Editors of the Shambhala Sun
magazine have culled writing from Buddhist luminaries to address the fear and suffering affecting many lives. This collection includes excerpts from older works as well as more recent essays. Contributors reflect the dominant forms of Buddhism in the United States: Tibetan (including His Holiness the Dalai Lama and the late Chögyam Trungpa Rinpoche), the vipassana
movement (Sylvia Boorstein, Joseph Goldstein), and Zen (Shunryu Suzuki Roshi, Zoketsu Norman Fischer). “Buddhist practice does not offer an end to change, loss, or even pain,” magazine editor-in-chief Melvin McLeod writes. “What we can change is the way we react.” Emphasizing the basic Buddhist tenet of accepting impermanence, contributors examine many facets of fear and offer such tools as mindfulness, faith, patience, humor, and loving-kindness to promote healing. Particularly acute are Matthieu Ricard’s meditations on optimism and Jack Kornfield’s parsing of the misunderstood concept of desire in Buddhism. Containing 33 essays, this book should be dipped into rather than read cover to cover because of the repetitiveness of its themes. No raging against fate in this compendium of gentle wisdom. (Nov. 10)
