{"id":303,"date":"2011-10-25T05:18:58","date_gmt":"2011-10-25T05:18:58","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blog.beliefnet.com\/aliteraryspirit\/?p=303"},"modified":"2011-10-16T02:49:07","modified_gmt":"2011-10-16T02:49:07","slug":"classic-book-review-cultivating-the-mind-of-love","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/aliteraryspirit\/2011\/10\/classic-book-review-cultivating-the-mind-of-love.html","title":{"rendered":"[Classic Book Review] Cultivating the Mind of Love"},"content":{"rendered":"\n\n\n\n
\"\"<\/a>\"\"<\/a>Purchase Cultivating the Mind of Love<\/a> from the Beliefnet Shopping Mall<\/a>.<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Cultivating the Mind of Love
\n<\/big>Review<\/strong>:Thich Nhat Hanh is clearly a beautiful soul.\u00a0 He is a peace activist, a Buddhist teacher, ordained monk and a gifted poet and writer.\u00a0 And while he seems as though he might be removed from the challenges of post-modern life in the west, his books have demonstrated to me that he is incredibly well attuned to contemporary life.I also find his books to be very mind-bending\u2014they force me to turn my ideas about self, existence and spirit upside down.\u00a0 I might wake up feeling like a separate person but after reading one of his books, I feel deeply interconnected with all other life forms and my sense of self begins to melt and dissolve.But the real reason why I keep coming back to Thich Nhat Hanh\u2019s books is his heart-centered approach\u2014he encourages readers to love and to open our hearts to each other.<\/p>\n

It is for this reason that Cultivating the Mind of Love is my favorite Thich Nhat Hanh book.\u00a0 It tells the story of how he fell in love with a Buddhist nun in his twenties.\u00a0 He was relatively newly ordained at the time.\u00a0 He was not expecting to fall in love.\u00a0 And yet he did.\u00a0 And when it happened he was instantly swept away by the force of his love.<\/p>\n

The story of how he handled this unusual situation inspired my deep respect for Thich Nhat Hanh.\u00a0 So few spiritual leaders are willing to talk openly about the real challenges of the human heart.\u00a0 What are possible spiritual responses to these very real, and very poignant, human experiences?\u00a0 What should we do when we crave the touch or affection of another human being?<\/p>\n

Thich Nhat Hanh and his beloved had both chosen a spiritual life in which they eschewed sex and matrimony.\u00a0 But their love was strong enough to force them to reconsider their vows. Eventually, both monk and nun separated and returned to their respective spiritual communities.\u00a0 But it was clear that Thich Nhat Hanh was changed by the experience.\u00a0 He learned that spiritual life doesn\u2019t diminish our humanity\u2014instead, it offers us new choices for dealing with our bodies, hearts and minds.<\/p>\n

I love this book.\u00a0 I recommend it to many distinct readers.\u00a0 I know that Buddhist practitioners who are seeking relationship will enjoy this book.\u00a0 Perhaps this would be a good coming-of-age read for teenagers.<\/p>\n

I also recommend it to clergy from every faith tradition (with the hope that they too will speak about their real life experiences with such openness and wisdom).<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Purchase Cultivating the Mind of Love from the Beliefnet Shopping Mall. Cultivating the Mind of Love Review:Thich Nhat Hanh is clearly a beautiful soul.\u00a0 He is a peace activist, a Buddhist teacher, ordained monk and a gifted poet and writer.\u00a0 And while he seems as though he might be removed from the challenges of post-modern…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":221,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[7,11],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-303","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-buddhist-spirituality","category-general-spirituality"],"yoast_head":"\n[Classic Book Review] Cultivating the Mind of Love - A Literary Spirit<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/aliteraryspirit\/2011\/10\/classic-book-review-cultivating-the-mind-of-love.html\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"[Classic Book Review] Cultivating the Mind of Love - A Literary Spirit\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Purchase Cultivating the Mind of Love from the Beliefnet Shopping Mall. Cultivating the Mind of Love Review:Thich Nhat Hanh is clearly a beautiful soul.\u00a0 He is a peace activist, a Buddhist teacher, ordained monk and a gifted poet and writer.\u00a0 And while he seems as though he might be removed from the challenges of post-modern…\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/aliteraryspirit\/2011\/10\/classic-book-review-cultivating-the-mind-of-love.html\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"A Literary Spirit\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2011-10-25T05:18:58+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2011-10-16T02:49:07+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"http:\/\/blog.beliefnet.com\/aliteraryspirit\/files\/2011\/10\/images-2.jpg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Taz Tagore\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"[Classic Book Review] Cultivating the Mind of Love - A Literary Spirit","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/aliteraryspirit\/2011\/10\/classic-book-review-cultivating-the-mind-of-love.html","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"[Classic Book Review] Cultivating the Mind of Love - A Literary Spirit","og_description":"Purchase Cultivating the Mind of Love from the Beliefnet Shopping Mall. 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