An engagingly contemporary approach to Buddhism--through the lens of
an iconic film and its memorable characters
Humorous yet spiritually rigorous in the tradition of Zen and the Art
of Motorcycle Maintenance and The Tao of Pooh, drawing from pop
culture and from personal experience, The Dharma of "The Princess
Bride" teaches us how to understand and navigate our most important
personal relationships from a twenty-first-century Buddhist perspective.
Friendship. Romance. Family. These are the three areas Ethan Nichtern
delves into, taking as departure points the indelible characters from
Rob Reiner's perennially popular film--Westley, Fezzik, Vizzini, Count
Rugen, Princess Buttercup, and others--as he also draws lessons from his
own life and his work as a meditation teacher. Nichtern devotes the
first section of the book to exploring the dynamics of friendship. Why
do people become friends? What can we learn from the sufferings of Inigo
Montoya and Fezzik? Next, he leads us through all the phases of illusion
and disillusion we encounter in our romantic pursuits, providing a
healthy dose of lightheartedness along the way by sharing his own
Princess Buttercup List and the vicissitudes of his dating life as he
ponders how we idealize and objectify romantic love. Finally, Nichtern
draws upon the demands of his own family history and the film's
character the Grandson to explore the dynamics of "the last frontier of
awakening," a reference to his teacher Chogyam Trungpa's claim that it's
possible to be enlightened everywhere except around your family.
With The Dharma of "The Princess Bride" in hand, we can set out on
the path to contemporary Buddhist enlightenment with the most important
relationships in our lives.
