A New Way of Seeing

New Dharma book

I am happy to announce that my new book, A New Way of Seeing, will come out officially on 28th August although print copies should be available a few weeks before that.

At the same time it will be available as an ebook on Kindle, Apple books and Google Play.

For me, writing a book and bringing it into print is a bit like having a baby. The length of the pregnancy is more like that of an elephant - some 27 months! - and admittedly the printing and binding process does not cause my body excruciating pain. Nevertheless, when the book drops there is a huge sense of relief mixed in with apprehension and wonder.

In this book, I set out to share the basic principles of Buddhist thought in an accessible and, above all, relevant way. For practising Buddhists these principles will be well known because they are taught as the Four Noble Truths, but my book offers something fresh and different. It invites the reader to unpack these basic truths by seeing how they sit with the views we actually hold.

For example, the Buddha teaches that the root causes of suffering are mental afflictions and the actions motivated by such afflictions - in the jargon we call this kleshas and karma. But that is not how we have been educated to think in modern cultures, is it? We tend to externalize the causes of our suffering, and lay the responsibility for it on other people, on groups of people, on the government and so on. So what do we really think of the second Noble Truth? Do we agree? Can we accept it wholeheartedly or do we think there are exceptions to such a rule?

I believe that until we have investigated the teachings in this way our understanding of them will be conceptual only and not anchored in our experience. Even if we are followers of the Buddha we may well not be viewing our everyday life situations from a Buddhist perspective. And if that is the case - and I would say I think it is quite often the case with most of us Westerners - then we are really just going through the motions, and our minds and hearts are not fully engaged. The problem with this is simply that our Buddhist practice will not benefit us when we need it to.

I also feel very humble about telling you that Mindrolling Jetsun Khandro Rinpoche has written the Foreword to my book. I am very grateful to her for that, it feels like a vindication of all my work. She has definitely inspired the approach I have taken.

A New Way of Seeing offers guided analysis and reflection on Buddhist truths fulfilling the second of the three stages in the Buddhist learning process: hearing and reading, reflecting and meditating. In this way it aims to help modern people overcome the cultural dissonance that we experience from an encounter with an ancient Asian source of wisdom. Let’s hope many people engage with this. Learning is not passive, it is dynamic and interactive and I have tried to model this in the way the book is presented.

That is why the paperback is supplemented and complemented by a series of audio recordings with guided reflections on the topics in the book. I will post the recordings on Substack in a new section called Guided Reflections. I will read some of them and others will be read by a couple friends who have beautiful voices. So whether or not you buy the book you will have access to these reflections.

You can pre-order the paperback today by clicking on the link below. It will appear on other distribution sites like Amazon very soon.

https://troubador.co.uk/bookshop/mind-body-spirit/a-new-way-of-seeing