The Birth of the Sixties: When the Beats Became Hippies

Review of A Blue Hand: The Beats in India by Deborah Baker.

Books in Brief September 2008

Review of books from September 2008.

Q & A: Alice Waters

An interview with celebrity chef Alice Waters about healthy food, ethical ingredients and how to change the world with our eating choices.

Wisdom of the Rebels

Tom Robbins on the Zen rebels, Sufi saints, and wild yogis who fight conventional mind with humor, outrageousness, and paradox.

Hatha Raja: Yoga’s Path to Liberation

Yoga becomes a complete spiritual path when we join the familiar postures of hatha yoga with the meditative practices of rajah yoga.

Still Mind, Moving Body

Andrea Miller profiles five teachers who combine hatha yoga and Buddhist meditation. Is this the perfect mind–body practice?

Evaluating Eckhart

Review of "A New Earth" by Eckhart Tolle and "The Joy of Living" by Yongey Mingyur Rinpoche.

Books in Brief July 2008

Reviews of Books from July 2008.

Coming Home to the Body

The practice of meditation is a journey of return to who we really are, says Zen teacher Norman Fischer. We come home to the body.

Jack Kornfield, Psychology, Buddhism in America, Shambhala Sun, Lion's Roar, Buddhism

Discovering Our Nobility: A Psychology of Original Goodness

Prominent Buddhist teacher and psychologist Jack Kornfield proposes a new psychology, one based not on a model of sickness but on Buddhism’s belief in the inherent nobility, beauty, and freedom of human nature.

The New Buddhists

Review of Democracy’s Dharma: Religious Renaissance and Political Development in Taiwan by Richard Madsen.

Book Briefs Summer 2008

Review of books from Summer 2008.

The Mind that Suffers

Recognizing suffering is the first step on the Buddhist path. By understanding suffering we can see the difference between pain and our reaction to it.

Chönyi Taylor presents a meditation to familiarize yourself with the triggers that set off addictive behaviors.

What is Dukkha?

Dukkha or suffering is pervasive and can range from sickness, aging, or death to vague feelings of anxiety and dissatisfaction.

Glimpses of Awakening

In the gaps we notice moments of clarity, wakefulness, and peace. Enlightened mind turns out to be very ordinary and present, says Judy Lief.

Beyond Carrot and Stick

The question we all face is, what will make our journey genuine dharma and not another spiritual fantasy or creation of ego?

Surprises on the Way

Is there a way we can extend and deepen these moments of awakened mind that coexist with our confusion? Or even just notice them when they occur? That’s the point of Buddhist meditation, which is never about doing or creating anything. We simply rest in everything as it is. It sounds so easy, yet nothing is more profound or mysterious.

We Think, Therefore We Are

Review of The Geography of Thought: How Asians and Westerners Think Differently . . . and Why, by Richard E. Nisbett.

Higher Powers

Review of Faith in the Halls of Power by D. Michael Lindsay and From Pews to Polling Places: Faith and Politics in the American Religious Mosaic edited by J. Matthew Wilson.

Books in Brief May 2008

Review of book from May 2008.