Summary Of The Accidental Buddhist

Register to read the introduction… This book moves more towards the less visible and un-promoted side of how Buddhism is starting to filter into today’s American life. For Moore this fits better than the shaved head, mantra chanting, and incense wreathed thought that most Westerners have associated with Dharma. The author looks for something or someway for him to replace what he lacked from his childhood faith. In the book, he seeks guidance towards confronting and being able to answer the big questions that leave us dissatisfied and wanting more information. My favorite parts of this book were Chapters 6 “Catholic Boy Zen” and 9 “The Plain-Spoken Theravada.” In Chapter six the author talks to Fr. Robert Jinsen Kennedy who is a Jersey Jesuit that combines Zen and Catholicism. Their intelligent conversation addressed the lack of maturity in ways that Catholicism has been presented to those who came from his generation. There were the last ones to get the pre-Vatican II version of the negative “thou shalt not” mindset which was combined with a simplified version of God …show more content…
However, after he attends a second Zen retreat gets a glimpse of more than he had in the beginning. He tries as a mediator to silence the restless “monkey man” inside, before calming down: “Maybe enlightenment is when the monkey just sees the sunset and when the sunset ends that monkey just looks at the stars.” Another thing Moore brings up is that “You can’t slow the brain down with a few brief attempts any more easily than you can stop a speeding freight train with a white picket fence.” To the authors astonishment he adapts well to being able to sit still. Even though there are no dramatic changes in his life he grows calmer, more equitable, and perhaps become a lot