“John Stratton Hawley miraculously manages to braid the charged erotic and divine qualities of Krishna, the many-named god, while introducing us—with subtle occasional rhyme—to a vividly particularized world of prayers and crocodile earrings, spiritual longing and love-struck bees.”—Forrest Gander, winner of the Pulitzer Prize for PoetryAn award-winning translation of Hindi verses composed by one of India’s treasured poets.The blind ...

Set in ancient India, Hermann Hesse's Siddhartha follows the spiritual journey of a young man who leaves his family home and meets the Buddha. An exploration of both Buddhist philosophy and individual morality, Siddhartha charts a quest from ascetic simplicity to worldly luxury and back again. While he draws on the Buddha's teachings, Siddhartha ultimately forges his own path, creating a personal philosophy that has fascinated readers for nearly a century. Siddhartha is c...

Siddhartha is an allegorical novel by Hermann Hesse which deals with the spiritual journey of an Indian boy called Siddhartha during the time of the Buddha. The book was written in German, in a simple, yet powerful and lyrical style. It was first published in 1922, after Hesse had spent some time in India in the 1910s.The story revolves around a young man who leaves his home and family on a quest for the Truth. Embarking on a journey that takes him from the austerit...

Hinduism is one of the world's oldest living faiths. There are thousands of different Hindu gods and goddesses. Children are often very curious to know about them. The present book comprises information and stories related to ten popular gods and goddessesBrahma, Vishnu, Shiva, Sarasvati, Lakshmi, Parvati, Ganesha, Hanuman, Indra and Surya. The stories in this collection will satiate their curiosity and also provide pleasure to the young readers. The tales are a varied lot as they have been s...

From the editors of Zen Poems of China and Japan comes the largest and most comprehensive collection of its kind to appear in English.This collaboration between a Japanese scholar and an American poet has rendered translations both precise and sublime, and their selections, which span fifteen hundred years—from the early T'ang dynasty to the present day—include many poems that have never before been translated into English. Stryk and Ikemoto offer us Zen p...

"Excellent . . . A fine introduction to Chinese and Japanese Zen poetry for all readers" from the editors of Zen Poetry: Let the Spring Breeze Enter ( Choice ).Capturing in verse the ageless spirit of Zen, these 150 poems reflect the insight of famed masters from the ninth century to the nineteenth. The translators, in collaboration with Zen Master Taigan Takayama, have furnished illuminating commentary on the poe...

This is the story of Prince Siddhartha and how he became Buddha, the Awakened One. Lyrical verse and beautiful full-color illustrations depict each major life event in Siddhartha's development. His message of nonviolence, loving-kindness, and unselfishness is vitally necessary for today's--and tomorrow's--children. A story made for the telling--open this tale to a child and shore up the possibility of a bright and loving future!

Samskara is one of the acknowledged masterpieces of modern world literature, a book to set beside Chinua Achebe’s Things Fall Apart and Tayeb Salih’s Season of Migration to the North. Taking its name from a Sanskrit word that means “rite of passage” but also “moment of recognition,” it begins when Naranappa, an inhabitant of a small south Indian town and a renegade Brahmin who has scandalously flouted the rules of caste and purity for years, eating meat,...

According to Hindu mythology, Lord Vishnu, the God of Preservation is supposed to be responsible for the sustenance, protection and maintenance of the Universe. To establish righteousness and destroy injustice in the world, he has incarnated in different life forms in various ages. Each incarnation has an interesting story associated with it which describes the feats of Vishnu. Such personifications are popularly believed to be ten in all though there is no upper limit to them. Children are ...

Zen and Tao, A Little Book on Buddhist Though and Meditation is really not a little book. It is a collection of Buddhist quotes, thoughts, and meditations from the school of Zen and the Tao. The Translations of the Hsin Hsin Ming, The Tao Te Ching, and Nargarjuna's Tree of Wisdom by Dennis Waller are included along with 50 selected quotes from Chuang Tzu, Okakura Kakuzo, and Buddha. Also included are selected commentaries on Zen and the Tao from the works of Dennis Waller.

Discover how ordinary beings—a deer, a robber, a monkey, a parrot, and more—make up the past lives of the Buddha before he was Buddha.The jataka tales are ancient Buddhist stories found in both the Pali Canon and Sanskrit tradition, recounting the many past lives and ongoing spiritual work of Shakyamuni Buddha on his way to his final birth as Siddhartha Gautama. In them we find the Buddha facing difficulties, making tough choices, doing hard work, falling down and ...

Ninth century Tamil poet and founding saint Andal is believed to have been found as a baby underneath a holy basil plant in the temple garden of Srivilliputhur. As a young woman she fell deeply in love with Lord Vishnu, composing fervent poems and songs in his honour and, according to custom, eventually marrying the god himself. The Autobiography of a Goddess is Andal’s entire corpus, composed before her marriage to Vishnu, and it cements her status as the South Indian corollary to ...