In
reading this book, you get the feeling of being a passenger on the
Dinty W. Moore journey of Discovery, this trip: Buddhism!
By
being allowed to come along the journey we get to experience a
variety of sights and shows as we are bussed/driven/ferrried/flown
along to see different locations and people in the various paths of
the American Buddhist scene.
And
what a journey it is.
Moore learns to sit and count his breaths at a
Zen retreat, sets up a Buddhist altar in his home, visits a Tibetan
Buddhist community, meets a Jesuit priest who teaches Zen, Meets a
woman who runs a business that makes meditation cushions, studies a
copy of Mindfulness in Plain English at a Theravada retreat led by
its author, and meets His Holiness the Dalai Lama.
And thats just
some of the things we encounter in his travelogue.
The
Writing, throughout the book is easy to read, conversational with
loads of observations that are humourous, honest, selfrevealing and
insightful.
Add to that that it is an good surfacesurvey of the
landscape, and you have yourself a book worth reading.
But
as to all chartertravelling theres an downside.
Yes,
there is sights, shows and whatnot, but if you are looking for
something more look elsewhere.
This
is a quiet journey towards insight.
Perhaps too low-key for eager
inquirers as it is a bit shallow at times.
Moore
might have a very witty writingsstyle, and i must confess i laughed
out loud more than a couple of times, some of the jokes are more of
insidejokes.
The
depth he goes in to each stop on the journey is sometimes not enough
time even to get to the bathroom..
That
being said, Moore's journeyjournal is valuable on an entirely different,
perhaps unintended, account: as a travelogue detailing the tremendous
diversity that is American Buddhism.
In
the last chapter, a real nugget, he discusses the landscape of
Buddhism and how we and it can coexist and benefit from each other .
He
shows us the geography of Buddhism, American style, and discusses it
in short bursts, Moorestyle.
And its this Moorestyle that makes this
book a good book. There is numerous books on ”innerjourneys” and
the like, but there is only a few good men, and Moore has the rare
ability to be both sincere about religion and good-humored about the
human condition.
Moore
concludes, as i'd like to too, as i'm coming to a close that,
concerning God's existence, he's not going to worry. "If there
is a God, I should live my life according to principles of kindness,
compassion, and awareness, and if there is no God, well then i should
live my life according to principles of kindness, compassion and
awareness anyway. How wonderfully simple. How Buddhist.”
