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Suggested Reading From Our Members If you are a Center Member you can borrow books from our Store / Library for a small donation or purchase them for a 50% book face value donation. If you are not a Center Member you can purchase books for a 50% book face value donation. Details at the center and you can check our selection and rules online by clicking here (book selections may vary). Key reading on Shambhala by Chogyam Trungpa are- Shambhala:Sacred Path of the Warrior Cutting Through Spiritual Materialism The Path is the Goal (Join our goodreads group for more in depth discussion) Key reading on Shambhala by Sakyong Mipham are-
Member Book Reviews: The Art of Happiness by His Holiness the Dalai Lama and Howard C. Gutler, M.D. - I found the instructions for applying the teachings of the Dalai Lama to our day to day lives with the goal of being happy to be extremely useful. I liked the format - Gutler was interviewing the Dalai Lama over a period of several years I think - to be extremely readable and I especially liked that Gutler voiced many of the same questions, concerns and doubts about the teachings that I have and provided the Dalai Lama's answers. I believe we have a copy of this in our library for those who are interested. It is a fairly quick read. Julie August 2008 I read the best seller "The Last Lecture" by Randy Pausch which my wife bought for me after we watched him on Oprah. I have taken text from his web site to explain who he was and what the book / lecture is about. What else can I say! "On September 18, 2007, computer science professor Randy Pausch stepped in front of an audience of 400 people at Carnegie Mellon University to deliver a last lecture called “Really Achieving Your Childhood Dreams.” With slides of his CT scans beaming out to the audience, Randy told his audience about the cancer that is devouring his pancreas and that will claim his life in a matter of months. On the stage that day, Randy was youthful, energetic, handsome, often cheerfully, darkly funny. He seemed invincible. But this was a brief moment, as he himself acknowledged. Randy’s lecture has become a phenomenon, as has the book he wrote based on the same principles, celebrating the dreams we all strive to make realities. Sadly, Randy lost his battle to pancreatic cancer on July 25th, 2008, but his legacy will continue to inspire us all, for generations to come." Joe July 2008
I am reading a very interesting book called "The Freedom Manifesto" by Tom Hodgkinson who lives in England and publishes a Magazine called "The Idler". Although the book is not categorized as Buddhist it is a very interesting read on life and how you may want to live it. In fact this book is so out there book stores have merchandised the book in both the humor section and the self help section. Here is a few sentences from the book - "Self importance is a trap, because the moment we start to think that we actually matter is the moment when things start to go wrong. The truth is that you are supremely unimportant, and that nothing matters. All of man's striving is for nothing; all effort is wasted." or "Career is just posh slavery. And career is an institutionalized putting-off, a paradise defferred. I also bought his book " How to be Idle" that I will start reading soon. Joe July 2008 One City by Ethan Nichtern is a great book that makes you think. My favorite part believe it or not was the Prologue: A Day in the Life which points out the obvious but sometimes missed things in everyday life and where they come from. Joe Jan 2008 I asked for and received a book called We Are the Ones We Have Been Waiting For (Inner Light in a Time of Darkness) by Alice Walker this year for Christmas. I read an interview about this book in the Shambhala Sun some months ago and was intrigued. Alice Walker is a pretty prolific author and is most well known popularly for her novel The Color Purple and is one of the most controversial and influential Black writers America has produced. She was active in the Civil Rights Movement of the 1960's, and in the 1990's she is still an involved activist. She has spoken for the women's movement, the anti-apartheid movement, for the anti-nuclear movement, and against female genital mutilation. Walker's progressive political convictions and feminism really struck a chord with me. I actually found them a little frightening at first. This book really made me face how the powers that be have dominated blacks, women and other minority groups and how really harmful that has been and continues to be and how our current global economy and that way it presently operates is practically dependent on the oppression and suppression of the world's most poverty stricken people. It made me want to get out and do something, and while I haven't figured out exactly what to do or how to do it, I haven't forgotten my resolve either. I highly recommend this book for everyone, and while it is not always pleasant to read, it is always insightful and I felt the courage and strength of Walker's convictions throughout. Walker's Buddhist background put some of these issues in a different light for me. Julie January 2008 I just finished a great book called The Heart of the World - A Journey to Tibet's Lost Paradise by Ian Baker and if you're looking for something to read this summer I highly recommend it. I really learned a lot about Tibetan Buddhism reading this book so if you get a chance check it out. John May 2007 Buddha by Deepak Chopra is a great book that gives you a real picture and understanding of Buddha. Frank August 2007 Hooked (which is edited and put together by Stephanie Kaza)is a great book! Each chapter is written by a different author such as Pema Chodron. My favorite chapter is called "Young Buddhists in shopping Shangri-la" by Sumi Loundon who does a great job exploring the catch 22 of selling so many Buddhist items while simultaneously preaching simplicity and conservatism in regard to consumption. Joe Sept 2007 From Fear to Fearlessness is one of my other favorite Pema Chodron book. I bought the book and a cd several years ago and listen to it frequently. It is hard enough to recognize our fears at all, but Pema makes it just a little less scary for me. Julie Oct 2007 Practicing Peace in Times of War by Pema Chodron I received this book for Christmas this year and it has done more to help me deal with what is going on in our world in terms of aggression and especially with how conflicted I have felt over the Iraqi War and the War on Terror that we have been embroiled in lately. Pema is the only person so far who has been able to really make me see how necessary is it to extend compassion to ALL sentient beings. She teaches patience in a way I really connect with. Julie Oct 2007
The Tibetan Book of Living and Dying: The Spiritual Classic & International Bestseller;
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