Zen and the Art of Happiness

Hats off to the author! It's so wonderful to discover that there are still people in the world who have a positive outlook on life and a friendly heart towards others. Where can you start with this book? For such a small volume, there are so many valuable lessons entailed. NOTE: Many of the principles listed here are common sense; however we as human beings choose not to listen. What a refreshing take on life itself and how we are supposed to behave. This is a precious read, and it has stimulated me to look for more books in this specific genre I like to define as: a short read, very valuable lessons, and most importantly, awe inspiring to live a better life by not only helping ourselves, but to be compassionate and thoughtful to others as well. Bravo... As I normally do, I will list a few highlights: Everything that happens to you is the best thing that can occur. Sometimes a bad event can turn out to be the best thing that ever happened. Furthermore, there is no use lamenting over anything. If all things that transpire are good in some way, then simply allow the good to flow from these particular events. If you change your thoughts, you can ultimately alter your outcome, because your attitude is of the utmost importance. Be sure not to surround yourself with people who can & will poison your mind. Everything comes at the appointed time. Events are simply events, nothing more. However your response to the situation will determine whether you will be happy or unhappy. In the end, we make the decision of how we will react to an individual event. This is what shapes our life... The Universe doesn't make mistakes, so appreciate all things. Your worst enemy cannot harm you as much as your own thoughts, unguarded. But once mastered, none can help you as much. What you think, and how you feel will directly affect your body in some way, whether positive or negative. How you think and what you say to yourself and others are extremely vital, for this triggers your entire being to respond in that fashion. Be very careful... Unhappiness can become a habit as it does with most people whether they know it or not. Each incident in life offers only 2 choices: you can curse it, OR call it good fortune. Of those 2, only 1 will bring happiness. Easy enough?

This book is a great example of good things coming in small packages. At only 142 pages, it can easily be read over a long weekend and the only reason you'll stop reading is when you stop and reflect on what's inside. Prentiss presents some great elemental concepts of thinking and perspective in a clear, easy to read manner. I will admit some of the descriptions and anecdotes were a bit tough to grasp at first, but when Prentiss tells the story of his reaction when his new car got scratched everything in the book seemed to fall into place for me. When that happened, I actually went back to page one and it was as if I was seeing through some kind of fog for the first time. For me, this book is a great first step - I've since picked up several other books on Zen thought and Buddhism and I hope I'm as happy with learning from them as I am with this great little book. Prentiss' book has also inspired me to act on a daily basis - to create good habits and to stop playing the victim card so often. This book will stay in my permanent collection and I will be purchasing copies for my friends and family soon.

I picked up this book 2 years ago (the words written within have amazing power if applied correctly). I would like to lay the foundation for how this book came into my possession. I bought this book two years ago while I was studying Buddhism. I was (and still am) intrigued by this way of thinking. Much of what I have accomplished in my life up until this point can be owed to the Buddhism mentality. I know that I am speaking very generally but it was in this general way that I became exposed and ultimately became able to understand Buddhism. 2 years ago, I began reading the first chapter, and, because of the claim, I started dismissing it. How in the world is every single event that happens to me going to be the best possible outcome? It was because of this claim that I could not continue reading. I picked up the book again 2 years later and kept reading. It is one of the best decisions I have ever made. Why did I keep reading? I cannot really answer it but I made a subconscious decision to take the author seriously. It was the one of the best decisions I have ever made. Please give this book and way of thinking a true try and you will slowly and surely start to begin the process of enlightenment and true happiness. Wade

I enjoyed this book and the perspective it gave. I have loaned my copy to someone in need and I have been persistent telling others to read the book. If you have a habit of worrying about others and hard time focusing on yourself, this book will put a spin on your thought process. The writer is an addiction counselor, he has helped many to move on through hardships. This is for those who have issues that are not known and don't need high levels of coaching. This is for the person who has a hard time getting over relationships, work issues, most interactions that involve other humans. I didn't realize my happiness was in jeopardy because of me. I am much more at ease and happy after finishing this book. Come to think of it I would like to read it again. I sure hope it returns...

