At Hell's Gate : A Soldier's Journey

Rating:
Summary: Wow...
Review: As a Desert Storm Veteran and novice Buddhist practitioner wrestling with my own demons, in many ways I felt I was reading my own story...of the 100+ books I've read on Buddhism, this one has touched me in a way like no other, and has motivated me to throw myself more diligently into my spiritual practice. While all of us wish to rid ourselves of anger and unkind behavior, the author inspires and even compels us to start the healing process within ourselves that will enable us to do so. At Hell's Gate goes much beyond being a must read for combat vets: anyone wrestling with scars of the past who truly wants to live a life of peace with family and society as a whole will find this book to be truly remarkable.

Rating:
Summary: Coming of Age After Viet Nam
Review: From a beginning as as abused child, then enlistment in the Army and volunteer for service in Viet Nam, Mr. Thomas came back in fairly rough condition. He suffored from post-traumatic stress, drug and alcohol addiction, isolation, and even homelessness.

Then he reached a turning point when he attended a meditation retreat for Vietnam veterans led by the renowned Zen mon Thich Nhat Hanh. Here he encountered the Buddhist teachings on meditation and mindfulness when helped him to stop running from his past and instead confront the pain of his war experiences directly and compassionately.

Continued study from then has led him to being ordained as a Zen monk and he began making pilgrimages to promote peace and nonviolence in war-scarred places around the world.

Rating:
Summary: An Important Book
Review: This book tells an amazing story: how one man, abused in childhood, a combat soldier in Vietnam, a homeless drug addict, found the means for healing. Beginning with an encounter with Thich Nhat Hanh (the Vietnamese Monk) and then Bernie Glassman Roshi (Zen Peacemaker Order), he came into alignment with the pain of violence--his own and others. Now a mendicant monk, he has much to teach us about where the responsibiity for violence really lies--within us all. A powerful (and very readable) book.

Rating:
Summary: Vital and necessary reading
Review: This is a deeply inspiring and relevant book. It is part memoir, part social and spiritual commentary, and part instruction manual. It is a tonic we can all benefit from.

With courage, unblinking honesty and clarity, Claude AnShin Thomas shares with us the story of his life. Abused childhood, intensive combat in the Vietnam War, social dysfunction, alcohol and drug addiction, homelessness, failed relationships -- and eventually his path to waking up, to living out a commitment to be awake and to live in mindfulness. Thomas chose to become a Buddhist monk as his expression of that commitment, but his story is universal. Non-Buddhists can benefit as much from this book as Buddhists can.

This book is about violence and war, the causes of violence and war inside of all of us, what it means to stop that war, and how vital it is to take that step. Thomas draws the very real parallels between our internal emotional experience and our external reality. If we are at war inside ourselves, if we condone violence in ourselves and in our lives, then violence will inevitably arise in the world around us, and war will inevitably arise as one expression of that violence. Thomas writes, with clarity and conviction borne of experience, that stopping the war can only happen when we stop hiding from our suffering and anguish, when we completely and fully own who we are in our greatest insights and our worst delusions. Once we take this step of not hiding, we can then make real choices and chose to live differently. We can chose not to support violence in our lives and in the lives of others. Our lives can become more vital, more real, and then, as Thomas shows us, real joy is possible.

Thomas more than realizes all these things: he lives them, and what he presents to us in this book is his own life as an example, a great, personal wake-up call. Thomas' life is that of one who "walks the walk". As he shows us his life, Thomas asks us to make our own commitment to wake up, to live differently, to stop the violence.

There are instructions in mindfulness practice here, very practical and simple ones. There are exhortations to live mindfully and wake up. And mostly there is Thomas' story, instructive and inspiring, showing us that all of this is possible. It is possible to own all of who we are and change our lives. If someone with Thomas' background of deep, relentless suffering can do it, we all can.

This book has tremendous relevence to all of us as our country and the world continues in the cycles of war and violence. It should be required reading. Highly recommended

Rating:
Summary: Blow me away
Review: This is a very powerful book. It broke my heart, and I finished it through my tears.

Rating:
Summary: Amazing Journey from Viet Nam Soldier to Zen Monk
Review: This is one of the most interesting books of personal transformation that I have ever read. The author's odyssey from an abusive childhood, through bloody combat in the Viet Nam War and his subsequent struggles with addiction, followed by his discovery of a path to inner peace is extremely fascinating. I was touched by Mr. Thomas' candor in addressing the damage that had been done to him, as well as the damage that he had inflicted upon others as a soldier. If you have ever wondered if a path of non-violence was possible, this book offers a practical example that a person can hope to emulate on a personal level. I especially enjoyed the accounts of the author's walking journeys across Europe and America that he undertook as Zen pilgrimages.