Our Appointment With Life: The Buddhas Teaching on Living in the Present

Rating:
Summary: Simple, succinct and wonderful
Review: Don't be fooled by the thinness of this book, because it is packed with wisdom presented in an easily absorbed manner. The simplicity of Thich Nhat Hanh's commentary on this sutra makes its meaning so crystal clear, reading this was like experiencing an epiphany. It provides more information on mindfulness, and as a novice, the more concrete the information the better, and this has been the best so far. Perhaps the best guide I have found for instruction on how to live in the here and now and how important the present is to our future. We are how we are because of how we lived in the past, so we must pay critical attention to the present to ensure our futures are happy ones, because the now will turn into the future.

Rating:
Summary: Living alone right in society
Review: My mother raised me. She worked diligently at a job that paid her less than a living-wage. Yet we lived. Mother worked hard and she worked a second-shift as mom: performing domestic work and trying to keep me from becoming a criminal and/or a substance abuser. Being raised as an only child by a single mother afforded me a great deal of alone time. I, like Thera (Elder) did many things alone growing up (some activities wholesome, others curious, and yet others downright antisocial). I am not uncomfortable being alone.

Now, as a husband and father, I mostly find myself with others. I first read this text as my wife pre-wedding co-ordinated for our friends' wedding. I had 3 hours to burn in a sweltering parking lot and I decided to read _Our Appointment With Life_. I felt ironic and figured 'why not read a book about being alone' prior to witnessing a marriage, a union of two into one. Thinking simply, I considered alone to mean: without human contact. Buddha (and Hanh) corrected my base thinking. In Buddha's words (to Thera, monk who thought he 'lived alone' because he avoided human contact): 'In observing life deeply, it is possible to see clearly all that is. Not enslaved by anything, it is possible to put aside all craving. The result is a life of peace and joy. This is truly to live alone,' (p. 4). I meditated on this gatha and altered my narrow definition of alone. Hanh fills this book with exhortations on how to live alone within society and the crux of the text focuses on the importance of mindfulness via living fully in the PRESENT MOMENT.

As a Sociologist, I especially enjoy Hanh's paragraphs on 'poor', 'unwholesome movies', and 'bad books' and how mindfulness can enlighten these topics.

This text contains three parts. 'The Sutras' contain translations of 'The Elder Sutra' and 'The Sutra on the Better Way to Live Alone'. These translations total 6 pages. 'The Subject Matter of the Sutras' consists of Thich Nhat Hahn's elaboration of the Buddha's sutras. Hahn utilizes various ancient Buddhist sources (_Dhammapada_, _Theragatha_, _Agamas_, _Majjhima Nikaya_, _The God of the Forest Hot Springs Sutra_, _Shakyan Hermitage Sutra_, etc.)in this section, yet he makes the material accessible to both non-Buddhists and devout Buddhists. As always, Hanh makes a concerted effort to simplify as much material as possible. This section is 11 pages in length. The third section is 'Putting the Teachings of the Buddha into Practice' and Hanh offers simple life advice. The text ends with translations of 2 Gathas.

Rating:
Summary: Welcome addition to Buddhist studies for the western reader.
Review: Our Appointment With Life: Discourse On Living Happily In The Present Moment is a splendid and "reader friendly" translation and commentary on the Sutra on "Knowing the Better Way to Live Alone" and one of the earliest teachings of the Buddha on living fully in the present moment. "To live alone" means to live in mindfulness: to let go of the past and the future, and to look deeply and discover the true nature of all that is taking place in the present moment. It does not mean isolating from society, but to know what to do and what not to do to be of help with people. Our Appointment With Life is a welcome addition to library of Buddhist studies available to the Western reader.

Rating:
Summary: Welcome addition to Buddhist studies for the western reader.
Review: Our Appointment With Life: Discourse On Living Happily In The Present Moment is a splendid and "reader friendly" translation and commentary on the Sutra on "Knowing the Better Way to Live Alone" and one of the earliest teachings of the Buddha on living fully in the present moment. "To live alone" means to live in mindfulness: to let go of the past and the future, and to look deeply and discover the true nature of all that is taking place in the present moment. It does not mean isolating from society, but to know what to do and what not to do to be of help with people. Our Appointment With Life is a welcome addition to library of Buddhist studies available to the Western reader.

Rating:
Summary: A good book, meaningful, but too short
Review: This book is a detailed but single purposed elaboration of the following message of the Buddha.

Do not pursue the past.
Do not lose yourself in the future.
The past no longer is.
The future has not yet come.
Looking deeply at life as it is in the very here and now,
the practitioner dwells in stability and freedom.
We must be diligent today.
To wait until tomorrow is too late.
Death comes unexpectedly.
How can we bargain with it?
The sage calls a person who knows how to dwell in mindfulness night and day "one who knows the better way to live alone."

When a person lives in this way, he has no hesitation in his heart. He gives up all anxieties and regrets, lets go of all binding desires, and cuts the fetters which prevent him from being free.

Meaningful and well written! That's for sure. The drawback: US$8.00 is far too expensive for a 54 page book, given the author's popularity that guarantees a good sales quantity.