This is the third volume in a series, following Everyday Mind and Breath Sweeps the Mind, written with the novice Buddhist practitioner in mind. Containing excerpts from ancient texts as well as contemporary teachings, it presents a basic yet thorough introduction to Buddhism. The teachings, which can be seen as a collection of starting points, include topics such as the Four Noble Truths and the Eightfold Path. The reader is also introduced to some of the different schools of Buddhism and, through their writings, to many of the important teachers, contemporary and historical, within these traditions. Increasingly we understand that healing is a spiritual journey as well as an exercise in medical science.
Illness is a journey of self-discovery taken by the health care provider as well as the patient.
Lessons on Mindfulness in Medicine is one of several recent books that apply Buddhist meditation techniques to working with illness. The author, Saki Santorelli, is director of the Stress Reduction Clinic at the University of Massachusetts Medical Center, and his book draws on the techniques developed there by Jon Kabat-Zinn, who wrote the foreward. The book offers practical methods that both the patient and health care provider can use to bring mindfulness and awareness into the healing relationship.