Buddhist Book Reviews

Buddhist Book Reviews and Recommendations

Boundless Heart

Written by Buddhist Books

Boundless Heart by Christina Feldman is a remarkable guide to the cultivation of kindness, compassion, joy and equanimity – relational qualities which are traditionally referred to as the brahma viharas or the Four Immeasurables.

Christina Feldman is a cofounder of Gaia House retreat centre in the United Kingdom, and a guiding teacher at the Insight Meditation Society in Barre, Massachusetts, so she has plenty of experience in helping practitioners to develop these qualities in person. This book now gives readers the opportunity to benefit from her teaching remotely and to cultivate the qualities in their daily lives at their own pace.

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The book begins by introducing the brahma viharas, their place in Buddhist teaching and giving us an insight into how their development can positively transform our daily experience. The author then discusses each of the Four Immeasurables in turn, with chapters on Immeasurable Kindness, Compassion, Joy and Equanimity.

Each main chapter provides the reader with a superb teaching on the quality being discussed, establishing exactly what it means and how its development can improve our daily lives and our relationships with others. The tone throughout is encouragingly pragmatic, and the author provides many practices by which the reader can begin cultivating each quality for themselves.

In our opinion, readers would do best to approach Boundless Heart as an experiential guidebook rather than a volume to be read in a single sitting. Combined with the right attitude, and the willingness to actually carry out the practices as instructed, this book will help one to cultivate kindness, compassion, joy and equanimity just as surely as those who practice in a retreat setting.

Whether used as a practical guidebook, as intended, or simply to acquire a better understanding of the brahma viharas and their relevance to our lives in the modern world, Boundless Heart is a hugely important title which we are pleased to recommend wholeheartedly.

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The Buddha before Buddhism

Written by Buddhist Books

The Buddha before Buddhism by Gil Fronsdal has the subtitle Wisdom from the Early Teachings, and provides a new translation, with commentary, of the Atthakavagga, or ‘Book of Eights’. Whilst the Atthakavagga isn’t the best known of Buddhist texts, it is widely believed to be one of the earliest, and it presents the core of the Buddha’s teaching without reference to many of the concepts that are often assumed to be quite inseparable from Buddhism as we understand it today.

Gil Fronsdal, who has previously given us a wonderful translation of the Dhammapada, started this translation of the Atthakavagga as a personal project more than twenty years ago, and in his Introduction he explains why he embarked upon it:

‘An important motivation for this work has been to understand the ancient Buddhist teachings as they might have been understood at the time they were composed. Rather than looking through the lens of a culture and a time far removed from those of the Buddha, I tried to interpret the texts in the context with which I believe the Buddha may have been familiar early in his teaching career. While I do not assume that I have succeeded in this task, the exercise itself has helped me to discover and put aside a number of modern interpretations about early Buddhist teaching.’

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The Book of Eights is an anthology of sixteen poems, and The Buddha before Buddhism dedicates one chapter to each of those. The structure of each chapter is the same, with the author first providing his commentary on the discourse to come and then presenting his translation of the poem itself.

The commentary here is superb, and gives the reader just the right amount of background information to put the discourses into their historical context whilst at the same time highlighting the universality and practicality of the teachings. As for the poems themselves, the translator has achieved a very good balance between being true to the original Pali and making the discourses a joy to read.

The lack of what many might consider to be ‘standard’ Buddhist concepts such as the Four Noble Truths, the Noble Eightfold Path, the three characteristics of existence and rebirth means that the Book of Eights is a text which can benefit anyone. There is nothing metaphysical about this text, only a simple and clear focus on how to achieve peace and joy in the here-and-now, and that makes it relevant to all readers, regardless of their spiritual views, religious beliefs or lack thereof.

The Buddha before Buddhism is a title that readers would be best advised to spend a lot of time with. Whilst one could read this slim volume from cover to cover in a couple of hours, it is best approached carefully, considerately and repeatedly so that each poem can be pondered thoroughly. This more meditative approach will allow readers to think about how the teachings of each discourse can be applied to their lives so that the end goals of peace and joy can be realised in daily life, and not simply understood.

We have no hesitation in recommending The Buddha before Buddhism to all readers, and we hope that it will make the life-changing teachings of the Atthakavagga better known, not just in the Buddhist community, but in the world at large.

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The Art of Happiness

Written by Buddhist Books

The Art of Happiness by His Holiness the Dalai Lama and Dr Howard C. Cutler is something of a classic text on the Tibetan leader’s approach to how we can deal with the problems which we all face in life and achieve a sense of happiness that lasts. The book is the result of many private conversations that Dr Cutler, a professional psychiatrist, had with the Dalai Lama in an effort to identify the beliefs, ideas and strategies that everyone can use to become happier in daily life.

Whilst there have been many books written by, about and with the Dalai Lama, a majority of them have been aimed at readers who have at least some knowledge of Buddhism in general or of Tibetan Buddhism specifically. The Art of Happiness, which has the subtitle: A Handbook for Living, is quite different. This book is aimed at the man (or woman) on the street, and presupposes no knowledge of Buddhism, so it is useful to everyone, of any background, who would like to live life in a more effective and peaceful manner, and achieve more happiness as a result.

