A practical guide for the spiritual but not religious
In the mid-1970s, when the punk movement arrived to challenge the orthodoxies of capitalism and materialism, I remember the sense of excitement and energy that it created among teenagers and young people. Not only was it a pretty raw and gutsy reaction to the effete narcissism of glam rock, it also seemed to hint at a freedom that lay beyond the pretensions, fears and materialism of that we – with the wisdom of youth – knew as the curse of our milieu.

Social conservatives reacted with suitable outrage and defensiveness, but they needn’t have worried. Within a few years, punk’s rebellion had been commoditised, its fire and creativity absorbed and dissipated by the market, and it had been safely transformed into a mainstream fashion. In the process, a few people made a lot of money out of selling the neutered image of ersatz punk.

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By Jonathan Wood

A practical guide for the spiritual but not religious
Karma Yeshe Rabgye’s ‘Meandering Path’ does not take us to obscure mystical destinations or promise us salvation in some religious belief. Instead it leads us to accept our human condition and act more skillfully to reduce the suffering we create. What I liked about the book was that it provides practical tools for change in the form of daily reviews and contemplations that build minfulness and awareness of the thoughts and actions that we need to reform to live a more sane and peaceful life. You don’t need to be religious to benefit from this book, as the author states it’s a spiritual practice that relates to personal inner experience not to religious faith or belief. The book really is a breath of fresh air without any religious mumbo jumbo you find in many books of this genre. It is written in clear simple language with honest examples from the author’s life, highly recommended!

By Stan Boods

Buddhist Book Reviews
Those of you who have read Karma Yeshe Rabgye’s previous book, The Best Way to Catch a Snake, will know that he is a monk in the Kagyu tradition of Tibetan Buddhism who has a desire to make the Buddha’s teaching as accessible and practical as possible. To that end, the author’s latest title, Life’s Meandering Path, sets aside the superfluous bells and whistles of religious tradition and is described instead as A Secular Approach to Gautama Buddha’s Guide to Living.

Based on the thirty-eight principles of the Mangala Sutra, this book is not one that should be read straight through in the shortest time possible, but studied carefully, and the first two chapters of Life’s Meandering Path will help you to adopt the proper attitude to it.

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In the first chapter it is explained how you need to read, understand, reflect on and implement the teachings of the Mangala Sutra in order to benefit from them, and the author provides plenty of practical instruction on how to do that. Then, in the second chapter, the author explains how the teachings of Gautama Buddha have little to do with the superstitions that people commonly associate with religious tradition. Let there be no doubt, the Mangala Sutra is practical, not theoretical, and its down-to-earth principles will benefit everyone regardless of religious belief or background. As the author points out, this sutra can be followed by anyone, and you don’t even need to call yourself a Buddhist.

With that important foundation in place, we get to the meat of the book. Chapter Three presents the author’s interpretation of the Mangala Sutra. This is a short sutra, but it is extremely rich in applicable teaching, and it provides us with thirty-eight principles that we can all live by in order to find happiness and ease suffering.

The author has broadly divided the thirty-eight principles of the Mangala Sutra into five categories, and those provide the framework for the next five chapters, which discuss Foundation Principles, Supporting Principles, Social Principles, Individual Principles and Refining Principles. Each principle is discussed in turn, and is then followed by a Reflection that should be used as detailed in the first chapter.

The final chapter of this title serves to remind us that getting to the end of the book isn’t the point, and that the principles that have been studied and applied are ones that should remain with us for a lifetime. The author recommends the adoption of a short daily review habit because, as he says, ‘It is extremely important that your life becomes your practice, and your practice becomes your life.’

In our opinion, Life’s Meandering Path is best viewed as a workbook and companion that you will want to keep by your side over a period of weeks and months. Its secular approach also makes it perfectly suitable as a gift even for those who do not consider themselves to be Buddhists or religious in any way. We recommend it highly.

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