- Paperback: 160 pages
- Publisher: HarperSanFrancisco; New edition edition (17 Jun 2000)
- Language English
- ISBN-10: 0060654465
- ISBN-13: 978-0060654467
- Product Dimensions: 20.1 x 13.2 x 1.3 cm
- Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars See all reviews (2 customer reviews)
- Amazon Bestsellers Rank: 750,783 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
The Zen Path Through Depression (Plus)
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More About the Author
Product Description
Review
‘Philip Martin has written a wise, compassionate, and nurturing guide through the self-oppression of depression.’
Harold H. Bloomfield, M.D., author of How to Heal Depression and Healing Anxiety Naturally.
Product Description
A beautifully simple and practical guide to how Buddhist wisdom can help heal depression – by a counsellor who uses Zen practices and ideas to overcome his own chronic depression.
Drawing on his own struggle, Philip Martin reveals another path people can travel to get through depression – one that not only eases the pain, but mends the spirit. Extremely accessible to people with little or no Zen experience as well as to longtime students of Buddhism,The Zen Path Through Depression shows how the insights and exercises of Zen offer relief for those suffering from depression.
This groundbreaking guide shows how to cope and heal, and even how to see the experience as an opportunity for spiritual growth and learning. Leading readers step-by-step through a recovery process that uses walking meditation and other meditative ways of enhancing awareness, koans, and other Zen teachings, Martin offers true help and spiritual guidance on the path to healing and contentment.
Inside This Book
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First Sentence
The gray place that depression is can be frightening and disorienting. Read the first page
Front Cover | Copyright | Table of Contents | Excerpt | Back Cover
The gray place that depression is can be frightening and disorienting. Read the first page
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Front Cover | Copyright | Table of Contents | Excerpt | Back Cover
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Customer Reviews
Most Helpful Customer Reviews
4 of 4 people found the following review helpful
Format:Kindle Edition
As you should expect with any Buddhist approach, the book addresses itself to the problem of depression by illuminating the nature of the problem. It identifies very clearly what the problem is. The book then explains the cause of the problem and what one needs to do to alleviate it. In the case of depression, the reason why it becomes a problem is that we do not see clearly the true nature of the world and how we relate to it, we contend with adversities and do not accept our reactions to them and we seek to escape from painful events and the pain of our reactions to them instead of accepting. There is a good strand regarding Anger which is often associated with depression. It may seem incongruous at first sight to see Joy as a chapter in a book on depression, but this chapter is well judged and I was reminded of Victor Frankl's work describing how people survived the concentration camps, by seizing on any moment in which to experience something they could be joyful about. Anxiety is also identified and some methods suggested for how to cope better and overcome these burdens. The author shows the characteristic sense of fun that I have come to associate with Buddhists and gives us good cause to see that there is hope for us all. What I liked best about this book is that it shows us a number of different perspectives and approaches. It deals with depression as a multi-faceted experience, and provides the individual with the freedom to pursue methods that are best suited to individual circumstance, either alone or in a wider community. The quotations, not just from Buddhist literature, are poetic and beautiful. The book is well organised and its suggestions can be practised without having to understand or adopt Buddhism as a religion
1 of 1 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
Having practised Buddhism for over 15 years and suffered from depression for most of my adult life I read this book with anticipation. I was not disappointed - it is an extremely wise, helpful book. There are practical 'further exploration' suggestions at the end of each chapter. Probably helps if you know a little about Buddhism to begin with but may also encourage depressives to look for a spiritual explanation to their condition. Highly recommended.
Most Helpful Customer Reviews on Amazon.com (beta)
Amazon.com:
22 reviews
58 of 58 people found the following review helpful
I'm usually a tough reviewer, but this book's actually good!
16 April 1999
Format:Hardcover
Finally, something helpful for that interminable time when you're in the middle of a six-month bout of severe depression. It helped me to minimise the fear of long-lasting depression and the thoughts that maybe it will never pass. Maybe it won't (though we all know depressions usually eventually lift, but it's impossible to believe this at the time), but at least this book says: "Hey, there are some good things about being depressed." And it tells you what these are, so you can appreciate this awful state of mind for a few moments. Much easier to digest when you're depressed than those useless and offensive "Think Bright And Happy Thoughts"-style of books.
33 of 33 people found the following review helpful
Very helpful in those wakeful moments at 3am,
29 April 1999
Format:Hardcover
I have found his book very helpful to me when I am awake in the middle of the night and focused on my depression. The exercises at the end of the brief, useful chapters are a calm voice leading me back to letting me relax again. The table of contents allows me to look for the topic that strikes the most immediate note for me. I love this book and recommend it heartily, whether you take medication for depression or not.
32 of 32 people found the following review helpful
Cross out the word "depression;" change it to "life!"
12 Jan 2000
Format:Hardcover
This book came to my attention just when I really needed it.
Don't confuse this volume with the fuzzy-minded dreck filling the shelves of your local New Age bookstore. Martin's writing is simple and lucid, tempered by years of zazen under the guidance of an authentic master of the Soto school. He invites you to recognize your depression as an opportunity to grow, and as a teacher. The modest exercises offered at the end of most chapters cannot fail to help a sincere student.
Non-Buddhists will discover much of value here, but Zen students will find it especially rewarding. Many passages earned the approval of my day-glo hilighter. I will return to this little book of wisdom again and again.
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