WIDE AWAKE, a Buddhist Guide for Teens; by Diana Winston; A Perigree Book; 282 pages. $13.95, in paperback.
The Buddha was not interested in teaching a lot of theory. He said, "I teach one thing and one thing only, suffering and the end of suffering." He was not interested in speculations such as where the universe comes from and why we were born. He cared about human suffering and how suffering would come to an end. He did not say that God would liberate us or intervene to help us. In fact, there is no deity in Buddhism. Instead, he talked about the power of human ability, human skill and human perseverance. Each of us could find our own freedom from suffering in this life if we made the effort. — From "Wide Awake"
Diana Winston is an American Buddhist. She spent a year in a Burmese monastery, learning and meditating and keeping silent for weeks at a time. For the past decade, Winston has taught meditation in the United States and in India. But what makes her uniquely qualified to write a book explaining Buddhism to teenagers is that she was once an American teen.
When Winston was young, she did a little shoplifting, did some drinking and drugs — maybe more than a little. She was rudderless. Now she is on a moral path. But she doesn't explain Buddhism in a way that sounds at all preachy.
Winston explains, quite clearly, the four noble truths and the five precepts for living. She devotes several chapters to meditation (and you will find yourself getting calm even as you read these chapters). She explains karma quite succinctly. (On whether there is proof of reincarnation, she quotes the Dalai Lama: Act kindly and well in this life. If you are reborn, you will have a good life and if you are not reborn it certainly didn't hurt to be kind.)
Quotes from teens are interspersed throughout the text. For instance, in the section on equanimity, a young Buddhist talks about how she felt after breaking up with her boyfriend. "I can't explain, but somehow, inside me, I knew that things don't last forever. I was incredibly sad, but I didn't feel like things shouldn't be this way."
In the section on intoxicants and non-drug intoxicants, a young man named Karim says, "When I was younger I loved horror movies. I craved that terror and the adrenaline feeling in my body. I even liked the gore. Years later, in meditation, the movie murders I had witnessed replayed in my head for hours and I was sick to my stomach. When I asked myself, do I want this in my head? the answer was unquestionably no. So I stopped watching these movies."
Winston gears her book to teens. But adults who want to know more about Buddhism also will find this an easy place to start.
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