In December 2024, Shambhala Publications released The Story of The Buddha by Zen teacher John Tarrant, a retelling of Siddhartha’s story of enlightenment. Although the book is short in length, it is mighty in thought-provoking content.
Many of us are familiar with the story of the Buddha. In fact, most books discussing Buddhism include a passage about the Buddha’s birth and some of the well-known stories. I was first introduced to the story as a young child through Jonathan Landaw’s Prince Siddhartha.* As a family friend, Landaw even dedicated the book to me and my sisters.
Over the years, as a book reviewer, I’ve read numerous iterations of the Buddha’s journey to awakening, but what makes Tarrant’s book stand out, even before reading a single word, are the historical images sourced from museums. Plates upon plates of predominantly Chinese and Japanese origin with endnotes discussing their history and provenance.
I could focus this review only on the images. However, the present tense storytelling techniques used also draw readers into the unfolding adventure in ways many other renderings of the story do not.
We are immediately transported back to a space before time, to a mysterious era of a great serpent king who exists in the beyond. Then, much like a theater trailer for an upcoming blockbuster film, we are thrown into Greek mythology. This nicely draws parallels and contrasts to motivations, showing how these arching events and myths enter our collective psyche and echo our psychological behaviors before joining our author as he steps out of the story and into his world and reflections. These reflections, collective ones he tells us, are based upon years of meditation at the Pacific Zen Institute.
Of course, there are certain things we can never know for sure as we weren’t there and can’t truly know what the Buddha or others were thinking. Nonetheless, Tarrant’s approach helps us contemplate the personalities involved in the story that we may have never considered before. In many ways, we’re invited to understand the characters and their roles as archetypes in a myth and how these archetypes can relate to our own lives. There’s a concept of being part of a grander narrative, unfolding with perfect timing. There is something that feels like a magical story of destiny in this retelling, with attention to often-overlooked details. The people speaking to both aspects of this greater adventure are key players, not always aware of the part they are playing but fundamentally important, just as aspects within our own selves are part of the greater story of our unfolding epic called life.
Tarrant’s narration is far more in keeping with contemporary sensitivities. Patriarchal language and biases have been left in the past, and even the traditionally male wise man is now a wise woman—all without it feeling forced or “politically correct.” For example, on the night of Siddhartha’s departure from the palace, the author describes what Siddhartha sees and feels. In the sequence where he sees women sleeping, Tarrant delivers a vastly more sensitive version compared to what is recounted in the Buddhacharita.
The latter describes the future Buddha thinking, “Dirty and distorted lies here exposed the true nature of women in this world,” as women lay semi-naked, post-coitus, and sleeping, having been employed for manly pleasures yet held in contempt. This rendition clearly has the misogynistic ring of the times, which Buddhism (and other religions) still suffer from as if the men had nothing to do with the state of the women.
In Tarrant’s version, Siddhartha’s view is far gentler upon the heart of the modern reader, and one would hope, more akin to the awakening Buddha nature of someone who could see beyond judgment, gender and misogyny, seeing the non-dual divine within all sentient beings.
Tarrant’s approach, arguably thanks to his work as a Jungian dream psychologist, has really resonated with me and added layers of reflection that are often washed over in standard retellings and I feel will be of great value for contemplation for those already well-versed in this story or even for those non-Buddhist seekers interested in a multilayered mythical type tale that holds up a mirror for self-reflection.
As a final thought to leave you with here, Tarrant has Siddhartha hear his mind ask him, “Are you afraid of this happiness?”
What a wonderful prompt for us to reflect upon within our life’s journey.
