Hidden Spring: A Buddhist Woman Confronts Cancer [Paperback]

Sandy Boucher (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: October 1, 2000

Hidden Spring is the first book to demonstrate in moment-to-moment detail how Buddhist meditation and practice can help us cope with the ordeal of life-threatening disease. In 1995, Sandy Boucher — a well-known Buddhist and feminist writer — was diagnosed with stage III colon cancer. In vivid prose, she describes her year-long encounter with the disease, and reveals how meditation techniques and understanding of Buddhist principles prepared her to meet the mental and physical challenges of her illness. This intimate account of the development of a Western Buddhist meditator is a triumphant tale of the human spirit in its struggle with mortality, and a guide for anyone looking for strength and comfort for their own struggles.

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com Review

To an outsider, Buddhist meditation can appear self-indulgent, time frittered away buttressing an intransigent ego. To an insider, such as Sandy Boucher, the dividends of meditation can come at unforeseen times, under extreme circumstances, such as facing down malignant cancer. Boucher, a counterculture patchwork of pursuits and causes, sews together a memoir of suffering to rival any proof of the Buddha's first noble truth. Although her surgery is a success, like so many other cancer victims Boucher's battle with chemotherapy causes the most damage. Having lost her home, her lover, and her health, Boucher collapses into the spiritual arms of her longtime meditation teacher Ruth Denison. Parallel to the drama of the cancer, we are treated to a minibiography of Denison, who proves to be an oasis of sanity in the desert of Boucher's life. Honest, occasionally compelling, and often unusual, Boucher's story contains glimmers of Buddhism's light amid many shadows of human frailty. --Brian Bruya

From Booklist

In 1995 Boucher, a feminist and, for some 20 years, a Buddhist, was diagnosed with stage three colon cancer. Her book is an unflinching, poignant, inspiring account of the subsequent year-long battle with the disease and the near-fatal joust with the grim reaper, which consumed every element of her life. Her faith gave her solace. With much difficulty and grave determination, she learned to live in the moment, to be fully present. The reader follows her through the nerve-racking early testing and waiting, the devastating diagnosis, the harrowing surgery, the interminable chemotherapy sessions, the long recovery process, and also, sadly, the unraveling of a serious relationship. Finally, Boucher appears compassionate yet flawed, terrified by the uncertain road ahead yet determined to follow it to the end. Anyone who has been touched by a serious illness or a death in the family will probably identify with Boucher's touching story, and admire her courage and perseverance in bringing it to public attention. And such readers may be left in tears. June Sawyers
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved

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Product Details

• Paperback: 192 pages
• Publisher: Wisdom Publications; 1 edition (October 1, 2000)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0861711718
• ISBN-13: 978-0861711710
• Product Dimensions: 8.8 x 6.1 x 0.4 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.6 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (2 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,598,018 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
  • #53 in Books > Health, Fitness & Dieting > Aging > Cancer > Colorectal

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

7 of 9 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars A reason to live, October 15, 2000

By A Customer

This review is from: Hidden Spring: A Buddhist Woman Confronts Cancer (Paperback)

I heard a review of this book on National Public Radio & had to see for myself if it was as great as it sounded. This is an inspiringly honest book. It would be a great read for anyone dealing with cancer, depression, or daily life.

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Inspiring courage, March 21, 2008

By 

Jeanne (Northern CA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Hidden Spring: A Buddhist Woman Confronts Cancer (Paperback)

With only a slight knowledge of Buddhist principles,but with much experience working with people with cancer, I began this book with curiosity and trust. Trust because I came upon it at a Buddhist retreat a friend was checking out before attending a class in a few months. It was at the library and I couldn't leave without it for some reason. Now I know the reason. There is such grace in the journey Sandy began as she struggled to continue her practice under most difficult, even dire circumstances. I laughed, cried and finally understood at a deeper level than ever before how to truly "practice" Buddhism on a daily basis no matter what is happening in your life. I get it now, when no reading I'd done before ever truly connected except on a mental level for me. I'm grateful for Sandy for sharing this experience and I am humbled by her story.