The Thousand and One Lives of the Buddha by Bernard FaureNaomi Appleton

Excerpt

This volume, originally published in French in 2018, presents Bernard Faure’s vision for how we should approach the life (or lives) of the Buddha, as well as a wealth of biographical (or hagiographical) examples and discussion.1 While the overall approach is not quite as innovative as Faure claims, the volume makes a valuable contribution to an increasing interest in how Buddha lives feature in literature and imagination within Buddhist contexts and beyond. I will begin by commenting on the three parts of the volume separately and then offer some more general remarks.