Buddha: A Story of Enlightenment by Deepak Chopra

From Barnes & Noble

In his author's note to Buddha, Deepak Chopra writes: "I wrote this book as a sacred journey, fictionalized in many of its externals but psychologically true, I hope, to what the seeker's path feels like. In all three phrases of his -- Siddhartha the prince, Gautama the monk, and Buddha the Compassionate One -- he was as mortal as you and I, yet he attained enlightenment and was raised to the rank of an immortal. The miracle is that he got there following a heart as human as yours and mine, and just as vulnerable." Chopra's soulful take on Buddha offers a refreshing view of an ancient sage.

From the Publisher

"The Buddha was as mortal as you and I, yet he attained enlightenment and was raised to the rank of an immortal. The miracle is that he got there following a heart as human as yours and mine, and just as vulnerable." - from the Introduction

Bestselling author Deepak Chopra brings the Buddha back to life in this gripping account of the young prince who abandoned his inheritance to discover his true calling. This iconic journey changed the world forever, and the truths revealed continue to influence every corner of the globe today.

A young man in line for the throne is trapped in his father's kingdom and yearns for the outside world. Betrayed by those closest to him, Siddhartha abandons his palace and princely title. Finally alone and face-to-face with his demons, he becomes a wandering monk and embarks on a spiritual fast that carries him to the brink of death. Ultimately recognizing his inability to conquer his body and mind by sheer force, Siddhartha transcends his physical pain and achieves enlightenment.

Although we recognize Buddha today as an icon of peace and serenity, his life story was a tumultuous and spellbinding affair filled with love and sex, murder and loss, struggle and surrender. From the rocky terrain of the material world to the summit of the spiritual one, Buddha entertains and inspires - ultimately leading us closer to understanding the true nature of life and ourselves.

Publishers Weekly

Eastern philosophy popularizer and mind-body pioneer Chopra has done novels before, and critics have not found fiction his long suit. That should change with this tale of how the Indian prince Siddhartha came to be the enlightened one, the Buddha. The subject is tailor-made for Chopra. He can draw on what he's familiar with: the ancient Indian culture that shaped the historic personage of the Buddha, and the powers of mind that meditation harnesses. Although the novel begins a little slowly with exposition and character introduction, once the character of the Buddha is old enough to occupy center stage, Chopra simply portrays the natural internal conflict experienced by any human seeking spiritual wisdom and transformation. Centered on a single character, the narrative moves forward simply and inexorably. Especially imaginative and intriguing is the low-key nature of the Buddha's enlightenment experience. In case Chopra's fans want something more direct, an epilogue and concluding "practical guide" offer nonfiction commentary and teaching on core Buddhist principles. Chopra thanks a film director friend for sparking the project, and the novel has clear cinematic potential. This fast and easy-to-read book teaches without being didactic. Chopra scores a fiction winner. (May)

Nancy Almand - Library Journal

Once you get past the marketing package (got enlightenment?), what remains here is a fictionalized versionof the Buddha story. Famed New Age guru Chopra presents Buddha's journey from Siddhartha the prince to Gautama the monk and on to enlightenment, with half of the book spent on the tale of Siddhartha's. More mythic fable than biography, this story is filled with imagined details and dialog combined with legend, fantasy, and the supernatural. Chopra's goal of bringing Buddha's story to the mainstream may be hard for some to swallow, as there is so much less focus on the teachings than the life, as it is fantastically presented here. Only in the epilog are some of those connections made clearer. Given Chopra's following and a major media push, this book will be in demand, but it may be one that people talk about more than read. Recommended for where there is interest in Chopra's writings.

What People Are Saying

"The Buddha's story is compelling and...Chopra captures the essence of the spiritual seeker." -- Booklist

"A page turning masterpiece. To me, this is Deepak's story telling at its best. The telling of one of the greatest stories ever in a fashion that will make the Buddha come alive for the reader. I couldn't put it down. I now feel as if I have met the Buddha and he is in all of us who search for our own greatness. This book is destined to become a classic, I guarantee it." -- Wayne Dyer, author of The Power of Intention

"BUDDHA is unlike anything Deepak has ever written before. A timeless story retold by one of the most inspiring spiritual guides of our era, it is essential reading for anyone curious about the foundations of Buddhism." -- Brian Grazer, Oscar award-winning producer of A Beautiful Mind, Emmy-winning producer of 24

"Deepak Chopra crafts his BUDDHA in an astonishing narrative, a veritable literary feast engaging every color of the bouquet of human experience. With dramatic precision and inspired literary artistry he transports us on an adventure in enlightenment with all the twists and turns of a great movie." -- Peter Guber, Chairman of Mandalay Entertainment, producer of Batman, Rainman, and The Color Purple and host of AMC's Sunday Morning Shootout "From prince to fully awakened being we enter the mythic life of the Great Lord Buddha painted in primary colors on a canvas so fresh and unpretentious that we can sit and contemplate the essence of this ultimate spiritual adventure. Bravo Deepak!" - James O'Dea, President, Institute of Noetic Sciences "Outstanding! Deepak's creative and dramatic retelling of Buddha's life is proof, that, when it comes to conveying spiritual verities, fiction can be more true than fact." - Arvind Sharma, Birks Professor of Comparative Religion McGill University

Product Details

• ISBN: 0060878819
  
• ISBN-13: 9780060878818
• Format: Paperback, 288pp
• Publisher: HarperOne
• Pub. Date: February 2008
• Edition Description: Reprint
• Sales Rank: 7,246

• Read a Sample Chapter

Read a Sample Chapter

Chapter One

The Kingdom of Sakya, 563 BCE

One crisp spring day King Suddhodana turned in his saddle to survey the battlefield. He needed a weakness to exploit, and he was confident the enemy had left one for him. They always did. His senses were closed to everything else. Screams of the wounded and dying were heightened by the hoarse commands of his officers bellowing orders and calling on the gods for help. Torn by hooves and elephants' feet, cut by iron-rimmed chariot wheels, the land oozed blood as if the earth itself were mortally wounded.

