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BOOKS IN BRIEF | EASTERN HORIZON 61

BOOKS IN BRIEF BOOKS IN BRIEF

OTHERS

Sadness, Love, Openness. The Buddhist Path of Joy. Chokyi Theravāda Buddhist Encounters with Modernity. Juliane
Nyima Rinpoche. 2018. pp 108. US$15.95 Schober. Routledge: UK, 2018. pp 168. Hard cover.

In Sadness, Love, Openness, Chokyi Nyima Rinpoche, a Although recent scholarship has shown that the term
world renowned Buddhist teacher and meditation master, ‘Theravāda’ in the familiar modern sense is a nineteenth-
shares his profound understanding of the Buddhist view and twentieth-century construct, it is now used to refer to
of life – its suffering and the path to liberation from the more than 150 million people around the world who
that suffering. His style is always accessible, playful, and practice that form of Buddhism. Buddhist practices such as
genuine, and thus this concise guide is able to show how meditation, amulets, and merit making rituals have always
we can incorporate our own daily experiences into our been inseparable from the social formations that give rise
spiritual path and awaken to how things truly are. By to them, their authorizing discourses and the hegemonic
embracing sadness, love, and openness in our lives, we relations they create.
develop an altruistic attitude to help all beings who suffer
and to reduce our own greed and aggression. This easy-to- This book is composed of chapters written by established
read manual teaches us how to honestly explore and deal scholars in Buddhist studies who represent diverse
with our own hang-ups and neuroses. Through knowing disciplinary approaches from art history, religious studies,
our own true nature as aware and compassionate, we history and ethnography. It explores the historical forces,
can progress, step-by-step, on the Buddhist path and use both external to and within the tradition of Theravāda
Rinpoche’s pithy wisdom along the way as a touchstone. Buddhism and discusses how modern forms of Buddhist
practice have emerged in South and Southeast Asia, in
Chokyi Nyima Rinpoche’s fresh and engaged approach to case studies from Nepal to Sri Lanka, Burma, Cambodia
timeless Buddhist wisdom enables us to deeply connect and Southwest China. Specific studies contextualize
with authentic teachings in a modern context. This work general trends and draw on practices, institutions,
is a delight and inspiration to read, outlining the major and communities that have been identified with this
teachings and practices of Buddhism in a succinct way. EH civilizational tradition throughout its extensive history and
across a highly diverse cultural geography.

This book foreground diverse responses among
Theravādins to the encroaching challenges of modern life
ways, communications, and political organizations, and will
be of interest to scholars of Asian Religion, Buddhism and
South and Southeast Asian Studies. EH