မှတ်ဖွယ် မှတ်ရာ
စာပဒေသာ (၆၇ )
(ဘာသာရေး )
ကျွန်တော်တို့ ၏ သမိုင်းပညာရှင်ဆရာကြီး
ဒေါက်တာတိုးလှ မြန်မာ ဘာသာပြန် ဆိုပေးထားသည့် စာအုပ်
မူရင်း စာအုပ် ။
Old Path White Clouds: Walking in the Footsteps of the Buddha
ဗီယက်နမ် ဘုန်းတော်ကြီး သစ်ချ် နတ် ဟန့် Thich Nhat Hanhအပေါ်
နိုင်ငံတကာ စာဖတ်ပရီသတ် များ ၏ တုံ့ပြန် မှု မှတ်ချက်များ ။
စာမျက်နှာ ၉၀၀ ကျော်ခန့်ရှီသော မူရင်းစာအုပ် ကြီးကို
ဆရာ ကြီး မှ ကိုဗစ် ကမ္ဘာ့ ကပ်ရောဂါဘေးဆိုးကြီး ကာလတွင်
အချိန် ယူခါ မြန်မာဘာသာပြန် ဆို ထုတ်ဝေပေး ထားရာ
ယခုအခါ
ပထမတွဲအဖြစ် ထွက်ပေါ်လာပါပြီ ။
“တိမ်ဖြူ ပန်းနှင့်
မဂ်လမ်းနှင့် “
ဗုဒ္ဓ မြတ်စွာဘုရား၏
သက်တော် ၈၀ ကာလအတွင်း ဘဝအထွေထွေကို
ဇင် ဗုဒ္ဓဘာသာဝင် ဗီယက်နမ် ဘုန်းတော် ကြီး ၏ အမြင် ရှုဒေါင့်မှ ဘဦသာရေးအမြင် သဘောထားများဖြင့်
ရေးဖွဲ့ ထုံမွှမ်း ထားသည့်
မြန်မာ ထေရဝါဒ ဗုဒ္ဓ ဘာသာဝင်များပင် လက်ခံ ဖတ်ရှုနိုင်သော စာအုပ်ဟု
မြန်မာစာပေ လိုက်စားလေ့လာနေသူ
ကျခတ် ဝါယာ ဆရာတော် ကပင်လျင်
အောက်ပါအတိုင်း မှတ် ချက်ပေးထားပါသည် .။
“လမ်းဟောင်းကို အတွေးသစ်ဖြင့် လျှောက်ခြင်း”
မြန်မာလိုရေးထားတဲ့ ဗုဒ္ဓဝင်ကျမ်းကြီး ကျမ်းလတ် ကျမ်းငယ်တွေအများကြီးရှိတဲ့အထဲက လူထုထဲအရောက်ဆုံးကျမ်းက ဇိနတ္ထပကာသနီ ဖြစ်မယ်။ ထေရဝါဒဗုဒ္ဓဝင်တွေမှာက ဒဏ္ဍာရီဆန်အောင်ရေးတာတွေရယ်၊ ခံ့ညားလွန်းအောင်ရေးတာတွေရယ် စတဲ့ အကြောင်းခံတွေကြောင့် စာဖတ်သူအများစုနဲ့ နီးသင့်သလောက်မနီးတာတွေအပြင် မြတ်စွာဘုရားဟာ သာမန်လူတွေနဲ့ အလှမ်းဝေးလွန်းတဲ့ လူသားမဆန်တဲ့ ပုဂ္ဂိုလ်ထူးကြီးအဖြစ် ယိမ်းသွားလေ့ရှိတယ်လို့ ယူဆသူတွေ ရှိပါတယ်။
ဒီ ကျမ်းက မဟာယာနဗုဒ္ဓဝင်ကိုမှ ခေတ်မီအမြင်နဲ့ ရေးထားပြီး၊ ဗုဒ္ဓရဲ့ လူသားဆန်မှုနဲ့ ကိန်းကြီးခမ်းကြီးမနိုင်မှု၊ ရိုးရှင်းတဲ့နေမှုဟန်ပန်တွေကို ပေါ်လွင်အောင် စီစဥ်ရေးသားထာတဲ့ အမြင်သစ်ဗုဒ္ဓဝင်လို့ ဆိုရမယ်။
တောထဲမှာ ကလေးတစ်စုနဲ့ ဗုဒ္ဓ လိမ္မော်သီးအတူတူစားကြရင်း သူတွေ့တဲ့တရားကို ကလေးတွေနားလည်အောင် ရှင်းပြနေတဲ့ ဗုဒ္ဓ၊
မြက်ရိတ်သမားကို မြက်ကူရိတ်ရင်း စကားစမြည်ပြောနေတဲ့ ဗုဒ္ဓ၊
လူငယ်တစ်စုကို ပလွေမှုတ်ပြနေတဲ့ အနုပညာရှင်ဗုဒ္ဓ စတဲ့ ထေရဝါဒကျမ်းစာမှာ မြင်ရလေ့မရှိတဲ့ ဗုဒ္ဓရုပ်ပုံလွှာတွေကိုလည်း တွေ့ရမယ်။
လူတိုင်းသည် ဗုဒ္ဓသဘာဝ ပါရှိကြသည်ဆိုတဲ့ မဟာယာန အမြင်မျိုးမကြာ မကြာတွေ့ရတယ်။
ထေရဝါဒကျမ်းများနဲ့ ကွဲလွဲမှုတွေကတော့ ပါပါတယ်။ နားလည်မှုကျယ်ပြန့်စေတာပါပဲ။
မဂ္ဂင်၊ သစ္စာ၊ သတိပဋ္ဌာန်၊ ကျိုးကြောင်းဆက်ပဋ္ဌာန်းစတဲ့အယူအဆတွေမှာတော့ မကွဲကြပါဘူး။
မူရင်းစာအုပ်နောက်ဆက်တွဲမှာ အခန်းတိုင်းရဲ့အချုပ်နဲ့ ကိုးကားကျမ်းစာရင်းတွေ တွေ့ရတယ်။ ပါဠိ၊ သက္ကတ၊ တရုတ်ကျမ်းစာတွေ။
မူရင်းမှာက Book One, Two, Three ဆိုပြီး သုံးပိုင်း အခန်း ၈၁ ခန်းရှိရာမှာ အခုဘာသာပြန်မှာက Book One အခန်း ၂၉ ထိကို ပြန်ထားတယ်။
ဘာသာပြန်ဆရာက ဖတ်ပြီး ကြည်ညိုမိလို့ ဘာသာပြန်ဆရာမဟုတ်သည့်ကြားက ပြန်ဆိုဖြစ်တယ်၊ အမှားရှိရင်လည်း ထောက်ပြကြပါလို့ အချီးစကားထဲမှာ အပြည့်အစုံဆိုထားလို့ အနည်းငယ်ပြောရရင်
ပါဠိ၊ သက္ကတစကားလုံးတွေရဲ့ တိုက်ရိုက်အင်္ဂလိပ်လို ဖလှယ်သုံးတွေကို မြန်မာဘာသာနဲ့ ဖလှယ်ရာမှာ ထပ်မံစိစစ်သင့်တယ်လို့ မြင်ပါတယ်။ တဖန် Buddhist terms ဝေါဟာရတွေပြန်ရာမှာလည်း ထပ်မံစိစစ်သင့်ပါတယ်။
