Wide Awake: A Buddhist Guide for Teens

by Diana Winston

Overview

Many of today's teenagers are tired of the pressure to compete and consume-and are looking for a different way to live their lives. This book offers an alternative: the 2,500-year old practice of Buddhism.

Written in a style that will have immediate appeal to young "seekers" and those wanting to understand the ancient teachings, this book addresses such relevant topics as peer pressure, emotional difficulties, stress, fostering peace, and even protecting the environment. For everyone looking for self-help, self-esteem, and self-awareness, this book offers advice on:

• Discovering truth in a world of hype

• Finding peace amid the ups and downs of life

• Accepting ourselves

• Working with difficult emotions

• How to meditate

• Dealing with temptations and making the right decisions about sex and drugs

• Advice on volunteering, working for peace, and protecting the environment

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780399528972
Publisher:	Penguin Publishing Group
Publication date:	08/05/2003
Edition description:	1ST
Pages:	304
Sales rank:	311,226
Product dimensions:	5.19(w) x 7.91(h) x 0.82(d)
Age Range:	12 - 17 Years

About the Author

Diana Winston is the director of mindfulness education at UCLA's Mindful Awareness Research Center (MARC) where she teaches mindfulness classes, trainings, and events for the public, as well as medical and mental health professionals, youth, and educators. She is also a member of the teachers council at Spirit Rock Meditation Center in Northern California and has been teaching Buddhist retreats since 2000.  She is the founder of the Buddhist Alliance for Social Engagement (BASE) with the Buddhist Peace Fellowship and is an advocate for socially engaged Buddhism, teaching the interface of Buddhism and social change nationally and internationally. She is the author of Wide Awake, her book for teens, as well as the coauthor with Susan Smalley of Fully Present: The Science, Art, and Practice of Mindfulness. Her CD is Mindful Meditations, available on iTunes.

Table of Contents

	Acknowledgments	ix
	Foreword	xi
	Introduction: Riding the roller coaster	1
Part 1	Starting out on our journey
1	Who was the buddha?	11
2	Trust your direct experience: The kalama sutta	21
3	What is being awake?	30
4	Dropping the banana: The four noble truths	44
5	Mosquitoes, equanimity and the eight worldly conditions	57
Part 2	Learning to meditate
6	Getting down to it: Meditation instruction	71
7	The cloudy sky: Hindrances to meditation	91
8	Turnaround time: Working with strong emotions	108
Part 3	Surfacing our inner goodness
9	From self-judgment ...	123
10	... To being ourselves	136
11	Metta is lovingkindness, a natural joy	146
Part 4	How do we live our lives?
12	It must be karma	161
13	Five precepts for living	172
14	Sex	189
15	Wise speech	201
16	Protecting our bodies and minds: Working with intoxicants	215
Part 5	Out in the world
17	Walking down the path with others	229
18	What comes next? finding right livelihood	240
19	Don't just sit there, do something!: Socially engaged buddhism	253
20	Epilogue: Commitment	269
	Appendices
	Glossary	275
	Suggested readings	279
	Practice centers	281
	Index	283

Editorial Reviews

One of the recent trends in Buddhist publishing has been a subtle generation shift: we are now seeing second-generation Buddhists' memoirs as well as introductory books for teenagers and young adults. Into this latter category falls Diana Winston's Wide Awake: A Buddhist Guide for Teens, a well-written and basic primer for Gen-Ys who are asking Big Questions. Introducing concepts such as meditation, enlightenment, metta (lovingkindness), karma, the four noble truths and the eight worldly conditions, Winston writes accessibly but doesn't try overly hard to sound cool or relevant. Teens will appreciate the way she gives the dharma to them straight, while many adults will also benefit from this lucid manual. Copyright 2003 Reed Business Information.

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