& the Buddha The Buddha was a prince who lived long before Jesus. He had a castle and great wealth. On journeys outside his castle, he came across suffering and sought to understand it. While still a young man, he renounced his wealth and family and went on a lifetime search for enlightenment. It was during this search that he became known as The Buddha. Enlightment, or nirvana, is achieved, he said, by detaching yourself from the bonds one holds to others or to objects. These bonds are the cause of human suffering. Mediation can help to detach oneself, for it can reveal that we are actually owned by our things and are bonded by attachment to living things. Our struggle therefore is to find a Middle Path, where we seek neither wealth for its own sake, nor spurn it for the sake of asceticism. Instead we exist on this earth while seeking nirvana, the only way to end an endless cycle of death and rebirth that is known as samsara. The Buddhist search for that middle path is life's greatest and most rewarding challenge.

Table of Contents Readers Comments Download Lilac's Book Return to mighty

Lilac's Book. A book for my daughter.    By Bill Orton. Lilac's Book has been on     continuously since January 3, 1997. Anyone may have a FREE copy of the entire text of Lilac's Book by going to the Download page. Back in 1994, I wrote this book, largely in random order, as a gift for my infant daughter.   When I finished the first version of the book, I made photocopies and handed them out to anyone who was interested.   In 1996, I converted the text of the book into web format and thanks to the gracious and steadfast support from this mighty site, the book has been on Hippyland continuously since January 3, 1997.   As far as I can tell from webstats over the past few years, about 3000 people a year are visiting the page to download the full text of the book.   If just a portion of these visitors are downloading the text, then this free book is now in the hands of thousands of people.   This makes me feel that the gift is not just for Lilac, but for thousands of others, most especially for the teenagers and young adults who so often write to me trying to figure out their place in our world. BEING FREE  |  Table of Contents  |  Readers Comments  |  Download Lilac's Book  |  Return to HIPPYLAND  |  Photo Album Who IS a Hippy  |  The Price of Freedom  |  Following Your Own Heart  |  It Wasn't All Beauty & Lightness  |  Contact Me The original print edition of Lilac's Book © 1994; web editions © 1997, 1998, 1999, 2000, 2001.

P H O T O    E S S A Y

BEING FREE

Table of Contents

Readers Comments

Download
Lilac's Book

Return to mighty

Lilac's Book. A book for my daughter.    By Bill Orton. Lilac's Book has been on     continuously since January 3, 1997. Anyone may have a FREE copy of the entire text of Lilac's Book by going to the Download page. Back in 1994, I wrote this book, largely in random order, as a gift for my infant daughter.   When I finished the first version of the book, I made photocopies and handed them out to anyone who was interested.   In 1996, I converted the text of the book into web format and thanks to the gracious and steadfast support from this mighty site, the book has been on Hippyland continuously since January 3, 1997.   As far as I can tell from webstats over the past few years, about 3000 people a year are visiting the page to download the full text of the book.   If just a portion of these visitors are downloading the text, then this free book is now in the hands of thousands of people.   This makes me feel that the gift is not just for Lilac, but for thousands of others, most especially for the teenagers and young adults who so often write to me trying to figure out their place in our world. BEING FREE  |  Table of Contents  |  Readers Comments  |  Download Lilac's Book  |  Return to HIPPYLAND  |  Photo Album Who IS a Hippy  |  The Price of Freedom  |  Following Your Own Heart  |  It Wasn't All Beauty & Lightness  |  Contact Me The original print edition of Lilac's Book © 1994; web editions © 1997, 1998, 1999, 2000, 2001.