Shakespeare Meets the Buddha: Using Shakespeare's Words to Illustrate Buddhist Teachings

by Edward Dickey

Written for the general reader in twenty short chapters, Shakespeare Meets the Buddha brings a unique perspective to the works of Shakespeare and the teachings of the Buddha. At first glance, they would seem to have nothing in common. The Buddha taught his followers to transcend the world by doing no harm, training the mind, and benefiting others. Shakespeare wrote plays about romantic love, sex, royal power, war, deception, jealousy, murder, and revenge. But the most remarkable connections appear where we least expect them. The timeless works of Shakespeare illustrate transcendent truths taught by the Buddha, including truths about the mind, impermanence, death, illusion, interdependence, karma, suffering, and qualities that offer a path out of suffering to happiness and ultimate freedom.

110 pages, Kindle Edition

Published July 7, 2020

About the author

Edward Dickey is retired from a thirty-year career at the National Endowment for the Arts, where he was Director of the State & Regional Program. While earning an M.A. in Literature from American University, he was a junior fellow with the Folger Institute at the Folger Shakespeare Library. He has enjoyed well over 100 productions of Shakespeare's plays over the last 50 years and has been active with a local Dharma group for 24 years. He lives in Washington, DC.

Reviews

[Aaron Fown · Rating 5 out of 5]

Shakespeare Meets the Buddha is a marvelous work, that makes a point I have had brewing in my mind for decades, and makes it well. It contains within it a treasury of wisdom, and has most of my favorite quotes from both of those sages, along with a well conceived philosophical dialog about the similarities between the world-views of these two figures. It deserves all five stars I am giving it, and I wanted to state that plainly before I raise an objection.
The author states plainly, several times, that “Shakespeare was a playwright and not a spiritual teacher.” Is that so? These are not mutually exclusive, indeed the author himself admits that the Buddha and Shakespeare both taught with illusions and magic. That the one used stage magic may simply be the mark of wisdom at work. If Shakespeare were to turn an arrow in flight into a flower, or create an illusion demonstrating the decay of time, the priests and their jealous god would have had them killed within the week! And this is the core of my argument; if the universe wished to send a sage and a teacher to such a backward place as England in that time, ruled as it was by a tyranny of the physical and of the mind, it would be foolish to send a Buddha or a Christ. Such a teacher would simply be murdered. It would be far more sly and clever to send a Shakespeare. And I contend, this is what was done. He was a spiritual teacher, albeit in a form that allowed them to teach without being murdered for their teaching. The ‘frivolity’ of the entertainment allowed them to spread wisdom without interruption, because the priests and the kings and their jealous god were too absorbed in their own power to understand the precious pearls of wisdom he was throwing down to his audience. And we are all the richer for it. Without his sage wisdom, can you imagine what a bloody horror England might have become, in the centuries that followed? Even with the benefit of this wisdom, their crimes nearly exceeded the Romans who came before them! Perhaps, in that light, we should all be thankful that Shakespeare was such a clever sage, even if he couldn’t be a Buddha or a Christ.

[Ann Crawford · Rating 5 out of 5]

I really, really loooooove this book! But then I love the Buddha's teachings and Shakespeare's works. Putting them together like this is quite creative and inventive. I was in many plays when I was in a summer Shakespeare Festival in my teen years, and it was a delight to see the words brought to light in a new way. I've studied Buddhist teachings for years, and it was also a delight to see the words brought to life in a new way. Put them together, and it's a lot of light and life from these two masters. I don't like the cover and it needs a touch of proofing, but that doesn't detract from its excellence. Highly recommend. I wish I could go higher than 5 stars.

[Edward Dickey · Rating 5 out of 5]

Shakespeare wrote plays about romantic love, sex, war, royal power, betrayal, jealousy, murder, and revenge. The Buddha taught his followers to do no harm, train the mind, and benefit others. What do they have in common? More than you might imagine. Shakespeare's language gives fresh expression to some of the Buddhas basic teachings. Shakespeare meets the Buddha is available on Amazon.

[Steven Joseph · Rating 5 out of 5]

Amazing Read!!

I practiced at the Village Zendo in New York for 10 years and have read dozens of books on zen and Bhudism. This is a must read for anyone interested in zen. The book uses Shakespeare so effectively to serve as an anchor to your practice. Thank you!!!

[Brian · Rating 2 out of 5]

DNF 50 pages