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The myth of childhood is that it is a happy, carefree time. But
typically it is neither carefree nor happy. Raising a Happy Child
seeks to change this fact of human development. Why do children
suffer this fate? What becomes of our lives is overwhelmingly a
function of learned experience...from our family, our peers, and
the larger culture...but first and foremost from our parents. The
vast majority of parents are good people and would not do anything
intentionally to harm their child. But parents are people who are a
function of their own upbringing and learned experience. They have
their own fears, frustrations, angers, and desires. And they see
things through the lens of that experience and those emotions,
which in turn impacts how they interact with their children and
others. Raising a Happy Child seeks to provide parents with the
means to step outside themselves, to be able to experience their
child, themselves, and the world around them mostly free of these
emotions, thus enabling them to provide their child at all times
with the nurturing and love it needs to be happy and secure. This
book also guides parents in addressing carious critical development
issues that arise in the course of a child's life.
Much of the teaching many Buddhists receive doesn't really get to
the core of our suffering. After years of practice, nothing much
really changes. As the 17th century Zen Master Benkei said, "the
feeling I get is that of scratching an itchy foot with my shoe on.
The teachings don't strike home to the center, to the real marrow."
Scratching the Itch: Getting to the Root of Our Suffering seeks to
do just that. Scratching the Itch is based on teaching received
from two Vietnamese Zen monks. They faced the power of our
ego...the source of all our suffering...head on and urged us to
surrender our ego to our true Buddha nature. Recognizing the
difficulty of doing this, they developed a rigorous teaching, which
I explain and expand upon in light of my personal practical
experience of walking the path. The resulting teaching I call "The
Fourfold Path to Freedom." While enlightenment may not be a very
practical goal for most of us walking the Buddhist path, attaining
a state in our practice that is close to enlightenment...and
experiencing the peace and contentment that flows from that
state...is a goal that every person committed to the path can
attain.
Each day, we are faced with moments when we need to make decisions
about how we lead our lives...whether they concern our work, our
personal relationships, or other aspects of our lives. How do we as
Buddhists make those decisions? Do we listen to our ego, our
learned experience, or our true Buddha nature? Since most of us are
not enlightened or have even reached a stage approaching
enlightenment this presents a very real challenge. Making Your Way
in Life as a Buddhist is a practical guide to making those
decisions consistent with the Buddhist path, rather than constantly
falling off it because of the pull of our ego. We cannot escape the
fact that we are part of the contemporary culture. We live in this
world and it is the way it is. We are part of it...our work, our
shopping, our reading, our family relationships...all of this
happening within the context of and is impacted by our culture. But
we need to not be captive to it. If we are walking the Buddhist
path and seek peace and contentment, we must find a way to be part
of that culture and yet look at our interactions with it from a
Buddhist perspective. Making Your Way in Life will show you the
way.
Many who strive to follow the Buddhist path experience barriers
that frustrate their progress. The Self in No Self: Buddhist
Heresies and Other Lessons of a Buddhist Life breaks out of the
dogma of much Buddhist teaching to remove those barriers, making
the path more accessible. If my true self is no self, than who am
I? If what I observe is void, does reality have no substance? How
can there be no right or wrong? Since I am not enlightened, how can
I achieve serenity while subject to the forces of ego and culture?
What do you mean that my perceptions are illusory...if I can't
trust my senses, what can I trust? The Self in No Self answers
these and other questions, combining a fresh take on aspects of the
Buddha dharma with a practical perspective based on years of
experience. The book also illustrates, using the example of the
author's troubled life, how one can slowly find peace and
contentment through the disciplined practice of Buddhism. Following
the Buddhist path while living in today's world, with its stressors
and ego triggers, is challenging. The Self in No Self seeks to help
lay Buddhists achieve serenity and be one with the Buddha dharma.
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