PDF The Light of Asia by Sir Edwin Arnold in History

Review

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful. Like Herman Hesse; but in a long form poemBy taylor storeyThis is the story of Buddha as written by Edwin Arnold; an Englishman who spent some time studying in India. This book was one of the first to introduce eastern thought to the west in 1879.The book was mentioned in something I read about the transcendentalists...I can't remember where; but it wasn't Thoreau or Margaret fuller as they were deceased by the publication date. Perhaps Emerson or one of the Alcott's.Nevertheless; this book has basically the same ideas as siddartha by Herman Hesse; the difference was Arnold's poetic emphasis. I liked Hesse's more for the more narrative form. The poetry of Arnold became a little cumbersome to me (I'm not much of a poetry enthusiast). The book is a retelling of the Lalitavistara SÅ«tra...which i have not read; but is now of interest to me.This book had an excellent summary of the 4 noble truths and the eight fold path in the final chapters. I will definitely return to that.I also noticed a lot of similarities between Jesus' life and Buddhas/siddarthas life in this book. He starts out as a prince who renounces his glory (Jesus leaving heaven) and ends up dealing with all kinds of tempting spirits before he starts his earthly ministry...Arnold even uses phrases like "preach the word" and "gospel" in describing buddha. When siddhartha reaches enlightenment and becomes Buddha; spirits cry "it is finished" and another bystander remarks "a mighty thing has happened here today" --nearly verbatim for things people said at Jesus' crucifixion. It could be like one of the 4 gospels found in the New Testament...but about Buddha.I discovered on Wikipedia people in Edwin Arnold's day thought his siddhartha had too many connections to Jesus. It ended up setting the stage for another book Edwin Arnold wrote "the light of the world" which was a similar book about Jesus' life.Overall I liked the book; glad I read it; not too long; but it's written in the poetry style and in my opinion the narrative was bogged down rather than enhanced by it. Close to 4 stars; but halfway through I was thinking I just wanted to get through it; so I'll give it 3.3 of 3 people found the following review helpful. The life of BuddhaBy emrmReally enjoyed this. The story of the The Buddha (Siddhartha). Not at all dry. The language is quite flowery; but I found if I just read it as a flow and didn't get caught up on every word that it was lovely and easy to follow. It's not very long either. Memorable too; I still think about it from time to time...3 of 3 people found the following review helpful. Arnold Inspires AgainBy Donald Castellano-HoytSir Edwin produces once again an inspired interpretation of the life of a spiritual giant; Gautama the Buddha. Arnold has produced thru his translation another of his greatly moving presentations of ancient truth in readable format.