Buddhist Lives
by Danny Fisher
Sarah L. McClintock, Assistant Professor of Religion at Emory University, recently posted a query on The Buddhist Scholars Information Network (H-Buddhism). She’s considering teaching a freshman course on the topic of Buddhist lives and put out a call for “excellent, highly readable accounts” from the ancient, medieval, and modern periods. I sent her suggestions for good, modern biographies and autobiographies (though I did veer into memoir territory too). It seemed appropriate to share the list here: maybe you’ll find out about a book or two you weren’t aware of. And please: share auto-/biographies of modern Buddhists that you like in the comments.
I don’t know if this is quite what she’s looking for, Danny, as it does come more under the memoir category, but I very much enjoyed Nine Headed Dragon River by Peter Mathiessen.
I would add Sangharakshita’s latest one, My Precious Teachers.
It is much shorter than his 4 long memoirs. You can download for free at his website: The Rainbow Road, Facing Mount Kanchenjunga, In the Sign of the Golden Wheel, Moving Against the Stream.
That’s my teacher, so I’ve read them all, but they’re pretty long.
I think I’ve mentioned these two before on here, but Maura O’Halloran’s Pure Heart, Enlightened Mind and Thomas Merton’s Asian Journal are wonderful accounts of Buddhism’s encounter with the West by two incredible human beings.
Great suggestions, gang. Thank you!
Also Turtle Feet by Nikolai Grozni is a very readable memoir about someone who went to India to study the Dharma. I laughed aloud quite a few times, I think it was well written, though light on the Dharma, more of a personal memoir.