What Would Buddha Do? 101 Answers To Life's Daily Dilemmas [Hardcover]

Franz Metcalf (Author)

Product Details

• Hardcover: 130 pages
• Publisher: Seastone (1999)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1569751811
• ISBN-13: 978-1569751817
• Product Dimensions: 7.3 x 5.6 x 0.8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 9.8 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 4.1 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (21 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,210,539 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

20 of 24 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Buddha Would Approve, December 6, 1999

By A Customer

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: What Would Buddha Do? 101 Answers To Life's Daily Dilemmas (Hardcover)

My impression is that Buddha would have been in favor of anything that might help alleviate suffering in this world - and this book does just that. Its charm lies in the fact that it focuses not on dry dogma or meditation techniques, but on simple questions, such as how the Buddha might have dealt with that barking dog next door that JUST WON'T SHUT UP! (By the way, the author doesn't deal with the noisome problem as well as The Enlightened One probably would have!) This is a delightul book, and a deceptively breezy read.

My only quibble was with a few grammatically-challenged chapter titles. But these are surely attributable to the publisher rather than Metcalf, whose prose is otherwise impeccable.

9 of 10 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Wonderful, simple advice, October 25, 2002

By 

"tess73" - See all my reviews

This review is from: What Would Buddha Do? (Hardcover)

A great little appetizer, filled with flavourful pieces of advice and snippets of common sense that we can all use in our daily dealings with the world, most of which are taken from Buddhist sacred texts.

One wonderful example of this is, "What would Buddha do about that coffee habit?", to which the response is: "Our country is full of sickly-looking, skinny people, just because we don't drink tea. Whenever people feel weak, they should drink tea (Kissa Yojoki)". In that simple piece of advice, we're told both a common sense and medicinal answer to that coffee habit (the author tells us that tea is healthier than coffee, which is truthful). The author expands on the passage, giving a short interpretation of the lesson including "...When we have to have something, the truth is that thing has us. Ask yourself who is master, who or these things you 'need'. If it's not you, something is wrong". It's passages such as this that make us stop, and think "oh yeah...".

To a serious scholar of Buddhism, this book may lack substance and true contextual meaning, and may leave the some readers gasping like a fish out of water, reaching for a more substantial main course. However, it does successfully bring Buddhist teachings into our daily lives, and can be a great tool for living a simpler, better life.

9 of 10 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Smart, witty, playful., November 22, 1999

By A Customer

This review is from: What Would Buddha Do? 101 Answers To Life's Daily Dilemmas (Hardcover)

This book offers a thoughtful -- and fun -- way into Buddhist teachings. I liked the question and answer format -- it's quick, pithy, and sharp. The questions raised range from sexual temptation to road rage (!). Some of the answers will surprise you. Trendy? Yeah, but also informative and well-written. The author includes a helpful list of further readings.