In Plain English: FREE!
I had a very nice conversation yesterday, by Skype, with a long-lost friend (well, not exactly lost, but someone I haven’t heard from in several years), who, as it turns out, has recently gotten interested in Mindfulness meditation! He asked me to recommend a book on the subject and I suggested Mindfulness in Plain English, by Bhante Gunaratana, because, as I said to him, it’s very clearly written, very straightforward, and also very profound.
I told him not to be put off by the fact that the author is a Sri Lankan monk. It’s not a religious book. But it’s also not a trendy, self-help therapy book and it’s definitely not a bunch of new-agey fluff. It doesn’t pull any punches or dumb anything down. But at the same time, it’s very easy to read and very accessible. (The title says it all.)
And he told me that it’s now available for FREE on iBooks! (Thanks, Eric!)
I have recommended this book many, many times in the past, and even given it away as gifts. I think it was the first book I ever read on Mindfulness that really made sense to me.
And now it’s FREE! (If you don’t have access to iBooks, just search around on the internet. I’m sure you’ll find it. And if not…there’s always the library.)
Here’s a sample, from the first chapter, titled Meditation: Why Bother?
“Meditation is not easy. It takes time and it takes energy. It also takes grit, determination, and disciple. It requires a host of personal qualities that we normally regard as unpleasant and like to avoid whenever possible. We can sum up all of these qualities in the American word gumption. Meditation takes gumption. It is certainly a great deal easier just to sit back and watch television. So why bother? Why waste all that time and energy when you could be out enjoying yourself?
“Why? Simple. Because you are human. Just because of the simple fact that you are human, you find yourself heir to an inherent unsatisfactoriness in life that simply will not go away. You can suppress it from your awareness for a time; you can distract yourself for hours on end, but it always comes back, and usually when you least expect it. All of a sudden, seemingly out of the blue, you sit up, take stock, and realize your actual situation in life.”
***
Got gumption? Give yourself the gift of this book.
And if you already have it, go get it off the shelf and read it again.
It’s worth it.