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odyssia's review
informative
reflective
slow-paced
3.5
This book is made for the Japanese market and a lot of the content is difficult for non-Japanese people to accept. I've seen it described as 'preachy' and there is a part that actually directly addresses the author's attitude on this:
'Unlike the law, these teachings of Buddhism are not for others to force upon you. You set your own rules, and it's up to you if you follow them...On the other hand, if you don't follow those rules, your mind will be unhappy due to the presence of more kleshas triggered by various stimuli.' (p.94)
There are also many bold statements made that could have been tested scientifically, but instead the author asserts things without evidence.
What I will take from this book: Marie Kondo-style minimalism to prevent 'noise', being happy about popularity means that you will be unhappy when you lose popularity (klesha of arrogance), maybe you need to worry less about others (if it won't help anyone).
'Unlike the law, these teachings of Buddhism are not for others to force upon you. You set your own rules, and it's up to you if you follow them...On the other hand, if you don't follow those rules, your mind will be unhappy due to the presence of more kleshas triggered by various stimuli.' (p.94)
There are also many bold statements made that could have been tested scientifically, but instead the author asserts things without evidence.
What I will take from this book: Marie Kondo-style minimalism to prevent 'noise', being happy about popularity means that you will be unhappy when you lose popularity (klesha of arrogance), maybe you need to worry less about others (if it won't help anyone).
nourighost's review
This was a particularly painful read. I was so excited to read this book. The title was especially intriguing for a person like me who's brain never pauses. But I wasn't expecting a religious and extremely preachy text, with the most basic advice I've ever heard of. Not only basic, but also full of assumptions on how everyone reacts to a given situation, and how that's wrong and should be otherwise according to Buddhism. I truly tried to finish it, but the farther I went, the more I felt I was poisoning my brain. A true disappointment given how expensive this 100 page book was.
iconvergara's review
2.0
It’s a book that preaches thinking is a disease. “All the failures that we ever experience may be attributed to excessive thinking.” Hmm maybe it’s not because we’re overly thinking but it’s because we’re thinking wrong?
The book suggests not thinking as the solution - “The only way to gain control of our thinking is to practice stopping it.” Hmmm what if thinking is not the problem and we just need to think better instead of stopping thinking? Doesn’t thinking better help prevent failures more than stopping thinking altogether?
Other things I didn’t like
• Lot of “shoulds”. “We should try to be like buddha…”., “We should be able to achieve a sense of satisfaction if we eat when we’re hungry.”, “When eating, the thing to remember is that you shouldn’t eat foods prepared in a slapdash fashion.” —- I hate these kinds of sentences where “shoulds” are overly used because it doesn’t express an insight of the truth but instead just tells me to believe and do what it tells me.
• Lots of “I think…”, “My feeling is that…”, coming from the author.
• Perpetrating anger is poison. It’s only poison when you don’t know how to deal with it. Anger is a feeling that just tells you that a boundary has been crossed or supposedly crossed. It’s useful data that tells you where you’re coming from. To state that anger is poison and that we must avoid it at all cost is gonna turn humans into literal buddha statues.
Interesting snippets
• Particularly significant for people today are things related to the internet. If you don’t often use it, switch the Wi-Fi off at the source.
• Once our breathing is comfortable and even, the negative emotions linked with strained breathing will go away.
A simple routine like this - blocking out ambient sounds by listening to music will condition your mind to always search for stimulation.
The book suggests not thinking as the solution - “The only way to gain control of our thinking is to practice stopping it.” Hmmm what if thinking is not the problem and we just need to think better instead of stopping thinking? Doesn’t thinking better help prevent failures more than stopping thinking altogether?
Other things I didn’t like
• Lot of “shoulds”. “We should try to be like buddha…”., “We should be able to achieve a sense of satisfaction if we eat when we’re hungry.”, “When eating, the thing to remember is that you shouldn’t eat foods prepared in a slapdash fashion.” —- I hate these kinds of sentences where “shoulds” are overly used because it doesn’t express an insight of the truth but instead just tells me to believe and do what it tells me.
• Lots of “I think…”, “My feeling is that…”, coming from the author.
• Perpetrating anger is poison. It’s only poison when you don’t know how to deal with it. Anger is a feeling that just tells you that a boundary has been crossed or supposedly crossed. It’s useful data that tells you where you’re coming from. To state that anger is poison and that we must avoid it at all cost is gonna turn humans into literal buddha statues.
Interesting snippets
• Particularly significant for people today are things related to the internet. If you don’t often use it, switch the Wi-Fi off at the source.
• Once our breathing is comfortable and even, the negative emotions linked with strained breathing will go away.
A simple routine like this - blocking out ambient sounds by listening to music will condition your mind to always search for stimulation.
runetari's review
3.5
I stopped reading at the end of the main section. There was a lot in this book that was interesting and many helpful points, but in the end I didn’t vibe with the overall tone and concepts. Might pick it up again at a later date to read the conversation and afterword, but probably not.