Buddha: The Father of Buddhism - Informational Book

The book, Buddha: The Father of Buddhism, was written by Anna Carew-Miller and Paolo d' Altan. This book is the story of Buddha's life and how he became to be the Father of Buddhism. The story begins before Buddha was even born, about 2,500 years ago in northest India. Buddha's father was the maharajah or chieftain of the Sakyu tribe. Buddha's mother was the maharajanee and it is said that one night she dreamed a white elephant flew down from the moonlit sky to her bed and not long after, she found out she was pregnant. Buddha was named Siddhartha when he was born and his father was told that he was goign to be a great saint. Throughout Buddha's childhood he became very smart and strong but he was sheletered from anything that was evil. He lived within the compound of his parent's palace and was never aloud out to see the rest of the world. One day he asked a gardener why he was picking the flowers. The gardener replied, because the Maharajah does not like when the flowers die. Buddha had never heard the term "died" before and wanted to know what it meant. After this, Buddha went to his father and told him he wanted to leave their palace and see other parts of the world. His father was alamred by this and ordered all the old, sick and poor people to leave the area before Buddha was aloud to travel. Just as his trip was about to be over and he was to return to the palace, Buddha saw two old, sick men in an alley. When he asked why those men looked as they did, he was told that they were just old. Buddha did not know what the word old meant so he had to ask. Buddha did not like hearing about flowers dying or people getting old. He was becoming deeply disturbed. Buddha decided to leave the palace because it was just an artificial world and he knew if he did not leave he would just feel trapped and depressed. Buddha wanted to leave because he wanted to find a way to rid the world of all pain. After Buddha left the palace, he saw five naked men who were monks sitting on the river bank. He went to sit with them and for more than six years he sat with them without uttering a word. One day, Budda left the men to eat with a woman who brought him rice. Thinking that he had betrayed the monks, they angrily turned their backs on him and walked away. On this day, all of Buddha's thoughts, desires and suffereing vanished and with this discovery, he became Buddha, the enlightened one. After this, Buddha wanted to show people another way to live other than having a caste system and untouchables. He believed all people were equal and that there should be no caste system and no division in society. He obtained many followers to help everyone find enlightenment. Buddha showed people other ways or looking at certain situations which is what made him so enlightened. Thousands of people respected Buddha and followed his teachings even though there were some who disliked him. Today, Buddhism is one of the most widely practiced religions in the world.

This book makes for a great information book because it is presenting the reader with basic information on the history of Buddhism. Some of the information was most like elaborated for the sake of making it flow like an actual story, but all of the facts of how Siddartha came to be Buddha, the enlightened one is accurate. This informational book serves the purpose of presenting accurate and appealing content to spark an interest in the reading on this subject.

This book did not receive any awards.

Miller & d' Altan, Anne & Paolo. Buddha: The Father of Buddhism. Broomall, Pennsylvania: Mason Crest Publishers, Inc., 1999.