Blog:
Ayya Khema was an impactful Buddhist nun, who established a forest monastery in Australia, a training center for Sri Lankan nuns in Colombo, and a monastery and Buddhist center in Germany. Ayya Khema’s early life, escaping Nazi Germany with her Jewish family, could easily have led to bitterness. Instead she worked out of love to help others. While she wrote many books during her lifetime, this book was put together posthumously as transcripts from some of her talks.

The first part of the book is a transcript from a talk she gave on the Buddhist 15 Wholesome Qualities. I found this section to be ideal to read right before bed. Each Wholesome Quality was like reading a short devotion, and each section gave me something to think about as I fell asleep. Here is an example of the sort of discourse found in each section, from the section on the sixth Whole Quality – Mild:

"Not looking after oneself, both mind and body is a lack of compassion, a lack of compassion for this person who is having all sorts of difficulties. and if we don’t look after ourselves, and aren’t mild towards ourselves, then it will be difficult to do this with others." (loc 324)

This section also introduced to me to a new sutta I’d not heard of before – the Maha-Mangala sutta, which Ven. Khema states is popular in Asian Buddhist communities. Something I liked about how this speech is structured is while some content is there in its fullness, others are mentioned in passing, and if you’re interested you need to go look it up for yourself and study it. These aren’t talks for beginners – for instance, dukkha is never explained (it is the Buddhist term for suffering), but they helped me dive deeper into my studies in new ways.

The visualization-based loving-kindness meditations in the second part were interesting. I have seen some visualization-based loving-kindness meditations before, but I particularly liked “The Golden Light” and “Forgiveness” versions given here. This section is useful to both new and established meditators, as visualization is one of the more engaging forms of meditation for beginners, but also the different structure can introduce some variety to established meditators.

There were a few statements Ven. Khema made that I disagreed with, but that’s to be expected from any discourse. We don’t all agree on everything, that’s why it’s discourse. Nothing she said was something I found majorly disagreeable, just minor things like why people are shy, for example.

Overall, this was an interesting book of discourses from a well-respected Buddhist nun. The first part is perfect for bedtime reading, and the second part may be used either as an introduction to loving-kindness meditation or a way to introduce some variety to an already established practice.
Source; NetGalley

Instagram:
My spider plant getting ready to bloom reminded me of one of my favorite koans this morning - “Forget the light, first give me the reaching.” This isn’t a book of koans, but is a Buddhist read. Learn about the 15 Wholesome qualities and a collection of visualization-based loving-kindness meditations lovingly transcribed from talks given by Ayya Khema.
*I received a free copy of this book via NetGalley in exchange for my honest review.*

GoodReads:
Overall, this was an interesting book of discourses from a well-respected Buddhist nun. The first part is perfect for bedtime reading, and the second part may be used either as an introduction to loving-kindness meditation or a way to introduce some variety to an already established practice.

Check out my full review.

*I received a free copy of this book via NetGalley in exchange for my honest review.*

There is plenty of wisdom to be found in Ayya Khema's Path to Peace.
One of the most intriguing and beautiful things was scrumptious of the turns of phrase and the succinct ways in which that wisdom was presented.
I would however recommend that the book not be approached as a typical book but rather as a guide book-- explored, read, and re-read.
Thank you to #NetGalley and #Shamballa Books for the ARC of Ayya Khema's #PathtoPeace.

This is series of short talks, so it is a quick read in some ways. Some of the chapters may take some contemplation and reflection. There's a lot of wisdom here, and I found the last half's focus on love to be excellent. Recommended.

Thanks very much for the free ARC for review!!

This is a book of transcribed talks and teachings given at various retreats by the late Ven. Ayya Khema. This is not an easy read. It is however an in-depth collection that looks at man kind how we as individuals fit in and how we can be better, kinder, more caring, more peaceful for ourselves and others. I didn't agree with everything said nor did I take everything said nor t I took enough from this reading that made it worthwhile.