In Money, Sex, War, Karma: Notes for a Buddhist Revolution, , social critic and philosopher David R. Loy looked at the challenges facing Buddhism in the West as it seeks to address "the spiritual needs of modern people living in a globalizing world." He explored the delusion that money, fame, and time could make us more real.

In A New Buddhist Path, Loy uncovers points of convergence and renewal in the meeting between ancient religious teachings and modern science. He also offers fresh takes on enlightenment, nonattachment, and a new model of activism linking outer and inner practice.

We commend Loy for undertaking this complex task which involves criticism of some Buddhist failings such as its treatment of women, its tendency toward inwardness at the expense of dealing with the messy social and justice issues of the day, and its continuing love/hate relationship with dualism.

In one of the best essays in the book, the author offers a critique of what he calls the "McMindfulness" movement where this Buddhist practice has shed its spiritual origin and intention for "a stripped-down, secularized approach" that can lead to a total capitulation to capitalism. For more on this, read the excerpt on shadow.

Loy brings his own purview as a social critic and philosopher to this examination of contemporary Buddhism. These viewpoints quoted in the book are reflective of where he's coming from.

• "The present threat to mankind's survival can be removed only by a revolutionary change of heart in individual human beings. This change of heart must be inspired by religion in order to generate the willpower needed for putting arduous new ideals into practice."
— Arnold Toynbee

• "We are here to awaken from the illusion of our separateness."
— Thich Nhat Hanh

• "A great many people think they are thinking when they are merely rearranging their prejudices."
— William James

• "When I look inside and I see that I am nothing, that's wisdom. When I look outside and see that I am everything, that's love. Between these two my life turns."
— Nisargadatta Maharaj (54)

• "The real problem of humanity is that we have Paleolithic emotions, medieval institutions, and god-like technology."
— E. O. Wilson ( 70)

• "The universe shivers with wonder in the depths of the human."
— Brian Swimme (90)