The Essence of Buddhism

by Jo Durden-Smith, DURDEN SMITH

Author Jo Durden Smith explains the power of karma, the notion of nirvana and the practice of Zen through the teachings of Siddhartha Buddha. This wonderful introduction to the Buddhist faith puts into perspective one of the world's most significant religions and reveals its relevance throughout its 3,000 year history.

Genres: Buddhism, Religion, Nonfiction, Spirituality

240 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 2004

About the author

Jo Durden Smith was a British author and a documentary film maker.
He was educated at Haileybury and Merton College, Oxford. He worked for World in Action, Granada TV's documentary team, where his rock films were made.
Subsequently he lived in New York, and then Moscow. He was a columnist for The Moscow Times, to 1997.

Reviews

[NHC Gonzo Division · Rating 3 out of 5]

A book of the history and methods of Buddhism randomly appeared in our home and I absorbed it over the course of two evenings. I’m not a religious man, nor am I an atheist or an agnostic. I spent much of my early twenties as an active antitheist and much of my late twenties being spiritually awakened by a plethora of psychedelics, so my religious views are... Complicated.

I’m especially not a fan of organised religion in all its oppressive, warmongering, bloodthirsty, powerhungry fervour. But then there’s Buddhism. I couldn’t be completely Buddhist, as it requires certain sacrifices I’m not willing to make. But I do agree with much of its doctrine, but then I could say the same about Christianity, or Islam, I agree with much of their doctrines too. I just can’t agree with any one thing completely, and nor should anyone really. It’s the same with political parties, right? Nothing is ever that clear-cut.

When you study the vast scope of all the worldly religions you see that they are all basically saying the same things in different ways anyway, fundamentally. But they are bastardised, sullied, altered, edited, lost in translation and manipulated over the years. Nearly all religions start the same, a person has incredible ideas and thoughts lightyears ahead of their time, be it Jesus, or Buddha, or Mohammed, and that person is considered a prophet, who knows what prophets dwell among us today, set to be the messiahs of the future! But as the “prophet” or enlightened one’s message gets passed down over the years it breeds more deities from the fertile imagination of humans, and this rule is tweaked here, and this word is swapped there, and so on, until eventually it’s twisted into being used for evil or politics or brainwashing or whatever.

This is true of every religion, but with Buddhism the wisdom seems more advanced, the Buddha’s epiphanies were perhaps a little more profound than most other prophets. The beliefs which basically describe a quantum reality are more scientific-seeming. As a religion, compared to others it is more humble and peaceloving and sagacious and tolerant at its core. It seems to grasp the true nature of things better than most, when you sift through all the bullshit and boil it down to its essence. And it stresses meditation, and meditation is definitely very important. And it promotes oneness with the universe and the sanctity of all living things and that is never a bad thing.
If I was forced to adopt one of the organised religions, it would be Buddhism, no contest.

“A beautiful religion; a doctrine of salvation even older than Christianity, yet completely unmarked by violence, war, inquisitions, crusades, or witch-burnings... It flourished in some of the most remarkable periods in human history and it left behind astonishing architecture, works of art, and a vast literature of extremely dense and sophisticated metaphysics - which we no longer understand”

[Jo Jenner · Rating 2 out of 5]

Unfortunately this book didn’t give me any enlightenment about what Buddhism is and how to practice which is what I was looking for.
If you want to know the history and how it has changed over the years this book is for you but that wasn’t what I was looking for.

[Kryptonian Fletch · Rating 3 out of 5]

Love the first three chapters... But then its like a different author took over... It took such a nose-dive

[Ryan Thomlinson · Rating 2 out of 5]

Pushed myself to finish this book. Idrk if I’m glad that I did. Pretty hard to read and I think it is somewhat misleading in its advertising. The title and the blurb on the back imply that you are gonna get a beginners introduction to the religion of Buddhism, but after reading it I would moreover classify it as a book briefing the history of the religion. It read very much like a textbook, stating different people and instances which occurred over Buddhism’s long history. Because of that I found it very hard to digest. After having finished the book I still feel as though I do not have a very deep understanding of the religion. I had a very very basic understanding of Buddhism prior to reading this and I would say that after reading it I have the same basic understanding with maybe a couple extra things.

