Plum Village Meditations with Thich Nhat Hanh

When I first read Thich Nhat Hanh's Old Path, White Clouds, it immediately became one of my favorite spiritual books of all time: not because of the content (the life of the Buddha), but because of the mood of calm, alert mindfulness that descended on me whenever I read the simple, moving prose. That book was pivotal in my early meditating days, when I needed all the help I could get.

Almost fifteen years later, I still need all the help I can get. And that's what this CD is: help with meditation. It is not the kind of CD that you listen to in the car because you want to learn some philosophy. It is a series of guided meditations, something you put on when you sit quietly and try to calm your mind. Thich Nhat Hanh and Sister Jina van Hengel, of Hanh's Plum Village community in France, give quiet and clear instructions, punctuated by a gong. My mind focuses, then drifts off, and then they are back again, with sentences to focus on or the ringing of the gong, bringing me back into the present.

This is not a CD you listen to. It is a tool you use. For many of us, it is probably as close as we will get to sitting in Plum Village with the monks and nuns.


Plum Village Meditations Thich Nhat Hanh and Sister Jina van Hengel When I first read Thich Nhat Hanh's Old Path, White Clouds, it immediately became one of my favorite spiritual books of all time: not because of the content (the life of the Buddha), but because of the mood of calm, alert mindfulness that descended on me whenever I read the simple, moving prose. That book was pivotal in my early meditating days, when I needed all the help I could get. Almost fifteen years later, I still need all the help I can get. And that's what this CD is: help with meditation. It is not the kind of CD that you listen to in the car because you want to learn some philosophy. It is a series of guided meditations, something you put on when you sit quietly and try to calm your mind. Thich Nhat Hanh and Sister Jina van Hengel, of Hanh's Plum Village community in France, give quiet and clear instructions, punctuated by a gong. My mind focuses, then drifts off, and then they are back again, with sentences to focus on or the ringing of the gong, bringing me back into the present. This is not a CD you listen to. It is a tool you use. For many of us, it is probably as close as we will get to sitting in Plum Village with the monks and nuns.
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