Upon the appearance of this book in my mailbox and my opening the package, I almost regretted purchasing it: the book was very small, the font was large and "non serious book"-like, and generally it looked like one of those cheap newsstand reads. However, the book proved to be well written and valuable. It is saturated with great ideas on how to handle one's life, and, most importantly, how to approach the challenges and all the misfortunes of various degrees of importance that inevitably pepper the life of every person. The main idea of the book, derived by the author from various sources of Chinese and Buddhist philosophy and his own life experience, is that there is no such thing as misfortune, that everything that happens to us actually happens to our outmost benefit, even if we don't see how that could be possible when we find ourselves in pain - whether it's moral/emotional or physical, or both. It sounds clichéd, but the way the author presents the idea and the contexts he employs to buttress it, it actually makes a lot of sense. Generally I felt that the author found a nice balance of keeping the commercial, sales-generating nature of the book, on one hand, and enduing it with some practically and philosophically valuable content, on the other. Another great aspect of the book is that the author references numerous ancient and contemporary thinkers and scientists and their works - from Dogen to a fascinating research of a 20th century scientist titled the Molecules of Emotion - something that can prove useful if a reader becomes interested in going further in the pursuit of the ideas presented or outlined by the author. I personally am not convinced that everything happens for the better as there are simply too many horrible things that happen in the world at any second. While giving several examples of how the most "seemingly" utterly unfortunate occurrences actually benefited those who had suffered them (such as the author's head injury, which resulted in subsequent revelation-like understanding of the secrets of I Ching). The author, however, blissfully chooses to ignore such occurrences as natural disasters, wars, diseases, murders, etc.; he completely forsakes making an attempt to explain how any of them could be beneficial. He only "gets to them" toward the very end of the book, brushing upon them extremely briefly, more out of the sense of obligation and not wanting to be accused of selective approach to choosing his examples. I feel that there are way too many things that are simply too disturbing and unjust for us to even get the nerve to label them as "beneficial". If only in a cosmic scheme of things, but one would have to be really detached and "philosophical" about everything in this life to consider that scheme when observing an instance of an extreme human or natural injustice. Of course, the is an eternal question of if there is even such a thing as good or bad, and many philosophical schools refuse to label an event as good or bad outside of our perception of it, no matter how disturbing and unjust the event might be, maintaining the "cognitive" approach whose essense is that initially any event lacks any kind of connotation and characteristic (as good or bad), and that it's our perception that makes it such. If you think about this approach objectively and "philosophically", it makes perfect sense. To illustrate the idea, the author of the book being reviewed gives an example of a sports event: whichever team wins/loses makes their fans/"haters" very happy/very sad respectively, so it's not the event itself that is "happy" or "unhappy" in itself, but how a human mind perceives it. But really, how do you go about wars and diseases? It's probably comprehendible that even those events are neither good nor bad as they are, but who on earth would want to interpret them as lacking any type of characteristic if in our emotional/spiritual and physical perception they are pure evil and tragedy? However, it is a very good point that to a great extent, happiness, just like beauty, is "in the eye and the hands of the beholder" and it comes from within. This definition of happiness is the pillar around which many philosophical schools are built. Again and again I find this to be true. One can't depend his happiness largely upon the external, simply because most things external (wealth, fame, passions, etc.) are fickle in nature and are "subject to change" (often "without notice"); thus, if one has entrusted the external with their emotional consortium, he automatically becomes its dependant and subscribes to risking his happiness when the external changes. I do believe, however, that there is a great extent to which the external influences our happiness, and stating otherwise would border on demagoguery, devoid of any empirical and emotional content, and a lot of things (the well-being of those we love, for one) naturally are a part of our happiness; but the idea that we should have a good grip on our emotions and thoughts is invaluable. Our thoughts and emotions - our inner life - is the smallest kingdom, if set against the backdrop of the government, social groups, or any other molecule that involves the participation of the human element; yet nothing can empower a person as much and give a person as much freedom and balance as obtaining the dominion over this seemingly smallest of kingdoms. To a great extent, this is the summum bonum of human existence. Another fascinating thing about this book as well as other books on philosophy (such as the ones that deal with Stoic philosophy, for instance) is how the connection between philosophy and psychology becomes apparent. The author of the book, Chris Prentiss, sites the passage from The Dhammapada in the beginning of one of the chapters of the book, which (from what limited knowledge of the subject I possess) presents the essence of the commonly used in the field of psychology Cognitive Behavioral Therapy: Your worst enemy cannot harm you As much as your own thoughts, unguarded, But once mastered, No one can help you as much. This book is a great read. A lot of the ideas laid out in it make perfect sense. However, as the author points out, it's not enough to just read this book to actually benefit from it: one should make a conscious effort to actually employ the ideas in his life to see the benefits.

