The Buddha and the Terrorist

By Satish Kumar

Book Overview

"A challenging story, beautifully written, most pertinent and relevant to our time." --Deepak Chopra Not every book will change your life, but any book can. Not every discussion will make a difference, but a conversation can change the world. In this timely retelling of an ancient Buddhist parable, peace activist Satish Kumar has created a small book with a powerful spiritual message about ending violence. It is a tale of a fearsome outcast named Angulimala ("Necklace of Fingers"), who is terrorizing towns and villages in order to gain control of the state, murdering people and adding their fingers to his gruesome necklace. One day he comes face to face with the Buddha and is persuaded, through a series of compelling conversations, to renounce violence and take responsibility for his actions. The Buddha and the Terrorist addresses the urgent questions we face today: Should we talk to terrorists? Can we reason with religious fundamentalists? Is nonviolence practical? The story ends with a dramatic trial that speaks to the victims of terrorism--the families whose mothers, fathers, sons, and daughters Angulimala has murdered. It asks whether it is possible for them to forgive. Or whether it is even desirable. No one can read The Buddha and the Terrorist without thinking about the root causes of terrorism, about good and evil, about justice and forgiveness, about the kind of place we want the world to be, and, most important, about the most productive and practical way to get there.

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 1565125207
• ISBN13: 9781565125209
• Release Date: September 2006
• Publisher: Algonquin Books
• Length: 121 Pages
• Weight: 0.54 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.7" x 5.3" x 7.2"

Customer Reviews

The heart of Buddhism

Simply a great little book. If you've ever been a problem (uh-hem...), or have encountered problem people, you can find wisdom in this story. Somebody you know acting out? Give em this book...

A parable of peace for our times

I read this small book on an hour flight. I could not put it down even when the flight got bumpy. This is a parable for our times. We can choose to listen to it's message of forgivness and love in response to terror or we can continue on our present path to our mutual destruction. May we choose wisely.

Excellent Buddhist "Bible" Story

This spiritual story is taught many ways in many publications, but it speaks with greater authority because it does not condemn anyone.

Extremely significant, then and now

Buy this book for the parable, which is well-crafted and lightly sprinkled with Buddhist "tenets," but not enough to be heavy-handed. I enjoyed the story, but the foreword alone is worth the purchase. It is succinct and the most pertinent exposition on violence and terrorism I have heard/read. Thomas Moore's foreword should be printed and handed out to every American. Violence and terrorism, and their counterparts of peace and reconciliation, are not issues for democrats or republicans, atheists or religious people. These issues are about struggles inside every human, both now, and thousands of years ago.

a lovely story you would do well to read

The first reviewer would have done potential readers a greater service if s/he actually read the book. Perhaps s/he could have even learned something about hatred begetting hatred and how we can each stop that cycle in our own lives. This small book is a retelling of the old Buddhist parable of Angulimala. Angulimala goes around killing people and cutting their fingers off to wear on a necklace. He wanders one day into the grove where the Buddha is living in hermitage. The Buddha does not fear the killer, but instead, the Buddha talks with him and shows him compassion and unconditional love. Angulimala questions his violent and hateful ways and gives up killing to go live and study with the Buddha. It is a story about violence, about suffering, about compassion, about making choices so that we may live peacefully. It is a story about the ability to change, about opening to our own capacity to love and be loved, about acknowledging our power to destroy but chosing to create instead. It is a lovely tale, relevant to the world today, and one that each of us could benefit from reading by studying the multiple layers of meaning and integrating its lessons into our lives.