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    The Accidental Buddhist: Mindfulness, Enlightenment, and Sitting Still
    Unavailable
    The Accidental Buddhist: Mindfulness, Enlightenment, and Sitting Still
    Unavailable
    The Accidental Buddhist: Mindfulness, Enlightenment, and Sitting Still
    Ebook222 pages4 hours

    The Accidental Buddhist: Mindfulness, Enlightenment, and Sitting Still

    By Dinty W. Moore

    4/5

    ()

    Currently unavailable

    Currently unavailable

    About this ebook

    A journey through the diverse landscape of American Buddhism, written with a “blessedly down-to-earth sense of humor” (Rodger Kamenetz, author of The Jew in the Lotus).
     
    In an era when many of us yearn for an escape from a culture of noise and narcissism, this book takes us into the physical and spiritual geography of Buddhism, American-style: from a weekend at a mountain retreat for corporate executives learning effective ways to cope with stress, to a visit with a Zen teacher holding classes in an old Quaker farmhouse, to a meeting with a Catholic priest who’s also a Zen master.
     
    Both a lively introduction to this Eastern spiritual tradition and a colorful portrait of American society, The Accidental Buddhist “makes the oftentimes impenetrable concepts of Buddhism accessible to the reader and contains striking, and important, parallels and contrasts between [the author’s] own Catholic upbringing and ancient Buddhist traditions” (Library Journal).
     
    “A travelogue detailing the tremendous diversity within American Buddhism. His anecdotes make it clear that the umbrella term ‘Buddhist’ encompasses strict Zen monks, laid-back Tibetan politicos, and beatnik holdover Allen Ginsberg. In his travels, Moore attends weekend retreats, chronicles the Dalai Lama’s 1996 visit to Indiana, and grooves to Change Your Mind Day, a meditative Buddha-fest in New York City’s Central Park. . . . He finds that his family is his sangha (monastery), and while he still feels he is ‘probably a fairly lousy Buddhist,’ he will eclectically combine his various forms of new knowledge to find a path that makes sense to him. Now that may be an authentic American Buddhism.” —Kirkus Reviews
     

    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherOpen Road Integrated Media
    Release dateJan 10, 1997
    ISBN9781565128514
    Unavailable
    The Accidental Buddhist: Mindfulness, Enlightenment, and Sitting Still
    Author

    Dinty W. Moore

    Dinty W. Moore's memoir Between Panic & Desire was the winner of the Grub Street Nonfiction Book Prize in 2009. His other books include The Accidental Buddhist, Toothpick Men, and The Emperor’s Virtual Clothes. He is a professor of nonfiction writing at Ohio University.

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    Reviews for The Accidental Buddhist

    4/5

    73 ratings4 reviews

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    • 4/5
      Interesting exploration of Buddhism in America. The author describes his experiences in many very different settings. It's hard to be Buddhist in the US.
    • 4/5
      This is not a book about how to be a Buddhist. Instead, this is a man's journey to discover what it means to be Buddhist in America. I liked it. It follows Dinty from his first Buddhist Encounter, to trying to find a way to practice it in America.I think this will be a good introduction to those who want to know a bit more about Buddhism, without all the deep religion stuff. The story is simply written biography. Its easy to follow, and covers a few ways of Buddhists practice in the United States.
    • 4/5
      I loved Sarah McDonald's Holy Cow and wanted to find something similar that introduced the various approaches to Buddhism. The Accidental Buddhist did that in part. The author, hoping to discover the many faces of American Buddhism, chronicles his time at retreats ranging from Zen Mountain Monastery in the Catskills to a Tibetan community outside Atlanta and a Theravada community in West Virginia. Along the way he discusses theology with a Jesuit Buddhist, attends the third annual Change Your Mind day in Central Park, visits with a Buddhist meditation cushion maker who runs Carolina Mornings Designs from her rural farm, takes a road trip to hear the Dali Lama speak and drops in on meditation groups in suburban Chicago and Iowa City.Over the course of his "American Buddhism Project," the author shares his struggles with monkey mind and stiffness from long stretches of meditation. He continually assesses aspects of Buddhism in terms of his Roman Catholic upbringing and aspects of his life (such as releasing ladybugs to control aphids in his garden) in terms of Buddhist tenets. The book focuses perhaps a bit too much on the author's self-chiding and failure to find the big answers, but for someone who doesn't know much about Buddhism as it's practiced in America today, it's an easy-to-read and enjoyable introduction.
    • 3/5
      The account of Dinty W. Moore's 1995 "dharma road trip" around America to visit Buddhist meditation centers, retreats and happenings in search of the heart of Buddhism in America is an honest, funny and self-deprecating (he calls himself "the doofus of dokuson") memoir. What is the sound of one toe dipping into enlightenment?