"Spiritual intimacy with your partner," writes Thich Nhat Hanh, Vietnamese Buddhist monk, poet, scholar, and human rights activist, "helps create emotional intimacy and makes your physical intimacy more fulfilling. The three kinds of intimacy are interconnected."

In this brief but uplifting book, the author reflects upon some of the essentials that comprise a loving relationship that not only lasts but flourishes. But, as most of us know from our own encounters with the opposite sex, there are many roadblocks, disagreements, and problems which must be worked out in order to keep intimacy alive and well. Among those addressed by Thich Nhat Hanh are craving, habit energy, complexes, and loneliness. These behaviors must be dealt with through understanding and forgiveness.

According to this Zen master, there are three keys to happiness: mindfulness, concentration, and insight. These are followed by the four elements of true love: loving kindness, compassion, joy, and equanimity. All this requires us to become "full-time Buddhas." It's easier to fall in love than to keep the intimacy and the fidelity burning brightly. Thich Nhat Hanh puts us on the right track with his emphasis upon spiritual practices as providing the ties which bond us together.