cover image The Story of Buddha

The Story of Buddha

Geshe Kelsang Gyatso. Tharpa (Ingram, dist.), $8.95 paper (32p) ISBN 978-1-616060-22-0

In the second book in the Buddhism for Children series, Kelsang Gyatso retells the story of the Buddha’s enlightenment. The author—a Tibetan-born lama and founder of a worldwide network of Buddhist centers—brings distinguished credentials to the task. His version of Buddha’s enlightenment, however, differs somewhat from the familiar story: for example, the Prince Siddhartha starts his quest to end suffering with a mind that is “completely pure,” motivated by a vision of “all the Buddhas of the ten directions.” While the book is aimed at school-age children, they may not understand or benefit from such phrases as “space-like concentration” and “mistaken appearance of all phenomena.” The stylized pictures are static and repetitive, many of them with murky brownish backgrounds, set opposite white pages containing stark black text, some of it long and discursive. This esoteric retelling of Buddhism’s central story contains little for young children; adults who want to communicate the most accessible aspects of this tradition, such as cultivating patience, generosity, kindness, and calm, should look elsewhere. Ages 7–10. (July)