Christopher Titmuss worked as a news reporter before living as a Buddhist monk for six years in Thailand and India. He is the co-founder of the Gaia House, an international retreat center focusing on liberation, inquiry, and insight meditation. This work sheds light on the Dharma, which he describes as "a beautiful teaching embracing far-reaching ethical values, significant depths of meditation, healing of the heart, and profound wisdom."
Titmuss discusses the Four Noble Truths, the Five Precepts, and other lineaments of Buddhism. He is especially cogent on how to cope with the Eight Worldly Conditions — profit and loss, success and failure, praise and blame, pleasure and pain. In this chapter he notes: "We talk constantly about how much we do for others and wonder why we are not getting the credit. It is all too easy to have a shopper's mentality around doing good for others: I give this to you (time, energy, money, support) and I want you to give me something in return." This need for praise can end up having a debilitating influence on our inner life.
Light on Enlightenment puts the emphasis where it should be — on practice. You will find plenty of good recommendations here on how to deal with suffering, anger, hate, greed, and delusion.
