Dharma in Eight Lessons by Sarah Black

[reviews_and_ramblings]

Dharma in Eight Lessons is another little jewel by Sarah Black; you don’t expect much from these short stories, if not a brief break between other more important things, and so I’m always surprised when I realized that I have probably just finished to read something very important, something that is probably too big for the small space that is a short story.

Mike is searching the meaning of life; Annan, a Buddhist from Thailand told him he can reach a Dharma, a righteous duty, in eight lessons, for the modicum price of 25 dollars each lesson. But more than the meaning of life Mike is probably searching for a friend and why not, a lover, and Annan has still not learned himself to renounce to the flesh in due of the spirit. Annan tells Mike that desire leads to suffering, but more than to Mike he is telling it to himself.

Lesson after lesson is more Annan who is learning how to cope with his desire for mortal things and Mike is a perennial temptation; in the end, to reach lesson 8, Annan will have to make a choice, let Mike go discovering his own lesson while Annan himself will conclude his path, to then meet again when they are really ready for something more.

This short story is at the same time warm and sad; it’s like a sad glance on the world, but with the warm of love. Even if it was not obvious the right time for Mike and Annan, I knew that there was a chance of happiness for them, even if it was not immediate and easy. Strange thing was that, even if it was a short story, the pace was slow, and quiet, like a more longer novel.

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