Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #1880 in Books
• Published on: 1995-08-03
• Original language: English
• Binding: Paperback
• 134 pages

Synopsis
In the rush of modern life, we tend to lose touch with the peace that is available in each moment. Zen master, peace activist and author Thich Nhat Hanh shows us how to make positive use of the very situations that usually pressure and antagonize us. For him, a ringing telephone can be a signal to call us back to our true selves. Dirty dishes, red lights and traffic jams are spiritual friends on the path to "mindfulness" - the process of keeping our consciousness alive to our present experience and reality. The most profound satisfactions, the deepest feelings of joy and completeness lie as close at hand as our next aware breath and the smile we can form right now. Thich Naht Hahn offers commentaries and meditations, personal anecdotes and stories to show how deep meditative presence is available. He provides exercises to increase our awareness of our own body and mind through conscious breathing - and he also shows us how to be aware of our relationships with others and of the world around us, its beauty as well as its pollution and injustices.

Customer Reviews

Wonderful, wonderful, wonderful!!!
First things first, I completely agree with the many positive reviews already posted. Although I wouldn't have expected it from such a short little book, reading this has taught me simple techniques that have changed my life for the better and made me happier day to day and moment to moment. Hence five stars doesn't really seem enough!!

To review this book from the context of my own life, I have been practicing Buddhism for about a year now. Naturally I have made myself familiar with the theory, and try to practice it, for the benefit of myself and others. Rather than giving a complete overview of Buddhist thought (as many books do), this particular book focuses on just one of the eight practices of the Noble Eightfold Path: Right Mindfulness (of course the eight paths compliment each other, so it is in tune with and beneficial towards all eight of them). As a result of reading this book at this stage in my development, I now feel that I'm much better at practicing mindfulness, and I definitely feel much happier as a result. I think it's one thing to understand Buddhist theory rationally, but this book and its exercises have helped me greatly in terms of putting it in to practice. It's as if my meditation has crossed over into the rest of my life (or maybe the rest of my life has crossed over into my meditation?)!

Buddhism is so inclusive that I imagine that this book would also be beneficial to someone who isn't a Buddhist, and would not clash with any beliefs/non-beliefs they might have. It's simply about learning to live in the moment, and "Be Here Now" seems to be the aim of many different schools of religion and spirituality. It's possible that someone with a very cynical attitude might not benefit from it, and might be annoyed by its occasional repetition - lucky for me I don't fall into that category!

I am someone who always seems to have a whole stack of books waiting to be read, and impatiently ploughs through them on a quest for more knowledge (trying to fill that bottomless bucket!). Reading this book, I had the unique experience of enjoying it greatly, and yet not feeling in any hurry to finish it or to be anywhere other than where I was right at that moment. Hence often I would read just a few pages and then pause and become conscious of my breathing. Not for any reason...just because! And thanks to the Tangerine Meditation, my food has never seemed so fascinating or tasted so good...I've never savoured every single bite like I do now. In fact that is what this book teaches you how to do...to experience fully and savour every single 'bite' of life. It is a book that in one sense did not teach me anything I did not already know, and yet it has made my life so much more enjoyable. What higher recommendation could I give you than that!?

What a wonderful book!
What a wonderful book! It is written so beautifully, that its simplicity is deceptive. It belongs on everybody's bookshelf as a reminder of the grace of Buddhism in a world where we have forgotten the meaning of living simply, mindfully and gracefully. Buy it and be nurtured.

Selima Gurtler
Founder
East meets West- The Peace Charity
www.emwpeace.com

Patron: His Holiness the Dalai Lama

An inspiring book.
This book is one I have kept by my bed ever since I received it. I read a few lines each night before sleep, it inspires and relaxes. I often recall it's message the following day. A simple, gentle read but life changing.