| PAGE ONE Fall, 2001 Issue: Spirit & Crisis EDITOR'S NOTE BUDDHASCOPE DHARMATALK FOUNDOBJECTS GUESTCOLUMN QUOTES POETRY READING ROOM REVIEWS CONTACT US SITE INDEX SUBSCRIBE |
"Wherever You Go, There You Are," by Jon Kabat-Zinn, Hyperion. Order the book for $11.96 (paperback) at this link.
Here was another book I felt obligated to be suspicious of because it turned into a national bestseller after "Wherever You Go..." was released in 1994. But what a wonderful, accessible , inspiring work. Like the previous two books mentioned, it shares that same plainspoken quality, as if someone you knew and trusted was seated at your side, explaining important things, but in such a clear and insightful way that you desire to make the changes needed in your daily life and habits so you can understand and experience these things, too.
"Wherever You Go, There You Are" is subtitled "Mindfulness Meditation in Everyday Life" and that's an important distinction. Meditation practice is an exercise in self-absorption if we leave whatever wakefulness it encourages in us on the chair or cushion after we get up. The real challenge of spiritual practice comes when we take our spiritual enthusiasm---so easy to muster when we're alone and away from all those annoying people!--and have its mettle tested in the hustle, and often bruising bustle, of daily workaday life. That's where spiritual practice is truly developed and deepened.
Kabat-Zinn's book provides some daily vitamins to bolster your spiritual immune system. He challenges preconceptions about spiritual practice and the nature of meditation, all the while encouraging and laying out suggestions for undertaking such essential work and applying it to daily living.
This was my predecessor Daily Dose of Dhamma book to "Awakening the Buddha Within." For one year, I kept this book in my satchel and would read a page in my car or at my office desk before starting my work day. I expect at some future date it will find its way back into my satchel again before its dog-eared pages turn to dust.
This would be a good book for someone in the beginning or early middle stages of a meditation practice and who may be in search of inspiration for applying the insights and energies of practice to daily life
Here are some excerpts from "Where You Go, There You Are."
"The Path to Tranquility: Daily Wisdom: His Holiness the Dalai Lama," compiled and edited by Renuka Singh, Viking Books. Order this book for $17.47 (hardback) through this link.
I've already got my new "Daily Dose of Dhamma" book picked out for the first year of the 21st Century, and it's this one released in September, 1999. Actually, being a big fan of cool graphic design and sleek book production, I developed a crush on this book from the moment I unwrapped the review copy that Viking Books sent Hundred Mountain. It's a nice hand-holdable size, plus the cover is just smasheroo, with that nifty curlicue orange font used for his name, the colored half-balloons down the side and the genial, always soothing face of H.H. himself, floating reassuringly against a black ether. (For a full-size look at the cover, click here)
Inside is a refreshing, day-by-day collection of quotes drawn from his writings, teachings and interviews. The book offers useful advice, practical guidance and the sort of informal, but powerful observations on the challenges and significance of spiritual work that have turned the Dalai Lama into the Western World's alternative pope (whether that's an appropriate role for him is worth examining, but that's a separate matter).
Buddhist or non-Buddhist alike would benefit from having this book within easy grab to aid and inspire them as they face the first 365 days of the new century and millenium.
Here are some excerpts from "The Path to Tranquility."
The Shambala Pocket Classic edition of "The Dhammapada," translated by Thomas Byrom. Order the book for $4.80 (paperback) at this link
Why buy someone a teensy-weensy "Dhammapada," no bigger than a pack of playing cards, such as this Shambala Pocket Classic edition of "The Dhammapada'? Why indeed when this world classic---a collection of the Buddha's pithiest, most essential teachings gathered into one volume---is one of the most reproduced Buddhist works on the Internet and available for free at dozens of sites?
The reason is that you or your gift recipient are not always plugged into the Buddha-sphere (unless, that is, you have been asimilated, Borg-like, by the World Wide Web). And this snug little volume---it fits inside the outline of my flattened hand---can go anywhere with you, an inspiring, fortifying, morale-boosting, behavior modification-inducing quotation from the Buddha just a quick flip away. It's like having a first-aid kit for the spirit stashed within reach at all times.
I should note that this Shambala edition is not my favorite translation of "The Dhammapada" (It is actually described as "a rendering" by Thomas Byrom). A version with more vivid and gracefully written prose can be found at the link in the first paragraph above. But whatever the translation, the wisdom and essential truths of "The Dhammapada" shine through. Here's a way to help someone pocket that wisdom wherever they go.
Here is an excerpt from "The Dhammapada."
PAGE 3: A Few Favorite Tapes...