Customer Reviews

Journey to Mindfulness: The Autobiography of Bhante G.

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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.

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.

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.

This is a very interesting book.
I started reading it after attending this year a meditation retreat with Bhante so I was ready for a spiritual story. Instead what you get is an entertaining story about a strong will person who in his lifetime managed to do a leap that is simply unimaginable for all of us. From a poor boy in Sri Lanka who did not have enough to eat to a monk having his own monastery here in US, traveling all over the world and preaching Dharmma.

But the reason why I found this book interesting is because it dispels a myth for me. I always thought that Buddhist monks are above any other priests in any other religion. What you see in this book is the total opposite. The characters in this book suffer from the same human defects as anybody else and what they preach has nothing to do with what they do. Very sad, I know and the total opposite of inspirational but since it's true, we need to know.

At times, the book is also funny.

Thank you Bhante for telling us the truth!

A great read! Reading this book will only leave one wanting to know more about this amazing Buddhist monk.
Bhante G is truly an inspiration and a Saint. A Buddhist Master who talks the talk and easily walks the walk.
An amazing book!

This is an American success story. Bhante G. started out as a a boy monk who was born in a poor village in Sri Lanka. When he grew up, he got a Ph.D. He started a legendary monastery. He became the Chief monk in North America of his sect. He rides around in cool cars and sleeps in palaces He uses the latest G4 laptop. And, he returned to his village with a hero's welcome. Bhante G. says that this is the fruit of his karma in this life and in past lives. He has written many books. He has appeared on Larry King. He has given retreats and taught in Universities in every part of the world.

I was interested in Bhante G.'s spiritual growth, but I didn't learn very much about it in this book. I did learn that he has decided not to pursue enlightenment in this lifetime.
Overall, it was very interesting. I read another book about a CEO and I am going to write a report about how they are similar.

This is an interesting glimpse into the real world of one Buddhist monk, some Buddhist organizations, and frequently the shortcomings of some of the people in those organizations. I had hoped to learn more about Bhante Henepola Gunaratana's spiritual development and insights in hope of finding inspiration and ideas. Instead, the book seems to be more of a detailed listing of the author's accomplishments. There are several humorous anecdotes, but most of the stories describe bad behavior by Buddhists and non-Buddhists, which, although interesting, were subtly depressing to read. Gunaratana's candor is admirable, but I wondered how someone who gives their life to serious practice of Buddhism can be so quick to act in anger, and there seems to be an underlying fascination with worldly things, especially travel and sight-seeing. Read as an interesting autobiography this book is good, as a book related to spiritual themes, it is disappointing.