Description:
"Kindness is packed with excellent tales that will surprise and delight readers while introducing them to the diversity of religious traditions." ―John Green, Booklist
Following the Buddha through his various transformations, these clarified, often humorous narrative journeys open the ancient masters profound and gentle teachings to persons of all ages, religions, races, and ideological persuasions. Over and over this marvelous book tells us, "let go of your anger, your fear, your greedy desire. Embrace gladness. Follow the path." And the stories themselves, simply as stories, form a wondrous pageant of elephants, monkeys, monks, and men working through foolishness toward wisdom and delight. This collection of traditional Buddhist tales leads us to the kind of implicit understanding of ourselves and others that only stories can provide.
Brief description: Sarah Conover is the co-author of Ayat Jamilah: Beautiful Signs: A Treasury of Islamic Wisdom for Children and Parents (Skinner House Books) and other books on world faith traditions.
Review Quotes:
"Many American children know the parable of the mustard seed told in the New Testament. Few, however, have been exposed to the equally compelling Buddhist story of the mustard seed. In this parable, the Buddha tells a woman who has lost her child to seek out mustard seeds from families that have not been exposed to death. In doing so, the woman learns the universality of grief. Thirty-one such stories have been masterfully adapted and translated by Conover to transmit the soft, lyrical voice of the originals. These include Jataka tales, stories of the Buddha in past incarnations, which are widely read and retold to Buddhist children throughout the world. Populated with sticky-haired dragons, verbose monkeys, and strange-looking monks, and illustrated in pleasant, sepia-tone pictures contributed by Valerie Wahl, Kindness is packed with excellent tales that will surprise and delight readers while introducing them to the diversity of religious traditions." ―John Green, Booklist