Eight Mindful Steps to Happiness: Walking the Buddha’s Path (Meditation in Plain English) by Bhante Henepola Gunaratana (PDF)

Description

From the best-selling author of Mindfulness in Plain English!In his classic and engaging style, Bhante Gunaratana delves deeply into the noble eightfold path, the Buddha’s most profound teaching on bringing an end to suffering. With easy-to-understand and specific advice, Eight Mindful Steps to Happiness offers skillful ways to handle anger, find right livelihood, cultivate loving-friendliness, and overcome the mental hindrances that prevent happiness. Whether you are an experienced meditator or someone who’s only just beginning, this gentle and down-to-earth guide will help you bring the heart of the Buddha’s teachings into every aspect of your life.

User’s Reviews

Editorial Reviews: Amazon.com Review Meditation is like walking toward happiness. And Bhante Henepola Gunaratana is like a tireless bricklayer, constructing a path brick by brick that allows us to make that walk. Without the path, he says, all the walking in the world won’t help. Of course, as a Buddhist monk, his blueprint was created long ago in the form of the Buddha’s so-called Noble Eightfold Path. In the same clear language that has made his Mindfulness in Plain English a perennial favorite, Eight Mindful Steps to Happiness is his attempt to explain this timeless path of morality, concentration, and wisdom. The gist of the book comes down to the use of the word skillful in the heading of each of the book’s chapters. Living well is a skill that takes both practice and understanding. With stories, bulleted summaries, quotes from the sutras, and, most of all, a knack for relating to our everyday concerns, Henepola Gunaratana skillfully teaches us how to refrain from causing others to suffer. This, along with ending our own suffering, leads to happiness. –Brian Bruya From Publishers Weekly In the books for Buddhist beginners that now crowd the shelves it is common to find explications of the faith’s various tenets serving to structure and sometimes to title the works. Typically then, in Eight Mindful Steps to Happiness, Gunaratana, who is the Buddhist chaplain at American University and the president of the Bhavana Society in the Shenandoah Valley of West Virginia, delves into the “Eightfold Path” of understanding, thinking, speech, action, livelihood, effort, mindfulness and concentration. Each chapter devoted to these efforts explains the wisdom of these skillful pursuits and then closes with a “key points” list to summarize highlights. This work is best suited to readers who are very new to Buddhism or who want a taste of the tradition served in a thoroughly American style. Gunaratana (Mindfulness in Plain English) writes in a very simple form and uses highly accessible illustrations to teach. For example, “Even though unskillful deeds may bring temporary happiness when, for example, a drug dealer is pleased with his shiny new car the Buddha pointed out that wrong actions always lead to harm.” Though this book is too elemental for most devoted practitioners and does not particularly distinguish itself among the many of its ilk, it may find a useful berth where many voices and versions are generally desirable. Copyright 2001 Cahners Business Information, Inc. Review “Eight Mindful Steps to Happiness is the perfect companion to Mindfulness in Plain English. Written with the thoroughness and the masterful simplicity so characteristic of his teaching, Bhante Gunaratana presents essential guidelines for turning the Buddha’s teachings on the Eightfold Path into living wisdom.” — Larry Rosenberg, author of Breath by Breath”Bhante Gunaratana’s wonderful new book is a practical and personal guide for those truly interested in what it means to be happy.” — Sharon Salzberg, author of Lovingkindness”Clear and straightforward, the reader feels just how possible and practical it is to lead a happy life. Highly recommended.” — Joseph Goldstein, author of Insight Meditation About the Author Bhante Gunaratana was ordained at the age of twelve as a Buddhist monk in Sri Lanka, earned his PhD in philosophy from The American University, and has led meditation retreats, taught Buddhism, and lectured widely throughout the United States, Canada, Europe, and Australia. Bhante Henepola Gunaratana is the president of the Bhavana Society in High View, West Virginia, where he lives. Read more

Reviews from Amazon users which were colected at the time this book was published on the website:

⭐I don’t know why I waited so long to read this book in my library. I bought it 2 years ago and on my shelf it’s sat while I studied other aspects of Buddhism. My meditation practice has floundered over the course of those two years as I’ve attempted to understand how to make progress meditation without actually making much of an effort towards understanding and implementing steps 1-6 of the Buddha’s noble eightfold path. My assumption was, having spent most of the past 16 years practicing yoga, that meditation technique was more important if one’s daily life was relatively ethical and upright. And that any failure on the path could be attributed to how one practices the techniques of meditation. Basically I had a very technical-dominant view of the Buddhist path. This book has helped to correct many of my inaccurate assumptions.It’s also seemed that when I was stuck and I went back to this book in order to understand how to apply one of the noble eightfold steps that not only was the information pertinent and insightful, but the specific examples the author uses relating to daily life are the exact examples I’m experiencing. The effect is that it feels as if the author is writing directly to me, even while including the general audience. It’s somewhat uncanny. Though I’ve read other books on the noble eightfold path, this one is becoming, in essence, my Buddhist bible. It has everything I need and nothing more. And the author’s own description of what it’s like as each grouping of the 10 fetters related to the 4 stages of awakening are vanquished is both salient and inspiring.

