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An End To Suffering
The Buddha In The World
by Pankaj Mishra
The Indian-born writer examines the life, influence, and relevance of the Buddha and his teachings.
Farrar, Straus and Giroux, 432 pages
12/08/2005
$25.00
ISBN: 0374148368
Nonfiction
History
Religion
All reviews are classified as one of five grades: Outstanding (4 points), Favorable (3), Mixed (2), Unfavorable (1) and Terrible (0). To calculate the Metascore, we divide total points achieved by the total points possible (i.e., 4 x the number of reviews), with the resulting percentage (multiplied by 100) being the Metascore. Learn more...
The New York Times Book Review Adam Goodheart
Mishra's book is in the best tradition of Buddhism, both dispassionate and deeply engaged, complicated and simple, erudite and profoundly humane.
The Globe And Mail [Toronto] Sun Shuyun
The reader will find here a clear account of the development of Buddhism and many of its variants and sects, first and foremost through the life of the Buddha himself.
New York Review Of Books Pico Iyer
There are times here when a reader may feel the shadow of V.S. Naipaul... But Mishra's very willingness to practice meditation in his little cottage, the tenderness he brings to lost Westerners whom Naipaul is more apt to see in terms of pride and humiliation, his very interest in the Buddha... all show that he can go where the older writer has not.
The Nation Donald S. Lopez Jr.
Freedom, but without God; moral values, but without Jesus, or Mohammed. Mishra's hero is a Buddha for the blue states, but one sadly shorn of his miraculous powers to chasten confident kings.
Publishers Weekly
For serious readers the book is a rich and challenging--if sometimes meandering--invitation to explore the Buddha's legacy across centuries, continents and cultures.
Kirkus Reviews
An impressive compendium with a sense of shared discovery.
Los Angeles Times Jeffrey Paine
Some will doubtless devise their own end to suffering by impatiently tossing this apparently aimless, self-indulgent volume to the floor. Impatient readers will, however, miss out on a lot. [9 Jan 2005, p. R5]
The New York Times William Grimes
Mishra paints a vivid, painful picture of the developing world, bewildered by the disruptive forces of modernity.
The Spectator Mick Brown
Mishra writes beautifully, elucidating the complexities of Buddhist philosophy with admirable clarity. The book falters only when he attempts to go beyond what is known of the Buddha’s life and teachings and to speculate on his innermost thoughts and motives.
Washington Post David Guy
Yet Mishra did not -- and this is the book's major weakness -- actually enter into Buddhist practice, perhaps because of the specter of those affluent Westerners. He has a deep intellectual understanding of the Buddha's teaching, but misses their deeper point
New York Observer Martin Goodman
The writing process must have been a form of meditation, for though the focus wanders elsewhere in the book, the Buddha's story comes through with true clarity. [13 Dec 2004, p. 22]
San Francisco Chronicle Don Lattin
"An End to Suffering" has its moments, but what slowed me down was Mishra's tendency to veer off on intellectual tangents, along with his inability to decide whether he's writing a memoir, travelogue or philosophical treatise.
The Guardian Andrew Brown
[Mishra] has written a big sloppy book, badly organised but full of very good bits.
Daily Telegraph Helen Brown
Mishra offers some enormously thought-provoking analysis of the modern world, but readers are likely to be left confused. He reminds me of so many successful, middle-class people who say that Buddhism is the only way of life that makes sense, but who go on worrying about all the things that the Buddha told us meant nothing, smug in their possession of things he told us to give up.
The Independent Justin Wintle
About actual meditation Mishra has nothing to say, and we're left with something less than Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance.
 The average user rating for this book is 9.0 (out of 10) based on 1 User Votes
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