The Best Buddhist Writing 2011 (A Shambhala Sun Book) [Paperback]

Melvin McLeod (Editor), editors of the Shambhala Sun (Editor)

Book Description

Release date: September 20, 2011 | Series: A Shambhala Sun Book

A thought-provoking mix of the most notable and insightful Buddhism-inspired writing published in the last year. 

The Best Buddhist Writing 2011 includes:

   • Karen Miller's story of love, marriage, and dishes
   • Joanna Macy on the First Noble Truth and healing from the legacy of Chernobyl
   • Brian Haycock's taxi ride on the Dharma Road
   • His Holiness the Dalai Lama's manifesto on tolerance
   • Dzogchen Ponlop on the rebel buddha inside you
   • An adoption love story by Leza Lowitz
   • Ira Sukrungruang's humorous meditation on death
   • Elizabeth Mattis-Namgyel on finding the courage to live in reality as it is
   • Susan Piver on the wisdom of a broken heart
   • Thich Nhat Hanh on healing the wounded child within
   • Matthieu Ricard's answer to the question: why meditate?
   • Rick Bass on the lessons of the Gulf oil spill
   • Pico Iyer's insider's look at the heart of the Dalai Lama
   • And much more

Editorial Reviews

Review

“It’s the juxtaposition of overtly religious essays against explorations of everyday life that makes this volume such captivating reading.”—Booklist

“Sit with it patiently and without expectation, and great things will emerge.”—Yoga International

Product Details

• Paperback: 336 pages
• Publisher: Shambhala; 1 edition (September 20, 2011)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1590309332
• ISBN-13: 978-1590309339
• Product Dimensions: 5.5 x 0.8 x 8.5 inches
• Shipping Weight: 13.4 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (1 customer review)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #386,743 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Karen Maezen Miller is a wife and mother as well as a Zen Buddhist priest at the Hazy Moon Zen Center in Los Angeles. She and her family live in Sierra Madre, California, with a century-old Japanese garden in their backyard. She writes about spirituality in everyday life. She is the author of Momma Zen: Walking the Crooked Path of Motherhood and Hand Wash Cold: Care Instructions for an Ordinary Life, and her writing is included in numerous anthologies.

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars Great Collection! May 5, 2012

By Pema Nyan Drag

Format:Paperback

This is a wonderful collection of writings from Shambhala Sun, a publication that has provided eclectic yet consistent information and thoughtful interviews with figures from the many different schools of Buddhism.
I particularly enjoyed the piece from Matthieu Ricard "Why Meditate?" which offers direct answers to the essential practice of the dharma. He states that change is possible with training the mind to get out of negative, habitual patterns. The article also examines some of presumptions of meditation and clarifies some common misconceptions. The piece ends with a section titled "Liberating Monkey Mind" which is the result of dedicated practice that will lead to the change of the restless ego.
This idea is also an emphasized many times by Ven. Khenchen Palden Sherab Rinpoche and Ven. Khenpo Tsewang Dongyal Rinpoche whose piece "Taming The Mind" expands upon the idea of training the mind to realize its true nature.
The mind in its natural state is calm, clear, loving, and kind to all sentient beings in the universe. This clarity is the true essence of our mind yet this becomes obscured through grasping and habitual patterns.
"We do not always experience the mind in this way because ignorance obscures our awareness of the mind's true nature. However, the wisdom is always there...temporary obscurations cover and distort the essential of the mind. When we completely remove the ignorance and reveal the mind's true nature, we are enlightened."
It has been said that if the teachings of the Buddha could be reduced to three lines they would read:
Try to avoid negative actions.
Try to cultivate positive actions.
Learn to purify and tame the mind.

...and this, as the Ven. Khenpos point out must be done by ourselves.
No one else can do this for us yet the Buddha has given us instructions to the way out, and it starts within.