Order from a Major Online Bookstore
Ultimate Book Price Comparison Engine
Save Your Time And Money
| AnyBook4Less.com | Order from a Major Online Bookstore |
|
| Home | Store List | FAQ | Contact Us | | ||
| Ultimate Book Price Comparison Engine Save Your Time And Money |
||
 |
Title: Living Buddha, Living Christ by Thich Nhat Hanh, Elaine Pagels, David Steindl-Rast ISBN: 1-57322-568-1 Publisher: Riverhead Books Pub. Date: September, 1997 Format: Paperback Volumes: 1 List Price(USD): $13.00 |
Average Customer Rating: 4.13 (55 reviews)
Rating: 3
Summary: Very good, but repetitive and a bit narrow
Comment: Thich Nhat Hanh is a living Buddha. Let's get that straight.
However, he tends to repeat his message (often verbatim) from one book to the next. If you know his work, you'll recognize a lot of it here.
On the other hand, if you haven't read him before, then this is a good place to start. It is an admirable attempt at ecumenicalism.
Another caveat: the Christianity that he discusses is not the sort much practiced. That's his point, in part: it should be more practiced. Fair enough, he's right about that. But he tends to cite the Christian mystics with whom he feels most affinity (Thomas Merton, especially) and ignore how most people view Christianity.
In short, if you are a Christian, you should read this book to get another take on your religion. If you are a Buddhist familiar with Thay Hanh's writings, however, you won't find out much about Christianity as it is practiced, and you'll already be familiar with much of what he says about Buddhism.
Rating: 4
Summary: Christianity and Buddhism can bring peace to our world.
Comment: Oil and water meet in this book. This is a stimulating and provocative book written by a Vietnamese Buddhist monk who attempts, in good will and world peace, to bring Buddhism and Christianity into a harmonious relation.
Thich Nhat Hanh hopes that, if people would look at what these faiths have in common, there could be tolerance and acceptance of each other.
To bring harmony to these two religious belief systems is no small task, and only someone with a large amount of both faith and love would attempt this. Christianity and Buddhism are diametrically opposed: Faith in God. Faith in Self. So acknowledges Hanh when he says, "In Christianity faith means trust in God, in Buddhism faith means confidence in our ability to wake up our deepest capacity."
But then, Hanh has a large amount of both faith and love, and he is no ordinary Vietnamese Buddhist monk. He has been engaged in peace works for almost 40 years. In 1966 he came to the United States and met with Secretary of Defense Robert McNamara to protest the war in Vietnam. Pushing forward in his belief in peace, he went on to develop The Fellowship of Reconciliation, an interfaith peace organization, with members like Martin Luther King, Jr., Thomas Merton and Father Daniel Berrigan. Through his life, and with the contact of many strong Christians, he converted to dualism of beliefs.
"On the altar in my hermitage in France are images of Buddha and Jesus and I touch them both," Hanh says. He believes that ignorance brings bondage and disparity, but understanding of another brings liberation and "unlocks the door to the prison of suffering."
He acknowledges as a Buddhist monk that Buddhism does not hold to the belief of God and he recognizes that Christianity is not a religion of believers in God: Father, Son and Holy Spirit. And in his own, very unique way, he believes too. Especially important to him is Jesus Christ and the Holy Spirit. Hanh describes his understanding of Jesus Christ as "one through whom the divine was manifested" but not the only expression of the divine, "it is said that there are 84,000 Dharma doors, doors of teaching . . . it would not be very Buddhist to say that yours is the only door."
In addition to highlighting concepts of Buddhism, Hanh offers Christians a new prism, a new angle from which to look at Jesus, the Holy Spirit, their Christian faith and those of other faiths. He says, "If you satisfy yourself only with praising the name of Jesus, it is not practicing the life of Jesus. We must practice living deeply, lovingly and acting with charity if we wish to truly honor Jesus."
Living Buddha. Living Christ is not a primer on either Buddhism or Christianity but rather a compilation of the two by a Buddhist monk who understands where these two great religions can touch and sometimes even dance. Though Hanh never gets the oil-and-water to mix, he does get them to complement each other. This in itself is a great achievement. An index would have greatly assisted in making this a good reference book as well. Recommended
Rating: 5
Summary: Pearls of wisdom
Comment: All religions have as their common thread the Golden Rule expressed in Buddhism as: "Hurt not others with that which pains yourself" and in Christianity as: "Do unto others as you would have others do unto you". Almost certainly, if Jesus and Buddha were to meet today they would embrace each other and tell us that we have misinterpreted their teachings by permitting or perhaps even advocating religious intolerance, religious rivalry, religious hatred, religious fanaticism and religious war. It was therefore like a breath of fresh air to discover a Buddhist monk from Vietnam who thinks, speaks and acts the Golden Rule - a man about whom Martin Luther King wrote: "I Know Thich Nhat Hanh and am privileged to call him my friend. He is a holy man, for he is humble and devout. He is a scholar of immense intellectual capacity. His ideas for peace, if applied, would build a monument to ecumenism, to world brotherhood, to humanity". In 1947 in Egypt early Christian documents were discovered, believed to have been hidden after orders to destroy them as heretical were given by the archbishop of Alexandria. The Gospel of Thomas resonates with the Buddhist tradition. These long-hidden sources show that the early Christian movement contained much more diversity of viewpoint and practice than later Christians acknowledged or even imagined. Because these teachings were smothered, many Christians today are adamant that the only path to God is via Christianity. Shortly after Buddha died there were two schools of Buddhism; after 400 years there were 20 schools; and today there are many more. Each is an attempt to keep the Buddhist teachings alive under new circumstances. Likewise Christianity has splintered into many groups. It is only by respecting the differences within our own church and seeing how these differences enrich one another, that we can be open to appreciating the richness and diversity of other traditions.