ရန်ကုန်မြို့ ကျ ခတ် ဝါယာ ဆရာတော် ၏ မှတ်ချက် ပါ။
မြန်မာ ဗုဒ္ဓဘာသာဝင်များ ၊
လေ့လာ ဖတ် ရှုသင့်သော စာအုပ် ကောင်းတစ်အုပ်ဘဖြစ်ကြောင်း တစ်အုပ် ဖြစ်ကြောင်း
အောက်ပါ နိုင်ငံတကာ စာဖတ် ပရီသတ်များ၏မှတ်ချက်များအရ
လေ့လာ တွေ့ရှိ သီရှိ ရပါသည် ။
မူရင်းဘာသာရေးစာအုပ် ရေးသားသူ
ဗီယက်နမ်ဆရဦတော် ကြီး Thich Nhat Hanh
သစ်ချ် နတ် ဟန့် သည်
ဗုဒ္ဓ စာပေစာအုပ်များစွာရေးသားပြုစုနေခဲ့ ပြီး
အမေရိကန်နိုင်ငံတွင်သတင်းသုံး နေထိုင်စဉ်
မကြာသေးမီ ၂၀၂၂ ခုနှစ် ဇန္နဝါရီလ ၂၂ ရက်နေ့တွင်
သက်တော် ၉၅ နှစ် အရွယ် တွင်
ဘဝနတ် ထန် ပျံ လွန်တော် မူသွားခဲ့ပါပြီ ။
အေးမြင့် ( ညောင်တုန်း )
၉/၆/၂၀၂၂
ရည် ညွှန်း ။
(၁)
သမိုင်း ပညာရှင် ဆရာ ကြီး ဒေါက်တာတိုးလှ၏
“တိမ်ဖြူ ပန်းနှင့်
မဂ်လမ်းနှင့် “
မြန်မာဘာသာပြန် စာအုပ် ပထမတွဲ ၊ စာအုပ်။
(၂)
ကျခတ်ဝါယာ ဆရာတော် ၏ စာအုပ် တေဖန်ချက် မှတ်စု
(၃)
ဗီယက်နမ်ဆရဦတော် ကြီး Thich Nhat Hanh ၏
အထုပ်ပ္ပတ္တိ။
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
( ၄)
နိုင်ငံ တကာ စာဖတ် ပရိသတ်များ၏
၂၀၁၇ ခုနှစ်မှ ၂၀၂၂ အတွင်း
စာအုပ် ဝေဖန်ချက်များ ။ ( in English )
၂၉ ပုဒ်
နမူနာ
အမှတ်စဉ် (၁) မြန်မာပြန် ။
(Google Translation )
မကြာသေးမီက ကျွန်ုပ်သည် ဗုဒ္ဓဘာသာနှင့်ပတ်သက်သော စာအုပ်များစွာကို ဖတ်ရှုသုံးသပ်ပြီး အဆုံးအမများနှင့် ပတ်သက်၍ ကျွန်ုပ်၏ ပထမဆုံး နိဒါန်းကို မဖတ်ရသည်မှာ အချိန်အတော်ကြာသည်အထိ ဖြစ်သွားပါသည်။ ကျွန်ုပ်တို့သည် အားလပ်ရက်များတွင် Cham Shan Temple (Niagara Falls၊ Ontario ရှိ တစ်သောင်းဗုဒ္ဓရုပ်ပွားတော် Sarira Stupa ဟုလည်းလူသိများသည်) သို့ သွားရောက်လည်ပတ်ခဲ့ပြီး အံ့သြဖွယ်ကောင်းသော ရုပ်ပွားတော်များနှင့် နတ်ကွန်းများကို ကြည့်ရှုကာ အများသူငှာဘုရားကျောင်းအတွင်း၌ အချိန်အနည်းငယ်ဖြုန်းခြင်းကို သတိရစေပါသည်။ မြတ်စွာဘုရားရှင်၏ အသက်ကို ဦးစွာ နိဒါန်းပျိုးခြင်းဖြင့် ကျွန်ုပ်အား ပြန်လည် လည်ပတ်ချင်စေပါသည်။
“ရှေးလမ်း၊တိမ်တိုက်ဖြူ “ သည် သိဒ္ဓတ္ထဂေါတမ၏ လှပပြီး အသေးစိတ် ဆန်းသစ်ထားသော အတ္ထုပ္ပတ္တိဖြစ်သည်။ အလွန် စေ့စေ့စပ်စပ် သမိုင်းသုတေသနကို အခြေခံထားခြင်းဖြစ်သည်- Thich Nhat Hanh သည် သူ၏ရင်းမြစ်များကို ကျက်သရေရှိပြီး ဖတ်ရလွယ်ကူသော စီးဆင်းနေသော ဇာတ်ကြောင်းတစ်ခုအဖြစ် ဖန်တီးထားသည်။ ဤစာအုပ်ကို ရေးသားခြင်းနှင့်ပတ်သက်၍ ၎င်းက “မြတ်စွာဘုရားအား ရည်ညွန်းထားသော ဆန်းကြယ်သော အခိုးအငွေ့များကို ဖယ်ရှားရန် ကြိုးပမ်းခဲ့သည်။ မြတ်စွာဘုရားကို လူသားတစ်ယောက်အနေနဲ့ မမြင်နိုင်ရင် မြတ်စွာဘုရားကို ချဉ်းကပ်ဖို့ ခက်တယ်” အဲဒါက ပထမဆုံးဖတ်ပြီးတဲ့ အချိန်မှာ ချက်ချင်းပဲ ချက်ခြင်း သဘောကျသွားတယ်လို့ ထင်ပါတယ်။ ဒါက လူတွေကို ကူညီပြီး သူတို့ရဲ့ ဒုက္ခတွေကို သက်သာရာရစေမယ့် နည်းလမ်းကို ရှာချင်တဲ့ ကျွန်မလို အသွေးအသားနဲ့ ဇာတ်လမ်းပါပဲ။
