Book Review, "In the Buddha’s Words"

Continuing our occasional series of reviews on books either borrowed from our library by Sangha members or new acquisitions, we are pleased to provide a review by Val from the Newport Soto Zen group. It is really great that this resource is now being utilised by the wider Island Sangha... more reviews to follow.

In the Buddha’s Words, an Anthology of Discourses from the Pali Canon edited and introduced by Bhikkhu Bodhi with a foreword by the Dalai Lama.

"This is a very good introduction to the Suttas. It is well worth reading the Introduction, Foreword and Preface; these explain both the background to and history of the Pali Canon and explain in detail the purpose of the book.

The introduction to section one gives a good overview of the Buddha’s teachings and the book goes on to clarify the nature of his insights into the subject areas covered. However, this is not a collection of the most important Suttas, those about meditation and other significant topics are not included."

The book can be purchased from Amazon but please remember that if you first go to the Burma Campaign UK web site and click on their Amazon link then any shopping you do on Amazon.co.uk will raise money for the Burma Campaign UK. The Burma Campaign UK receives a percentage of the cost and you pay nothing extra! This is particularly relevant considering today's news about the extended detention of Aung San Suu Kyi.