Eight Mindful Steps to Happiness: Walking the Buddha's Path (Meditation in Plain English)

I have been a practicing Buddhist since October 5th 2005 and have a bunch of books on Buddhism and this is by far the most favorite of mine for teaching the Buddha's eight fold path. This book for me supersedes sutras, Zen mind training books, and many of the Thich Nhat Hanh books that I really like because this book really lays out the plan in real life terms not just some ideals of how we should act. I keep asking people at my Sangha to review it and Zen teachers can be very head strong and set in their Zen ways and without this book I would have never really gotten on "THE PATH". It wasn't an easy read for me at first because I decided that I wasn't going to skip around and I wasn't going to glaze over the pages when I didn't understand. Every time I "failed" a chapter I started rereading again, until I "got it" then moved on to the next so it took me about 6 weeks to read. 4 -5 weeks to get through the first 2 parts of the eight fold path and then I blazed through the rest of the book in only a few days like a California wildfire. You will know a good Buddhist book when you want to read it again every few years. This is one of those books. This book is tied at number one with the Shambala Pocket Classic version of the Dhammapada which I also love because you can read the whole book in an hour and it fits in any shirt or pants pocket. I know of no other text on this planet that packs so much wisdom into such a tiny package. This book and the Dhammapada together are really all one needs to launch and create a home based Buddhist practice even without a priest around to guide you. Of course please seek out a real ORDAINED Buddhist priest from some tradition either near you or online because they will help you grow exponentially once you have gotten your Buddhist practice going. Contact the San Francisco Zen Center (or any legitimate Zen Center near you) if you need to find Buddhist guidance as they are part of one of the most famous and reputable Soto Zen organizations in the world and have many affiliate centers throughout the United States and Japan. I am a member of the Houston Zen Center and you can find us online too.

I don't know why I waited so long to read this book in my library. I bought it 2 years ago and on my shelf it's sat while I studied other aspects of Buddhism. My meditation practice has floundered over the course of those two years as I've attempted to understand how to make progress meditation without actually making much of an effort towards understanding and implementing steps 1-6 of the Buddha's noble eightfold path. My assumption was, having spent most of the past 16 years practicing yoga, that meditation technique was more important if one's daily life was relatively ethical and upright. And that any failure on the path could be attributed to how one practices the techniques of meditation. Basically I had a very technical-dominant view of the Buddhist path. This book has helped to correct many of my inaccurate assumptions. It's also seemed that when I was stuck and I went back to this book in order to understand how to apply one of the noble eightfold steps that not only was the information pertinent and insightful, but the specific examples the author uses relating to daily life are the exact examples I'm experiencing. The effect is that it feels as if the author is writing directly to me, even while including the general audience. It's somewhat uncanny. Though I've read other books on the noble eightfold path, this one is becoming, in essence, my Buddhist bible. It has everything I need and nothing more. And the author's own description of what it's like as each grouping of the 10 fetters related to the 4 stages of awakening are vanquished is both salient and inspiring.

I loved this book, it became more of a guide to me. I can open it to any page and get a different/deeper meaning than I read the first time. The examples/stories helped me because they showed real people in real life having similar situations that everyone has, it just makes it click better.

