I’d seen this book available for some time and it looked interesting.  It even sat on my Wish List for awhile.  Then it was on sale.  Okay fine. Done.  

The Art of Living:
Peace and Freedom in the Here and Now
by Thich Nhat Hahn
2017 /
Read by Gabra Zackman 5h 1m
Rating – 8.5

I’ve read a number of books specifically on meditation as well as just generally spiritual books by Buddhist authors, but this is the first by Zen master Thich Nhat Hanh of Vietnam (but was exiled in France for almost 4 decades!). He’s written well over 100 books.  Now he’s 92 years old and lives at a monastery in Vietnam.  This book is the result of his last lectures in France.

The Art of Living is about the “Engaged Buddhism,” or an activist and mindful way of living that he and his followers were working on after he left Vietnam in 1967.  It’s also about death and dying but more importantly it’s about living.

“Thich Nhat Hanh presents, for the first time, seven transformative meditations that open up new perspectives on our lives, our relationships and our interconnectedness with the world around us. Based on the last full talks before his sudden hospitalisation, and drawing on intimate examples from his own life, Thich Nhat Hanh shows us how these seven meditations can free us to live a happy, peaceful and active life, and face ageing and dying with curiosity and joy and without fear.” https://plumvillage.org/books/the-art-of-living/