3 h 58 minAudiobook7 minSummaryRead it, hear it, the 15-minute summary, and print and large print at cost
Audiobook edition · 3 h 58 minPaperback · 6 × 9 in · printing soonHardcover · 6 × 9 in · printing soonAbout this book
What happens when a prince sheltered by pleasure comes face to face with age, sickness and death?
In The Light of Asia, Edwin Arnold retells the Buddhist story of Siddhartha Gautama in a long poem of blank verse. King Suddhodana surrounds his son with palaces, music and gardens. But when Channa drives the prince into the city, Siddhartha meets truths that luxury cannot keep away.
Love and comfort pull him toward home; suffering draws him toward a search for answers. Yasodhara is part of the life he must leave behind. Arnold follows the prince from his sheltered youth into searching and struggle, then presents teachings on how suffering arises and how it can end.
What you’ll discover
- A sheltered palace world Enter gardens and palaces where a loving father tries to keep suffering beyond his son's sight.
- The city beyond comfort Follow Channa and Siddhartha through encounters that break the spell of a protected youth.
- Love and leaving Feel the pull of Yasodhara and home as the prince turns toward his search.
- The struggle beneath the tree Discover Arnold's portrayal of the seeker facing Mara's temptations of fear and desire.
- Teaching shaped into verse Explore Buddhist teachings on suffering through the stately movement of Arnold's Victorian blank verse.
Who will love it
For readers who love the life of the Buddha told as a story, and who enjoy stately Victorian verse read aloud.
What’s inside
The key ideas, in the 15-minute summary
- A prince is born amid signs
- Pleasure and protection fill his youth
- Four sights break the spell
- He leaves his home in the night
- Searching, fasting and facing temptation
- What the poem teaches and how it sings
Who’s who
- Siddhartha GautamaA prince of the Sakya people who gives up wealth and family to seek an end to suffering and becomes the Buddha.
- King SuddhodanaHis father, a ruler who loves his son and tries to keep him in luxury so that he will never leave.
- Queen MayaHis mother, who dreams of a white elephant before his birth, a sign of the child's destiny.
- YasodharaThe princess he wins and marries, whose love is part of what he must leave behind.
- ChannaThe charioteer who drives the prince through the city and answers his questions about age, sickness and death.
- AsitaA holy sage who foretells that the child will either rule the world or leave it to save it.
- MaraThe tempter who tries to turn the seeker from his goal with fear and desire.
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- Large-print eBook
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- Audiobook
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- 15-minute summary
- The key ideas in about 7 minutes, to read or to hear.
- Paperback
- 6 × 9 in. Printing soon: leave your email under Paperback or Hardcover above.
- Hardcover
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- Large print paperback
- 8.5 × 11 in. Printing soon: leave your email under Paperback or Hardcover above.
- Large print hardcover
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The Light of Asia
by Edwin Arnold · 1879
A sheltered prince meets age, sickness and death, and leaves his palace to seek a way past sorrow.
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In short
The Light of Asia is a long poem in blank verse by the English poet and journalist Edwin Arnold, first published in 1879. It tells the life of Siddhartha Gautama, the prince who became the Buddha, in eight books.
From the 15-minute summary · Key idea 1
A prince is born amid signs
The poem opens in the kingdom of the Sakyas, in northern India, in the city of Kapilavastu. King Suddhodana rules there, and his queen is Maya. Before the birth, the queen has a dream in which a white elephant enters her side. The court takes this as a sign that the child will be no ordinary one.
Arnold paints the birth in the soft colors of a legend. Nature seems to rejoice, and the gods are said to watch. A holy man, the sage Asita, comes to see the baby. He tells the king that the boy will either rule the whole world or give up the world and save it.
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What is The Light of Asia about?
It is a poem that tells the life of Siddhartha Gautama, from his birth as a prince through his leaving home and search for truth, and then presents the teaching he gave as the Buddha.
Who wrote The Light of Asia and when?
Sir Edwin Arnold, an English poet and journalist, wrote it. It was first published in 1879, after his years in India, and it was widely read in Britain and America.
Is The Light of Asia an accurate account of Buddhism?
Not strictly. Arnold drew on the legends and texts available to him and shaped them for Victorian readers. Scholars say it differs from early sources in places, but it shows how the Buddha's story was received in the West.
The author
Edwin Arnold
1832–1904 · English poet and journalist
Sir Edwin Arnold (1832–1904) was an English poet and journalist. He was born in Gravesend and died in London. He lived in England, India and Japan, and worked for the Daily Telegraph. He published The Light of Asia in 1879 and The Song Celestial, a translation of the Bhagavad Gita, in 1885.
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