Product Description

Wisdom to Create a Life of Passion, Purpose, and Peace

This inspiring tale provides a step-by-step approach to living with greater courage, balance, abundance, and joy. A wonderfully crafted fable, The Monk Who Sold His Ferrari tells the extraordinary story of Julian Mantle, a lawyer forced to confront the spiritual crisis of his out-of-balance life. On a life-changing odyssey to an ancient culture, he discovers powerful, wise, and practical lessons that teach us to:

• Develop Joyful Thoughts,

• Follow Our Life's Mission and Calling,

• Cultivate Self-Discipline and Act Courageously,

• Value Time as Our Most Important Commodity,

• Nourish Our Relationships, and

• Live Fully, One Day at a Time.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #6383 in Books
• Published on: 1999-04-02
• Released on: 1999-04-21
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Paperback
• 224 pages

Features

• ISBN13: 9780062515674
• Condition: NEW
• Notes: Brand New from Publisher. No Remainder Mark.
• Click here to view our Condition Guide and Shipping Prices

Amazon.com Review
Everyone loves a good fable, and this is certainly one. The protagonist is Julian Mantle, a high-profile attorney with a whacked-out schedule and a shameful set of spiritual priorities. Of course it takes a crisis (heart attack) to give Mantle pause. And pause he does--suddenly selling all his beloved possessions to trek India in pursuit of a meaningful existence. The Himalayan gurus along the way give simple advice, such as, "What lies behind you and what lies before you is nothing compared to what lies within you." Yet it is easy to forgive the story's simplicity because each kernel of wisdom is framed to address the persistent angst of Western white-collar professionals. --Gail Hudson

Review
"A captivating story that teaches as it delights." -- --Paulo Coelho, author of The Alchemist

From the Back Cover
Here is the story of Julian Mantle, a superstar lawyer whose out-of-balance lifestyle leads him to a near-fatal heart attack in a packed courtroom. His physical collapse brings him into a spiritual crisis that forces him to confront the condition of his life. Hoping to find happiness and fulfillment, he embarks upon an extraordinary odyssey to an ancient culture, where he discovers a powerful system to release the potential of his mind, body, and soul and learns to live with passion, purpose, and peace. Brilliantly blending ancient spiritual wisdom of the east with contemporary success principles of the West, this inspiring tale provides a step-by-step approach to living with greater courage, balance, abundance and joy.

Customer Reviews

Amazing Book
This is an interesting story. It is a story of a lawyer who appears to have it all - the corner office, the life style, the cars, women, ... Then he gives it all up and tours the East. While there he comes across this strange monk and monastery. He comes to live life in a much different way. Yet he is challenged by the monk who has trained him to go back home and share the message he has learnt, with the West. Julian, our main character, returns to his old law firm and to his prot?g? John. He tells him a parable; then the rest of the book explains the parable and how it relates to different aspects of our lives. The parable is rather simple and a little strange but as it is explained you will never forget it. Read it to find out how a garden, lighthouse, sumo wrestler, pink wire cable, stopwatch, roses and a winding path of diamonds are symbols of timeless principles and virtues by which to live your life. This book could help raise the quality of your life to a new level.

Useful primer on growing into yourself
I found the book to be a useful step-by-step guide to personal growth. The fable format helps to add interest to what could otherwise become a tiresome listing of all the good things we should be doing for ourselves but aren't. Although most of the principles dealt with can be found in countless other volumes on self-help, personal growth and spirituality, Sharma's way of putting it all together helps to keep one on track. And sticking to the straight and narrow is for me the most difficult aspect of becoming the person I want to be. I have a minor quibble with Sharma's treatment of fear. He ignores the fact that fear breaks down into two main types. The first is the healthy kind that keeps us out of the path of speeding trucks and the other is the kind of fear that, due to abuse or difficult upbringings or whatever, exists in our psyche as a chronic undertone of tension and anxiety that undermines our self-image and our relationships. Minor complaints aside, I feel that a careful reading of the book and an equally judicious application of it's principles will help anyone to find greater joy and freedom in their lives.

I was very disappointed.
Unique, yes. But rhetorical and cliche, too. Example: What do you want more than anything in life? When you know the answer, focus your mind on getting there. Sure, that's easy for a monk to say. What else is he going to do in the Himalayan Mountains?