Buddhism in Fiction and Literature

Bangkok 8  by John Burdett
This street-smart thriller set in the mean streets of Bangkok features Detective Sonchai Jitpleecheep, son of a former Thai bar girl and a long-gone American G.I. An aspiring Buddhist monk with a druggie past he doesn't disavow, Jitpleecheep loves examining human nature and metaphysics, but he is truly enlightened when it comes to the internationally notorious, seamy, and seedy sides of Bangkok. When Jitpleecheep's partner and soul brother is killed the mellow detective's mission to solve the crime becomes both personal and spiritual. He vows to avenge his partner's death by killing the people responsible. Also try Bangkok Tattoo.

Buddha: a Story of Enlightenment by Deepak Chopra
Chopra divides his book into three parts. The first chronicles the youth of a motherless boy who has a destiny: to be a spiritual leader as foretold by astronomers at his birth. But his powerful father refuses to bow to fate and keeps his son isolated from the world. In the second part, Siddhartha, now a husband and father, sees suffering and decides to leave his life of leisure and become a monk. Despite extreme asceticism and a duel with a demon, enlightenment eludes him. In the final section, Siddhartha sees the error of trying to defeat his body and, in one night, achieves enlightenment and becomes the Buddha.

Siddhartha by Herman Hesse
In the novel, Siddhartha, a young man, leaves his family for an ascetic and contemplative life, then, restless, discards it for one of the flesh. He conceives a son, but bored and sickened by lust and greed, moves on again. Near despair, Siddhartha comes to a river where he hears a unique sound. This sound signals the true beginning of life — the beginning of suffering, rejection, peace and, finally, wisdom. This novel teaches us that there is a path for everyone.

The Dharma Bums by Jack Kerouac
The Dharma Bums are Ray Smith and Japhy Ryder, and some of their Zen Lunatic friends in San Francisco. Under the influence of Japhy, Ray is also introduced to the simpler splendors of the great outdoors on a big climb up a mountain. They come down and Ray travels home to North Carolina in  time for Christmas with his family. But Ray feels disconnected from even his family and sets out to go back out west and up Desolation Peak to look for the Great Truth. And there, high on a hilltop, it is  revealed, the search ends - and except for those dedicated, nirvana will never have seemed nearer.

Breakfast with Buddha by Roland Merullo
The only thing certain about a journey is that it has a beginning and an end; you never know what may happen along the way. And so it is with this journey into the minds and souls of two very different men—one of them in search of the truth, the other a man who may have already found it. Otto Ringling, husband, father and editor sets out on a cross country drive from New York to his recently deceased parents’ North Dakota farmhouse to settle their estate. However, when his flaky sister convinces him to give a ride to her guru, a crimson-robed monk, Otto knows there will be a few bumps in the road.

The Temple of the Golden Pavilion by Yukio Mishima
Because of the boyhood trauma of seeing his mother make love to another man in the presence of his dying father, Mizoguchi becomes a hopeless stutterer. Taunted by his schoolmates, he feels utterly alone until he becomes an acolyte at a famous temple in Kyoto. He quickly becomes obsessed with the beauty of the temple. Even when tempted by a friend into exploring the geisha district, he cannot escape its image. In the novel's soaring climax, he tries desperately to free himself from his fixation.

Zen and the Art of Faking It by Jordan Sonnenblick (Young Adult)
When eighth-grader San Lee moves to a new town and a new school for the umpteenth time, he doesn't try to make new friends or be a loner or play cool. Instead he sits back and devises a plan to be totally different. When he accidentally answers too many questions in World History on Zen (only because he just had Ancient Religions two schools ago) all heads turn and San has his answer: he's a Zen Master. And just when he thinks everyone (including the cute girl he can't stop thinking about) is on to him, everyone believes him . . . in a major Zen way.

Nixon Under the Bodhi Tree Edited by Kate Wheeler
Pico Iyer, Victor Pelevin, Doris Dorrie and other renowned contributors join young award-winners in what National Book Award-winner Charles Johnson calls “an embarrassment of literary riches,” sure to please fiction lovers of every stripe. A collection of thirty stories by Buddhist writers covers a wide range of forms and topics, including short-shorts; fictionalized memoirs; and contributions by internationally known writers like Dinty W. Moore, Doris Dorrie, and Lama Surya Das, among others.

Sky Burial by Xinran
Based on a true story, Xinran's extraordinary book takes the reader to the hidden heart of one of the world's most mysterious and inaccessible countries. In 1958 Shu Wen learns that her husband, an idealistic army doctor, has died while serving in Tibet. Determined to find out what happened to him, she courageously sets off, but to her horror, instead of finding a Tibetan people happily welcoming their Chinese "liberators" as she expected, she walks into a bloody conflict, and it seems that her husband may have died as a result of this clash of cultures. But before she can know his fate, she is taken hostage and embarks on a life-changing journey through the Tibetan countryside -- a journey that will last twenty years and lead her to a deep appreciation of Tibet in all its beauty and brutality.

Lord of Light by Roger Zelazny
On a distant planet in a distant future, a small group of colonists from Earth have developed godlike abilities and, after countless bodily incarnations, rule as tyrants over a world of their luckless descendants. The gods have kept the mere mortals in a perpetual pre-industrial age, supposedly protecting them from themselves, but one immortal opposes them -- Mahasamatman, also known as Siddhartha, or Sam for short. Over many lifetimes, and in many incarnations, Sam heroically fights to overthrow the egomaniacal gods and destroy their heavenly Celestial City. He introduces Buddhism to the Hindu masses, sets free an army of demons, and outwits even the most devious gods.