FROM THE MAILBAG: Buddhism in Popular Fiction
Today’s mailbag question comes from reader Andy Wimbush. Andy writes to us inquiring about novels that deal explicitly with Buddhist themes. Though I’m backlogged with other mailbag questions, I immediately started thinking of titles when I read Andy’s email and thought it would be good to answer it right away. (So, apologies to those of you waiting for answers to other questions.) Andy is also interested in feedback from other readers, so if you have titles to suggest, please put them in the comments. And, as always, other comments, further questions, and quibbles are always welcome below.
DEAR DANNY: As a former literature student, I’m always on the lookout for good works of fiction which touch on Buddhist themes. But there aren’t many. The only ones which spring to my mind are Herman Hesse’s Siddhartha, Wu Cheng-En’s Monkey (also known as Journey to the West) and Jack Kerouac’s The Dharma Bums. All fabulous books which leave me wanting more. I was wondering if you, or your readers, know of any great Buddhist novels or story collections – ancient or modern. — ANDY
DEAR ANDY: Good question. I’m aware of a small handful of contemporary novels that grapple at least somewhat significantly with Buddhists and their ideas. I should say at the outset that I have not read all of the books I’m going to mention, and cannot therefore vouch for all of their presentations of Buddhism. That said, you might be interested to know about David Guy’s “novel of impermanence” Jake Fades, Anne Donovan’s Buddha Da, Bill Magee’s “action-love story” about Tibet’s first female Dalai Lama She Still Lives, Roland Merullo’s road story Breakfast with Buddha, Severo Sarduy’s Maitreya, Tsutomu Mizukami’s The Temple of the Wild Geese, Yukio Mishima’s The Temple of the Golden Pavilion, Mark Salzman’s comedic adventure The Laughing Sutra, Keith Kachtick’s Hungry Ghost, Pamela Erens’ The Understory, Stephen Mitchell’s Meeting with the Archangel: A Comedy of the Spirit, and Buddhist filmmaker Dorris Dörrie’s Where Do We Go From Here?.
In addition, Hahn Moo-Sook’s Encounter, set in nineteenth-century Korea, has a lot to do with the diversity of religions in the country–which includes Buddhism. Similarly, Qurratulain Hyder’s River of Fire, a masterpiece of Urdu literature about religion in India, has a character representing Buddhism in its quartet of protagonists. Hanif Kureishi’s popular The Buddha of Suburbia doesn’t have as much to do with Buddhism as the title suggests, but it still has some germane observations about exoticism/Orientalism and guru devotion in the Western world.
In terms of pulpier stuff, there are several offerings in the science fiction genre that touch on or at least mention Buddhism–follow this link for some suggestions. Roger Zelazny’s Hugo Award-winning Lord of Light deserves special mention, though, because it so specifically ties Hindu and Buddhist philosophy and cosmology into its story.
In addition to all the sci-fi, there are some titles in the mystery/thriller category you might investigate. John Burdett’s Thailand-set noir Bangkok 8 is interesting because its morally ambiguous protagonist tries to reconcile a lot of abhorrent behavior with his Buddhist worldview–the Dharma plays more than a superficial role in the book. Paul Adam’s espionage story Oracle Lake revolves around the Sino-Tibetan conflict and a plot to keep the Dalai Lama’s death secret. And if you’re a fan of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle’s Sherlock Holmes stories, then you probably don’t want to miss Tibetan author Jamyang Norbu’s The Mandala of Sherlock Holmes, which imagines Holmes’ “lost years” spent in Lhasa.
There are also a few relevant offerings in the world of children’s literature. Jordan Sonnenblick’s Zen and the Art of Faking It is about an eighth-grader trying an unusual route to popularity: by posing as a Zen master. Nobel Prize-nominated poet Ko Un’s Little Pilgrim, a retelling of the Avatamsaka Sutra, is a remarkable work that really shouldn’t be missed. Also marvelous is Kenji Miyazawa’s much-beloved Milky Way Railroad.
If you like short stories, I recommend editor Kate Wheeler’s Nixon Under the Bodhi Tree: And Other Works of Buddhist Fiction, which features selections from a host of noted Buddhist authors, including past interviewee Jeff Wilson. Its “sequel” is editor Keith Kachtick’s You are Not Here: And Other Works of Buddhist Fiction, which includes a piece by Buddhist teacher and chaplain Dean Sluyter.
Though probably not be exactly what you’re looking for, there are also a number of interesting accounts of the Buddha’s life written in novel form. Deepak Chopra’s recent Buddha: A Story of Enlightenment and Osamu Tezuka’s multi-volume manga Buddha are two such books. My favorite, though, would have to be Thich Nhat Hanh’s revisionist hagiography Old Path White Clouds: Walking in the Footsteps of the Buddha, which tells the story of the Buddha through the eyes of young disciple Svasti. (There’s been talk about adapting this book into a film or miniseries, which I think would be a fantastic idea with a few tweaks and injections of postmodern thinking.)
OK, readers: what else have you got for Andy? — DANNY
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NEXT TIME: The lineage of Buddhist military chaplains. (Yes, I am aware that I’ve promised this twice before, but it’s coming soon–I swear.)
