<< 1 >>
Rating: 
Summary: Recommended to students of Buddhist philosophy
Review: Congenially written by Kimberley Snow, (a resident of a Tibetan Buddhist community for six years and who served the center as head cook), In Buddha's Kitchen: Cooking, Being Cooked, And Other Adventures In A Meditation Center is a wry memoir of both physical and spiritual work, and which showcases the those transcendent values of meditation which can be found in mundane tasks and the simple joys of everyday life. A delight to read, In Buddha's Kitchen is enthusiastically recommended to students of Buddhist philosophy and practice as being deeply spiritual and embracing the crucial importance of compassion, love, and joy in even the most menial of life's duties.
Rating:
Summary: What? No recipes?
Review: I really enjoyed this book about the author's experiences cooking in a Buddhist Monastery in Northern California. Several chapters are real gems: Jizo Ceremony, Impermanence, A Cup of Tea and On Having A Teacher. She makes good use of her early experiences as a chef to contrast with the new attitude of mindfulness and silence. Even though I give it five stars I still walked away from the table hungry for a little more. I would have liked to read a deeper treatment of transforming the five poisons into the five wisdoms, something intriguing that was only mentioned in passing. How can you write a whole book about cooking in a Buddhist kitchen and not include a single recipe? The Author does mention at one point that she is working on a cookbook. I'd love to read that as a companion volume to this great book on practical application of Buddhist ideas to daily life.
Rating:
Summary: What? No recipes?
Review: I really enjoyed this book about the author's experiences cooking in a Buddhist Monastery in Northern California. Several chapters are real gems: Jizo Ceremony, Impermanence, A Cup of Tea and On Having A Teacher. She makes good use of her early experiences as a chef to contrast with the new attitude of mindfulness and silence. Even though I give it five stars I still walked away from the table hungry for a little more. I would have liked to read a deeper treatment of transforming the five poisons into the five wisdoms, something intriguing that was only mentioned in passing. How can you write a whole book about cooking in a Buddhist kitchen and not include a single recipe? The Author does mention at one point that she is working on a cookbook. I'd love to read that as a companion volume to this great book on practical application of Buddhist ideas to daily life.
Rating:
Summary: Everyday Buddha
Review: In Buddha's Kitchen was an honest and profound look into the mind's phenomenon. I was left with a deep sense of humanity as I learned that my own questions are part of a larger communal experience. Kimberley Snow's book is a valuable resource for anyone interested in Buddhism, but her experience is also a reflection of everyone who searches their daily life for the good within. I recommend this book for anyone looking for that everyday Buddha. Kimberly if you're reading this, thank you.
Rating: 
Summary: Enjoyable but with a negative bite
Review: This book was worth reading. I especially enjoyed the first part. However, there is definately a negative feeling throughout about the drudgery of cooking that got tiresome at spots. And the poetic references I could have done without. Otherwise it was a clever way to blend buddhist belief into the everyday. There were some very choice quotes about how we all feel that the past is a big looming gigantic piece of our life and the future is this looming huge obstacle to tackle and how the present is seen as just a crack in the fissure. (or something like that). When in reality the present is ALL that we have. It was worth reading just for that reference.
Rating:
Summary: Laugh Out Loud Funny & Profound
Review: This is an amazing book. Who could have anticipated such a combination of fall-down-funny good humor and profound evocation of the nature of the Buddhist path in everyday life?
Chef Snow, trying to get away from her commercial kitchen, winds up at a Tibetan Buddhist meditation center in charge of the kitchen there! Meditation in action doesn't even begin to describe her adventures. Her long journey to awareness is the perfect introductory book I would recommend to anyone yearning to make their own days more meaningful and happy and useful through the exposure to ancient spiritual insights. Certain to be recognized as a classic, but more important it's a delightful "read" that will literally change lives.
To put it briefly, keeping with Snow's ongoing metaphor of the kitchen, "downright delicious & joyously nourishing."
<< 1 >>
| 
