more about Buddhism. I was surprised to find this book a page-turner! This book about ancient ideas literally kept me up reading for hours, and I don't usually stay up late! Couldn't put it down. Karen Armstrong develops insights about world history and the evolution of human thought through her exploration of the Axial Age and the probable activities of the man, Gotama Siddhatha. She draws upon religious texts, historical knowledge and myth/legend in balanced and creative ways. What I found most exciting was her portrait of the society and times of Siddhatha. She draws cogent parallels between those ancient times and our own time. She explains how yogis and other spiritual seekers were regarded in that society- as respected people and pioneers of the human spirit and potential. This is quite different from Western society, which tends to marginalize and disrespect those who reject the mainstream. It was the vivid contrast of ways of living in society and being human that amazed me. Her description of what yogis were willing to do gave me renewed insight into human potential. The story of the man who dared to do all those things, and question and then reach forward to become a new kind of human avatar- is the focus of a stirring book that helped me understand humanity's potential in a new way!

I wouldn't recommend this book. Armstrong makes Buddha 'accessible' by making him as much like a contemporary sceptical Western intellectual as she possibly can, even when she has to contradict herself to do so. (Example: she keeps saying that he didn't believe in any 'higher power' but then she quotes texts which refer to his belief in Hindu gods such as Brahma). She also does not care about historical proof. Not only doesn't she have a bibliography (as some other reviewers have mentioned) but she behaves as if Karl Jaspers' theories about there having been an Axial Age are fact and she extrapolates wildly about life in Buddha's time with no source material. An unwary reader might get the idea from her preface that she is a scholar in Pali or Sanskrit--read the last paragraph carefully though and you realize that she just paraphrases other people's translations. Bhikku Nanamoli's LIFE OF BUDDHA ACCORDING TO THE PALI CANON was her main source (though she never gives him credit) and I would suggest that someone who really wants to learn about Buddha without her Oprah-like take on his ideas, should just read that book. (It's sold right here on Amazon). I notice that the reviewers who admire this work here all say "I don't know anything about Buddhism and she explains it so well" but as I said before they should be aware that her 'explaining' is just Westernizing and modernizing him in a way that is inaccurate. Would Buddha REALLY have thought that the tempter Mara was just another facet of his own psyche? And what would he have thought about the way she discusses meditation (with extreme nervousness and suspicion) when that was at the very center of his ideas?

I am personally a Christian but was a seeker for a long time first before the historicity and logic of the Bible made me a convert. I think it is a good thing for people to look at good ACCURATE descriptions of other religions if they are looking to make up their minds about faith. I studied Buddhism in Asia with a teacher who later became a Buddhist nun before I decided that it wasn't for me. From what my teacher taught, and from the intensive reading that I have done on this subject (I teach Buddhism now as history) this book is just not accurate.

This isn't really a book about Buddhist philosophy. It is an attempt to examine an important life, that was lived over 2,500 years ago. Given the fact that The Buddha and his followers didn't choose to create a cult of personality, there aren't many available sources for information about the human side of The Buddha. As such, I think the author did a good job of examining the world that The Buddha experienced and piecing together limited information to add a human element to an enlightened being. I was especially touched by the account of The Buddha's final days, when he was venerated by many, but chose to pass on in relative isolation as a means of furthering his message. If you are looking for philosophical insights, you should look elsewhere, but if you want to know about the world from which The Buddha sprang, this is a good, readable choice.