Product Description

In the rush of modern life, we tend to lose touch with the peace that is available in each moment. World-renowned Zen master, spiritual leader, and author Thich Nhat Hanh shows us how to make positive use of the very situations that usually pressure and antagonize us. For him a ringing telephone can be a signal to call us back to our true selves. Dirty dishes, red lights, and traffic jams are spiritual friends on the path to "mindfulness" -- the process of keeping our consciousness alive to our present experience and reality. The most profound satisfactions, the deepest feelings of joy and completeness lie as close at hand as our next aware breath and the smile we can form right now.

Lucidly and beautifully written, Peace Is Every Step contains commentaries and meditations, personal anecdotes and stories from Nhat Hanh's experiences as a peace activist, teacher, and community leader. It begins where the reader already is -- in the kitchen, office, driving a car, walking a part -- and shows how deep meditative presence is available now. Nhat Hanh provides exercises to increase our awareness of our own body and mind through conscious breathing, which can bring immediate joy and peace. Nhat Hanh also shows how to be aware of relationships with others and of the world around us, its beauty and also its pollution and injustices. the deceptively simple practices of Peace Is Every Step encourage the reader to work for peace in the world as he or she continues to work on sustaining inner peace by turning the "mindless" into the mindFUL.

"This book of illuminating reminders bid us to reorient the way we look at the world...toward a humanitarian perspective." --Publisher Weekly

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #3419 in Books
• Published on: 1992-03-01
• Released on: 1992-03-01
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Paperback
• 160 pages

Features

• ISBN13: 9780553351392
• Condition: NEW
• Notes: Brand New from Publisher. No Remainder Mark.
• Click here to view our Condition Guide and Shipping Prices

Amazon.com Review
Thich Nhat Hanh's writing is deceptive in its subtlety. He'll go on and on with stories about tree-hugging or metaphors involving raw potatoes; he'll tell you how to eat mindfully, even how to breathe and walk; he'll suggest looking closely at a flower and to see the sun as your heart. As the Zen teacher Richard Baker commented, however, Nhat Hanh is "a cross between a cloud, a snail, and piece of heavy machinery." Sooner or later, it begins to sink in that Nhat Hanh is conveying a depth of psychology and a world outlook that require nothing less than a complete paradigm shift. Through his cute stories and compassionate admonitions, he gradually builds up to his philosophy of interbeing, the notion that none of us is separately, but rather that we inter-are. The ramifications are explosive. How can we mindlessly and selfishly pursue our individual ends, when we are inextricably bound up with everyone and everything else? We see an enemy not as focus of anger but as a human with a complex history, who could be us if we had the same history. Suffice it to say, that after reading Peace Is Every Step, you'll never look at a plastic bag the same way again, and you may even develop a penchant for hugging trees. --Brian Bruya

From Publishers Weekly
"Next time you are caught in a traffic jam . . . sit back and smile . . . a smile of compassion and loving kindness." While such sappy Zen advice from a Buddhist monk, a Vietnamese resident in France following his exile in 1966, could send Western seekers of enlightenment into overdrive, fortunately most of the suggestions offered in this slim guidebook are of more substance. In a series of vignettes and short passages, e.g., "Cooking Our Potatoes," Nhat Hanh outlines techniques for living mindfullly, that is, in the present. Emphasizing that all things are interconnected on personal and political levels, he notes, for example, that the wealth of one society is based on the poverty of others. This book of illuminating reminders bids us to reorient the way we look at the world, turning away from a goal-driven, me-first modality toward a humanitarian perspective.
Copyright 1990 Reed Business Information, Inc.

Review
Lucidly and beautifully written, Peace Is Every Step contains commentaries and meditations, personal anecdotes and stories from Buddhist Nhat Hanh's experiences as a peace activist, teacher, and community leader. It begins where the reader already is (kitchen, office, driving a car, walking in a park) and shows how deep meditative presence is available now. Nhat Hanh provides exercises to increase our awareness of our own body and mind through conscious breathing, which can bring immediate joy and peace. Nhat Hanh also shows how to be aware of relationships with others and of the world around us, its beauty and also its pollution and injustices. Through deceptively simple practices, Peace Is Every Step encourages the reader to work for peace in the world as he or she continues to work on sustaining inner peace by turning the "mindless" into the mindful. Peace Is Every Step is a useful, and necessary, addition to any Buddhist studies or self-help reference shelf. -- Midwest Book Review

Customer Reviews

Wonderful
I read this book twice once ten years ago and once recently. The last reading was the most powerful possibly because I had read both Converstaions with God and An Encounter With A Prophet. It was much easier for me to attain great peace after I had changed my concepts of God from reading these two books. try it you will like it

A Gem: Small And Precious
Peace is not external, so we do not need to chase it. Peace is already present but we have to get in touch with it. This is attained through mindfulness: living in the present moment, in the here and now. Thich Nhat Hanh, Zen master and spiritual leader teaches mindfulness through conscious breathing and smiling. Connecting the body and mind, to find peace and happiness even in the most unlikely situations. Breathing and smiling! Is that it? You may be as skeptical as I was before practicing this exercise: breathe in, while reciting " breathing in I calm my body" then breathe out while smiling and reciting "breathing out I smile" do this three times! This is a very easy yet very effective exercise, do this often enough, in any position at any time (sitting, lying, driving, walking, before you eat, before you wash the dishes, when you hear the phone ring....) and enjoy being calm, relaxed and peaceful.
The author teaches us to be mindful of the people in our life, of the food we eat and of the environment around us.... Turn off the TV and instead walk in the park, visit a good friend, sit down for a meal with family or friends or even by yourself but before you dig in, breath smile, appreciate the food on the table, then eat mindfully, be aware of the taste, the smell, the texture, even if its only a bowl of rice, be happy, be thankful. He also teaches how to transform unpleasant feelings like anger for example into something more wholesome like understanding, using a 5-step method. By practicing understanding and loving speech instead of blaming and arguing we can help each other be happy. By knowing the true nature, the essence of the people around us we can enjoy each other. Mindfulness should lead to proactivity. We must be aware of the real problems of the world and of the suffering around us, and then with mindfulness we will know what to do to be of help.
This book is written clearly and beautifully. Full of inspiring stories and parables, meditations and practices, reflecting the author's wisdom and experience. Terrific and extremely effective, will make you calm and happy just reading it, then breathe, smile and be peaceful!

Peace Now is NOT Merely a Slogan
Hanh's book is a wonderful exhortation for all of us to find deep sprirituality in the midst of what we are NOW, what we do NOW, and simply the moment we call NOW. I greatly admire this Buddhist author's humility. He does not say "follow in my footsteps," but rather invites us to walk alongside him, and discover our own paths to "mindfulness." This is a very welcome change of pace from all the "spiritual" books that attempt to sell the author's own beliefs about God, or worse yet, attempt to promote the financial well-being of the author. Hanh has the resume to prove his sincerity -- having taken great risks to urge reconciliation at a time when the U.S. and Vietnam were torn by violent conflict. He adheres to the Zen tradition of making no demands on what people choose to believe, or what religion they should practice. "Peace Is Every Step" is a well expressed invitation to join him in this sincere spiritual quest.

A word of caution though -- you are not likely to benefit from the book unless you actually *practice* the techniques Hanh so eloquently describes. However, if you do, you will find peace, because it is already there inside of you. (And his other books are very much worth reading too!)