ဤစာအုပ်သည် သွန်သင်ချက်များနှင့် အလေ့အကျင့်များအတွက် လမ်းညွှန်ချက်မဟုတ်ပေ။ ၎င်း၏ရည်ရွယ်ချက်မှာ သိဒ္ဓတ္ထဂေါတမ၏ဘဝနှင့် စာဖတ်သူအား အကျွမ်းတဝင်ရှိစေရန်၊ မည်သူမည်ဝါဖြစ်သည်ကို သိစေရန်နှင့် အတွေ့အကြုံများက ဉာဏ်အလင်းရရှိစေရန် တွန်းအားပေးကာ သင်ကြားပေးရန် လှုံ့ဆော်ပေးခြင်းဖြစ်သည်။ ဤအတ္ထုပ္ပတ္တိပုံစံဖြင့် ဗုဒ္ဓဘာသာကို တရားနည်းလမ်းတကျမရှိဘဲ ရွတ်ဆိုခြင်းမရှိဘဲ စာဖတ်သူအား အလွန်ခိုင်မာသော သဘောကို ပေးစွမ်းနိုင်သောကြောင့် ဗုဒ္ဓဘာသာကို စိတ်ဝင်စားသူတိုင်းအတွက် အဖိုးမဖြတ်နိုင်သော အလုပ်တစ်ခုဟု ကျွန်ုပ်ယူဆပါသည်။ အဆုံးအမများကို ဇာတ်ကြောင်းပြောပြသည်နှင့်အမျှ ပုံပြင်ထဲတွင် ရောနှောပေါင်းစပ်ထားသောကြောင့် မဇ္ဈိမပဋိပဒါ၊ အရိယာသစ္စာလေးပါး၊ ရတနာသုံးပါး၊ ငါးပါးသီလ၊ မဂ္ဂင်ရှစ်ပါးစသည်ဖြင့် လေ့လာရန် အလွန်ကောင်းမွန်သော နည်းလမ်းဖြစ်ပေသည်။ မြတ်စွာဘုရားရှင်၏ ဘဝဇာတ်ကြောင်းတွင် ပေါ်လာသည်။
ဤစာအုပ်သည် ပုံစံအမျိုးမျိုးဖြင့် လှပပြီး စိတ်အားထက်သန်စေသည်။ အထူးသဖြင့် ဗုဒ္ဓဘာသာကို လေ့လာလိုသူတိုင်းကို အထူး အကြံပြုလိုပါသည်။ ဤသည်မှာ ကြီးကျယ်ခမ်းနားသော ဇာတ်လမ်းတစ်ပုဒ်ဖြစ်ပြီး ထပ်ခါထပ်ခါ ဖတ်ရန် ထိုက်တန်ပါသည်။
Thích Nhất Hạnh
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REVIEWS
စာအုပ်ဝေဖန်ချက် မှတ်တမ်းများ ။
1/
Dec 06, 2017
Gabrielle rated it
it was amazing
Shelves: buddhism, to-read-again, biographies-and-memoirs, historical, mandatory-reading, philosophy, reviewed, own-a-copy, favorites, read-in-2018
I’ve been reading and reviewing a bunch of books about Buddhism lately, and it occurred to me that I hadn’t read my very first introduction to the teachings in a really, really long time. We visited the Cham Shan Temple (also known as the Ten Thousand Buddhas Sarira Stupa, in Niagara Falls, Ontario) over the holidays, and looking at the amazing statues and shrines and spending a little time inside the public temple reminded me how moved I was by my first introduction to the life of the Buddha, and made me want to revisit it.
“Old Path White Clouds” is a beautiful and detailed novelized biography of Siddhartha Gautama. It is based on very meticulous historical research: Thich Nhat Hanh distilled his sources into a flowing narrative that is both elegant and easy to read. He has said about writing this book that he “tried to take away the mystic halos people ascribe to the Buddha. Not being able to see the Buddha as a human being makes it difficult for us to approach the Buddha”. I think that might be why it appealed to me immediately the first time I read it: this was the story of flesh and blood being just like me, who wanted to find a way to help people and ease their suffering.
