The Buddha Box Set

Breathtaking! Had my mind & brain wrapped around this brilliant manga series last few days - of course, one doesn't need that much time to complete 8 manga volumes, but once started, I simply had to savour every bit of this great saga, well illustrated & written by the grandmaster of mangas Tezuka. To say the least, at the end, it felt like I have landed back in this world (with a thud & all that:-), straight from that turmoil filled world of Budha's times, in the centre of the love-hate politics triangle and relationship complications that existed among Kosala, Kapilavastu & Magadha regions. It is in these turbid settings that the great master had to bring in his pristinely pure teaching of compassion, of the interconnectednedd of the entire universe, of his famous tenets of 'suffering exists', 'there is a cause for suffering' and 'there is a solution out of suffering' and of his suggested eight fold path of right seeing, thinking, speech et al. A wonder journey and many 'lessons learnt' later, towards the end of the series, I, in fact, found myself wishing to restart the journey again, if at all to 'sort out' some of the jigsaw puzzle of the storyline with it's multitude of real & imaginary characters, each of whose lives kept weaving in & out of others'! Such an irreverant yet delightful treatment of a great biography, all with Tezuka's own quirks like throwing us off once in a while with his time machine tactics of fitting some modern lingo into the dialogues or with an 'untimely author's appearence', of course somehow giving all due reverence to the great master who walked this earth, his life and teachings - but for this latter bit, the series may not have been classic it is, for decades! Would not recommend for kids though, parents be warned - at max an UA rating is what one can accord to this manga when it comes to your kids. Need to mention specifically how specially delightful is the depth with which the author seems to have understood & conveyed the great master's teaching, especially in the last few volumes. One of the best mangas ever from a grandmaster - a definite must read!

A must read for the comics lovers. It was a roller coster rider for me. The reading of the whole set was an awesome experience. Initially the graphics was not familiar to me. May because I have not read much of mangas. But once I started getting into it, it was a splendid experience. The way Tesuka setting every frame is breath taking. I really feel in love with his art work. Even my kids liked the art work a lot who are in 6 & 10 years. They at least used to browse through the book for looking at the pictures. As a story most of us will know the story of Buddha in one or another way. But Tesuka introduces new characters every now and then and some will be fictional. So it is not just documentary but a full length feature film or a series. Just go for it.

First things first, it’s a manga so don’t expect a supremely serious retelling of the story but that doesn’t mean it's meant for children. Women are depicted wearing only a loincloth. So be careful there. Now the actual series. The art is brilliant, detailed and alive. You can imagine the trees moving in wind just by looking at the art work. The story is fairly accurate if not completely factual. You follow the life story of Buddha and all the main characters in his life. From the time he was a sickly kid to the time he discovers the meaning of life. How he keeps the promise made to someone and keeps on teaching till his last breath. It’s an interpretation of someone’s life and should be taken as such. There are some reviews out there which are critical of this series because it didn’t suit their sensibilities. But you shall have to understand that the medium you chose for reading this story is meant to be like this. It’s a delightful series which you should read if you get a chance and don’t mind someone expressing the story through this form.

Masterpiece!

If you are fascinated by Buddhist Mythology and how it interweaves with India, then this is the graphic novel. The artwork is amazingly good.

I bought this book to gift it to my li'l sister on her b'day and she totally loved it!

Page quality is poor and publication date is 2006. But product description shows publication date is 2014.

Nice series