Old road white clouds

Author's name: Thiet Nhat Hanh

"Ancient Road, White Clouds" presents the life and teachings of the sage Buddha as drawn from twenty-four original Sanskrit, Chinese, and Pali sources, making it comprehensive and unprecedented. The author walks through eighty years of the Buddha's life with calm and intelligence, sometimes through the eyes of the boy Svasti, and sometimes in the voice of the Buddha himself, who in the book becomes one of the people whose reflections and experiences led him to the conclusions of wisdom. This biography has become a classic of religious literature.



We learn with Thiong'o the value of knowledge, which colonialism withheld from the Kenyan people. He tells us about the emergence of formal education and independent, rebellious schools in Kenya. His dream, which he promised his mother he would spare no effort to achieve, was to learn. But how can a child cling to his dream amidst the shadows of World War II and his family crises? This childhood memoir serves as Thiong'o's testimony in defense of his right to dream, at least, despite all the difficulties, and of his mother's significant role in his life, which has led him to become one of Africa's greatest writers worldwide.