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Culled from Buddha’s own sermons, rare books, and manuscripts describing his life and times, this compendium of poetic monologues and dialogues is probably the only one in English that presents salient features of Buddhism of various shades. Satyapal Anand claims to be of the progeny of Anand, the senior most disciple and confidante of Buddha. Poetry and religion mix wonderfully, and Anand’s poems touch subjects such as ahimsa (nonviolence), sex, meat eating and self-defense. Some of the conventional view have been challenged and laid bare by Buddha’s own words. Anand’s claim to authenticity is his poetic truth that he considers more reliable than mere books.These poems were first published in Urdu and were hailed as the first ever endeavor to present Buddha’s teaching through the modern poetic idiom. To render topics like sex desire in young monks and meat eating if it was given as bhiksha (alms) were indeed controversial, but more so were Buddha’s own lapses. Does he still feel lust for the other sex? asks Anand, and he replies in affirmative. Doesn’t he have a guilty conscience in abandoning his wife and child? asks Anand, and Buddha’s answer is still aye, but he defends it too. Is he going to get nirvana (freedom from the birth cycle) after this life? His answer is in the negative. He visualizes that he would be born as Jesus in his next birth and get nirvana only after he is crucified. So are some of his answers on the existence of God, hell or heaven, and whether or not this earth itself is either of these two.Having taught English and comparative literature in universities in India, England, Canada, and USA, Satyapal Anand now lives a secluded life in a suburb of Washington, DC.
