The Thumbnail Book Reviews
by John Q McDonald --- 23 April 2006
by Pankaj Mishra
Mishra was a young man not too many years out of university when he traveled to the Himalayan foothills of India, looking for a retreat in the imperial British monsoon capital of Simla. What he finds there, however, isn't the romantic outpost of Kipling's India, but a squalid city overrun by tourists, and whose history is all but erased. On his way home, he passes through nearby Mashobra, where he almost miraculously comes upon a cottage looking for an occupant. He stumbles upon his dream retreat in the foothills, overlooking forests and orchards. It is here that he plans to study and to become the writer he has dreamed of being. The mountains are home to a community of Buddhists, some of whom are exiles from Tibet. What ensues for Mishra is a years-long search for the history and meaning of the Buddha. The book intertwines the author's vast exposure to Western philosophy, his discovery of Indian history, the disturbing qualities of materialistic and individualistic society, and today's world steeped in capitalistic craving and terrorism. What Mishra seeks is no less than the meaning of Buddha's teachings twenty five centuries after he lived. The book is part travelogue, part philsophical musing, and an often deeply personal journey of self-discovery. The author is frank and sincere about untangling some of Buddha's more difficult teachings on the ephemeral nature of existence, while seeking the place the Buddha may occupy in a world that seems so very far from his teachings. And in today's world, that is a struggle for all religions. What the Buddha tought, though, was less a spiritual cosmology than a philosophical and psychological solution to the question of suffering brought on by constant striving, desire and hatred. The author comes from a Hindu family, and doesn't become a practicing Buddhist by the end of the book, but he does present a fascinating history and a highly accessible overview of the Buddha's philosophy. The questions Mishra raises are personal and global, and they are deeply troubling. The book ends up hard to categorize. It is a memoir, but also history. It is an exploration of self, but also a search for meaning in the world. It is engrossing and tackles the big questions of existence without losing its accessibility. It is sprawling and eclectic, drifting at times, but its earnest questioning is highly engaging. Recommended.