Gautama Buddha | Wise Attention

Discovering the Buddha

Posted by Vishvapani on Mar 22, 2012 in Buddha, Featured, Gautama Buddha | 2 comments

What’s left to say about the Buddha? Everything, I discovered in writing my biography: Gautama Buddha: The Life and Teaching of the Awakened One. And the funny, original, surprising Buddha of history is more relevant than ever

Gautama Buddha: paperback and new website

Posted by Vishvapani on Jan 6, 2012 in Gautama Buddha | 0 comments

Gautama Buddha: the Life and Teachings of the Awakened One is now out in paperback, published by Quercus at £8.99. There's also a new website for the book including all the reviews, talks, interviews and articles associated with it

Review of Gautama Buddha (AREIAC Newsletter)

Posted by Vishvapani on Dec 15, 2011 in Gautama Buddha, Reviews | 0 comments

"Excellent ... thorough, carefully researched and well-written ... A very readable and impressive account of one of the world’s most important religious leaders." Paul Hopkins reviews "Gautama Buddha" for the Association of Religious Education Inspectors, Advisers and Consultants: AREIAC Newsletter, Autumn, 2011

The Buddha, Nature & Politics

Posted by Vishvapani on Dec 10, 2011 in Buddha, Gautama Buddha | 0 comments

In the second part of this interview with Will Buckingham on the ThinkBuddha blog, we discuss the place of nature in the Buddha's life, his relationship with politics and the modern resonance of these subjects

Legend & History in the Buddha’s Life

Posted by Vishvapani on Dec 9, 2011 in Buddha, Gautama Buddha | 0 comments

Here's Part 1 of an email interview with Will Buckingham of the ThinkBuddha blog about my book, Gautama Buddha: the Life & Teachings of the Awakened One. It explores why I wrote the book and how I approached the distinction between legend and history in the Buddha's life

Review: The Origin of Buddhist Meditation

Posted by Vishvapani on Sep 30, 2011 in Buddha, Buddhism, Reviews | 0 comments

What, if anything, do we ‘know’ about the Buddha? This recent book employs scholarly detective work to 'prove' that certain elements in the ancient Pali scriptures are true. It casts fresh light on the world the Buddha inhabited and the meditation practices he learned as a young man. More intriguing still, this suggests the changes he made when he came to teach meditation himself.

Review: An End to Suffering by Pankaj Mishra

Posted by Vishvapani on Sep 2, 2011 in Buddha, Buddhism, Reviews | 0 comments

A vivid account of the Buddha's life and a vivid personal journey

Video: Seeking the Buddha in History

Posted by Vishvapani on Aug 23, 2011 in Audio & Video, Buddhism, Gautama Buddha, Talks | 0 comments

The Buddha of history is not the same as the archetypal Buddha, but we can come close to him through the words he left behind and though imagination. This was a keynote talk at the 2011 Triratna Buddhist Order Convention and reveals the Buddha to be a man of humour and intelligence with an uncanny gift for communication as well ... and something more as well