A beautiful biography of the Buddha, from the seeking Siddhartha to the timeless Tathagata. As he draws on scripture, Thich Nhat Hanh often includes mystical detail, such as the Buddha’s glow, or the earth’s shuddering at some important event. But these provide pleasant coloring, along with loving descriptions of nature, to the main thrust of the text, which is of course an exposition of the Way, as taught logically and lived thoroughly by the Buddha and his disciples. What little conflict there is is resolved nonviolently, even passively, which may not making for an exciting read, but that’s sort of the point.