The Energy of Prayer

How to Deepen your Spiritual Practice
Author: Thich Nhat Hanh
Subject: buddhism
My rating: 4*


About the book:
Written by a Zen master now living in France, this is a small gem about how we use prayer. The preface is offered by Dr. Larry Dossey, who is well known for his work on integrating prayer in medicine. What I liked about this book is that it offers a great comparison between buddhism and christianity, and shows us the amazing similarities between them. For example, the author is actually taking The Lord's Prayer line by line and draws a parallel to buddhism teachings. This book made me reconsider the way I pray, and the way I look at the 'higher power', 'God' or 'Buddha'. Whatever your religion, this little book will open your eyes to the possibilities of praying and how much this can deepen your spiritual practice. It really is all energy.

From the book:
"Gathas for daily activities: Waking Up
Waking up this morning, I smile.
Twenty-four brand new hours are before me.
I vow to live fully in each moment
and to look at all beings with eyes of compassion.


Washing hands:
Water flows over these hands.
May I use them skillfully
to preserve our precious planet.

Zen

Author: Martine Batchelor
Subject: buddhism
My rating: 5*


About the book:
I found this book on a coffee table and couldn't let it go. Written by a French born, Buddhist ordained nun, it simply puts into words what you need to know about zen, its origins, evolution, basic concepts and wisdom behind it. Accompanied by beautiful serene pictures, it's a true gem. It's zen.

From the book:
'Sentient beings are numberless, I vow to save them all.
Delusions are inexhaustible, I vow to cut them all.
Dharma gates are limitless, I vow to penetrate them all.
The Buddha's way is unsurpassable, I vow to achieve it.'

Cave in The Snow

A Western Woman's Quest for Enlightenment
Author: Vicki MacKenzie

Subject: buddhism
My rating: 4*


About the book:
As it happens, I came across this title while reading the previous book ('It's up to you', see post below). I was interested in the story of this English woman who left London behind to spend 12 years in a cave in the Himalayas, and I have found the read inspiring. While the author's prose is quite simple but bland, the story is worth mentioning. Tenzin Palmo (aka Diane Perry) spent her time in the cave in complete isolation and her opinions on buddhism, Western culture and her own shortcomings reflect a sincere, deeper understanding. I only wished the author to be more creative with setting the story into the words.

From the book:
'Normally, we are so identified with out thoughts and emotions, that we are them. We are the happiness, we are the anger, we are the fear. We have to learn to step back and know our thoughts and emotions are just thoughts and emotions. They're just mental states. They're not solid, they're transparent.'

'There is a great little practice called the half-smile where you slightly lift the corners of your mouth and hold it for three breaths. If I do it six or more times a day within three days it makes a surprising difference to the body and mind' (note to myself: I have to try this!)

'"Being" is often better than "doing" and taking time out to be still and think is often a better investment for future productivity than cramming every waking moment with feverish activity'.

It's Up to You

The Practice of Self-Reflection on the Buddhist Path
Author: Dzigar Kongtrul
Subject: buddhism
My rating: 5*


About the book:
I grabbed this book of the public library's shelves and I read it in few days. It's a small jewel of a book, practical and concise, written by a Tibetan lama for a Western audience. It touches on an important practice in Buddhism- self-reflection, and on how it can be included in our busy lives. It's about how to live a spiritual life in a modern time. I enjoyed this book and took out of what resonated for me. It really is up to us to take life into our hands. Namaste.

From the book:
'We could all use more humor in our lives. Having a sense of humor doesn't mean laughing and being cheerful all the time. It means seeing the illusory nature of things- and seeing how, in this illusory life, we are always bumping into the very things we meticulously try to avoid'.

'There is nothing that doesn't get easier with practice' (Shantideva)

Taking the Leap

Freeing Ourselves from Old Habits and Fears
Author: Pema Chodron
Info about author: click here
Subject: buddhism
My rating: 4*

About the book:
This is the first book I have read by Pema. She is currently running the first Tibetan monastery for Westerners in Nova Scotia, and studied many years with several rinpoches. Her book is an interpretation on Tibetan buddhism for Western audiences, herself being an American born teacher, who decided to follow the monastic path. I enjoyed the book- her style is simple but charming, with easy flowing passages on how to apply meditation in the everyday life. Many examples of parables from her teachers abound, and her friendly and approachable style is soothing. This is a book that does not give an easy answer to how to free ourselves from old habits and fears. Or perhaps the answer IS easy. It is just not that easy to put in application...

