Books in Brief: January 2025

In the modern world, so many of us live indoors, on screens—strangers to our own bodies and sense experience—and this leaves us uneasy. We’re homesick, for a deep sense of place and belonging, so we try to fill the void the only way we know how: with rational thought. “But thinking is part of the exile,” says Insight teacher Rebecca Bradshaw. “The answer is in the embodied heart, that untamed territory of feeling and sensing.” In Bradshaw’s debut book, Down to Earth Dharma (Shambhala Publications), she teaches us how to live through our senses, which, she asserts, greatly supports meditation practice. Bradshaw explores what she thinks of as a feminine paradigm in practice—embodied, receptive, intimate, and noncognitive. To address the problems in our troubled world, she says, we need to know how to be present; we need to know that we are connected to each other and the planet.

Poetry, as John Brehm describes, is “an invitation to connect…with the deepest aspects of our shared experiences.” Profound human emotions defy logical understanding yet find expression in poems. In The Poetry of Grief, Gratitude, and Reverence (Wisdom Publications), powerful works from renowned poets such as Philip Larkin, William Carlos Williams, Seamus Heaney, Elizabeth Bishop, Rainer Maria Rilke, Elizabeth Alexander, and many others are featured, guiding readers to hidden places of the heart and nurturing a sense of wonder. In addition to editing both this collection and The Poetry of Impermanence, Mindfulness, and Joy, Brehm is the author of four books of original poetry and a book of essays on how poetry can enrich spiritual practice. This expansive anthology also includes an essay on the art of appreciative attention, along with brief biographies of the featured poets.

Being with Busyness: Zen Ways to Transform Overwhelm and Burnout (Parallax Press) is a friendly, accessible book—a balm for the plague of stress that haunts so many of us. The authors are cohosts of the mindfulness podcast The Way Out Is In. Brother Phap Huu, who is abbot of Upper Hamlet in Plum Village, a Buddhist practice center in France, and Jo Confino, who is a former executive editor at The Guardian, take turns penning chapters. They draw from their own personal life experiences, as well as the collective wisdom of the Zen tradition, while they cover themes such as recognizing and smiling at one’s overwhelm, setting healthy boundaries, and thoroughly resting and replenishing. They also offer simple practices, such as deep listening, compassionate speech, mindful eating, walking meditation, and mindful breathing. These are not practices that add more to your already jam-packed to-do list. On the contrary, these are practices that will refresh and nourish you. 

Join Norma Wong for a heartfelt discussion about the state of the world and how we can make it better. Stepping into this delightful hodgepodge of poetry, stream of consciousness, essay, photos, and paintings feels like stepping into her living room. Part native Hawaiian, part Hakka Chinese, and ordained as a Rinzai Zen priest, Wong comes from traditions based on oral transmission. Her book, When No Thing Works: A Zen and Indigenous Perspective on Resilience, Shared Purpose, and Leadership in the Timeplace of Collapse (North Atlantic Books), feels like a natural extension of that legacy. The writing glows with humor and hope, offering an exploration of the critical point where things fall apart and there’s a tremendous potential for positive change. Wong helps slow things down and allows for a broader view of the “now.” Then she invites us to leap into the future.

A leading expert in the science of meditation and well-being, Cortland Dahl is executive director and senior meditation instructor for Tergar International and a scientist at UW-Madison’s Center for Healthy Minds. His book A Meditator’s Guide to Buddhism (Shambhala Publications) is a guide to meditation and the dharma, which is suitable for both beginner and seasoned meditators. The core tenets of Buddhism are presented in an easy-to-read way, and pointers on how best to meditate at home are provided. The book, which is grounded in the Tibetan Buddhist tradition, covers philosophical concepts. But, as Dahl says, “Every idea should be considered a catalyst for us to experience something for ourselves. Belief is not the point in Buddhism. Experience is the gateway to transformation.” The qualities that will serve you on this spiritual path, Dahl asserts, are curiosity, patience, and self-compassion. 

The Way (Spiegel & Grau) is a post-apocalyptic novel. After the catastrophic event known as “the Mayhem,” cities have been destroyed, money is meaningless, electricity is a rare commodity, and while the Internet sometimes functions, Google is no more. A former caretaker of a Buddhist retreat center in Colorado is tasked with a critical mission: He must travel to California with a potential cure for a disease that has all but annihilated humankind, hoping a scientist there can make use of it. Accompanied by two talking animals and a world-weary teenager, our hero faces rogue military units, a hitman determined to steal the cure, and the ever-present possibility of falling sick. Author Cary Groner brings Buddhist philosophy into his tale, as the main characters explore what it means to be alive, to die, to live without harming others, and to have hope—even in the context of the end of the world.

What goes around comes around—this essential idea of karma dates back to the Hindu Upanishads and is an important facet of many of the world’s most ancient religions. However, according to Lama Lhanang Rinpoche and Mordy Levine, it was the Buddha who introduced a less mechanistic understanding of karma. Their book The Beginner’s Guide to Karma: How to Live with Less Negativity and More Peace (New World Library) explores the Buddhist interpretation, highlighting subtleties, such as the difference between light versus heavy karma (based on whether something has been thought of, articulated, or actually acted upon). The book also examines how to generate positive karma through a rigorous meditation practice, and addresses the question of what happens to karma when you die—whether or not you believe in rebirth. Three appendices are included: a simple guided breathing meditation, a compendium of virtuous versus nonvirtuous actions, and a visualization practice.

Aflame: Learning from Silence (Riverhead Books) is an ode to the religious retreat. Nestled high above the sea in Big Sur, California, lies a Benedictine hermitage where journalist, travel writer, and best-selling author Pico Iyer has taken over a hundred retreats during the past thirty years. Aflame honors this sanctuary and the monks and nuns who offer silence and solace to those in search of peace. Iyer reflects on the pivotal role these retreats have played in his life, from the connections made and the wisdom gained to how they helped him navigate life’s challenges, including his daughter’s cancer diagnosis, the death of his father, and the loss of his family home to wildfires. Iyer cites a poem from seventeenth-century Japan: “My house burned down / I can now see better / the rising moon.” The silence fostered in the monastery allows Iyer to access a deeper reality.