Book Review

By Frederic and Mary Ann Brussat

Commit to Sit
Tools for Cultivating a Meditation Practice
Joan Duncan Oliver
Hay House 03/09 Paperback $16.95
ISBN: 9781401921750

"Meditation, simply defined, is a way of being aware. It is the happy marriage of doing and being. It lifts the fog of our ordinary lives to reveal what is hidden; it loosens the knot of self-centeredness and opens the heart; it moves us beyond mere concepts to allow for a direct experience of reality. Meditation embodies the way of awakening: both the path and its fruition," (writes Lama Surya Das in "The Heart of Meditation," one of the many fine essays in this collection from the pages of Tricycle: The Buddhist Review. This impressive publication was started in 1991 to bring teachings and practices from the rich Buddhism tradition to the general reading public.

This paperback is edited by reviews editor Joan Duncan Oliver. She draws from articles on the broad range of meditative techniques that have been covered over the years. She reminds us in the introduction that although there is much talk in our culture about meditation as a tool for health and well-being, it is "first and foremost the vehicle of our liberation — a tool for finding true happiness."

Among the authors included are Sharon Salzberg, Joseph Goldstein, Sylvia Boorstein, Clark Strand, Wes Nisker, Will Johnson, Marcia Rose, Sandra Weinberg, Matthieu Ricard, and others.

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by Frederic and Mary Ann Brussat