The Miracle of Mindfulness

Rating:
Summary: An excellent book full of compassion and wisdom
Review: Thich Nhat Hanh provides you with wonderful advice on how to increase your awareness and mindfulness about the joys and beauty of everyday life. The Miracle of Mindfulness is a terrific book that gives you ways to exercise your mind and awareness in everyday situations. It gives wonderful meditation exercises for those that would like an enlightening experience without a lot of mystic or religious teachings thrown in, and who are perhaps too busy to spend an hour everyday in meditation. For me, it was a life-changing book.

Rating:
Summary: Relaxing and meditative in itself
Review: This book is stimulates meditation during reading. Nhat Hanh, a remarkable writer about engaged Buddhism has a wonderful way of encouraging the reader to smile. While he does not distill the underlying ideologies of Buddhism, he brings to light tangible aspects of meditation that can truly help in everyday life

Rating:
Summary: Wonderful... especially for the beginning Buddhist
Review: This book shows you how simple it is to live in the moment if you really want to. It takes the mystery away from meditation. This is a book that you read over and over again. I don't want to give the impression that this book is ONLY for beginners. This book helps flesh out the basics of mindfulness that are necessary to keep with you always. I highly recommend it.

Rating:
Summary: An excellent book, but audio version is not read by author
Review: This book was revolutionary for me. It was one of the most influential if not the most influential book in my life. It very easily explains a deeply fulfilling way of living which is just the opposite of what we are used to in the United States. It simply teaches us a way to live that is deep and meaningful and offers us an alternative to the unsatisfying lifestyles of our culture. It tells us truths we find unbelievable--that all one could ever want is right here, right now. There is nothing that needs to be attained, and nothing that can be lost. It shows us how to live these truths.

Rating:
Summary: A lifesaving revelation.
Review: This book was revolutionary for me. It was one of the most influential if not the most influential book in my life. It very easily explains a deeply fulfilling way of living which is just the opposite of what we are used to in the United States. It simply teaches us a way to live that is deep and meaningful and offers us an alternative to the unsatisfying lifestyles of our culture. It tells us truths we find unbelievable--that all one could ever want is right here, right now. There is nothing that needs to be attained, and nothing that can be lost. It shows us how to live these truths.

Rating:
Summary: Not recommended
Review: This book was very disappointing! The concept behind the book is very valid, unfortunately the language and writing style do not hold up. I found the book boring, repetitive and 'unenlightening'.

Rating:
Summary: Great book on how to gain peace and serenity in your life.
Review: This is a wonderful book that opened my eyes to the peace and serenity that can be acheived by living in the present moment. It is beautifully written in such a calming and peaceful wat that it is impossible for me to ignore it's teachings.

Rating:
Summary: Disappointment
Review: This little treatise is nothing less than a handbook for more effective, more joyful living. Thich Nhat Hanh has a beautifully simple, wonderfully direct manner of communicating the need to live mindfully, and using the practice of meditation as a means for becoming more mindful. Living in exile in Paris, this humble Vietnamese monk has worked tirelessly for decades, living his religion of compassion for the poor and orphaned in his native Vietnam. He is a living testament to the power of mindful living.

In addition to being a treat for your mind, Thich Nhat Hanh provides a number of exercises that help the student of meditation begin the process of focusing and concentrating on the moment at hand. It is a book that will be especially of value to those who are just beginning to meditate, (which is where I find myself), though I expect that as with most things written by wise people, the experienced student of meditation will find much of value as well.

This is not a book about Buddhism. It draws very heavily on the path to enlightenment that the Buddha taught as his fourth Noble Truth, but this book is first and foremost about mindful living. In that sense, it is completely accessible to the Christian, Jewish, agnostic or anyone else who recognizes the power of meditation in acheiving a degree of personal enlightenment. Thich Nhat Hanh has written extensively on the relationship between the principles taught by the Buddha and Jesus, and he is ever mindful of the needs of his Christian/Western audience as well as that of his Buddhist audience. Regardless of your religious orientation, you will find this little book to be an effective guide to living mindfully, completely and with joy.

Rating:
Summary: Accessible Mindfulness for Anyone
Review: This little treatise is nothing less than a handbook for more effective, more joyful living. Thich Nhat Hanh has a beautifully simple, wonderfully direct manner of communicating the need to live mindfully, and using the practice of meditation as a means for becoming more mindful. Living in exile in Paris, this humble Vietnamese monk has worked tirelessly for decades, living his religion of compassion for the poor and orphaned in his native Vietnam. He is a living testament to the power of mindful living.

In addition to being a treat for your mind, Thich Nhat Hanh provides a number of exercises that help the student of meditation begin the process of focusing and concentrating on the moment at hand. It is a book that will be especially of value to those who are just beginning to meditate, (which is where I find myself), though I expect that as with most things written by wise people, the experienced student of meditation will find much of value as well.

This is not a book about Buddhism. It draws very heavily on the path to enlightenment that the Buddha taught as his fourth Noble Truth, but this book is first and foremost about mindful living. In that sense, it is completely accessible to the Christian, Jewish, agnostic or anyone else who recognizes the power of meditation in acheiving a degree of personal enlightenment. Thich Nhat Hanh has written extensively on the relationship between the principles taught by the Buddha and Jesus, and he is ever mindful of the needs of his Christian/Western audience as well as that of his Buddhist audience. Regardless of your religious orientation, you will find this little book to be an effective guide to living mindfully, completely and with joy.