This book is not a compendium of teachings or a guide for practices and mediation; its aim is to familiarize the reader with the life of Siddhartha Gautama, give them a sense of who he was and how his experiences led him to enlightenment, and inspired him to teach. That being said, I find it an invaluable work for anyone interested in Buddhism because through this biographical format, it also gives the reader a very strong sense of what Buddhism is about, without being didactic or formal. The teachings are interweaved in the story as the narrative unfolds, so it is a very good way to learn about the Middle Way, the Four Noble Truths, the Three Treasures, the Five Precepts, the Eight-fold Path and so on, as they arise within the story of the Buddha’s life.
This book is beautiful and inspiring in so many ways. I obviously recommend to everyone, especially to those interested in learning about Buddhism. This is a magnificent story that deserves to be read again and again. (less)
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61 likes · Like · see review
2/
Apr 18, 2008
Patrick rated it
really liked it
Recommends it for: Anyone looking to gain a deeper understanding of the life and teachings of Buddha
Recommended to Patrick by: Reno Buddhist Church reading group
I just finished this reading this book as a participant in the every-other-Wednesday reading/discussion group at the Reno Buddhist Church. If you pick up a copy, don’t be intimidated by the book’s hefty size; it’s written in an easy, flowing style and you will move through it quickly.
A thorough retelling of the story of the life Siddhartha Gautama (better known to most people as the Buddha), the book is highly enjoyable if the reader already has a basic understanding of Buddhist philosophy and spirituality. It is not a textbook study of Buddhist teachings, nor does it go into great detail on the technical aspects of Buddhist practice. Rather, it is quite simply a life’s story, a painstakingly researched (and annotated) novelization of the words and actions of the Buddha, written in an easily digestible form. Despite its easy-to-read style, the book does assume that the reader is at least somewhat familiar with certain Buddhist terms and concepts, so it is perhaps not the best place to begin if one is looking for a basic introduction to Buddhist thought. What this book does succeed at doing is giving the reader a fuller sense of who Siddharta Gautama was, how his experiences shaped his teachings, and the impact he had and is still having on the world. (less)
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19 likes · Like · see review
3/
Sep 30, 2013
Rosie Nguyễn rated it
really liked it
A great book about Buddha, and Buddhism. Found what I have thought scatterly about life, death, and human were all there in the book, more systematically, completely, perfectly. Found out that Buddhism is not merely a religion, but science about life.
