Journey to Mindfulness: The Autobiography of Bhante G. [Paperback]

Bhante Henepola Gunaratana (Author), Jeanne Malmgren (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: October 1, 1998

From the bestselling author of Mindfulness in Plain English comes this critically-praised autobiography sure to inspire and entertain. Profoundly candid and surprisingly humorous, Bhante G's account of his life unfolds to show us a life devoted to the development of mindfulness and to the role of compassionate teacher and guide.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

This is a most refreshing book from a Buddhist meditation teacher who lays bare his human failings and admits they are as much a part of his life as his achievements. It is also a fascinating globe- and culture-crossing autobiography of a man born in a small village in Sri Lanka with enough persistence and good kamma (Pali for karma) to see him through many vicissitudes. Author of the bestseller Mindfulness in Plain English, Bhante G., as he is affectionately known, repeatedly ran away from monasteries where he lived as a boy monk, stole things as a child, smoked and had traumatic fear-inducing accidents with water. As his story makes clear, his is a very human journey of teaching himself as well as others what the Buddha taught about how to live. That organizations that promote ethical living and spiritual development should also have their share of bickering, envy and bad behavior is an unsurprising part of his story, candidly told without excess rancor or blame. The monk-author is fluent in different cultures as well as languages, and his autobiography contributes to an understanding of the relationship between the American Buddhism of converts and traditional Asian Buddhism, more specifically the Theravada branch of Buddhism as practiced in his native Sri Lanka. This plain-English look back at 75 years of an admixture of adversity, humility and hard-won wisdom tells an engaging story that non-Buddhists can appreciate as well as Buddhists.
Copyright 2003 Reed Business Information, Inc.

Product Details

• Paperback: 240 pages
• Publisher: Wisdom Publications; 1 edition (October 1, 1998)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0861713478
• ISBN-13: 978-0861713479
• Product Dimensions: 8.8 x 6 x 0.8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 12.6 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.3 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (7 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #819,268 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

33 of 35 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A Real Gem, November 19, 2003

By 

Eric Van Horn (Colchester, VT United States) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Journey to Mindfulness: The Autobiography of Bhante G. (Paperback)

This is the story of a Buddhist monk who was born and raised in poverty in Sri Lanka, and through dedication to the teachings of the Buddha became one of the great figures in Buddhism in the United States and the world today. This is an inspirational, charming and delightfully accessible book about a good life, well lived. However, for anyone who expects to find a story full of easy living and religious perfection, this is not the place to come! Buddhist institutions are made of people, and those people are subject to the same anger, fear, pride and jealousy as anyone else is. Bhante tells many stories of his difficulties with entrenched Buddhist institutions. There is no perfection there.

Despite the fact that this is a kind of life that very few of us can relate to, so much of it is terribly familiar. Part of the beauty of this book is that it shows that we are all not so very different, that in the end we are all people, we all have problems, and that we all face the same challenges as human beings. The main reason that I love this book, however, is that what we are left with is the image of a good man who has lived an extraordinary life, but that this kind of life is within reach of all of us. Bhante G. does not, in the end, seem like a religious icon, so much as he seems like the better person in all of us.

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A Complete Story, June 10, 2008

By 

J. Clark (Canyon Country, CA USA) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Journey to Mindfulness: The Autobiography of Bhante G. (Paperback)

Journey to Mindfulness is an autobiography by Singhalese Theravadan monk Bhante Henepola Gunaratana that through stories and anecdotes tells the story of a little boy born in a "very poor" village on the island of Ceylon (now Sri Lanka) that had a dream of donning robes and living the life of a Buddhist monk.
The style of the book has a conversational tone as the author leads the reader through 75 years of his life, giving the reader a view into the world of a Buddhist monk that most wouldn't have thought of before. It's a very human tale that shows us the flaws of the author as well as the people he encountered throughout his long travels. Most Americans probably have an idea of Buddhist monks as being austere, serene people that never have to battle with the real failings of human nature. This book shows us that this is not the case.
This memoir is fascinating for other reasons, namely it gave me a glimpse into the culture of the Indian sub-continent and its surroundings that I hadn't seen before. Most of the books available on Buddhism are by Mahayanan or Vajrayanan authors of far Eastern (China, Japan, and Tibet) or American descent and rarely do people that study Buddhism get to learn about the culture of its oldest sect. For instance, I was surprised when I read a story about Bhante G. loosing his memory and as a last resort someone suggested practicing meditation even though other monks thought meditation in general was a silly waste of time.
This book is about an imperfect person in an imperfect world trying to live by the Precepts of his faith. It's long on worldly, mundane, happenings and short on high-minded platitudes, which is really what I liked about it. It's an excellent study of a Buddhist trying to deal with the suffering indicative of the human experience.

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Journey to Mindfulness review, June 12, 2011

By 

Larry E. Manter (Berkeley, CA USA) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Journey to Mindfulness: The Autobiography of Bhante G. (Paperback)

I've read this book and, as would be expected from an auto-biography, it's a history of this man's life. His basic Buddhist teaching is in other books (such as Eight Mindful Steps to Happiness, Mindfulness in Plain English, and Beyond Mindfulness in Plain English); this one is just what happened with some thoughts from the author about various events. One thing that's clear from it is that any large organization has 'lifers' who are primarily there for what they can get out of it and they simply don't really live up to the tenets of the organization.

This book is useful to read altho hardly necessary for understanding his other books. It's a slice of life book and succeeds at that. I liked it and am glad I read it.