Stephanie KazaReseñas

Kaza's prose and sentiments will strike many as over-the-top. There were times in this book when that included me. But my growing sense of kinship with trees no doubt strikes many as also over-the-top, so I just have to acknowledge that the line's position is personal for every reader. That said, there are some wonderful sections in these meditations. It was pretty much what I wanted when I bought the book.

An essential collection of excellent essays on consumerism and consumption.

Reading this beautifully written, poetic volume is like listening in on the intimate conversations between two lovers. At first the experience is titillating but then grows tedious, like listening to a love-obsessed couple talk about nothing but themselves. But then one begins to pine for such a relationship of one’s own. As the reader continues to eavesdrop, more is revealed about the deeper and darker aspects of the relationship. Especially compelling is the chapter delving into fear. What Kaza accomplishes is to illustrate the nature of an intimate ecology. This approach to the natural world requires time, patience, and mindfulness. These are in short supply in our harried, busy society obsessed with efficiency, productivity, and practicality. Such an ecology may have been the reality for early indigenous peoples or for individuals who today are raised close to the land. Or for those, like Kaza, whose professions require a close study of the environment. Reading this book, though, may cultivate a longing within the reader for an intimacy with nature that requires satisfaction. If that is the case and enough people read this book, then perhaps there is the possibility for our species to regain our humanity and right relationship with the natural world of which we are a part.

At one time or another, most of us have experienced an all-consuming desire for a material object, a desire so strong that it seems like we couldn't possibly be happy without buying this thing. Yet, when we give in to this impulse, we often find ourselves feeling frustrated and empty. Advertisers, of course, aim to hook us in this way, and, from a global perspective, our tendency to get hooked fuels the rampant over-consumption that is having a devastating impact on the world's stability and on the environment.

According to the contributors to this unique anthology, Buddhism can shed valuable light on our compulsions to consume. Craving and attachment—how they arise and how to free ourselves of them—are central themes of Buddhist thought. The writings in this volume, most of which have never been previously published, offer fresh perspectives and much-needed correctives to our society's tendency to believe that having more will make us happier.

Hooked! includes a range of writings on how to apply Buddhist thought and ethics to understand and combat the problem of over-consumption as individuals and collectively. Contributors include popular Western teachers, Asian masters, scholars, and practitioners such as:

• Pema Chödrön—on what is actually happening at the moment we're "hooked," and how to get beyond that.
• Joseph Goldstein—on how mindfulness training can help us stop "wanting to want."
• Bhikshuni Thubten Chödrön—on how consumer mentality influences spiritual practice.
• Judith Simmer-Brown—on how cultivating spiritually based activism and compassionate action can help us address the negative effects of consumerism.
• Rita Gross—on how understanding moderation can curb overconsumption.
• Santikaro Bhikkhu—on practicing generosity in a consumer world.

At one time or another, most of us have experienced an all-consuming desire for a material object, a desire so strong that it seems like we couldn't possibly be happy without buying this thing. Yet, when we give in to this impulse, we often find ourselves feeling frustrated and empty. Advertisers, of course, aim to hook us in this way, and, from a global perspective, our tendency to get hooked fuels the rampant over-consumption that is having a devastating impact on the world's stability and on the environment.

According to the contributors to this unique anthology, Buddhism can shed valuable light on our compulsions to consume. Craving and attachment—how they arise and how to free ourselves of them—are central themes of Buddhist thought. The writings in this volume, most of which have never been previously published, offer fresh perspectives and much-needed correctives to our society's tendency to believe that having more will make us happier.

Hooked! includes a range of writings on how to apply Buddhist thought and ethics to understand and combat the problem of over-consumption as individuals and collectively. Contributors include popular Western teachers, Asian masters, scholars, and practitioners such as:

• Pema Chödrön—on what is actually happening at the moment we're "hooked," and how to get beyond that.
• Joseph Goldstein—on how mindfulness training can help us stop "wanting to want."
• Bhikshuni Thubten Chödrön—on how consumer mentality influences spiritual practice.
• Judith Simmer-Brown—on how cultivating spiritually based activism and compassionate action can help us address the negative effects of consumerism.
• Rita Gross—on how understanding moderation can curb overconsumption.
• Santikaro Bhikkhu—on practicing generosity in a consumer world.

One of those rare books that has profoundly altered my worldview. It made me to look hard at my own consumption and start making necessary changes. Absolutely essential reading.

This novel is a joy to read. With a focus on the inner being, the book brings the reader on a spiritual path and invites him or her to read more-but more importantly to stay on that path that connects oneself to a responsible lifestyle and a broad understanding of the earth, and the human spirit. The Buddhist inspired philosophy for taking up environmental action in pragmatic way is enticing. I have never been particularly interested in such spiritual and intangible novels, but this one rings especially true to me especially, but on a broader scale should be accesible to almost any reader. The text is not stuffy or pedantic, it is in fact the opposite of that. The text offers a path of well being for any individual to join. Kaza effectively embodies the nature of a real activist, and, most importantly uses that energy to link the spiritual world to a real practice that everyone can take partake in.

Kaza, who co-edited the environmental Buddhist collection Dharma Rain, gathers key Buddhist thinkers to reflect upon aspects of consumerism, greed and economics. Certainly, many other authors have examined consumerism from the lens of their religious traditions, but this book's Buddhist perspective is unusual, and its pairing of consumerist critiques with core Buddhist concepts is generally fruitful. Buddhism assumes, for example, that the very foundation of suffering is desire - a core teaching that has obvious applications to consumerism, whose goal is to multiply and intensify desire. Moreover, Buddhism stresses the impermanence of all things, providing a valuable perspective on the transient nature of goods. Several of the authors in this cogent anthology draw upon the metaphor of the "hungry ghost" of Buddhism to describe the ethos of consumerism: with their enormous bellies and tiny mouths, hungry ghosts are incapable of ever being satisfied. Some of the book's most helpful essays draw on Buddhism not merely to diagnose the problem, but to prescribe solutions on individual, local or global levels. Second-generation Zen American Sumi Loundon seeks the Buddha's middle way as a viable compromise between the consumer desires of her heart and the austerity of her antimaterialist childhood, while Vermont Zen Center teacher Sunyana Graef discusses taking refuge in the Three Jewels as an antidote to selfishness and excess.

- Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Kaza, a biologist and professor of Environmental Studies at University of Vermont, combines Zen Buddhist practices and teachings with her 40 years as an environmentalist for this guide to enlightened environmentalism, proposing a belief in the interdependence of people and nature as the genuine way to "go green": "When we come to see ourselves as part of the green web of life... we are naturally drawn to respond with compassion." In three parts, she guides readers through the principles of Buddhism as they apply to taking responsible action toward the earth: reducing harm, understanding suffering, seeing the big picture, letting go of desire and being in the moment. In parts two and three, she advises practical steps for joining in and taking action in everyday life and community. Kaza's measured, focused text and clear command of Buddhism and ecology should shore up convictions and commitment in the newly green, and help secular environmentalists connect with their spiritual side. - Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Not a Buddhist, but it has interesting essays. Interesting read.