"Meditation," writes Lawrence G. Muller, a journalist and teacher, "is for everyone. It is the practical, experience-based wisdom that is at the core of all the religions and at the very heart of the spiritual life. Meditation is the essential art of self-mastery and right living."

The eight meditation masters interviewed in this volume are from Christian, Yoga, Bon, Jain, and Theraveda traditions. They relate the importance of this spiritual practice to interreligious dialogue. They also discuss the dangers of spiritual materialism, the suffering of the Tibetan people, and the demands of compassion, service, and justice.

Christian meditator Laurence Freeman notes that "the dialogue between Christianity and the other religions is one of the great moments of spirit in the modern world, and one of the great signs of hope." Swami Satchidananda discusses the relevance of meditation to ethics. He calls the replacement of vice with virtue "a lube job" — not a bad description.

Bhante Gunaratana ruminates upon how our lives could be enriched by devoting one minute every hour to mindfulness. And Christian sannyasi Wayne Teasdale makes it clear that meditation is an ally and a sustainer of all attempts to make the world a better place through political action. The only drawback to "Wisdom Roads" is the absence of female meditation masters.