Wake Up to Your Life: Discovering the Buddhist Path of Attention, (Paperback)

Publishers Weekly,This book's promotional material asserts that author McLeod "is no guru and has no meditation center; rather, he is a life trainer." Perhaps only in contemporary America can this be touted as an advantage for a Buddhist teacher. McLeod, no doubt, is not the least bit bothered by the implications, as he is writing expressly for "Americans in a thoroughly American way." Still, potential readers should not fear that McLeod has shortchanged them on the details of the Buddhist path. He offers very charming stories, unclouded prose, step-by-step meditations, charts and quotes from such varied sources as Bob Dylan, Milarepa, Rumi, Yogi Berra and anonymous Buddhist sayings ("Think of all sentient beings as Buddha, but keep your hand on your wallet"). McLeod delivers a hefty how-to manual that could prove useful to a single soul in the hinterlands or a sophisticated searcher in Los Angeles, where McLeod directs Unfettered Mind, a Buddhist teaching and counseling service. This text's apparent self-help style is somewhat ironic, since McLeod pointedly asks, "Can you do this work on your own?" and immediately responds, "Basically, the answer is no.... We need a teacher," going against the American apotheosis of the individual. Whether he cops to it or not, McLeod has illuminated the path for solitary individuals who want a long-lasting handbook to begin the journey toward wakefulness. (Apr.) Forecast: A five-city West Coast author tour and a February 15 excerpt in Tricycle: The Buddhist Review should boost sales of this book, which will have a 25,000-copy print run. Advertising is planned in PW and in Tricycle. (c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved