Customer Reviews

What Is Love? A Simple Guide to Romantic Happiness

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"A loving relationship is meant to serve not as a safe harbor for our unhealthy tendencies but rather as a healthy place of reformation where such tendencies can be eliminated. Only by exposing the dark spiritual poisons within us can we transform them in the light of spiritual healing." ~Taro Gold

"What is Love?" is inspired by the universal principles of Buddhism. When we learn to be at peace with ourselves, we can spread this peace to the world. Unconditional love truly can heal the world. In a similar way that music unites us, love is what we need to unite the world. Hate destroys while love nurtures. I have found that there is a point at which the pain of life dissolves into the bliss of love.

This tiny book explores the topic of "Love" in 80 exquisite pages. "What is Love?" is filled with inspirational quotes, watercolors and Taro's wisdom. There are swirling goldfish, flowers clinging delicately to the edge of pages, pots of orchids, birds perched on bamboo leaves and cherry trees, and a variety of creatively patterned pages.

There are three main sections:

Part One: Love and Illusion - Taro introduces a variety of interesting ideas and explains how in early Buddhist teachings, romantic love is seen as unstable while compassionate love is seen as limitless. He truly starts to delve into the meaning of love and explains why love as an illusion will disappear as fast as it appeared. I loved the humorous ending to the "Zuri" story that is almost as funny as the quote by Woody Allen, which just spins your mind. "Needy Love" is not often discussed and this is the first time I've seen an author explain this aspect of love in such a concise manner. Taro explains why "needy love" is ultimately unfulfilling. "Moments of temporary insanity" - I can relate to this.

Part Two: Love and Reality - Taro's writing is filled with creativity and speaks directly to the heart. He explains relationships through the retelling of an ancient Japanese comedic tale. Taro then explores change, the three main types of love, self-mastery and "meeting your soul mate." This book makes complete sense although the issue of greater and lesser worlds was a new concept to me. Who would not want to reach the place of "Enlightened, altruistic, unshakable happiness." Page 50 is just powerful. The entire section on enlightenment makes the concept very easy to understand. Most books do not reach this depth, nor do they make enlightenment quite so attainable. Taro takes mysterious topics and transforms then into everyday wisdom.

Part Three: Love and Life - Taro's thoughts continue to create a connection between the quotes and his experience with Buddhist wisdom. The quotes are not all Eastern and you will find quotes from Judith Viorst, Alfred, Lord Tennyson and even Victor Hugo. He explores the topics of loyalty, romance, commitment and karma. The story of how we become mirrors in relationships is so true.

Taro Gold has spent much of his life living overseas. He has been successful as an author, children's counselor, teacher, interpreter, actor, singer and songwriter. He has traveled to over thirty countries and has lived in Australia, Spain and Japan. He has also written extensively for international Buddhist publications and his books have been published in seven languages.

I find Taro's choice of art for the covers to be quite intriguing. His message is definitely "peace and hope" for a better world. "What Is Love?" is a gift for our hearts and this book is much more than a book of quotes. It is a journey into the true meaning of love in all its forms. You will we see a picture of the type of love you feel reflected in the pages. You will also see images of love you will want to emulate in their fullest forms.

"What is Love?" is a true combination of Buddhist wisdom and real-life experience. Taro Gold's books are well worth collecting and make the perfect gifts for any occasion. They are universal in their appeal and always bring moments of enlightenment to your life.

Also look for:

Open Your Mind, Open Your Life (miniature and larger edition) by Taro Gold

The Tao of Mom: The Wisdom of Mothers from East to West

~The Rebecca Review

This is a very pretty square book about 6"x6" and not very thick. The cover is a reproduction of a Chinese screen. The contents are not specifically "Buddhist" meditations, though the source is from the Buddhist beliefs of the author Taro Gold.

The quotes are varied; from Plato to Dickens. On the left side pages are quotes; the right side pages have stories and essays by Gold, including tales from his childhood and how a Buddhist might treat the course of a romance. The essays really make you think--this is perhaps a new way to look at love and how one's own ego and beliefs play into a relationship.

This is a very pretty, but very inspirational book and would make a wonderful gift for anyone you love.

Pay attention to the subtitle of "What Is Love?" because Taro Gold is writing specifically about the romantic form of love. For those who read his earlier book "Open Your Mind, Open Your Life: A Book of Eastern Wisdom," you will again find choice quotations from famous and unknown authors of both Eastern and Western cultures, presented in a book where virtually every page has some simple and elegant artistic touch. But this time around you will find the author talking in his own voice more often. "What is Love?" is much more practical than philosophical, even though it is clearly grounded in simple wisdom, Buddhist or otherwise. The goal of this nightstand book is to give readers help in contributing to the success of their relationships.