Thich Nhat Hanh is not a monk who lives in a hermitage and runs away from the world. For more than 30 years he has been active in combating poverty, ignorance and disease; rescuing boat people; evacuating the wounded from combat zones; resettling refugees; helping the hungry and orphans; opposing wars; training peace and social workers; and rebuilding villages destroyed by bombs. But he has only been able to do this because of the practice of meditation - stopping, calming and looking deeply. It is only through the practice of deep looking and deep listening, that we become free, able to see the beauty and values in our own and others' tradition and that we know what we should be doing in the world.
This book is about interfaith dialogue. "In a true dialogue, both sides are willing to change. We have to appreciate that truth can be received from outside of - not only within - our own group. If we do not believe that, entering into dialogue would be a waste of time. If we think we monopolize the truth and we still organize a dialogue, it is not authentic. We have to believe that by engaging in dialogue with the other person, we have the possibility of making a change within ourselves, that we can become deeper. Dialogue is not a means for assimilation in the sense that one side expands and incorporates the other into its 'self.' Dialogue must be practiced on the basis of 'non-self.' We have to allow what is good, beautiful, and meaningful in the other's tradition to transform us. But the most basic principle of interfaith dialogue is that the dialogue must begin, first of all, within oneself. Our capacity to make peace with another person and with the world depends very much on our capacity to make peace with ourselves."
This book is about seeking peace. "Until there is peace between religions, there can be no peace in the world. People kill and are killed because they cling too tightly to their own beliefs and ideologies. When we believe that ours is the only faith that contains the truth, violence and suffering will surely be the result." And "When there are wars within us, it will not be long before we are at war with others, even those we love. The violence, hatred, discrimination, and fear in society water the seeds of the violence, hatred, discrimination, and fear in us."
This book is about mindfulness: "In Buddhism, our effort is to practice mindfulness in each moment - to know what is going on within and all around us. When the Buddha was asked, 'Sir, what do your monks practice?' he replied, 'We sit, we walk, we eat.' The questioner continued, 'But sir, everyone sits and walks, and eats.' And the Buddha told him, 'When we sit, we know we are sitting. When we walk, we know we are walking. When we eat, we know we are eating.' Most of the time, we are lost in the past or carried away by future projects and concerns."
This book is about being there for others: "The most precious gift we can offer others is our presence. When our mindfulness embraces those we love, they will bloom like flowers." This book is about meditation. This book is about the common ground between Christianity and Buddhism - for the author there is no conflict in having images of both Jesus and Buddha on his hermitage altar. He worships them both; he touches them both as his spiritual ancestors. This book is wisdom. There are pearls of wisdom on every page of this book for seekers of the truth.
 |
Title: Going Home: Jesus and Buddha As Brothers by Thich Nhat Hanh ISBN: 1573228303 Publisher: Riverhead Books Pub. Date: 10 October, 2000 List Price(USD): $13.00 |
 |
Title: Heart of Buddha's Teaching by Thich Nhat Hanh ISBN: 0767903692 Publisher: Broadway Pub. Date: 08 June, 1999 List Price(USD): $13.95 |
 |
Title: The Miracle of Mindfulness by Thich Nhat Hanh ISBN: 0807012394 Publisher: Beacon Press Pub. Date: 01 May, 1999 List Price(USD): $13.00 |
 |
Title: Be Still and Know: Reflections from Living Buddha, Living Christ by Thich Nhat Hanh, Nhat ISBN: 1573225622 Publisher: Riverhead Books Pub. Date: October, 1996 List Price(USD): $8.00 |
 |
Title: Peace Is Every Step : The Path of Mindfulness in Everyday Life by Thich Nhat Hanh ISBN: 0553351397 Publisher: Bantam Pub. Date: 01 March, 1992 List Price(USD): $13.95 |
Thank you for visiting www.AnyBook4Less.com and enjoy your savings!
Copyright� 2001-2021 Send your comments
