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City Dharma: Keeping Your Cool in the Chaos
 
 
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City Dharma: Keeping Your Cool in the Chaos [Paperback]

Arthur Jeon (Author)
4.8 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (22 customer reviews)


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Book Description

April 26, 2005
Does your blood pressure rise every time you pull into traffic? Do you start to fume when someone cuts ahead of you in line? Does the world seem populated by endlessly rude people? Are you exhausted trying to keep up with the Joneses and overly anxious about world events?

It’s one thing to lead a focused and peaceful life in the quiet seclusion of an ashram or monastery, but what about where most of us actually live—in a noisy metropolis or bustling suburb? Hip, helpful, and humorous, City Dharma is the essential guide for everyone who’s forced to make a living, ?nd someone to love, or just get through the day in the congested and inhospitable environments most of us call home.

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Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

"How do you maintain balance in an environment that promotes imbalance, comparison, and competition?" Yoga instructor Jeon offers readers a dharma, or way, to cope with the commotion, stress and accelerated pace of modern life in this warm, entertaining spiritual guide for urban dwellers. He examines the aspects of our lives that often cause the most stress: encounters with people made rude by routine hustle, the trap of "keeping up with the Joneses," the monotony of jobs and/or love lives, and violence in our society. Jeon uses his personal experiences (including the devastating theft of his computer and finished manuscript) to illustrate the path to a peaceful and happy life amidst chaos and challenges. Rather than looking outward to spiritual leaders, Jeon suggests opening ourselves to what is happening now, being awake and in the moment. He says that too many Americans work harder and longer days in an eternal quest for more luxurious possessions—and while Americans may have bigger houses than our European counterparts, the stress of making more money ultimately reduces our life expectancy and negatively affects our relationships with others, he argues. Being awake to the "NOW," as Jeon writes, revives us from the rat race so that we maintain a calm perspective on what matters most. Although written for city folk and high-powered suburbanites, this book should delight anyone living anywhere. Unlike self-help books that ask you to change part of yourself to become a better you, this dharma simply asks you to be a bit more considerate of who you already are.
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

From Booklist

Is your nightly commute a nightmare? Do you suffer from SUV envy? Are headlines giving you the heebie-jeebies? If you answered yes to any of these questions, then it's quite possible your dharma is deeply disturbed. Dharma, an Eastern concept, is the manifestation of one's basic outlook on and approach to life, from the trivial to the monumental, the personal to the global. Whether it's the ubiquitous chirping of cell phones or the unctuous posturing of coworkers, potential pitfalls to personal peace abound everywhere. Within today's supercharged, security-conscious society, there are many who seek a more peaceful, less stressful way of navigating the world. Incorporating strategies based on painful experience and honed from years of personal practice, Jeon crafts a soothing strategy for reevaluating our internal responses to external stimuli such as road rage, status seeking, and other unnerving behaviors. Straightforward, sensitive, and sassy, Jeon's approach offers effective methods for turning down that annoying voice in your head from a wail to a whisper. Carol Haggas
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

Product Details

  • Paperback: 400 pages
  • Publisher: Three Rivers Press (April 26, 2005)
  • Language: English
  • ISBN-10: 1400049091
  • ISBN-13: 978-1400049097
  • Product Dimensions: 5.2 x 0.9 x 8 inches
  • Shipping Weight: 10.6 ounces
  • Average Customer Review: 4.8 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (22 customer reviews)
  • Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,887,834 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

22 Reviews
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Average Customer Review
4.8 out of 5 stars (22 customer reviews)
 
 
 
 
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8 of 8 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars I Can't Recommend It Enough, May 19, 2004
By A Customer
I heard Arthur Jeon speak on NPR and was so amused and inspired I went to his website, citydharma.com. I read excerpts from the book without intending to buy it, as I've read a lot of spiritual books and feel like I have had enough. But his excerpt was both real and deep at the same time---I could relate and I ended up buying the book.

Most of the spiritual books I've read are about two things, changing yourself or believing something unbelievable. City Dharma doesn't ask you to do either. And it doesn't ask you to go sit on a mountain. City Dharma quite simply asks you to wake up from the trance of your reactive conditioning, endless story, and neurotic thoughts so you can experience your connection with your true nature IN THIS MOMENT. This is called waking up and he teaches that you can be "awake" no matter what is happening, lessening the suffering we create for ourselves.

All this isn't communicated in a way that is esoteric, dry or precious. The book is broken up into chapters including work, violence, noise, relationships, status envy---all the stuff we encounter living in the modern world.

The examples in the book are funny and obviously from real life and the applications of his teachings are immediately relevent. They have given me a different perspective and stick well after the reading.

Like all the best spiritual teachers I've encountered, from the Dalai Llama to Thich Nhat Hahn, this book is both profound and humorous. Light but deep. I'm convinced those two qualities go hand in hand with true wakefulness.

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8 of 8 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars Pleasure Read (and good for you too), April 13, 2004
By 
John Doyle (Los Angeles, CA USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   
This is a delightful collection of "case studies" in dealing with the human condition. It is an inspiring and entertaining read. Yes, humor does belong in spiritual seeking and Mr. Jeon is right on target with his "comic" consciousness. Its up to date, reflects our world here and now (not 2000 thousand years ago) and yet stays in line with the essence of all the Great Teachers and Avatars (Christ, Buddha, Krishna etc.) Highly recommended!
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7 of 7 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars This is not your father's dharma book!, July 23, 2004
By 
Jeon takes us through stories that are as fresh and surprising as they are illuminating in their outcome and their message. When is non-violence the wrong choice? How do you thwart an obstinate, power-mad beaurocrat? How is poker a spiritual pursuit? How do you end a relationship? At the same time, Jeon blasts through the illusions of New-Age spirituality; that happiness and sucess are just a few affirmations away and creating your reality is as easy as creating a mental picture. What he does offer instead is a way to go through life engaged but not obsessed, compassionate but not blind A wonderful, illuminating read even for the non-spiritual among us.
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First Sentence:
In a cartoon in The New Yorker a woman walks down a Manhattan street and, in reference to the changed atmosphere of New York post-September 11, says to her friend: "It's hard, but slowly I'm getting back to hating everyone." Read the first page
Key Phrases - Statistically Improbable Phrases (SIPs): (learn more)
dharma conversations, presentational self, status envy, isolated identity, own conditioning
Key Phrases - Capitalized Phrases (CAPs): (learn more)
Los Angeles, United States, Catherine Ingram, New York, New Age, South Africa, Santa Barbara, Dalai Lama, Robert Stone, World Trade Center, Machu Picchu, Middle East, Palm Springs, Santa Monica, Thich Nhat Hanh, Vietnam War, Alan Watts, Hampstead Gardens, Madison Square Garden, Pacific Coast Highway
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Front Cover | Front Flap | Table of Contents | First Pages | Index | Back Flap | Back Cover | Surprise Me!
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