Review: Wise Brain Bulletin, July 2008
Most Sunday evenings find Phillip Moffitt teaching the dharma in Corte Madera, California, in a sangha he formed ten years ago. Dharma for Moffitt is alive and practical, not theoretical or abstract, and he anchors the teachings in everyday life examples.
Dancing with Life: Buddhist Insights for Finding Meaning and Joy in the Face of Suffering is Moffitt’s gift to us, a handbook for those of us who wish to lessen our suffering. The book has grown out of Moffitt’s life experience both as a student of the dharma and teacher and is replete with concrete examples, ones the reader can relate with and apply to his or her individual situation.
Moffitt brings to his role of dharma teacher a range of life experiences which include being a longtime student of yoga and Theravadin Buddhism, author, former editor-in-chief and chief executive of Esquire magazine, and board member for the C. G. Jung Institute. His longstanding interest in Jung, Helen Luke, and T. S. Eliot enriches his teaching with psychological insight.
Dukkha, or unsatisfactoriness/suffering, is inevitable in our lives because we cannot control the arising of causes and conditions that surround us. However, we can choose how we choose to respond to dukkha, and how we respond is what Moffitt calls “dancing with life.” He reminds us that it is possible to respond to our suffering in a way whereby we are not defined by it; rather, suffering is simply part of our dance. Dancing with Life guides us in how to be a good dance partner, how to develop and hone our skills in this ongoing engagement that is life.
Moffitt does this by penetrating the Buddha’s primary teaching—the Four Noble Truths—which is the basis for the book, and his ability to deconstruct and detail each of the Four Noble Truths feeds our capacity to become more mindful in our lives. Mindfulness is key, for it is mindfulness that enables us to respond rather than react.
Dancing with Life is divided into four books—one for each of the Four Noble Truths—each containing three insights. The Venerable Ajahn Sumedho, who wrote the preface to Dancing with Life, writes that “. . . the lucid way in which Phillip has written about how to actualize the twelve insights is a real achievement.”
The reader can opt to read the book through and later return to study different sections or choose to read the sections that beckon. In either case, Moffitt would exhort you to “make it your book!” This typifies Moffitt’s approach to the dharma, which is to hold the Four Noble Truths as a practice system, not a belief system.
Moffitt quotes Ajahn Chah:
There are two kinds of suffering: the suffering that leads to more suffering and the suffering that leads to the end of suffering. If you are not willing to face the second kind of suffering, you will surely continue to experience the first.
Dancing with Life offers us a way to face “the second kind of suffering” and thus have a more meaningful relationship with our lives—for this is it! Why wouldn’t we want our participation to be as rich as possible? We may not be living the lives we wished we lived: but, nonetheless, this is the life we have. This book details the path of bringing as much mindfulness to our daily experience and enriching our lives in that manner.
Amazon: Editorial Reviews
Why do we suffer? Is there a purpose to our pain? Noting that human beings have wrestled with such questions for thousands of years, Phillip Moffitt has found answers for his own life in Buddhist philosophy and meditation. Reflecting on his own journey from Esquire magazine editor-in-chief to Buddhist meditation teacher, Moffitt provides a fresh perspective on the Buddha's ancient wisdom, showing how to move from suffering to new awareness and unanticipated joy.
In this deeply spiritual book that is sure to become a Buddhist classic, Moffitt explores the twelve insights that underlie the Buddha's core teaching--the Four Noble Truths--and uses these often neglected ideas to guide readers to a more meaningful relationship to suffering. Moffitt write: "These twelve insights teach you to dance with both the joy and pain, finding peace in a balanced mind and calm spirit. As the most specific, practical life instructions I have ever encountered, they serve as an invaluable tool for anyone who seeks a life filled with meaning and well-being." Practicing these twelve insights, as Moffitt suggests, will help readers experience life's difficulties without being filled with stress and anguish, and they will enhance their moments of happiness.
With engaging writing and a strong message of self-empowerment, Dancing with Life offers a prescriptive path for finding joy and peace that will appeal to meditation students and readers of "Dharma Wisdom," Moffitt's column in Yoga Journal, as well as anyone searching for a more authentic life.
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Endorsements
"The Four Noble Truths are at the heart of every Buddhist tradition. Phillip Moffitt's wonderful book, Dancing with Life, plumbs their timeless wisdom with a refreshing depth of insight. Phillip's pragmatic and incisive understanding transforms theory into practice and helps actualize the liberating potential of these teachings. This book is an important contribution to our journey of awakening.”
“Dancing with Life is a classic teaching that is both profound and accessible. This is a book that will be on the reading lists for sincere Buddhist students for generations ahead.”
“Phillip Moffitt has given us a clear and practical guide to dealing with the unhappiness and frustration that come our way in life. He leads us on a path of connection rather than isolation, and compassion rather than fruitless anger and self-judgment. Everyone could benefit from reading this book.”
"Phillip has written a profound book about the relationship between happiness and suffering. It is filled with wisdom about how to live a more effective and satisfying life. I recommend it for anyone who is struggling with change in their lives."
“The ancient practice of mindfulness is increasingly being shown in scientific studies to have remarkable consequences for healing and well-being across the lifespan. Dancing with Life systematically maps out a rigorous and profoundly loving choreography for cultivating mindfulness in the service of embodying our full potentiality as human beings, utilizing whatever circumstances we happen to find ourselves in. It is a practical and reassuring dharma guide for a great many people in the ongoing development of their practice and lives. It is very different from most dharma books in that it has such an elaborate and friendly structure to it, nested within and around the Four Noble Truths and Ajahn Sumedho’s lovely voicing of dharma. I love the precision of Phillip’s teaching of the embodiment of each insight, and the stories about his students and their challenges. And also, his willingness to share his own trials, travails, and openings along the path.”
“For each of the Four Noble Truths there are three aspects, which form a paradigm of reflection, investigation, and insight. Thus, there are Twelve Insights contained within the Four Noble Truths, which free one from suffering. This investigation Phillip calls ‘dancing with life.’ As he reveals, in order to dance with life, you need to give yourself completely to the dance, and the way to do this is through the development of mindfulness. I welcome Phillip’s excellent book.”