The Blooming of Lotus: Guided Meditation for Achieving the Miracle of Mindfulness

Rating:
Summary: Indespensable for those seeking Buddhist meditation
Review: After searchiing for meditation exercises in the true Buddhist tradition, this book was a revelation, like the opening of a flower. It is all you need for everyday meditation, deep meditation on death, aging, beauty, love, body, mind--it has it all. And it is so elegantly translated it reads like poetry, every time you look at it. If you are looking for the inspiration to do your own guided meditation, get this one.

Rating:
Summary: Breathe.
Review: I have enjoyed Thich Nhat Hanh's other books because (the translation of) his writing makes Buddhist thoughts and practices clear and accessible; not too simplistic and not too academic. The guided meditations in this book are no exception. Ranging from very simple to rather complex, each meditation is written in poem like phrases, or stages, with the key words of each in the border off to the side. I have been memorizing the key words and saying them to myself while I run--it makes me much more aware of myself and my surroundings than listening to earphones and makes me concentrate on my breathing, all of which makes the experience more enjoyable.

Rating:
Summary: Excellent source for Meditations
Review: This is a wonderful book with guided meditations published in 1993. For anyone looking for easy, reflective, and at the same time powerful meditations this is a great place to start. Mindfulness meditation is a powerful tool. These can be used in a series for a whole day of mindfulness or one at a time.

Last year during the Christmas Holidays I spent a whole day with various meditations from this book. A few minutes before supper break friends called me to join them for dinner and I returned and finished the rest of the meditations. It was a wonderful day - afterwards my mind and body felt refreshed, light and calm. I would highly recommend anyone try it.


Exercise Eighteen
1) Seeing myself as a five-year old child, I breathe in.
Smiling to the five-year-old child, I breathe out.
(Myself five years old smiling)

2) Seeing the five year old as fragile and vulnerable, I breathe in.
Smiling with love to the five year old in me, I breathe out.
(Five year old fragile - smiling with love)

3) Seeing my father as a five year old boy, I breath in.
Smiling to my father as a five year old boy, I breath out.
(Father five years old smiling)

4) Seeing my five year old father as fragile and vulnerable, I breathe in.
Smiling with love and understanding to my father as a five year old boy, I breathe out.
(Father - fragile and vulnerable - smiling with love and understanding)

5) Seeing my mother as a five year old girl, I breathe in.
Smiling to my mother as a five year old girl, I breathe out.
(Mother five years old - smiling)

6) Seeing my five year old mother as fragile and vulnerable, I breathe in.
Smiling with love and understanding to my mother as a five year old girl, I breathe out.

7) Seeing my father suffering as a child, I breathe in.
Seeing my mother suffering as a child, I breathe out.
(Father and Mother suffering as children)

8) Seeing my father in me, I breathe in.
Smiling to my father in me, I breathe out.
(Father in me smiling)

9) Seeing my mother in me, I breathe out.
Smiling to my father in me, I breathe out.
(Mother in me smiling)

10) Understand the difficulties that my father in me has, I breathe in.
Determined to work for the release of both my father and me, I breathe out.

11) Understand the difficulties that my mother in me had, I breathe in.
Determined to work for the release of both my mother and me, I breathe out.

The text following this, and all of the meditations, goes point by point and explains how to deepen and relate the meditation to our personal experiences. It really is a beautiful little book.






Rating:
Summary: Personal transformation in a book
Review: This is the gist of the practice. You can sit down and use these guided meditations to get started, or to maintain your practice, or to get centered agian, right now in this moment. Some are steeped in Buddhist terminology and structure, which Thich Nhat Hahn explains. But most are non-dogmatic, easily accessible, and potentially life-changing. I've read much by Thich Nhat Hahn, and all of it seems to-the-point and profoundly wise. But this is the book I go back to again and again.