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The book is divided into five main sections. The first is entitled The Purpose of Life, and its four chapters explore The Right to Happiness, The Sources of Happiness, Training the Mind for Happiness, and Reclaiming Our Innate State of Happiness.

Human Warmth and Compassion is the topic of the second section. Here the authors discuss A New Model for Intimacy, Deepening Our Connection to Others, and The Value and Benefits of Compassion.

The third section, Transforming Suffering, discusses human suffering at all levels – from physical pain and sickness to the kind of suffering caused by minor annoyances – and how to deal with it effectively. The chapter headings here are Facing Suffering, Self-Created Suffering, Shifting Perspective, and Finding Meaning in Pain and Suffering.

Overcoming Obstacles is the title of the fourth section of this book, and here the Dalai Lama shares his thoughts on Bringing About Change, Dealing with Anger and Hatred, and Dealing with Anxiety and Building Self-Esteem.

The fifth and final section of the book presents Closing Reflections on Living a Spiritual Life, and discusses Basic Spiritual Values.

The Art of Happiness is written from Dr Cutler’s perspective, and has an accessible, down-to-earth style which makes the content very easy to relate to. The book obviously provides the Dalai Lama’s views on all manner of important topics, but with an American psychiatrist playing an active part in the conversation – and the main part in the presentation of that conversation – it also helps us to understand those views in a more Western context.

In short, this book has become a classic for a very good reason, and is highly recommended as an important addition to any Buddhist library.

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Well Connected

Written by Buddhist Books

Well Connected by Irmentraud Schlaffer has the subtitle Encountering Buddha in Everyday Life, and that is exactly what this book is all about. There are plenty of books that explain how Buddhists can deepen their practice on the cushion, or in an isolated retreat setting, and most of those are perfectly valuable, but titles that provide ideas for bringing the experience of awakening into the hustle and bustle of daily life are much thinner on the ground. Well Connected is one such title, and a very good one it is, too.

The seed of this book was found in the desire of the author to connect Buddhist ideas and practice with her everyday life. She asked her teacher, Rigdzin Shikpo, for advice on this matter and he responded with a question: ‘Are there any big trees on your way to work?’ When this question was met with a nod of affirmation, the teacher gave his student a simple yet powerful instruction in the form of a second question: ‘Why not think of them as Buddhas?’

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The author did exactly as her teacher had suggested, and she quickly found that paying homage to the trees in this way completely transformed her journey to work each day. That simple and deliberate connection between an everyday task – travelling to work – and her Buddhist practice was a key that the author went on to make good use of again and again, and Well Connected is a book that shows us how we can all do something similar. The aim here is not just to relate something mundane to something sacred, but rather, as the author states, ‘to recognise that the seemingly mundane, everyday world is inherently sacred, in and of itself.‘ She continues:

… we don’t need to make great efforts to find the sacred in the ordinary. The world is already filled with sacred meaning and messages of significance―if only we could see them. The purpose of this book is just that: to help you see the world in a new way.

The way this book achieved that purpose is by taking the reader on a linear journey from the moment of waking up in the morning to the time of going to sleep and dreaming at night. Over the course of eighteen chapters, Well Connected points out the sacredness that is right there in front of us at all times, and shows us how to recognise and make use of the various symbols that we usually encounter without even realising it.

Writing in a pragmatic and down-to-earth style, and drawing from over 30 years of practising Buddhism, Well Connected serves as a no-nonsense guidebook to help you integrate your own Buddhist practice with your life off the cushion. Whether you are brushing your teeth, sitting in traffic, working at your job, cooking dinner or even watching TV, the sacred is always there to be experienced and appreciated, and Well Connected will show you how.

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The Crystal Mirror

Written by Buddhist Books

The Crystal Mirror is a beautifully presented book of five short stories written by Tim Malnick and illustrated by Katie Green. At first glance you might assume that this colourful, large-format book is aimed squarely at children, but whilst younger readers will certainly enjoy the tales that have been gathered here, there is plenty to delight adult readers too.

The five stories contained in this book are entitled The Cuddliest Monster in the World, The Master Painter, Polly, the Girl Who Was Always Changing, The Story of Oswald the Bat and The Rainbow Bridge of the Sea. Tim Malnick is a teacher with the Longchen Foundation in the UK, and whilst there is nothing overtly Buddhist about any of these stories as far as externals are concerned, they all deliver a warm, compassionate and transformative message that will stay with the reader long after the book has been closed.

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Each of Tim’s stories has been beautifully illustrated by Katie Green, who has been heralded as ‘a great new artist with huge potential’ by Forbidden Planet. This makes The Crystal Mirror a book that you will want to spend some real quality time with, and one that you will want to return to again and again, with each visit to its pages offering up a new and fresh experience.

The Crystal Mirror is a remarkable book in its own right, but what makes it even more impressive is how it came to be. The title was crowd-funded, and over £8,000 was raised in just six months by a total of 94 supporters, all of whom are named on a special Thank You spread at the end of the book.

Whether you choose to gift this book to yourself or to someone else, The Crystal Mirror is a title that will be treasured for a lifetime. The production values are of the highest possible standard, the stories are inspirational and the artwork is superb.

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