THE ART OF HAPPINESS - HHDL & H. C. CUTLER

RATING: B+ 

This is not the first time that I have read this particular book; in fact, it is my third or fourth read through. The first time I ever heard of it was wayyyyyy back in the mid 00's before I had read anything Buddhist-related at all. A friend of mine mentioned the book in a blog or email - or somewhere - and it stirred up my curiosity. I could not locate the book at the local library, but picked up another 'art of' book from HHDL. This actual book was within the first 10 Buddhist-related books that I ever read, however.

Much more recently, I moved overseas from my previous well-stocked library to a village without any Buddhist literature at all. I began to buy in a few books. This book was one of these, as I knew it was worth a re-read several times.

One thing that stood out in my current read-thru was the question of 'what is the purpose of life' being twisted into the question 'what makes life meaningful'. I have never ever asked the first, but have asked the second on multiple times over the past 44-5 years. It has only been over the past 2-3 years that I have actually found the answer from personal experience.

Another outstanding point is the final meditation - starting on page 262 - this meditation is something that came too easy to bother with previously - but, due to a change of lifestyle, continent, family situation, etc, I have lost touch with the ability to just live that way all the time - so this meditation reminds me to take at least some time out of the day to try to shut the c-word up in that head of mine.