I was at SFO early because the airport shuttle hadn’t taken very long at such an early hour, so I had time to linger in the bookstore and I saw Timber Hawkeye’s Buddhist Boot Camp and made up my mind I would read it… I only mention this because Timber recently posted on his Facebook upon learning that the SFO bookstore carried it, when coincidentally that is exactly how I learned of it.
Being on a fitness bend right now, I am simultaneously fascinated by and fearing of “boot camp”. But would the boot camp approach work for learning about Buddhism?
Based on the cover and a bit on the author’s name, I thought Timber is ex-military with legitimate experience to bring boot camp to Buddhism but it turns out he has a work history in law, high-tech and, uhm, exotic entertainment. Is wearing the fatigues misleading?! The only personal reference to the military is that his upbringing was kind of military-strict.
Buddhist Boot Camp is only the second Buddhism book I’ve managed to finish, after Brenda Shoshanna’s changed-my-dating-life Zen Miracles: Finding Peace in an Insane World. But anything I can read on the subject is enlightening and one of these days, another lesson will stick so hard, I can’t shake it from my life.
The chapters are short (on average just two pages) and each contain a succinct point simply covers the teachings of zen Buddhism which Timber came to practice when he found the main philosophy burdened with extras. His writing style is simple and comes across sounding honest, truly desiring to help and not patronizing at all.
Since I’ve been reading a library book and know this book was independently published, for some reason I assumed there was no Kindle version. (Well, there is.) I’m going to buy the Kindle version shortly because it’s the kind of book (it’s blasphemous to compare it to the Bible…) where people can pick it up and read a chapter in its entirety, re-correct your world view and feel better about yourself and the world.
On this day..
- Five Years of Annual "French" Dinners - 2011
- Fame Mondays - 2010
- Movie picks - 2007
- "How to Get the Guy" - 2006