Living as a River - new book by Bodhipaksa

the proud parent -
Bodhipaksa with his new book

If you're a fan of Bodhipaksa's work on Wildmind, or of his meditation books and CDs, you'll love ‘Living as a River’, his new book on embracing change.  The blurb asks “What happens when we embrace the flow of life?”, and replies, very simply - “ We stop suffering”.

In Living as a River, Bodhipaksa conducts an investigation into the nature of self, with an eloquent blend of current science and time-honoured spiritual insights intended to free us from the fear of impermanence in a world defined by change.

Jack Kornfield  has described it as "An interesting, lively, and genuinely illuminating teaching of Dharma."

The book has its own website, livingasariver.com, where you can read excerpts from the book.  In ‘Being the river’, the chapter on the Water Element, Bodhipaksa discusses how water is the archetype of all change: all things flow, and we ourselves are not static and separate entities, but eddies in the stream of life.

FWBO Authors

You might want to read the Summer 2007 edition of Tricycle magazine which features three FWBO Authors. Bodhipaksa's exposition on the six-element practice is an "editors pick" and therefore on the website. He introduces the practice which he describes as both highly analytical, and intensely poetic. Vishvapani who is becoming a regular in Tricycle wonders whether our new Buddhists in India hold the key to ending Sri Lanka's decades-long civil war. And finally Montreal based mitra Vanessa Sasson writes about conflict and the images we have of foreigners. The articles by Vanessa and Vishvapani are only available online to subscribers.

The issue also includes an article about Michael Dillon who was possibly the first person in the UK to have gender reassignment surgey from female to male. He studied medicine and became a medical doctor. Seeking to escape the glare of publicity Michael fled to India with the intention of becoming a Buddhist Monk. He headed for a monastery in Kalimpong run by an Englishman known as Sangharakshita who gave him the Buddhist name Jivaka. Jivaka lived with Sangharakshita for a time and acted as his secretary. He actively opposed Dillon's ordination on the basis that he was born female and was therefore not eligible. Jivaka died in India in 1962.