One Dharma: The Emerging Western Buddhism

Title: One Dharma: The Emerging Western Buddhism [amazon]
Author: Joseph Goldstein
Publisher: HarperSanFrancisco; Reprint edition (July 8, 2003)
Pages: 224
Book Number: 3

This was a fairly quick read which I mostly enjoyed. In it, Joseph Goldstein compares and contrasts a few of the well-known Buddhist traditions, namely the Theravada, Tibetan, and Zen traditions. Along the ride, you also get an introduction to the universal ideas behind Buddhism, including a decent guide to getting started with meditation. The author went at it at a peculiar way (to me, at least). All of the previous books on Buddhism I’ve read have had a rather clearly laid out section about the Four Noble Truths and the Eightfold Path. While the general gist of these two things were in the book, they weren’t laid out in the traditional way. It wasn’t a problem, just more of a peculiarity.

The one major problem I had with the book was the length: considering what Goldstein was trying to do, I thought the book was too short. If the book had been two or three times as long, I think he could have explored the similarities and differences between the traditions far better. As it is, just as you start to get pulled into comparing the traditions, you’re moving on to another section. One bit I did find quite interesting was the section on the various ideas on the nature of mind. On the one hand, some traditions see it as something that needs to be purified of defilements through different means, mostly meditation. On the other hand, some traditions such as Zen see the mind as innately pure and clear. It’s an interesting paradox to say the least.

I think he did fairly well in distilling the traditions of Buddhism down into an “essence” of Buddhism, but I don’t know if this woud be a good book for beginner’s to look into. I think it would be far better to explore one tradition at a time, in depth, before you read this short “glance” at three or four of them. I know from personal experience that, if you’re looking for a Tibetan perspective on things, Awakening the Buddha Within is an excellent book.

What’s this 52 Books in 52 Weeks thing about?