Buddha is the most important man who ever achieved enlightenment. Although we see him as a calm, benevolent figure, the actual life story of Buddha was tumultuous and dramatic. I wanted to bring this mysterious figure, who died 2,500 years ago, into the present in all his psychological complexity. What better way to grip the reader than to tell Buddhas story from the inside? No other human being has lived such a life. This story carries the reader from Buddhas birth to the time of enlightenment. No other book, to my knowledge, shows what it must have felt like to experience such depths of despair and heights of ecstasy, to renounce love in favour of spiritual perfection, to contain in one body enough wisdom to change the world. To me, thats the essence of Buddha, and I hope an avid readership will greet his story with the same wonder and hunger for spiritual inspiration. Deepak From the Foreword