Do Not Be Troubled: How the Buddha faced Life's Challenges
Published in March 2023, Mud Pie Books, Oxford
The book is most easily available from Amazon:
These days we see images of the Buddha everywhere – from hotel foyers and ornamental gardens to fitness clubs and health spas. He always looks so tranquil, almost unreal. It comes as a shock to learn that his life was lived in the most challenging of times and that his famed serenity was achieved in the face of malicious accusations – and even assassination attempts. He had to cope with monks behaving badly, complex family issues, dynastic rivalries, and the perennial threat of war. In this concise and engaging book Graham Dixon explores the Buddha as a ‘flesh and blood’ figure and shows how the many challenges he faced can provide a source of hope and inspiration for all of us in these difficult and uncertain times.
Graham Dixon was, until recently, Head of Radio at the European Broadcasting Union, responsible for supporting public broadcasters around Europe and beyond. Before that, he was the Managing Editor of BBC Radio 3. He became interested in Buddhism following an unusual brush with secular mindfulness on a senior management development course.
Buddhist Thought
Why Buddhism?
For me, discovering an alternative modality as a vehicle to articulate human experience, was a significant moment. My interest in Asian thought is primarily through the Theravāda Buddhist tradition, the earliest layer of the Buddhist tradition, which is astonishingly well documented in the 40-odd volumes of the Pāli Canon.
Given my aversion to the idea that one can, or indeed should cajole people into belief, or stridently proclaim one truth, it was appropriate that the dissertation for my MA in Buddhist Studies at the University of Wales concentrated on the dissemination of the tradition by the first generation of monks. They neither went out preaching nor sought to 'convert' people; rather, they spoke only in response to sincere questioning from enquirers. The published version of my MA thesis is available below.
I am delighted to be completing a volume for Mud Pie Books, seeking to look behind the familiar serene Buddha image and look at the tough things which happened during his life, not least assassination attempts and character defamation. It's not a self-help book, rather it is based around the deep optimism that one can come through life's challenging experiences.