This is a book for someone interested in learning how to _practice_ Buddhism. It is more useful than the long-standing favorite introductory text, Walpola Rahula's What the Buddha Taught, which is long on philosophy and short on practicalities. 8 Mindful Steps contains very little Pali, the language of the ancient scriptures, and requires no previous knowledge of Indian philosophy. It features numerous examples from the author's personal life and his experiences as a teacher, as well as a smattering of Buddhist folk tales. Full of the wisdom of many years teaching and practicing, solid with confidence in the promises and results of the Buddha dhamma, this a book from which both beginners and long term practitioners many benefit. I give the book less than 5 stars for two reasons. The Bhante's case for meat eating is overly legalistic. He notes that in Buddhist philosophy killing requires the intention to kill, and since most meat eaters have no such intention, they are not in the strict sense guilty of killing. He notes that farmers kill many animals in the soil when raising grains, fruits and vegetables, as if to say - look, vegetarians are also complicit in killing. While it is certainly true that living entails killing, not all killing is equal and for the Bhante to overlook the chain of causality that leads from the desire for flesh to the need for meat eaters to pay someone to generate the intention to kill seems intellectually dishonest. Regarding causality, the Bhante quotes the Buddha on karma, that we are owners of our actions. What we do matters, not only to others, but to ourselves as well. In a later discussion on overcoming hindrances in meditation, he writes, "No single event can cause anything else." And in an even later discussion on Skillful Effort, he notes our "lack of control of anything." If reality is so complex that no one act is the result of any one cause, and if the lack of a self means we have no control over conditions, then what can we own except the results of _all_ acts, which determine each other? QUOTABLE --------------------------------------------------------------- As I travel and teach, sometimes people approach me and inform me that they have quickly reached enlightenment. I respond by quoting the Buddha's description of the attributes of someone who has attained the stages of enlightenment. Since the people speaking to me do not have these attributes, they sometimes become very disappointed or even angry with me because my response does not please their egos. p63 Nothing that arises in meditation is a sign of failure. There is only the failure to watch. p78 In spite of [the Buddha's] teaching, sometimes people say that spiritual growth takes "effortless effort." I'm sorry to disillusion you, friends, but there is no effortless effort. Effort must be balanced. Too much effort or unskillful effort can cause more stress for the mind and lead to a downward spiral into unwholesome states. Yet if effort is too slack, you will become bored or tired or lose interest. Then you must make unrelenting effort to bring effort back into balance with other wholesome mental factors. The truth is that you can never achieve anything great without effort. p171 Be skeptical, however, of anyone who says you can mindfully enjoy sensual pleasures. That is not the Buddha's way. The Buddha taught us to mindfully let go of sense pleasures and to enjoy the pleasant unworldly feelings that come from letting go. To let go, we remain mindful of the impermanent nature of these sensual pleasures. Thus we remain detached, and this detachment evokes unworldly pleasant feelings. p212 Finally, don't fool yourself into thinking that mindfulness alone is sufficient to take you to enlightenment. You cannot say, "I do not care for concentration or morality. I simply want to practice mindfulness." Mindfulness cannot be taken out of context or isolated from the other steps of the Buddha's path. People who do not practice the rest of the steps often find they are unable to end their lust, hatred, and ignorance and thus are not successful in their mindfulness practice. p242 Enlightenment is not something you wish for. It is the state that you end up in when all your wishes come to an end. p251 #

The Buddha is quoted as saying: "I teach one thing and one only: suffering and the end of suffering." Bhante G does a wonderful job in this book in showing that the 8-Fold Path contains the essence of the Buddha's teaching and is the roadmap to follow to end suffering. A lot of meditation books or basic Buddhism books focus strictly on meditation. Meditation is, of course, extremely important and spiritual progress is probably impossible without it. This book, however, shows how meditation is but one of the several tools available and necessary. A holistic practice that includes not only mental training, but also moral discipline supported by Skillful Understanding work together to raise the whole person. Read this book if you've already gotten a basic taste of Buddhism and are hungry for more - more depth and more details. You'll surely return time and again to this text as a guidebook and manual as you walk further down the Buddha's Path.

This was my primary resource during my beginning months of exploring the Dhamma. Such warm, clear, clean writing on a subject that could have been so easily loaded with non-essential religiosity. It isn’t. Only practical, easily understood and warmly delivered guidance from a now deeply respected teacher.

I have read many of his other books and all I can say is that if you are interested in meditation and Buddhism, then Bhante H's books are a must. The Buddhist philosophy can become very confusing and many approach it in such an esoterical and intellectual way that it can go over your head or it feels as if you are banging your head into a wall. Bhante has the gift of writing clearly, beautifully expressing himself and at the same time making it all understandable without dummying down the content and the subject matter. This book or any of his other books are a must for anyone interested in learning more about Buddhism

Using this book as a guide is so beneficial to learning how to walk the Noble eightfold path. I am sure I will read it many times over. Thank you Bahnte G. For another wonderful book.

Brilliant book

Guidelines on how to become happy. Very entertaining. A lot of logic and evidence that we sometimes miss. I read it every day together with Midndfulness in Plain English from the same author. It does alter my way to see things and my attitude has benefitted from it. I feel kind of being on the right way.

If you are looking to increase your happiness and end your suffering, read this book several times! You would not regret my recommendation. Enjoy your new life.

amazing introduction to buddhism

苦しみの消滅へと導く実践の八正道を、平易に述べてあります。 八正道という用語を知らなくても、その内容を理解できるように書いてあります。 ブッダは相手に合わせた喩えを用いて説教しましたが、 本書では、現代生活に合わせた的確で分かり易い喩えが随所にあり、理解を助けてくれます。 たとえば、自分の命を守る準備をしてから、救出活動を行う消防士を喩えとして、 他者への慈悲には、まず Compassion for ourselves が必要だと述べています。 内容は以下の Eight Mindful Steps (八正道）から成ります。 Skillful Understanding, 正見 Skillful Thinking, 正思惟 Skillful Speech, 正語 Skillful Action, 正業 Skillful Livelihood, 正命 Skillful Effort, 正精進 Skillful Mindfulness, 正念 Skillful Concentration 正定 現代の日本人には、漢語表現より英語で読んだほうが、 直感的にかつ正確に、本書が指し示す道を理解できるのではないでしょうか。 著者は、Look beyond the words of this book. と、 言葉ではなく、言葉が指し示す道を見るようにと述べています。