Open Your Mind, Open Your Life: A Book Of Eastern Wisdom [Hardcover]

Well, okay, you don't have to be Sigmund Freud to figure that one out. I mention it here because it's vaguely relevant to one of my favorite lines from this little book. It's a Mongolian saying: "Eagles don't chase flies."

(Pause for a moment and roll that one around in your mind. "Eagles don't chase flies." Grows on you, doesn't it? Now see if you can remember how to flex those wings . . . )

This little book is full of stuff like that -- some original to Taro Gold, some collected from many centuries of (mostly) Confucian, Taoist, and Buddhist wisdom, all of it designed to give you a stimulating poke right in your atman-which-is-also-Brahman.

Some of the sayings will hook you right away. Others will look, at first reading, like outtakes from a motivational seminar. But read it twice: even the ones that didn't look so interesting on the first pass will _change_ a little the next time through. At any rate, you can skip the ones that don't grab you; there are plenty that will. (Do you like Thich Nhat Hanh? Then you'll probably like the flavor of this collection, which partakes very much of the same gentle spirit.)

It's a nice collection. And it makes a nice gift: I gave a copy each to my two daughters for Valentine's Day this year.

Taro Gold sees these quotes as "guideposts." He believes in having an open mind and in illuminating your life's path with wisdom from great thinkers.

Taro also includes:

The Buddhist concept of the Ten Worlds
Short Allegories
Short Biographical paragraphs of Historical Figures quoted in this book
Longer passages for reflection
Common Sense Quotes
Universal Truths
Eastern Wisdom

An Iris represents Faith, Hope, Wisdom and Valor. Not only is the cover beautiful and filled with this flower, the entire books is beautifully illustrated in an ornate fashion. Almost every page has a beautiful border and then the quotes are in black ink and easy to read on cream-colored paper.

I've been contemplating the reality of how we become what we think. Lately I've been watching how my own thoughts change my behavior.

Taro Gold has included a wonderful quote from Mahatma Gandhi about this:

"Keep your thoughts positive, because your thoughts become your words. Keep your words positive, because your words become your behavior. Keep your behavior positive, because your behavior becomes your habits. Keep your habits positive because your habits become your values. Keep your values positive, because your values become your destiny."

This beautiful book will have me contemplating "thoughts" for a long time! An enjoyable collection of quotes to reflect on in moments when you want to think more deeply about life and your own journey to lasting happiness.

A book you will love adding to your collection.

At the same time, I would encourage those who have participated in other religions to look into this book. It puzzles me why Catholics and Christians must keep attacking Buddhism and eastern religious. Indeed they fear even body positions not deemed "worthy of God."

In this slim volume, Taro Gold has packed full information into a window into the soul. You won't be missing anything. At the same time, I have read most of the quotes you have been listening to for many years, and find them very puzzling and bizarre. They do not seem to mimic the exact translations of Buddhist wisdom or thought, but rather the English translations of them, beautiful, yet profound.

Perhaps that's what I like about Buddhism, and eastern religion. Though some of his quotes may be misinterpreted, they are not without character, or mind. The Tao has been treated to one hell of a lot of interpretation here, totally changing the words Lao Tzu said in some cases. But otherwise, it seems to be a perfect translation of the mind of Lao Tzu, and that's good enough to keep you thinking.