The Road Home: A Contemporary Exploration of the Buddhist Path

Nichtern (One City) points out that the contemporary search for a place to call "home" never comes to fruition, because the search has been misguided. He turns readers inward to discover that home is, in fact, within themselves all along. He prescribes a path of connecting with one's "heartmind" through the Hinayana, Mahayana, and Vajrayana schools of Buddhist tradition. One begins working on the self, examining the ways in which meditation, karma, ethics, and self-transformation are intricately connected. Next, one infuses that understanding with awareness of emptiness and compassion to more genuinely connect with other people. This view is then expanded so that the everyday world becomes suffused with the sacred, where anything is a possibility for learning and for furthering practice. Finally, because this work reveals the fundamental interdependence of humanity, Nichtern offers discussions on integrating these personal discoveries on a communal and societal level. Grounded in compassion, Nichtern's teaching offers a profound, lucid, and complex education in self-awareness, interdependence, and enlightenment. Agent: Lisa Weinert, Lisa Weinert Consulting. (Apr.)