The reason why I give this two stars at all is because I did think that the author did a pretty good job at being subjective. I found that the author (or maybe it’s the religion itself) is pretty self aware of the way the religion has been influenced and transfigured over time. I find with some other religions sometimes, that they try too hard to interpret something that was written thousands of years ago in the “right” way. This book did a good job of explaining the bias present throughout the religion’s history. Maybe because of that, they do talk about how resilient Buddhism is as a religion BECAUSE it is so free and open to change and adaptation, which I thought was cool! My only other positive reasoning was that I find most of my knowledge and education on religion (and even history really) has been a westernized Roman Catholic understanding. It was very cool to learn about an incredibly old religion and world history of a different part of the world.

[Sagar Desai · Rating 2 out of 5]

As someone who is deeply convinced by the Hindu way of life / Sanatana Dharma, I began reading this book to understand how different Buddhism is, if at all, from Hinduism. The book did teach me enough about Buddhism and its tenets (covered in Part I) to appreciate the few differences, but I wish the author was a more clear thinker and/or writer. I didn’t enjoy the way concepts were explained; the author was simply (and dryly) recording facts about what The Buddha said without making the effort to make the content relatable to the readers. I’m confident that there are better books on Buddhism.

[Bankim · Rating 5 out of 5]

Very well written.Covers everything related to buddhism in a very easy to understand language while capturing the subtle philosophical points along with essential historical background.
Fantastic cover design and beautiful print page layout.A gem of a book.

[Tee · Rating 5 out of 5]

I loved getting to know the full history of Buddhism and it's many sects, and how they spread across the globe.

[Terri · Rating 4 out of 5]

It's a good way to educate yourself on Buddhism, and the history of Buddism.

[Nadav Regev · Rating 3 out of 5]

Gives you an informed picture about the origins and history of Buddhism

[Karen · Rating 3 out of 5]

Dry!

[Ryan · Rating 4 out of 5]

I liked this book. Well, most of it. It was pretty easy to read, well-partitioned and -written. Some of it was too heady and a little boring, but it was fascinating to read the history of this philosophy of life which I previously mistook as the "least politically-molested" religion. Came to find out that even Buddhism (gasp!) has changed/morphed over the centuries due to political and societal pressure. I liked that wake-up call, personally.

[Theresa · Rating 4 out of 5]

The Essence of Buddhism
by Jo Durden-Smith

i was surprised many times with the information with in this book.
I did not know the origin of buddhism or the diversive conflicting and derisive nature inherited in the religion.
there seems to as many ways ideals and diversions of this religioys practice as any other.
the writting is concise and sequential showing how the origins and ideas are diverse in nature.

[Patrick · Rating 3 out of 5]

Smith provides a good overview of Buddhism, though I agree with other reviews that the book get a bit too heady at time. As an introductory text, The Essence of Buddhism could also have used a handy glossary of terms so that the reader doesn't have to flip back and forth to find the meaning of certain words that are defined on their first use only.

[Dr. Christopher S. Hope · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book is educational on the essentials of Buddhism however it does turn more to the history and understanding that history can be a little bit challenging because of specific words and therefore making the completion of the book challenging. Overall the book is a good book and recommended for those trying to understand the essentials of Buddhism.

[David Anthony Sam · Rating 4 out of 5]

The title seems to mislead. While the author does discuss beliefs and practices of Buddhism and its different forms, this is more a history of the religion from beginning to the present. Worth reading as such.

[Tom & Beverly · Rating 3 out of 5]

A good starter and a good book to get a perspective on the different sects and when they appeared etc