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17 likes · Like · see review
4/
Aug 08, 2018
সালমান হক rated it
it was amazing
Shelves: 2018-reads, nonfiction, ebook
This is basically Buddha’s autobiography told from his various close associates and third person perspectives. Along with it, his teachings are also combined in a simple, understandable form. If you are looking for the history of Buddha and his Sangha’s early days, you can pick this up. …more
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15 likes · Like · see review
5/
Dec 08, 2018
Anthony Mazzorana rated it
liked it
Shelves: buddhism
The good: It’s easy reading and a nice way to learn more about the Buddha’s teachings.
The bad: 572 pages felt like 572 pages. It’s a biography but it isn’t. It’s fictionalized. So it’s hard to know what Thich Nhat Hanh made up and what he got from original sources. Granted, the Buddha lived over 2,500 years ago so it deserves a serious clump of salt anyways.
The ugly: I don’t like that the Buddha’s wife is depicted as encouraging him to leave her and their only child to go and find “The Way”. One of the things that drew me to the Buddha in the first place is that he’s not divine. He’s just human and as flawed as the rest of us. So why can’t it be that he just found himself having a wife and child at the age of 29 and simply freaked out and left town? That’s possible too, isn’t it? Does it make him any less the Buddha? Up to you. But I find that messy, flawed-human version much easier to swallow. Spare me the crap about the supportive and beautiful wife going, “Yes, dear, you must leave me and our son to become enlightened. Go! Go now and find the way! Come back in 7 to 10 years when you can save humanity.” When I tell my wife I want to go on a 7 day retreat she gives me a funny look. Much less 7 years! Hah! (less)
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13 likes · Like · see review
6/
Nov 10, 2016
Grady rated it
it was amazing
Shelves: buddhism
In Old Path White Clouds, Thich Nhat Hanh retells the story of the Buddha’s life, drawing on accounts from multiple classical sources. The language is simple, calm, and beautiful; there’s conflict in the story, but no false drama, just the clear working out and sharing of the Buddha’s teachings, and the growth of the early sangha through the end of the Buddha’s life.
Over the last two decades, I’ve acquired and read parts or all of roughly a dozen different books on Buddhism, from translations of key texts, to essays and memoirs by practicing Buddhists, to modern histories of famous disciples. I’ve found it all interesting, but hard to retain. Somehow, as I read Old Path White Clouds, I found concepts and references clicking into place one after another. It’s not that Hanh tackles all these pieces; as with all his writing (at least, that I’ve read), his message is simple and very focused on the Buddha’s core teachings – the rest of the details just aren’t important. (A recurring incident in Old Path is when a young monk or lay person tries to get the Buddha to answer deep metaphysical questions, and the Tathagata says nothing, until he eventually reminds the questioner that he is focused on teaching liberation from suffering, not arcane cosmic truths). Nonetheless, for someone approaching Buddhism with no real familiarity, I think I’d recommend reading a short analytical introduction – something like the Very Short Introduction – that covers core teachings, followed by this quiet gem of a book, before moving into more specialized topics.
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11 likes · Like · see review
7/
May 04, 2016
Heidi Nummi rated it
it was amazing
The most beautiful and inspiring book I’ve ever read.
A must-read for every living being. (less)
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10 likes · Like · see review
8/
Apr 12, 2010
Nikki rated it
it was amazing
Shelves: spiritual-physical-mental-health, mythology
This is so much more than a book. It’s absolutely an experience. I have walked alongside the Buddha for 572 blissful pages. Thich Nhat Hanh delivers a beautiful narrative of the Buddha’s life, including his path to enlightenment and all his teachings in the years that follow. Imbedded within the Buddha’s story are many stories about other followers, monks, and nuns, how they struggled, and how they came to follow the Buddha. Many of the Buddhas teachings are contained within this text and explained beautifully. The book is easy to read, but you want to take your time with it, letting everything wash over you and sink in. The process of reading it mindfully is a beautiful meditation. Highly recommend for anyone seeking to improve their spiritual life, regardless of their religion. The Buddha’s precepts apply to us all. (less)
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8 likes · Like · see review
9/
Jun 07, 2017
Sherilyn Siy rated it
did not like it
I liked the first 1/4 of the book and was completely hooked into the story of the Buddha’s enlightenment and insights into life, death, the universe. I love the Thich Nhat Hanh books I have read so far and was so looking forward to this book. However, he lost me when he started going into who donated what to the Buddha, who visited the Buddha and became monks, who hosted vegetarian banquets for the Buddha, and the nitty gritty rules of monk life. I honestly think A LOT can be cut out from the book and it would have been 10 times better. I could barely finish reading and just skimmed my way to the end. Disappointing. (less)
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7 likes · Like · see review
10/
Jun 18, 2020
Malum rated it
liked it
Shelves: historical-fiction, spirituality-religion
One of those books that started as a strong 5 stars, slowly dropped down to 4, and ended at a 3.
