An End To Suffering

"Mishra (The Romantics) offers an ambitious 'book-length essay' that combines an overview of the life, times and teachings of the Buddha with personal anecdotes and extended multidisciplinary forays into realms such as ancient and modern history, philosophy, politics and literary criticism. If Mishra's approach is broad, it is also deep and often effective. For example, his close reading of early Indian scriptures and his historical-political examination of the Buddha's society bring to life a 'half-mythical antiquity' that, in turn, helps the reader see the Buddha's teachings afresh: not as generic spiritual truisms but rather as specific responses to particular religious and social conditions. Yet the book fails to anchor its broad perspective in a strong central thesis. While it follows the chronology of the Buddha's life, Mishra intersperses whole chapters exploring topics such as 'The Death of God' and 'Empires and Nations.' These discussions of Nietzsche's opinions of the Buddha or Zen Buddhism's endorsement of Japanese imperialism are themselves compelling, but feel disjointed. Mishra also frequently shifts the focus to his own life; sometimes this artfully illustrates a point, but at other times it borders on the self-indulgent. Nevertheless, 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." Publishers Weekly (Copyright 2004 Reed Business Information, Inc.)

"An impressive compendium with a sense of shared discovery." Kirkus Reviews

"Given the scope of its ambitions, An End to Suffering could easily have become a disorganized ramble. But Mishra's book is in the best tradition of Buddhism, both dispassionate and deeply engaged, complicated and simple, erudite and profoundly humane." Adam Goodheart, The New York Times Book Review

An End to Suffering is a deeply original and provocative book about the Buddha's life and his influence throughout history, told in the form of the author's search to understand the Buddha's relevance in a world where class oppression and religious violence are rife, and where poverty and terrorism cast a long, constant shadow.

Mishra describes his restless journeys into India, Pakistan, and Afghanistan, among Islamists and the emerging Hindu middle class, looking for this most enigmatic of religious figures, exploring the myths and places of the Buddha's life, and discussing Western explorers' discovery of Buddhism in the nineteenth century. He also considers the impact of Buddhist ideas on such modern politicians as Gandhi and Nelson Mandela.

As he reflects on his travels and on his own past, Mishra shows how the Buddha wrestled with problems of personal identity, alienation, and suffering in his own, no less bewildering, times. In the process Mishra discovers the living meaning of the Buddha's teaching, in the world and for himself. The result is the most three-dimensional, convincing book on the Buddha that we have.

Pankaj Mishra was born in North India in 1969 and now lives in London and India. He is the author of The Romantics, winner of the Los Angeles Times's Art Seidenbaum Award for First Fiction, and is a frequent contributor to The New York Review of Books, Granta, and The Times Literary Supplement.

A New York Times Notable Book An End to Suffering is a deeply original and provocative book about the Buddha's life and his influence throughout history, told in the form of the author's search to understand the Buddha's relevance in a world where class oppression and religious violence are rife, and where poverty and terrorism cast a long, constant shadow.

Pankaj Mishra describes his restless journeys into India, Pakistan, and Afghanistan, among Islamists and the emerging Hindu middle class, searching for traces of the Buddha, that most enigmatic of religious figures, while also seeking out the stories and places that defined the Buddha's life. Mishra also discusses Western explorers' discovery of Buddhism in the nineteenth century and considers the impact of Buddhist ideas on such modern politicians as Gandhi and Nelson Mandela.

As he reflects on his travels and on his own past, Mishra shows how the Buddha wrestled with problems of personal identity, alienation, and suffering in his own, no less bewildering times. In the process, Mishra discovers the living meaning of the Buddha's teaching, in the world and for himself. The result is perhaps the most three-dimensional, convincing book on the Buddha ever written. Mr. Mishra presents these concepts simply and clearly. He also lends them dramatic immediacy, tying them closely to specific events and places in the Buddha's life, highlighting the arguments and counterarguments that they provoked at the time. At every turn, he draws parallels between the social problems of the Buddha's era and the myriad social and political torments of our own age. Mr. Mishra paints a vivid, painful picture of the developing world, bewildered by the disruptive forces of modernity.--William Grimes, The New York Times

An End to Suffering is part biography, part history, part travel book, part philosophic treatise. But perhaps it could best be described as a work of intellectual autobiography . . . Mishra's book is in the best tradition of Buddhism, both dispassionate and deeply engaged, complicated and simple, erudite and profoundly humane.--Adam Goodheart, The New York Times Book Review Mr. Mishra presents these concepts simply and clearly. He also lends them dramatic immediacy, tying them closely to specific events and places in the Buddha's life, highlighting the arguments and counterarguments that they provoked at the time. At every turn, he draws parallels between the social problems of the Buddha's era and the myriad social and political torments of our own age. Mr. Mishra paints a vivid, painful picture of the developing world, bewildered by the disruptive forces of modernity.--William Grimes, The New York Times Deeply serious and thoughtful . . . An End to Suffering is, in effect, three different books woven together: a searching account of the author's own coming of intellectual age; a patient and meticulous retelling of the Buddha's life and philosophy; and an attempt to place the Buddha in the setting of Western thought, from Plato to Borges. In other hands, such an ambitious mosaic might seem like two books too many . . . But Mishra] is the rare writer who is at ease as a historian, philosopher, traveler, and memoirist, and the combination of roles allows him to produce a book that few others could even have attempted . . . The intellectual history in An End to Suffering is impressive . . . Mishra's book has a depth and deliberation that earn our trust.--Pico Iyer, The New York Review of Books Complex and subtle . . . So many books about religion are encumbered with the overweening beliefs of the author that it is a delight to find an intelligent attempt to engage with metaphysical ideas from an adult viewpoint. At a time when we are brought to witness the deaths of hundreds of thousands of people through warfare, famine, and natural disaster, it is easy to fall into shrill responses to misery. We need books like this to remind us of other, more thoughtful approaches to life.--John Walsh, The Asian Review of Books It is a tribute to Mishra's ability to link India's past to its present that he has turned a book on the Buddha into a social commentary of immense urgency about contemporary India.--Aravind Adiga, Time Asia Mishra's life of the Buddha is] succinct, lucid, and coherent . . . By comparing the Buddha to such comparatively modern writers as David Hume, Nietzche, Proust, and even Tocqueville, Mishra makes him into 'a true contemporary' . . . More t

Pankaj Mishra was born in North India in 1969 and now lives in London and India. He is the author of The Romantics, winner of the Los Angeles Times's Art Seidenbaum Award for First Fiction, and a frequent contributor to The New York Review of Books, Granta, and the Times Literary Supplement.