Making Your Way in Life as a Buddhist: A Practical Guide

Author: Ronald Hanh Niêm Hirsch

ISBN 978-0-98832-902-7 (softcover)
ISBN 978-0-98832-903-4 (eBook)

141 pages

Each day, we are faced with moments when we need to make decisions about how we lead our lives…whether they concern our work, our personal relationships, or other aspects of our lives. How do we as Buddhists make those decisions? Do we listen to our ego, our learned experience, or our true Buddha nature? Since most of us are not enlightened or have even reached a stage approaching enlightenment this presents a very real challenge. "Making Your Way in Life as a Buddhist" is a practical guide to making those decisions consistent with the Buddhist path, rather than constantly falling off it because of the pull of our ego.

We cannot escape the fact that we are part of the contemporary culture. We live in this world and it is the way it is. We are part of it…our work, our shopping, our reading, our family relationships…all of this happening within the context of and is impacted by our culture. But we need to not be captive to it.

If we are walking the Buddhist path and seek peace and contentment, we must find a way to be part of that culture and yet look at our interactions with it from a Buddhist perspective. "Making Your Way in Life" will show you the way.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Ronald Hanh Niêm Hirsch has walked the path of Buddhism for more than 15 years now. Along the way, he has had the good fortune to have had some powerful teachers who opened many gates for him. His Zen practice follows no particular lineage but reflects the teachings of his Vietnamese and Korean Zen mentors. Hirsch has had a varied career as a teacher, legal aid lawyer, survey researcher, nonprofit executive, composer, writer, and volunteer. He is the author of "We Still Hold These Truths", acclaimed by James Fallows, National Correspondent, The Atlantic, as “a systematic and serious effort to make the [presidential] debate as clear and valuable as is can be…the questions he is asking are the right ones for the public this year.” He grew up in Reading, Pennsylvania and resides in upstate New York.