Buddha (Lives)

Almost nothing is known about the Buddha's life as Siddhatta Gotama. The main source is the Pali Canon, a collection of texts made about a century after his death, though not written down until much later. This is a huge body of work which contains the Buddha's sermons and verses, rules for Buddhist monks, and philosophical analyses--but, apart from in passing, almost nothing about his life. In some of his discourses the Buddha illustrates a point with a personal anecdote; his "biography" has to be pieced together from these snippets. And Armstrong accepts that many of these may be mythological in nature, rather than historical in the factual sense we might wish for today. But does this matter? "The early Buddhists looked for significance, rather than historically accurate detail, in their scriptures."

Armstrong takes these snippets and puts them in order to tell Siddhatta Gotama's life story--but she does much more than that. The Buddha didn't spring out of nowhere. One of the most valuable things the author does in this book is to set him in his historical context of the changing religious ideas of the time. And in doing that she also gives an excellent explanation of what Buddhism is all about, in terms that a non-Buddhist can understand. Highly recommended. --David V Barrett

She however avoids a frank look at the Buddha's teachings themselves, although herself quoting the Buddha: 'he who sees the dhamma sees me'. The result is a linear account of what is known about the Buddha's life and career - a reconstruction of his CV, as it were.

In place of understanding him, Karen Armstrong has allowed her own background to do what her independent intellect has refused to: she sees the dhamma (or some snipets of it) from the viewpoint of someone who has a Christian background and who is awed by 'the Axial Age'. The Buddha's teaching is nearly re-read to see how it might fit the gospel she is familiar with, and the meaning of his work is equated to the sum average of what went on in the Axial Age civilisations - which, one gets the impression, are equal if not identical with each other.

If the reader gets the impression that the Buddha was a man who taught the Chritian gospel or something similar in a different language and mythology, and that what the Buddha achieved was what happenned in the Axial Age elsewhere without him anyway, I would pardon him/her. But someone who has taken a deeper look into Indian philosophy would be left feeling that the book is simplistic, not simple as intended.

On the whole, a good, easy read for a person who just wants to know, in very few lines and colours, who the Buddha was.


B+ for effort   October 13, 2004
Sarakani (Harrow United Kingdom)
2 out of 3 found this review helpful

Buddhist's may or may not appreciate that such a media figure as this has chosen to place her religious expertise on the Buddha. Whereas I looked forwards to the book's delivery, I think the content does not represent a sufficiently incisive account. It will be useful, especially to non Buddhists.
I was struck by the lack of any substantial acknowledgements or bibiliography; there are however extensive notes. It is true that the book is written in a style reminicent of pre-modern explorations by westerners who had made a somewhat initial contact with this teaching. It represents a good occidental overview (rational, liberal) and Armstrong thus overlays the narrative with the stamp of her own perceptions.

For criticism, a few of her points need improvement, e.g. the statement that Buddhas arise every 32,000 years in the main text is quite wrong. As for Armstrong's interpretation of Buddhism based on feminist principles, I think she is misleading. The Buddha was very good at being stubborn to requests like the one that women should be allowed to ordain (amongst other unrelated requests e.g. please teach the dhamma!). He was merely creating a precedent being traditionally aware that previous Buddhas had had nuns' assemblies. Buddhism was the first main religion to admit women unlike many other religions and the social context in India cannot be filtered in the context of recent western movements (which are a reaction to previous attitudes to women in the West which the East did not necessarily share (assumptions can be loaded)). In fact, a close study of Buddhist texts shows women had a far stronger standing in India at the time, than women of ancient Greece or Rome (and India at a later phase) and in any case the texts abound with the names of famous female disciples and their conversations etc with the Buddha from eminent nuns to queens, courtezans, noble women and servants. Furthermore, the women of Buddhist countries like Sri Lanka and Burma have never really been treated as second class citizens to any extent as in other cultures from ancient times. Armstrong tends to ignore any archaeological evidence supporting the historicity of the Buddha such as the discovery of relics (though the questioning of the existence of a historical personage can be seen as the greatest compliment) and as a final criticism, some of the nuances she applies to the Dhamma such as overcoming the ego can make the issue sound a little simplistic.

On the other hand I think the author has been brave to use Pali text rather than the Sanskrit versions and this an innovation. The other reviews pick up further good points of this short, warm and sympathetic account. Armstrong writes as a caring and sensitive person and her character and exploration do shine through. She's obviously put a lot of thought into the book and worked well within the deadline for its issue on top of her educative and media life!

For more critical reads which are just as easy consider: The Buddha by Michael Carruthers in the Oxford, A very short introduction series and The Buddha by Michael Pye (Duckworth - sadly out of print a brilliant and critical study as recommended in the Routledge Encyclopaedia of Philosophy).


Concise and comprehensive study of Buddha   June 3, 2004
Leonard Aye (Surrey, England)
15 out of 16 found this review helpful

I must admit, the last person I'd expect to write a book on Buddha is a Christian nun, but then Karen Armstrong is no ordinary nun.

Any Buddhist would already know the story of Siddhatta Gotama's birth, his childhood, his renunciation, the 5 years of hard practice, the moment of enlightenment, his teaching and his parinibbana (death). Not surprising then that her book is split into 5 logical chapters in the same order; Renunciation, Quest, Enlightenment, Dhamma (his teaching), Mission and Parinibbana.

Armstrong herself states in the Introduction that "...trying to write a biography of Buddha is a very un-Buddhist thing to do", but I'm glad she did, presumably because she herself is not a Buddhist.

It is her ability to describe these already familiar events of Buddha's life with a dispassionate and objective point of view is what make this book a refreshing read. One very interesting aspect of the book is the description of the social, cultural and spiritual events during the lifetime of Buddha, not only in India but around the world, in other religions, and it helped to understand why a person like Gotama would go off and search for the Truth in the way that he did.

In this day and age, anyone who claims to go off to the forest to find a cure for all mankind (The Dhamma, The Four Noble Truth and the Eight Fold Noble Path), people would think it's a rather futile and an impossible task. But Gotama and his contemporaries like him really believed that they could find the answer to end all human suffering, and the fact that these wandering bhikkhus (monks) were treated and revered as heroes and visionaries in their time is another eye opener to this reader. Even to contemplate the idea of finding the Truth to be within the realms of possibility showed the level of high spirituality that must have developed in India 2500 years ago.

The only source of material available for her to write the book is the Pali Canon, the voluminous collection of scriptures recorded after the death of Buddha, and as a Western writer she found the lack of historical dates and the description of Buddha's personality in the Pali Canon frustrating as the scriptures mostly detailed only his teachings and not Buddha as a person, and in a way that is the crux of Buddha's teaching: a) it is his message 'The Dhamma' that is the utmost important for people to understand and adhere to than to worship the person who expounded the message, and b) the message is that ultimately there is no such thing as 'self' and our false clinging to the 'personality-belief'.

If you're new to Buddhism, reading this book will tell you about both Buddha and Dhamma in short and concise detail and yet in easily digestible form, since it is more than just a biography of Buddha.

If you're a Buddhist, reading this book will allow you to stand back and view Buddha and his teaching from a slightly more objective stance than you would normally do, and I for one am better off because of it.


Good objective introduction   August 24, 2003
Chris Lawton (England)
8 out of 9 found this review helpful

I have many books on the different aspects of Buddhism and I think that Karen Armstrong's work is probably the best introduction to the Buddha and the movement he founded that there is. She is objective and writes a fascinating overview of the politics and culture of Northern India/Nepal at the time of the Buddha. If you are looking for a 'neutral' stance on the Buddha this is the book for you.