The main problem is that, the longer the books goes on, the more you realize how repetitive it is. The Buddha meets a doubter, convinces him of the truth of Buddhism, and then the person becomes a monk/nun. Repeat this for about six hundred pages and you will have a good idea of what to expect here.
One good thing, though, is that Hanh is really good at speaking through the Buddha. Whenever the Buddha gives a teaching, he does it in a way that is easy for the reader to quickly grasp.
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7 likes · Like · see review
11/
Oct 03, 2009
Suman Srivastava rated it
it was amazing
What a difference 10 years makes. Then I gave this book 3 stars. 🤦🏾
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7 likes · Like · see review
12/
Mar 05, 2019
Peter Upton rated it
it was amazing
With its ‘Four Establishments of Mindfulness, the Four Right Efforts, the Five Faculties, the Five Powers, the Seven Factors of Awakening and the Noble Eightfold Path’(page 457)and ‘such simple practices as the sixteen methods of observing the breath’ (page 476)Buddhism has always felt too intellectually demanding to appeal to me. However, my biggest doubt was that I was under the impression that they believed in an endlessly repeated cycle of birth, death and rebirth which I couldn’t accept because even if they were right, there must be at least a micro-second between death and rebirth. Where does that soul/spirit go to in that micro-second? If the next world is outside of the rules of time then that micro-second could be an eternity to the soul/spirit that has entered it. There is also the question of what happens to all of the soul/spirits that die in mass extinctions like the First World War and its accompanying flu epidemic when there are not enough new births to accommodate them instantly?
There was no answer to my query until page444 when Buddha says, “If not, how could there be a way out of birth and death?” ‘A way out’! A doorway leading where? He believes that there is a next world!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
This is followed by such a beautiful explanation that I am sure the writer of this book will forgive me for quoting it in full.
“Ananda, have you ever stood on a seashore and watched the waves rise and fall on the surface of the sea? Birthlessness and deathlessness are like the water. Birth and death are like the waves. Ananda, there are long waves and short waves, high waves and low waves. Waves rise and fall, but the water remains. Without water, there could be no waves. Waves are water, water is waves. Though the waves may rise and pass away, if they understand that they themselves are the water, they will transcend notions of birth and death. They will not worry, fear, or suffer because of birth and death.”
Many years ago I had a similar realization in that we are all like droplets of water from a great lake to which we return, rippling the surface with our new knowledge. But this explanation by the Buddha is so simple and yet so complete. Absolutely beautiful!
So let’s also simplify the rest of the core of Buddha’s teachings which he gained through meditation and moments of enlightenment.
1: Everything is interconnected and depends on everything else in this world for its survival. “When you look at a leaf or a raindrop, meditate on all the conditions, near and distant, that have contributed to the presence of that leaf or raindrop.” (page 409) To which I would add, see that it is also part of the water, part of God.
2: On the way to attaining spiritual liberation.
‘He said that offerings and prayers were not effective means to attain liberation.’ (page 232).
He also said,
“ a person who has never tasted a mango cannot know its taste no matter how many words and concepts someone else uses to describe it to him. We can only grasp reality through direct experience. That is why I have often told the bhikkhus (monks) not to lose themselves in useless discussion that wastes precious time better spent looking deeply at things.” (page 467).
So practice meditating instead of reading about it.
“But if one tries too hard, one will suffer fatigue and discouragement…….know your own strength. Don’t force your body and mind beyond their limits. Only then can you attain the fruits of practice.” (pages 484-485)
Having attained these fruits Buddha gives the following advice that so many religious leaders should follow.
“My teaching is a means of practice not something to hold onto or worship. My teaching is like a raft used to cross the river. Only a fool would carry the raft around after he had already reached the other shore, the shore of liberation.” (page 213)
This is a beautiful book of 572 pages where you will not only learn about the Buddha’s life and journey to enlightenment but find many more thought provoking statements.
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13/
Oct 19, 2010
Yirong rated it
it was amazing
Personally, the best written recount of the buddha’s life.
Beautiful, clear and simple writing without missing out on the important sutras and key essence of what buddhism is all about.