From the book:
'The urge to get even, the power of craving, the potency of sheer habit is like a magnetic force pulling us in a familiar direction. So we opt again and again for short-term gratification that in the long run keeps us stuck in the same cycle.'
'[...] take an interest in your pain and your fear. Move closer, lean in, get curious; even for a moment experience the feelings beyond labels, beyond being good or bad. Welcome them. Invite them. Do anything that helps melt the resistance'.

'Sometimes the Dalai Lama suggests not eating one day a week or skipping a meal one day a week to briefly put ourselves in the shoes of those who are starving all over the world. In practicing this kind of solidarity myself, I have found that it can bring up panic and self-protectiveness. So the question is, what do we do with our distress? Does it open your heart or close it? When we're hungry, does our discomfort increase our empathy for hungry people and animals, or does it increase our fear of hunger and intensify our selfishness?'

In My Own Words

An Introduction to My Teachings and Philospophy
His Holiness The Dalai Lama
Edited by Rajiv Mehrotra
Subject: Buddhism
My rating: 3.5*

About the book:
The book contains His Holiness The Dalai Lama's thoughts organized into these chapters: On Happiness, What Is Buddhism?, Essential Buddhist Teachings, The Law of Karma, How to Meditate, The Awakening Mind, Eight Verses for Training the Mind, Meaningful Living and Dying, Understanding Emptiness, Universal Responsibility, and Science at the Crossroads. The reason I only gave 3.5* in my rating is that I found some passages quite hard to follow, and perhaps a bit too complex for my mind. The book has some great insights and all in all is an inspiring read.

From the book:
'Giving and taking is a practice that should be undertaken with great mental courage and determination. [...] to train your mind you should not be halfhearted, hesitant, or apprehensive, but totally dedicated and decisive. Unlike physical progress, which is subject to natural restrictions, the qualities of mind can be developed limitlessly. The mind is like a fire, which, if you continually feed it, will grow further. There is nothing that does not get easier with familiarity.'

The Four Noble Truths: the truth of suffering, understand the cause of suffering, cessation of suffering (nirvana), the path to cessation of suffering.

The meaning of enlightenment is stated in 2 lines:
Compassion focusing of sentient beings.
And wisdom focusing on enlightenment.

Any mental state that destroys the calmness of mind and brings about mental misery- which upsets, afflicts and torments the mind- is said to be a delusion. Delusion is the enemy within.

The Tibetan Book of Living and Dying

The Spiritual Classic
Author: Sogyal Rinpoche
Subject: Buddhism, death, meditation practice
My rating: 5*

Keywords:
Rigpa - intl. network of meditation centres
Padmasambhava (Guru Rinpoche)
Dzogchen- an advanced system of Mahayana practice that brings enlightenment. Read more
Bardo states (transition states)

The tonglen practice = a method for connecting with suffering —ours and that which is all around us— everywhere we go. It is a method for overcoming fear of suffering and for dissolving the tightness of our heart. Primarily it is a method for awakening the compassion that is inherent in all of us, no matter how cruel or cold we might seem to be. Read more

The phowa practice = in the Tibetan Buddhist tradition, Phowa is considered the most important practice for death. In the Vajrayana, the Phowa practice is the most direct and the quickest path for one to achieve enlightenment. Read more

Interesting:
The position for dying- "lying down on on the right side, taking the position of the sleeping lion, which is the posture in which Buddha died. The left hand rests on the left thigh; the right hand is placed under the chin, closing the right nostril. The legs are stretched out and very slightly bent. On the right side of the body are certain subtle channels that encourage the 'karmic wind' of delusion. Lying on them and closing the right nostril blocks these channels and facilitates a person's recognition of the luminosity when it dawns at death. It also helps the consciousness to leave the body through the aperture at the crown of the head, as all the other openings through which it could leave are blocked."

The 3 poisons- Buddhism teaches that harboring the three poisons leads to evil and suffering . The Three Poisons are lobha, dvesha and moha, most often translated as "greed," "hate" and "ignorance."

From the book:
'No one wishes to be 'rescued' with someone else's beliefs. Remember your task is not to convert anyone to anything but to help the person in front of you get in touch with his or her own strength, confidence, faith and spirituality, whatever that might be'.

'Samsara is your mind, and nirvana is also your mind,
All pleasure and pain, and all delusions exist nowhere apart from your mind.
To attain control over your own mind;
This is the heart of the practice of the bardo of becoming.'

'To practice death is to practice freedom. A man who has learned how to die has unlearned how to be a slave'- Montaigne