Siddhartha Gauthama

Hermann Hesse wrote Siddhartha after he traveled to India in the 1910s. It tells the story of a young boy who travels the country in a quest for spiritual enlightenment in the time of Guatama Buddha. It is a compact, lyrical work, which reads like an allegory about the finding of wisdom.

Siddhartha Gautama was born to the king of a tribe in northern India. He became known as "The Buddha." Buddha traveled India for 45 years, teaching anyone who would listen.

"Now I understand why Buddha's message is still so important today." Rani, 11

The sudden death of the Persian Emperor in 522 BCE is one of history’s great mysteries. Was his demise self-inflicted, accidental, an assassination or due to natural causes? The author contends that during this incident Siddhartha Gautama may have been the leader of Babylon's Magi, an interfaith order that assumes governance of the region. The situation explodes when Darius the Great seizes the throne. Simultaneously the Magi Order is purged as Siddhartha, prince of the Saka nation, heads back east to the Indus. Could this event have inspired the creation of Buddhism as a pacifist movement dedicated to the pursuit of self-transformation, goodwill, and universal compassion? The Buddha from Babylon: The Lost History and Cosmic Vision of Siddhartha Gautama uncovers new evidence that solves this ages-old mystery and discovers Babylonian influences in the Buddha's revelations.

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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.

A “reverential and revealing” biography of Siddhartha, the ancient Indian spiritual teacher upon whose teachings Buddhism was founded (Kirkus Reviews). The legendary story of Gautama Buddha, told by Betty Kelen in this riveting book, captures the essence of both a man and a spirit. His teachings, characterized by a mystical eastern folklore and an inspirational wisdom, have never been matched by anyone else in history. They are marked by determination and a quest for the sacred, and led him to an enlightenment that shaped the foundation of many Eastern civilizations.