50books_poc | Entries tagged with vietnamese

Believe the hype. This is the best book of poetry I have read in years, dense with precisely described emotion. It reminded me of the first time I read Plath's Ariel:

Not
a piano—but a mare
draped in a black sheet. White mouth
sticking out like a fist. I kneel
at my beast. The sheet sunken
at her ribs.

A side-note: in my Honours English class back in nineteen ninety-mumble, our great professor Bruce Gardiner wasted most of a tutorial trying to get me and the rest of my virginal cohort to understand Yeats "The Song of the Wandering Aengus" as the poet going outside at night for a wank. One of Vuong's poems here is helpfully titled "Ode to Masturbation," which should save many graduate student hours.

pauraque

I've read several of Thich Nhat Hanh's books, and I definitely think he has the right idea. I'm not a Buddhist, but I share some of the ideals of Buddhism, and I've found these books helpful in figuring out how to put the ideals into practice, particularly in managing anger and unkind impulses. I like that there are concrete suggestions for ways of dealing with specific situations.

Unfortunately, that is where this particular book fell down for me. It has a lot of good ideas about how to handle relationships with your family, spouse, friends, and "enemies", and I think they're right on. But they seem to all assume two situations: Either you're dealing with people who aren't abusing you, or the abuse happened in the past and you're trying to make peace with it.

( Read more... )

Overall this short book was a mixed bag for me. If you're interested in the author I'd start with a different book, maybe Anger.

(eta tags: a: nhat hanh thich [not sure if this is the correct order of names], vietnamese, buddhism)

b-writes.livejournal.com

Interbeing: Fourteen Guidelines for Engaged Buddhism contains the principles, with annotations, that organize Thich Nhat Hanh's Order of Interbeing, a Buddhist sect that developed in the tumult of the Vietnam war. It's more a book for those who are interested in his order than for laypeople interested in Buddhism. The first half of the book are the principles and commentary, and the second half is a detailed description of the ceremonies the Order engages in.

Of special interest to me were Nhat Hanh's explicit and repeated rejection of dogmatic thinking-- his Buddhism contains plenty of room for every precept to be questioned and evolved-- and his discussions of anger. Nhat Hanh wrote Anger: Wisdom for Cooling the Flames, so it's no surprise he pays attention to anger here. For Nhat Hanh, anger is not to be channeled or quenched, but to be transformed into positive action. I'm going to be trying to take his advice (wish me luck with that, heh).

Recommended, but only for people with a real interest in Thich Nhat Hanh's spiritual advice and/or the Order of Interbeing.

sweet-adelheid.livejournal.com

Books #16-19

16. The Trouble with Islam, by Irshad Manji
Manji is a Canadian of Indian ancestry whose early life was in Uganda before Idi Amin expelled the Asian population. The book (which I read in an original edition - it was later renamed as The Trouble with Islam Today, although I don't know if that involved any changes to the text) was first published in 2003. I liked it, and found a lot in it to make me think, and that I admired. However, I also know that this book is *not* highly thought of in many quarters. (It was, therefore, refreshing to find Randa Abdel-Fattah saying pretty much the same main argument in The Age newspaper on the weekend.) More here.

17. Stradbroke Dreamtime, by Oodgeroo Noonuccal and Bronwyn Bancroft
A beautiful book - part memoir of Oodgeroo's childhood, and part collection of stories from the Dreaming. Bronwyn Bancroft's artwork is an absolute highlight and, for me, really makes this book something special. More here.

18. Secrets of the Red Lantern: Stories and Recipes from the Heart, by Pauline Nguyen
Far more than a cookbook. A memoir of Nguyen's family, a beautifully produced book, mouthwatering food photography... I can't recommend this highly enough. More here.

19. Daisy Kutter: The Last Train, by Kazu Kibuishi
My first ever comic book/manga! Set in a world that's pretty much Firefly crossed with Star Wars, Daisy is a retired gunslinger lured out of retirement for a Train Job. There's clearly a lot of backstory, but I'm fairly sure that this is the first (currently only, unfortunately) Daisy Kutter comic. As I think both Daisy and her unfortunate sidekick Tom are fabulous characters (very white, though, for those who would find that a problem), I rather hope there are more to come. More here.

esmeraldus-neo.livejournal.com

The first of Thich Nhat Hahn's books I read was No Death, No Fear.

This is from the very beginning of the inside front flap, but so far it's one of my favorite parts.

There is a story about a Zen master whose monastery was overrun by marauding soldiers. When the Zen master did not appear frightened, the soldiers' captain said, "Don't you know who I am? I could run my sword through you and not think twice about it." The Zen master replied, "Don't you know who I am? You could run your sword through me and I wouldn't think twice about it."

When I showed the book to a friend, he said it didn't seem like the sort of thing I would buy. I felt a little put out by that, and at the time I wasn't sure exactly why, but I've worked it out now. The subtitle of the book is "Comforting Wisdom for Life," which sounds much fluffier than it is, and much like some of the self-help books I dislike. (I can't stand fluffy.)

I finished Being Peace. It's a good book. I liked No Death, No Fear a little better, but this was good.

I have just begun to seriously study Buddhism. I've believed in many of the precepts for a long time, and I find that there isn't much in the books that is new to me. It's strange to read it, and have what I've believed be affirmed. And there are parts with which I don't quite agree...a few things about sex, and food, for example.

But then, I don't want to be a monk.

I still don't think of it as a religion, not as I practice it. But if Buddhism is as these books describe it, I have been a devout practitioner for a while now. It's becoming more important to me to be able to talk about it.

I've always found that what Thich Nhat Hahn writes is true, that anger evaporates in the face of understanding. I really can't be angry when I understand that the reason someone has hurt me is beyond their control, or they had good reasons that I can understand and support.

In Peace is Every Step, he writes a lot about being present, being mindful, simply being part of your environment. It sounds fluffy, which I hate, but I'm able to deal with it because at the bottom of it, Thich Nhat Hahn's mindful meditation on the cycles of life is compatible with physics and ecology. It works for me.

I just got The Art of Power in today's mail, and I'm very excited about reading it. I'm certain it's going to be a lot different than most books with "power" in the title.

S	M	T	W	T	F	S
1	2	3	4	5	6	7
8	9	10	11	12	13	14
15	16	17	18	19	20	21
22	23	24	25	26	27	28
29	30

Writers of Color 50 Books Challenge

Entries tagged with vietnamese

Ocean Vuong, Night Sky with Exit Wounds, 2016

4. Thich Nhat Hanh, Teachings on Love

#14: Interbeing: Fourteen Guidelines for Engaged Buddhism, Thich Nhat Hanh

Manji, Noonuccal & Bancroft, Nguyen and Kibuishi

No Death, No Fear; Being Peace; & Peace is Every Step by Thich Nhat Hahn

Profile

June 2025

Syndicate

Most Popular Tags

Page Summary

Style Credit

Expand Cut Tags