Noble Strategy: Essays on the Buddhist Path
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Jan 31, 2020Ryan rated it liked it · review of another edition
Shelves: religion, post-war-era, philosophy, non-fiction, contemporary, buddhism, 21st-century, 3-star-books, read-in-2020, american
I'm usually quite the fan of Thanissaro Bhikkhu, being a liker of his dhamma talks for some time now. But I'm not so sure about his essays or, at the least; this collection of essays. Yes, they are still good in their own right; with the same charm and causal elegance of his talks; but I feel there's something missing about the style. His quality as an essayist, in judging from this alone as it stands, seems to be rather un-engaging.
He doesn't really translate his nature into the essaic form very well. His light and dry humour isn't really present, he's quite serious and virtually deadpan throughout. The rather graceful manner seen on average from him is replaced by a rather firm, stiff and almost monotonous way of speaking.
It rests upon these factors, and primarily they alone; that I cannot say this is a book as worthy as his others, but I do see one factor in which is good. The book is rather good at explaining common; but occasionally difficult to understand concepts in Buddhism. Such as the main topic of the 9th essay: vipassana. The subject yes, is known well to those who look more deeply into it; but to the otherwise wandering learner - it's generally not known. But this essay in particular does a well enough job at explaining it in rather decent detail.
As a final word, or more-of; a word of advice. To those who've just begun studying Buddhism, and don't have as much knowledge on the basics; it is advisable to not read this book. Given, although it may be a bit of an introduction to Buddhism (more to Theravada in this case), it isn't a complete introduction overall. More akin to an explanatory text to those of an amateur stance. But as for myself, I think I'll just leave it be as it is: a slight disappointment of his corpus. (less)
He doesn't really translate his nature into the essaic form very well. His light and dry humour isn't really present, he's quite serious and virtually deadpan throughout. The rather graceful manner seen on average from him is replaced by a rather firm, stiff and almost monotonous way of speaking.
It rests upon these factors, and primarily they alone; that I cannot say this is a book as worthy as his others, but I do see one factor in which is good. The book is rather good at explaining common; but occasionally difficult to understand concepts in Buddhism. Such as the main topic of the 9th essay: vipassana. The subject yes, is known well to those who look more deeply into it; but to the otherwise wandering learner - it's generally not known. But this essay in particular does a well enough job at explaining it in rather decent detail.
As a final word, or more-of; a word of advice. To those who've just begun studying Buddhism, and don't have as much knowledge on the basics; it is advisable to not read this book. Given, although it may be a bit of an introduction to Buddhism (more to Theravada in this case), it isn't a complete introduction overall. More akin to an explanatory text to those of an amateur stance. But as for myself, I think I'll just leave it be as it is: a slight disappointment of his corpus. (less)
This book was written to "sell" Buddhist practices to Westerners. I've found it immensely helpful in thinking about such things as true happiness, karma, right speech, meditation, mindfulness, emptiness and other notions of Buddhism which I'd heard of but never looked at closely until now. The copy I have is in good condition. There is no ISBN number or publisher identified. At the end of the book I notice the following: Inquiries concerning this book may be sent to The Abbott/Metta Forest Monastery/PO Box 1409/Valley Center CA 92082. I was lucky to find the copy I have at the local Salvation Army store. The Introduction is dated August 1999. The author's name, Thanissaro Bhikkhu, is given in translation as Geoffrey DeGraff. At the bottom of the title page is printed "FOR FREE DISTRIBUTION". From the Introduction: "The essays in this book present views on basic elements in the Buddhist path - the attitudes, concepts, and practices that lead to total freedom for the mind. If the views are right, they themselves form a part of the path. Thus, in learning how to make best use of these essays, it's important to understand how views function in bringing about freedom." (less)
This collection of essays by Thanissaro Bhikkhu is very well-selected. It's definitely not for the total newbie to buddhism, as it assumes one already knows all the basics - this is a book for buddhists who are already versed in all the basics (path, truths, precepts, perfections, etc).
That's not to say someone newer won't benefit, as it has all sorts of useful stuff even a beginner can glean learning from - but like nearly all Thanissaro's work, it doesn't pull punches and isn't softened for the "McMindfulness" crowd. This is no-nonsense, efficient Theravada teaching.
For the enthusiastic beginner or the intermediate, this is a good dharma supplement. It probably won't change your life, but it will give you plenty of good teachings to read, if you "dwell in the dharma" and thus read dharma all the time - as will the other four books in the Essays series.
Freely available from: http://www.dhammatalks.org/ebook_inde... (less)
That's not to say someone newer won't benefit, as it has all sorts of useful stuff even a beginner can glean learning from - but like nearly all Thanissaro's work, it doesn't pull punches and isn't softened for the "McMindfulness" crowd. This is no-nonsense, efficient Theravada teaching.
For the enthusiastic beginner or the intermediate, this is a good dharma supplement. It probably won't change your life, but it will give you plenty of good teachings to read, if you "dwell in the dharma" and thus read dharma all the time - as will the other four books in the Essays series.
Freely available from: http://www.dhammatalks.org/ebook_inde... (less)
I always like his writings.
Ajahn Thanissaro is a master of words, wisdom and meditation. This book is a treasure for anyone new to the Dhamma, or even someone quite seasoned.
