2025-07-02
score: 7.5
type: non-fiction
beautiful book. i have read several buddhism books over the years, often targeting a more practical aspect of the religion. in this book, i wanted to learn more about the history of the Buddha.
Old Path White Clouds tells the story of Gautama Buddha. it is written in a way that is easy to understand and follow. the writing style is akin to the one of a children's book which is surprisingly fitting and makes the book easy to digest and read casually. this book gives context to when/how the Buddha gave his teachings, which is both beautiful and profound.
here are some of my highlights:
People were caught in endless suffering because of their erroneous perceptions: they believed that which is impermanent is permanent, that which is without self contains self, that which has no birth and death has birth and death, and they divided that which is inseparable into parts.
All beings contain within themselves the seeds of Enlightenment, and yet we drown in the ocean of birth and death for so many thousands of lifetimes!
The cause of suffering is ignorance, a false way of looking at reality. Thinking the impermanent is permanent, that is ignorance. Thinking there is a self when there is not, that is ignorance. From ignorance is born greed, anger, fear, jealousy, and countless other sufferings. The path of liberation is the path of looking deeply at things in order to truly realize the nature of impermanence, the absence of a separate self, and the interdependence of all things. This path is the path which overcomes ignorance. Once ignorance is overcome, suffering is transcended. That is true liberation. There is no need for a self for there to be liberation.