Unlocking the Mysteries of Birth & Death - Daisaku Ikeda
Summer 2005 - Any of student of Buddhism will
probably agree that reading about Buddhism is much like
trying to understand music by smell. So to even spend time
commenting on this book is somewhat ironic.
I purchased this book as part of a long-term
research project on the creationism/intelligent design debate.
While I had a general concept of what Buddhism has to say
on these subjects, I hoped to find a reference that would
perhaps go into more detail. Many non-Buddhist associates
often wonder about these topics, so I also hoped to find
a book that I could recommend for further reading. I will
keep looking.
The title, which includes “A Buddhist
View Life” is a bit misleading. While this book delivers
some of what I expected, it was overall disappointing and
too focused on Nichiren’s teachings to be of much
use to me. Much of the general reference in this book can
be found on the web from some of the larger, more reputable
Buddhism sites. So if that’s all you need, save your
money.
Note that Nichiren is one of the few areas
of Buddhist philosophy which I have not been exposed to
until reading this book. Most of my training and experience
comes from the Soto Zen tradition (which apparently Nichiren
disliked), with occasional forays into Vajrayanna and Kadampa.
So I may be missing something here, but my gut tells me
something is up.
First, there is the matter of typos, of which
there are several. There’s even at least one place
where words are left out between page turns. When I see
this type of thing in modern books I am tempted to send
a proofread copy back to the publishers. But of course,
they should have people getting paid to do that sort of
thing, so why bother?
Second – and more substantively, the
text at times is subtly (and sometimes not so much) very
preachy in ways that I have rarely, if ever, found in any
Buddhist text or lecture. In fact, my rhetorical studies
tell me there is something very intentional about the wording
chosen in this book, which at times seems to take on a “they
are wrong, we are right” stance – again, something
rarely seen in Buddhist literature in my experience.
A little web research turned up some controversial
commentaries on Nichiren Buddhism in general, which –
admittedly – could be clouding my view of this resource.
But unless you are ready to dive into debating Buddhist
doctrine, this book is probably best avoided. If, on the
other hand, you welcome that challenge, it might be suitable
reading.
To learn more for yourself, check out these
links I found.
