City Dharma : Keeping Your Cool in the Chaos

Rating:
Summary: Practical Spirituality For Every Day Life...
Review: A good friend of mine gave me this book, perhaps as a not-so-subtle way of telling me I need to keep cool in the choas of my own life. What I thought was an amusing joke from a friend has turned out to be a truly helpful gift -- Arthur Jeon's insights and stories are practical, smart, and easy to work into your life. The book is quick and fun to read and several times a day I find myself thinking about what I've read and reacting to my world a little differently. Somehow Jeon's taken all the great teaching of Eastern Thought and turned them into an easy-to-get manual for adding meaning and fun and reducing stress in our crazy Western World. Highly recommend!

Rating:
Summary: the Big Picture
Review: City Dharma helps the reader reflect on every day choices and the consequences of those choices beyond the place and time of our act. For me, the book is about consciousness, connections and flow of energy--good and bad. The "voice" of the book is unpretentious, humorous and observant without being judgemental.

Arthur Jeon encourages the reader to acknowledge the "full package" or "big picture" of city life (poor/rich and nice/rude people, thoughtful/selfish drivers, honest/deceptive street people, etc...), and not simply dissect each individual component of urban society and observe or judge one piece in isolation of the whole.

Jeon's original approach is to highlights components of the big picture and the lessons they offer by putting the reader in the context. He achieves this through anecdotes that will resonnate with any city dweller. If the reader is open to a shift in perspective, the book has the power to change a person's outlook on urban living.

With this fresh take on city life, the world doesn't seem like such a bad place and my community becomes a place where I can make a difference.

Rating:
Summary: Yes, spirituality can be fun, practical, and entertaining!
Review: Finally a book about spirituality that uses humor and personal experience in an insightful and entertaining way.

This book reads more like a fun collection of relevant anecdotes as told by a regular guy, whose experiences are easy to relate to, and whose insight into those experiences is both entertaining and profound -- a nice departure from many "spiritual" books which often delve into esoteric concepts that have little connection to everyday, modern life.

"City Dharma" does have its share of deep spiritual concepts, but they are presented in modern terms that we can easily and humorously relate to. Bravo Mr. Jeon, well done!

Rating:
Summary: Down to Earth, Good for the Soul
Review: I have to say, this book was much welcome to me as I'm a city dweller (not sure if it's a good thing) and Arthur's words really hit home.

I've read many books on Dharma/Zen...many of which were good, but the written words in "City Dharma" moved me. I've been in many of the same situations many of the people in the book found themselves in. The book just proved to me that everything one looks for in life is right there in front of them, easily within grasp. As they say, sometimes the answers are right under our noses. And it's not to knock the search that many of us have gone through only to find ourselves right where we started, but the journey itself that became so life-revealing.

Read this book...you will not be disappointed.

Rating:
Summary: I Can't Recommend It Enough
Review: I heard Arthur Jeon speak on NPR and was so amused and inspired I went to his website, citydharma.com. I read excerpts from the book without intending to buy it, as I've read a lot of spiritual books and feel like I have had enough. But his excerpt was both real and deep at the same time---I could relate and I ended up buying the book.

Most of the spiritual books I've read are about two things, changing yourself or believing something unbelievable. City Dharma doesn't ask you to do either. And it doesn't ask you to go sit on a mountain. City Dharma quite simply asks you to wake up from the trance of your reactive conditioning, endless story, and neurotic thoughts so you can experience your connection with your true nature IN THIS MOMENT. This is called waking up and he teaches that you can be "awake" no matter what is happening, lessening the suffering we create for ourselves.

All this isn't communicated in a way that is esoteric, dry or precious. The book is broken up into chapters including work, violence, noise, relationships, status envy---all the stuff we encounter living in the modern world.

The examples in the book are funny and obviously from real life and the applications of his teachings are immediately relevent. They have given me a different perspective and stick well after the reading.

Like all the best spiritual teachers I've encountered, from the Dalai Llama to Thich Nhat Hahn, this book is both profound and humorous. Light but deep. I'm convinced those two qualities go hand in hand with true wakefulness.

Rating:
Summary: This is not your father's dharma book!
Review: Jeon takes us through stories that are as fresh and surprising as they are illuminating in their outcome and their message. When is non-violence the wrong choice? How do you thwart an obstinate, power-mad beaurocrat? How is poker a spiritual pursuit? How do you end a relationship? At the same time, Jeon blasts through the illusions of New-Age spirituality; that happiness and sucess are just a few affirmations away and creating your reality is as easy as creating a mental picture. What he does offer instead is a way to go through life engaged but not obsessed, compassionate but not blind A wonderful, illuminating read even for the non-spiritual among us.

Rating:
Summary: I Can't Recommend It Enough
Review: This is a delightful collection of "case studies" in dealing with the human condition. It is an inspiring and entertaining read. Yes, humor does belong in spiritual seeking and Mr. Jeon is right on target with his "comic" consciousness. Its up to date, reflects our world here and now (not 2000 thousand years ago) and yet stays in line with the essence of all the Great Teachers and Avatars (Christ, Buddha, Krishna etc.) Highly recommended!

Rating:
Summary: Hip, Wise, and Witty
Review: This is truly a user-friendly dharma book. Jeon takes us on a romp through cities from Santa Monica to Johannesburg with stories of real life difficulties and resolutions that are full of humor and wisdom. With not an ounce of spiritual mumbo-jumbo or new age belief, Jeon manages to deliver an authentic spiritual experience. A must-read for the discriminating seeker.

Rating:
Summary: An Entertaining and Enlightening Read
Review: Using examples from his own life that resonate with everyone, Arthur Jeon has created a book that is relevant, timely, instructional and entertaining. He writes with extraordinary insight and a balanced perspective. This is a book you'll want to refer to again and again.

Arthur gently instructs us in how to become more mindful in our day-to-day affairs. Who among us wouldn't like to be more "cool in the chaos?" And if we can't always be cool, we can still be aware of what we're doing and the impact our behavior has on the world around us. I don't think it was Arthur's intent to create a treatise on how to live, but he's provided us with a path that, if followed, will help open us to possibilities that we might not have otherwise been aware of. And if we choose to act on this awareness, it has potential to deepen us in extraordinary ways.

This is a wonderful book with wisdom and value that you can draw from in every present moment. If you read no other book this year, read this one. You and everyone around you will benefit.