I've studied countless Zen and Tao and Buddhism books, and while this one doesn't offer any earth shakingly new info, it's extremely well thought-out, unfolds the supporting chapters gently, and touched the core of me. It's not perfect. He needed a better proofreader (old English teacher habits die hard), and he spent too much time (to my way of thinking) in touting his addictions clinic. A mention in the bibliography would have been sufficient. Someone in my family has been in and out of rehabs, and those always catch my interest, but this book didn't present itself as being about rehabilitation. But I forgave him after he got back to the topic of creating happiness in our lives. I've always known that thoughts become things, but the concept of living day-to-day enveloped in an aura of happiness of my own making hadn't occurred to me, not really. So, I'm giving the book 5 stars. Any book that presents me with new challenges is a keeper.

Despite some of the negative reviews I still ordered this book and gave it a shot. I truly feel like this booked helped me stay calm and focus on patience and being content. Some of the reviews stated there were parts where he spoke about his business in HELPING people but I didn’t feel like anything was wrong with that. To me, If your heart is right and you truly want to help others, there’s nothing wrong with mentioning to help people in numerous ways by going to a healing program. What’s wrong with that? And other books he referred to I am sure I will enjoy reading like I did this one. Everyone is entitled to their own opinion but respectfully I am going to disagree with some of the negative reviews below. This book had some great stories and references that have changed me since reading. I definitely recommend checking this book out if you are searching for some inner peace and change :)

This book had a huge impact on me. Sometimes it comes across as slightly advertising Chris's rehabilitation clinic, but if you ignore that and into his real messages, it is very meaningful. I have since read another book on Happiness that I absolutely love (author is Matthieu Ricard), and I noticed that many points were equivalent between the two books. I find that you have to go into reading this type of book with the understanding that you may not understand how the ways of thinking that are presented can be done in reality, but you have to try and continue to push to change how your mind processes the events and situations in daily life. The top take-away for me from the book was that no particular situation or occurrence is good or bad; it depends on how you interpret and respond to it.

I loved every chapter. Perfect read for anyone who has been through hard times and is on a new journey in life. Enlightenment and positive thinking have helped me so much and I am now a really happy person. Regret nothing that happens to you, it builds character and makes you stronger. It may seem like all is lost at the time but what happens to us in life is meant to happen. I went through a tough time 2 years ago, I don't get upset about it at all, I see now it was meant to happen and I saw those that hurt me for who they were. It led to me being the happy person I am today. It opened my eyes to the life I was living, and it was no good for me. This book talks about all of these things and it was a huge comfort to me.

quick read and full of great info

Always searching for a true and simple explanation. This book has it. I would like to give everyone in my life this amazing book to read. You cannot go wrong with this one.

It's an excellent book for your mind and heart .Just believe in the words and follow .full hearted applications can make a world of good .if you have a dent in your past this book can set you free

幸せとは何か、幸せになる方法というよりは今ある幸せに気づく方法と言うべきか。必ずしも100%は同意できませんが、含蓄ある書です。