⭐I have been a practicing Buddhist since October 5th 2005 and have a bunch of books on Buddhism and this is by far the most favorite of mine for teaching the Buddha’s eight fold path. This book for me supersedes sutras, Zen mind training books, and many of the Thich Nhat Hanh books that I really like because this book really lays out the plan in real life terms not just some ideals of how we should act. I keep asking people at my Sangha to review it and Zen teachers can be very head strong and set in their Zen ways and without this book I would have never really gotten on “THE PATH”. It wasn’t an easy read for me at first because I decided that I wasn’t going to skip around and I wasn’t going to glaze over the pages when I didn’t understand. Every time I “failed” a chapter I started rereading again, until I “got it” then moved on to the next so it took me about 6 weeks to read. 4 -5 weeks to get through the first 2 parts of the eight fold path and then I blazed through the rest of the book in only a few days like a California wildfire. You will know a good Buddhist book when you want to read it again every few years. This is one of those books. This book is tied at number one with the Shambala Pocket Classic version of the Dhammapada which I also love because you can read the whole book in an hour and it fits in any shirt or pants pocket. I know of no other text on this planet that packs so much wisdom into such a tiny package. This book and the Dhammapada together are really all one needs to launch and create a home based Buddhist practice even without a priest around to guide you. Of course please seek out a real ORDAINED Buddhist priest from some tradition either near you or online because they will help you grow exponentially once you have gotten your Buddhist practice going. Contact the San Francisco Zen Center (or any legitimate Zen Center near you) if you need to find Buddhist guidance as they are part of one of the most famous and reputable Soto Zen organizations in the world and have many affiliate centers throughout the United States and Japan. I am a member of the Houston Zen Center and you can find us online too.

⭐This was my primary resource during my beginning months of exploring the Dhamma. Such warm, clear, clean writing on a subject that could have been so easily loaded with non-essential religiosity. It isn’t. Only practical, easily understood and warmly delivered guidance from a now deeply respected teacher.

⭐This book arrived on time, however was not in the best of condition. I don’t recall how listing rated it, however it was for a gift and I wouldn’t typically purchase less that Very Good or Nearly New. That being said, the content of the book was very comprehensive and yet broken up into 8 parts to be digested one at a time. My 18 year old grand daughter was pleased with it!

⭐The Buddha is quoted as saying: “I teach one thing and one only: suffering and the end of suffering.” Bhante G does a wonderful job in this book in showing that the 8-Fold Path contains the essence of the Buddha’s teaching and is the roadmap to follow to end suffering. A lot of meditation books or basic Buddhism books focus strictly on meditation. Meditation is, of course, extremely important and spiritual progress is probably impossible without it. This book, however, shows how meditation is but one of the several tools available and necessary. A holistic practice that includes not only mental training, but also moral discipline supported by Skillful Understanding work together to raise the whole person.Read this book if you’ve already gotten a basic taste of Buddhism and are hungry for more – more depth and more details. You’ll surely return time and again to this text as a guidebook and manual as you walk further down the Buddha’s Path.

⭐Really great. Everything by bhante is great. He is definitely a great and enlightened master. He has helped my practice greatly.

⭐I have read many of his other books and all I can say is that if you are interested in meditation and Buddhism, then Bhante H’s books are a must. The Buddhist philosophy can become very confusing and many approach it in such an esoterical and intellectual way that it can go over your head or it feels as if you are banging your head into a wall. Bhante has the gift of writing clearly, beautifully expressing himself and at the same time making it all understandable without dummying down the content and the subject matter.This book or any of his other books are a must for anyone interested in learning more about Buddhism

⭐I have given away many copies of this book.It’s so wonderful.I don’t feel I have much to add to the previous five star reviews but 160 reviews didn’t seem like enough to me. So I thought I’d give it one more.I’ve read mindfulness in plain english, and Metta, both by Bhante G, and Mindfulness. A Practical Guide to Finding Peace in a Frantic World, and while the totally secular approach of the latter may work as a good primer, I’ve found Bhante’s work so much more fulfilling.Do yourself a favour. If you’re just learning about mindfulness, try this book out and start/deepen your journey into Buddhism. Come and see 🙂

⭐I can’t add anything that hasn’t already been said, except, if any book deserves to be available in a deluxe hard wearing LEATHER version, this is it. Please

⭐Ven Bhante Henepola Gunaratne thank you. I have read several books on Buddhism, this book is one of the best I have read. The author describes simply and concisely the Buddha’s Noble Eightfold Path in a way that is easy to understand and which speaks to your heart. I found the personal examples of dealing with situations that require us to reflect deeply e.g right speech, very helpful. This book not only offers a practical guide to walking the Buddha’s path but the author shows us the way through his own example of loving-friendliness when he connects with the reader.

⭐I thought I had more-or-less understood on a conceptual level what the path consists of and what the eight steps are. But this book is so clear that it really deepened my understanding. Lots of useful practical tips too. Recommended. But, if you are just starting, then perhaps read his mindfulness book first?

⭐Smart, kind, informative, inspirational, enjoyable. A great help to understand the core principles of Buddhism and how to apply it to daily life, including meditation.

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