I have attended Thich Nhat Nanh’s retreat and enjoyed it thoroughly. He also mentioned in his website that ” I knew that the readers would have much happiness while reading the book because I had so much happiness while writing it”
Indeed I felt light and happy reading the book. Its simple yet deep. It deserves a second read – which I intend to do and cross reference with all the sutras.
More information about Thay’s account of writing Old Path, White cloud taken from
http://www.plumvillage.org/history-of…
At that time I was also writing the book Old Path White Clouds. We did not have central heating yet, only a wood stove in the little room above the bookshop, and the weather was very cold. I wrote with my right hand, and I put my left hand out over the stove. I was very happy writing. From time to time, I would stand up and make myself a cup of tea. Every day, the few hours I spent writing was like sitting with the Buddha for a cup of tea. I knew that the readers would have much happiness while reading the book because I had so much happiness while writing it.
Writing Old Path White Clouds was not hard work; rather, it was an immense joy. It was also a time of discovery. Some sections were more difficult to write than others. One difficult section was when the Buddha first gave teachings to the three Kashyapa brothers and received them as disciples. There are documents that say the Buddha had to use miracles to do it, but I wanted to show that he did it with his compassion and understanding. The Buddha has a great capacity of understanding and compassion, so why would he have to use miraculous powers? I had a strong faith that I would be able to write the chapter in that light. That was the most difficult chapter for me, but eventually succeeded. The second most difficult chapter was when the Buddha went back to visit his family after becoming enlightened. He was still the son of his parents and a brother to his siblings. I wished to write in a way that would retain his human qualities. The way he took the hand of his father upon their meeting, the way he related with his younger sister, with Yasodhara and Rahula, was very natural. I could only write in that way because I felt the ancestral teachers supporting me. In reading Old Path White Clouds, we find that Buddha is a human being and not a god. That is precisely the aim, to help readers rediscover the Buddha as a human being. I tried to take away the mystic halos people ascribe to the Buddha. Not being able to see the Buddha as a human being makes it difficult for us to approach the Buddha.
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14/
Apr 18, 2020
Madhura rated it
liked it
· review of another edition
To describe the life of a being such as the Buddha is an insurmountable task. While the Venerable Thich Nhat Hanh makes a beautiful attempt to do so, I felt the book could been more captivating or evocative.
The Buddha’s teachings appear repetitively across the book and sometimes tend to be discussed to the point of abstraction – which could lead to a bit of exhaustion on the part of the reader (it took me one year and a fair bit of patience to read the entire book). After all, I picked up the book to know more about the Buddha’s life, rather than to understand his teachings in depth (albeit, one would argue that to know about the Buddha’s teachings is to know more about his life, but my point here is that it should have been finely balanced).
A small chart/relationship tree to explain the various people in the Buddha’s life and their interrelations could help the reader to process the many names in the book – even as a native speaker it was difficult for me to relate to the names and their associations with the Buddha.
Having said that, it is definitely a wonderful book. (less)
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4 likes · Like · see review
15/
Jun 24, 2017
Rathi rated it
liked it
I feel almost guilty to say that I did not like this book very much. Buddha as per this book was a proselytizer more than a fully realized soul. He also calls his path the only true path. I come from a religious system that emphasize s on multiple roads leading to the same destination. And my understanding of Buddha was a little different – I think he was definitely a realized soul who taught compassion and tolerance towards all living beings. There is also quite a bit of Brahmin hatred in the book. Every Brahmin character is narrow minded and power hungry and the only good ones are those who convert to Buddhism. And in addition to the forceful conversion by murder threats, historically this is how non-Hindu religions spread in India – by painting one group of people as evil and making this religion as their saviour. (less)
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3 likes · Like · see review
16/
Mar 29, 2019
Tams rated it
liked it
First 300 pages was enjoyable, almost lost a star as the last 300 pages was a slog.
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3 likes · Like · see review
Apr 15, 2021
Rob Price rated it
liked it
A beautiful story about the Gautama Buddha’s journey. Thankfully, it is short on the supernatural. But it is filled with wisdom that does not come naturally to most.
The book filled me with peace and tranquility as I turned the pages. Almost as though I was undertaking reading meditation.
Hopefully, this is a step towards more consistent mindfulness, but I sense this is an eternal pursuit. Hope of a specific outcome is not as helpful as practice. Perhaps I need to practice reading meditation more often.
https://soundmoneymacro.com/2021/04/1… (less)
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17/
Jul 07, 2019
Evy Ngo rated it
it was amazing
This book gives me a general view of life of Buddha as a human rather than a god or a saint. Thanks to this, I found myself on the same path he passed and therefore encouraged to move forward on my path to enlightenment. Moreover, maybe because it was written by a zen master, the energy in the book is so calming and soothing, as if I was taught by the zen master himself. Every time I read, I found myself lighter of stress and saw more joy sparkling in life.
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2 likes · Like · see review
18/
Apr 26, 2011
Sophie rated it
it was amazing
Shelves: fiction, buddhism
A very beautiful book retelling the Buddha’s life story and his teachings.