The foundation for such success if becoming happy within and then expanding that idea to encompass others: "you will find that love is whatever we are; it is whatever we choose to make it." "What Is Love?" is divided into three parts: "Part One - Love and Illusion, The Outer Path: Searching Through the Fantasy"; "Part Two - Love and Reality, The Inner Path: Finding True Love Within"; and "Part Three - Love and Life: The Middle Path: Creating Romantic Happiness Now." The Buddhist influence is integrated throughout the book, with Gold talking about taking charge of our consciousness, engaging in continual self-reflection, and realizing there is nothing we can say or do to change another person.

There is no claim that anything in here is a brand new idea that will help people find love and live happily every after. To the contrary, Gold's approach is grounded in centuries of Buddhist thought, which is echoed throughout the centuries in other cultures and traditions, as reflected by the quotations sprinkled throughout the book. You will find a Buddhist proverb on one page and a quote from a Woody Allen film on another, all presented in a setting of gentle persuasion and constant encouragement. What makes this an appealing book is not so much that it has something to say, but rather than it finds ways of making you listen to ideas that you have always known, but have managed to forget. "What Is Love?" is a spiritual guide, in the most universal sense of the term.

Having been through many relationships in my life, some better and some worse than others, I have yet to find a person with whom I have had true and lasting love. I have read countless books and articles about love and relationships and made great progress understanding my relationships with various counselors. Yet this book, probably the most simple and direct of them all, has done the most for me of anything previous. All of the things I needed to know about loving myself first, being the person I want to attract, and mastering my life condition and my thoughts -- all of this I was so close to understanding before, and now it is perfectly clear to me. I am truly feeling happier than I have ever felt in my life, and I know I will be ready to join my life partner when the timing is right for both of us now. This book is a godsend and I am giving copies of it to everyone I know.

I bought this for myself and found that when I was having a challenging day I would read it to change my mood and lift my spirits. I found myself reading it over and over again. I ended up writing a few of my favorite tidbits on pieces of paper and leaving them around my house to remind me of the more important things in life. I'm buying this book for the third time to give as a gift to friends. It really is one of the best I have found and is light enough to read anytime and take anywhere.

If you are looking for something to add a little wisdom and self confidence to your life this is it.

"What is Love" was given to me by a friend at a very rough time in my life and it has opened up my mind and taught me more about myself in 80 some odd pages then I ever did in 31 years on my own. It's one of those books that you put in your back pocket and pull out and reread every time you encounter a bump, so to speak. It's definitely worth the read.

This book is a handbook to creating healthy, ideal relationships. It is relevant and easily applicable to everyone's life, no matter if you have never heard of Buddhism before or even if you're a lifelong student of Eastern wisdom. The author doesn't ask us to change our lives, he simply shows us how to look at ourselves and our experiences in a different, new, and empowering light.

The text is richly illsutrated adding a nice sense of warmth and familiarity to the message of each chapter. My favorite part is the section on the state of one's life condition, and how your state of life in any given moment determines how you see what's going on around you. A happy person and a sad person will see the exact same circumstances very differently, and have different reactions. Just realizing this fact of life has changed my level of joy for the better already. Brilliant!

I suggest this sweet book as a great gift to yourself, to help increase your genuine self-love, and of course as a gift to others as well. Everyone wants to know more about love, how we can find it, how we can make it healthier and happier, how we can make it last. This sweet book adds much to the realization of that dream.

What Is Love is a beautiful, exquisite book. Taro Gold's insights, the book's colors, the layout, the 10 worlds pyramid, the incredible cover image, everything about it is lovely, lovely. How can anyone resist having a copy? I shall continue to give copies of What Is Love to my friends and loved ones every chance I get.

This book has helped me with my self-love and my attitude toward others in every area, my romantic relationship as well as my friendships and with co-workers. It has helped me to see that when there is something I feel negative about I don't need to wait for the other person to change, I can find the freedom to heal the negativity on my own. And amazingly, as the book says, when I do this then others in my life seem to mysteriously do the same. It's like they are mirrors of my attitude. This and so many other wonderful simple lessons I have learned from this book.

I read this whole book through from cover to cover and loved every page, then gave it to my husband to read. He read it the next day and we've been talking about it every day for the past week. It has really helped us to see ourselves differently, to take responsiblity for our actions and feelings, and promise to help each other be happier by first becoming happy ourselves.