"More soldiers! I want more soldiers now!"

Suddhodana didn't wait for anyone to obey. "If any man within the sound of my voice runs away, I will kill him personally!"

Charioteers and infantry moved toward the king, battered figures so filthy with fighting they could have been demiurges fashioned from the mud of the field.

Suddhodana was a warrior king, and the first thing to know about him is this: he mistook himself for a god. Along with his army, the king would kneel in the temple and pray before he went to war, but he put no trust in divine help. Leaving the gates of the capital behind, Suddhodana turned his head for one last look at home. But as the miles lengthened from Kapilavastu, his mood changed. By the time he came to the battlefield, its roiling activity and the smells that assaulted his nostrils—straw and blood, soldiers' sweat and dying horses—carried Suddhodana into another world. It smothered him completely in the belief that he could never lose.

The present campaign wasn't of his doing. Ravi Santhanam, a northernwarlord along the Nepalese border, had taken one of Suddhodana's trade caravans in a surprise attack. Suddhodana's retaliation came almost immediately. Even though the warlord's men had the advantage of the high ground and home terrain, Suddhodana's forces steadily chewed into their holdings. Horses and elephants trampled over the fallen, dead or still alive but too weak to escape. Suddhodana guided his mount next to the belly of a rearing bull elephant, narrowly avoiding the massive feet as they plunged downward. Half a dozen arrows had pierced it, driving the beast into a frenzy.

"I want a new line of chariots, close file!" He had seen where the enemy front was exhausted and ready to buckle. A dozen more chariots pulled up in advance of the infantry. Their metal-bound wheels clattered across the hard ground. The charioteers had archers standing behind them who unleashed arrows into the warlord's army.

"Make a moving wall," Suddhodana shouted. "I want to crush their line."

His charioteers were experienced veterans; they were hard-faced, merciless men. Suddhodana rode slowly before them, ignoring the strife only a short distance away. He spoke quietly. "The gods command that there can be only one king. But I swear that I am no better than a common soldier today, and you are as good as kings. Each man here is part of me. So what's left for the king to say? Only two words, but they are the two that your hearts want to hear. Victory. And home!" Then his command cracked like a whip.

"All together—move!"

Both armies rushed screaming into the breach like opposing oceans. Violence brought contentment to Suddhodana. His sword whirled as he split a man's head with a single blow. His wall was advancing, and if the gods willed it, as they had to will it, the enemy forces would open, one corpse at a time, until Suddhodana's infantry moved in, a tight wedge gliding forward on enemy blood. The king would have scoffed at anyone who denied that he was at the very center of the world.

At that hour Suddhodana's queen was being carried in a litter through the depths of the forest. She was ten months pregnant, a sign, the astrologers said, that the baby would be extraordinary. But in Queen Maya's mind nothing was extraordinary except the anxiety that surrounded her. She had decided, much too impetuously, to travel back to her mother's home to have her baby.

Suddhodana hadn't wanted to let her go. It was the custom for new mothers to go home to deliver, but he and Maya were inseparable. He was tempted to refuse, until in her guileless way Maya asked his permission in front of the assembled court. The king couldn't refuse his queen publicly, despite the dangers involved.

"Who will accompany you?" he asked with an edge of harshness, hoping to frighten her away from this foolhardy plan.

"My women."

"Women?"

He raised his hand in grudging assent. "You'll have some men, whoever can be spared." Maya smiled and withdrew. Suddhodana didn't want to argue, because in truth his wife mystified him. Making her afraid of danger was futile. The physical world was like a thin membrane she glided over, as a midge glides over the surface of a pond without breaking the water's skin. Therefore, the world could touch Maya, move her, hurt her, but never change her.

The queen departed from Kapilavastu a day before the army. Kumbira, the eldest court lady, rode at the head of the procession as it moved through the forest. It was a meager company, consisting of six soldiers too old to serve in the war astride six nags too weak to charge the enemy. After them came four litter bearers, who had taken off their shoes to negotiate the stony path, shouldering the tasseled and beaded palanquin bearing the young queen. Maya made no sound hidden behind the swaying silk drapes, except for a stifled moan whenever a bearer stumbled and the litter took a sharp jolt. Three young ladies-in-waiting, who grumbled in low voices about having to walk, brought up the rear.

Gray-haired Kumbira kept her gaze moving, aware of the dangers that lurked on both sides. This road, which was just a narrow cut in the granite slope, had begun as a smuggler's trail when poached deer hides, spices, and other contraband were trafficked to Nepal; it was still favored by bandits. Tigers were known to snatch their prey from terrified bands of travelers in this area, even in the brightest hour of the day. To ward them off, the bearers wore masks facing backward on their heads, believing that a tiger will only leap from the rear, never directly at a person who is looking at it.