Customer Reviews: Read 58 more reviews...
 Inspirational Fiction July 18, 2008
This book reads like a travel guide through portions of the life that the Buddha experienced. With a little imagination, one can experience his pain, joy, wisdom and enlightenment at the same time. It's a valuable look for many of us Westerners who know there's something we may be missing in the Spiritual world.
 It Falls Short of What it Promises July 17, 2008
0 out of 1 found this review helpful
I give it two stars, instead of one, because of my respect for Deepak. His non-fiction books have been an inspiration to a countless number of people on this planet.
This book, however, reads like a B-grad teen/pre-teen novel. It leans more on fantasy details about 'The Adventures of Buddha' than on the more essential insight that would inspire many to buy the book in the first place. Even if you choose to read the book, in spite of it all, the storyline breaks up or changes scenes quite often, which left me with a sense of frustration.
I got to page 222 - out of a feeling of guilt, for being disappointed in a fictional book about Buddhism by a famous author - but common sense now tells me to stop, drop it off at the second-hand store, and find a better book.
The intention of Deepak was good, but the content falls very short.
Still...Namaste!
 Great story about Buddha July 7, 2008
This is a very enjoyable account the the life of the Buddha. Even if you are not a Buddhist, I highly recommend this book.
"A page turning masterpiece" ??? July 4, 2008
0 out of 1 found this review helpful
That quote from Wayne Dyer is a not surprising huge bit of hyperbole. These guys love to review each others books, don't they. Quite the marketing ploy.
The unfortunate dilemma for this nice little story is that it will inevitably be compared to a real "timeless classic", Siddhartha by Herman Hesse. Read that one folks, it is the real deal. Hesse was a contemporary of and a patient as well of Carl Jung's...would like to have been a fly on the wall for those sessions. I read that book many years ago and it just lingers in my unconscious mind. Chopra's "Buddha" can't hold a candle to it. Sorry Deepak groupies, I call em as I see em.
readable and interesting June 2, 2008
Most of Chopra's work is an entertaining novel of Gautama's early life. The last two or three chapters--which I found the most informative--delve more deeply into the tenets of Buddhism. Although I'm neither a mystic nor even a dabbler in Eastern religions, I am fascinated by the way others view the world.
To my way of thinking, shedding of the material world is impossible as long as we're alive. Attempting to do so, in that it is doomed to failure, is therefore...foolish. On the other hand, under certain circumstances, and in very limited ways, it can be approximated. I am reminded of T.E. Lawrence of "Lawrence of Arabia" fame who had a simple trick. He would hold a flaming match to his hand and wouldn't flinch. When asked, "Doesn't it hurt?" He replied, "Of course it hurts but...the difference between you and me is that I don't care if it hurts." Try it the next time you go to your dentist and maybe you'll find that Lawrence, and almost certainly Buddha, were on to something.
Maybe some of you all have read the last stanza's of Poe's "El Dorado". I'll paraphrase:
"When his strength
Failed him at length,
He met a pilgrim's shadow.
"Shade," said he.
Where can it be,
this land of El Dorado?"
"Over the Mountains of the Moon
through the Valley of the Shadow.
"Ride, boldly ride,"
the Shade replied,
"If you seek for El Dorado."
Lord Buddha wouldn't have agreed.
Ron Braithwaite, author of novels--"Skull Rack" and "Hummingbird God"--on the Spanish Conquest of Mexico
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