Shakespeare Meets the Buddha: Using Shakespeare’s Words to Illustrate Buddhist Teachings

Written for the general reader in twenty short chapters, Shakespeare Meets the Buddha brings a unique perspective to the works of Shakespeare and the teachings of the Buddha. At first glance, they would seem to have nothing in common. The Buddha taught his followers to transcend the world by doing no harm, training the mind, and benefiting others. Shakespeare wrote plays about romantic love, sex, royal power, war, deception, jealousy, murder, and revenge. But the most remarkable connections appear where we least expect them. The timeless works of Shakespeare illustrate transcendent truths taught by the Buddha, including truths about the mind, impermanence, death, illusion, interdependence, karma, suffering, and qualities that offer a path out of suffering to happiness and ultimate freedom.