Gautama Buddha
Essays and reflections: many of them connected to my book: Gautama Buddha: The Life and teachings of the Awakened One
The Historical Buddha and the Eternal Buddha
On Buddha Day Buddhists ask what the Buddha means today, so long after his death. Is he an historical figure or an eternal principle? Thought for…
The Buddha’s Leadership Lessons
Everyone in a responsible position is asked to display leadership qualities. What kind of leader was the Buddha, and what lessons can modern leaders …
Greek Buddha
What if the Greek philosopher who travelled to India with Alexander the Great had become a monastic practitioner and taught Buddhism to the Greeks, t…
The Buddha’s Significance Today
As Buddhists mark the Buddha’s Enlightenment, Vishvapani asks, what is his significance today?
Entering the Buddha’s Realm
The Buddha and his teaching are very down to earth, but his perspective also expresses is very strange and quite beyond anything we already know. This…
The Buddha’s continuing Relevance
As Buddhists celebrated Wesak, Vishvapani reflected on the continuing relevance of the Buddha. ‘Standing apart from political struggles he offered a d…
How The Buddha Discovered Nature
In the Buddha’s world, nature and the wilderness were frightening threats. The early Buddhist texts show how he forged a new relationship with nature,…
Reading Emptiness: Reflecting on Buddhism and Literature
There’s a tantalising affinity between Buddhist views of the insubstantial nature of the self and sophisticated ideas about the illusions created by l…
Seeking the Buddha in History
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. …
Responding to Praise and Blame
A vivid account in one of the earliest Buddhist texts describes how the Buddha guided his disciples in responding skilfully to both praise and blame. …
Learning meditation from the Buddha: a meeting with Ven Analayo
I met German-born Analayo some years ago when he was living a life of intensive meditation and study in a small retreat centre in Sri Lanka. He told m…
Discovering the Buddha
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. A…
Gautama Buddha: paperback and new website
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…
Review of Gautama Buddha (AREIAC Newsletter)
“Excellent … thorough, carefully researched and well-written … A very readable and impressive account of one of the world’s most important rel…
What the Buddha means … for me & the world
Reflections on the experience of writing Gautama Buddha: the Life & Teachings of the Awakened One, and the continuing relevance – and continuing misin…
The Buddha, Nature & Politics
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 relationsh…
Legend & History in the Buddha’s Life
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 O…
Secular Buddhist Reviews ‘Gautama Buddha’
This review of ‘Gautama Buddha’, my biography of the Buddha by Stephen Schettini appears on the website of the Secular Buddhist Association. “Vishvapa…
Trouble in the Sangha: the Quarrel at Kausambi
When the monks of Kausambi started feuding, the Buddha told them that responding with loving kindness was more important than who was right. This talk…
Review: The Origin of Buddhist Meditation
What, if anything, do we ‘know’ about the Buddha? This recent book employs scholarly detective work to ‘prove’ that certain elements in the ancien…
Review: An End to Suffering by Pankaj Mishra
A vivid account of the Buddha’s life and a vivid personal journey
Video: Seeking the Buddha in History
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. …