"Buddha" by Deepak Chopra - review

Another good thing about retirement is being able to read all the books you want.  I'm using my bad knees as a really good excuse for sitting in a chair and reading!  Latest interesting book -- the fictionalized life of Buddha by Deepak Chopra.  It was so interesting, in fact, that I did quite a bit of internet research on Buddha's life (insofar as it is known) and Buddhism.  It is tremendously interesting -- not that I'm becoming a Buddhist, but it has some things to offer.  However, as it turns out, Buddhism has suffered several of the depredations other religions have suffered -- disputes among disciples. different constructions and misconstructions among adherents through the ensuing millennia.  So what is Buddhism?  Apparently, it is what any adherent makes of it, taking the teaching of Buddha and trying as honestly as possible to apply them.  That's really fine, since Buddha preached that people should help those less fortunate than themselves, but it leaves a lot of latitude.

Karma (from Sanskrit: "action, work") in Buddhism is the force that drives saṃsāra—the cycle of suffering and rebirth for each being. Good, skillful deeds and bad, unskillful actions produce "seeds" in the mind which come to fruition either in this life or in a subsequent rebirth. The avoidance of unwholesome actions and the cultivation of positive actions is called śīla (from Sanskrit: "ethical conduct").

The Four Noble Truths were the first teaching of Gautama Buddha after attaining Nirvana. They are sometimes considered to contain the essence of the Buddha's teachings:
1.  Life as we know it ultimately is or leads to suffering/uneasiness (dukkha) in one way or another.
2.  Suffering is caused by craving. This is often expressed as a deluded clinging to a certain sense of     existence, to selfhood, or to the things or phenomena that we consider the cause of happiness or unhappiness. Craving also has its negative aspect, i.e. one craves that a certain state of affairs not exist.
3.  Suffering ends when craving ends. This is achieved by eliminating delusion, thereby reaching a liberated state of Enlightenment (bodhi);
4.  Reaching this liberated state is achieved by following the path laid out by the Buddha.

The Noble Eightfold Path—the fourth of the Buddha's Noble Truths—is the way to the cessation of suffering (dukkha). It has eight sections, each starting with the word "samyak" (Sanskrit, meaning "correctly", "properly", or "well", frequently translated into English as "right"), and presented in three groups known as the three higher trainings:
Prajñā is the wisdom that purifies the mind, allowing it to attain spiritual insight into the true nature of all things. It includes:
1. dṛṣṭi (ditthi): viewing reality as it is, not just as it appears to be.
saṃkalpa (sankappa): intention of renunciation, freedom and harmlessness.
2. Śīla is the ethics or morality, or abstention from unwholesome deeds.
It includes:
3. vāc (vāca): speaking in a truthful and non-hurtful way
4. karman (kammanta): acting in a non-harmful way
5. ājīvana (ājīva): a non-harmful livelihood
Samādhi is the mental discipline required to develop mastery over one's own mind. This is done through the practice of various contemplative and meditative practices, and includes:
6. vyāyāma (vāyāma): making an effort to improve
7. smṛti (sati): awareness to see things for what they are with clear consciousness, being aware of the present reality within oneself, without any craving or aversion
8. samādhi (samādhi): correct meditation or concentration, explained as the first four jhānas

An important guiding principle of Buddhist practice is the Middle Way (or Middle Path), which is said to have been discovered by Gautama Buddha prior to his enlightenment. The Middle Way has several definitions:
   The practice of non-extremism: a path of moderation away from the extremes of self-indulgence and self-mortification
   The middle ground between certain metaphysical views (for example, that things ultimately either do or do not exist)
     An explanation of Nirvana (perfect enlightenment), a state wherein it becomes clear that all dualities apparent in the world are delusory
    Another term for emptiness, the ultimate nature of all phenomena, a lack of inherent existence, which avoids the extremes of permanence and nihilism or inherent existence and nothingness

According to the (fictionalized) biography of Gautama Buddha, he fasted and meditated himself to the point of death, whereupon he came to the realization that (as well as I could understand it) all flesh is dross, all enlightenment illusion, all fleshly things unimportant.  He still thought people should be very nice to each other and those with more than enough should help those with not enough, but without getting too caught up in the giving (not patting ourselves on the back for doing good, etc.).  He also didn't think personal relationships (wives/husbands; parents/children, etc.) were important, although he honored his own father, wife and child.  I expect that if you go off into the forest and meditate to the point of starvation, a great many of the minutiae of life would seem unimportant, but then, again, he DID preach the Middle Way -- not extremist suffering or extremist anything.

Clearly this philosophy (or religion, or way of life) has much to recommend it.  However, when any philsophy, religion or way of life is codified, develops rules and has gurus, there are problems.  Jesus was a wonderful person, but the ensuing two millennia -- full of writings and people interpreting Jesus' words and deeds and telling us what to do -- have proved disastrous for countless people and nations.  It seems the same with them all and Buddhism is not exempt, though it's been less harmful than most of the others.