The language is very simple, but really stunningly beautiful. It captured my heart right away. The story is told through the eyes of a young buffalo boy who ends up becoming a monk, and through the eyes of the Buddha himself. His teachings are recounted and explained various times, and you get a good impression of what they were, even if you don’t understand all of them.
I’m having a little trouble of expressing just how much that book moved me. I loved it very, very much. It moved me very deeply and I am incredibly grateful it exists. (less)
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19/
Nov 26, 2018
Bobby Tang rated it
it was amazing
I find this book more philosophical than religious. The teachings are based on the dissection of life and attempt to construct a way to overcome the cycle of birth, death, and rebirth, under the Buddha’s view.
In short, I find 3 biggest takeaways from this book.
- Suffering exists because of our expectation defied by reality.
- Impermanence is permanent. Interdependence is the truth.
- To love is to give, not to impose.
This is not an easy book because of heavily philosophical contents and discus …more
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20/
Sep 17, 2008
Aaron rated it
it was amazing
Shelves: fiction, philosophy-religion, life-story, sets-the-standard
Revered monk Thich Nhat Hanh tells a fictional story of the life of the Buddha. Despite the fact that it is quite long, this is perhaps the best introduction to Buddhism for general public. He does a great job making the characters very realistic and entertaining to read, while at the same time telling the mainstream story of Shakyamuni Buddha’s real life, as well as the lives of several other characters along the way to flesh out other aspects of Buddhism.
Fairly easy reading, although long. If you have the time and the interest, it is certainly worth picking up. (less)
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2 likes · Like · see review
21/
Mar 28, 2013
Nicole rated it
it was amazing
“The Buddha explained that all things depend on each other for their arising, development, and decline. Without dependent co-arising, nothing could exist. Within one thing existed all things. ‘The meditation on dependent co-arising is the gate which leads to liberation from birth and death. It has the power to break through fixed and narrow views such as the belief that the universe has been created either by some god or from some element such as earth, water, fire, or air.'” p. 159 (less)
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‘22/
Apr 08, 2018
Abhi rated it
it was amazing
Shelves: religion, india, philosophy, biographies
A beautiful biography of the Buddha that also covers the basics of Theravada Buddhism.
One of the best things about this book is that you get to see a religion evolving in real time. Simple precepts of being present eventually transform to become over 200 sutras and guidelines as the community of bhikkus keeps growing. The author tries to build as objective a picture of Siddhartha Gautama as can be done almost 2500 years after he existed.
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2 likes · Like · see review
23/
Sep 08, 2009
Mariana rated it
really liked it
This book tells the life of Buddha from the viewpoint of a buffalo boy who becomes a monk. I read one short chapter every morning for several months before I meditated. It was quite helpful in my growth.
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2 likes · Like · see review
24/
Nov 24, 2014
Pratima rated it
it was amazing
· review of another edition
Loved the Book. Will Recommend everyone to read it atleast once.
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2 likes · Like · see review
25/
Jan 19, 2017
Ann rated it
it was amazing
Wonderful intro to Buddhism and the life of the Buddha through the most beautiful narration! I have listened to the audio book over and over again and each time still learn something new.
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2 likes · Like · see review
26/
Dec 03, 2018
Stuti Jain rated it
it was amazing
Feels like living with Buddha.
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2 likes · Like · see review
27/
May 10, 2019
Eli Labinger rated it
it was ok
· review of another edition
I gave it the first 100 pages. I get bored reading about venerated, flawless “people” and had to reshelve it.
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28/
Mar 15, 2022
Sokcheng rated it
it was amazing
Shelves: possessed
Exactly what i needed to know. As someone who grew up surrounded by mystic stories surrounding “god” Buddha, i was always put off by these unrealistic portrayals. Thay has changed my mind on many points related to the teaching of Buddhism, and once again, he has changed my mind on the man who made it all possible. This book paints the life of Buddha as really humane, really compassionate and realistic way. It reads like someone very wise i could have known. It was really emotionally and spiritually nourishing to accompany buddha on his life from birth through death, and learning to unlearn so many of the myths surrouding these events. This book has made me fall in love with Buddha, just as the way i fell in love with thay. (less)
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1 like · Like · see review
29/
Jan 01, 2021
Gaurav Jejware added it
Like the title says ,Walking on the footsteps of Buddha ,this book leads to a detailed analysis of life of Gautama Buddha . After a certain time people may find it repititiv ,as it elaborates the daily happenings .But from starting to that certain moment ithis book is something that holds power to change one’s life. Those who follow mindfulness or are spiritual ,would definitely find a support . It’s full of mindfulness ,kindness ,warmth and peace that people are leaving behind with modernisation. This book is much more . If someone reached here ,reading my review ,should not give a double thought. (less)
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