From Chapter 4: Gaijin Bloopers

Potential Pitfalls for the Non-native speaker of Japanese
Anyone who has learned a foreign language usually has an amusing anecdote (if not a horror story) to tell about language mistakes. In the interest of promoting Japanese...

Basic Japanese Through Comics is not intended as a textbook, but rather as an entertaining supplement to a more structured study of Japanese. The 24 "lessons" in this book are a compilation of the Basic Japanese column from Mangajin magazine; they do not build on each other,...

The two-thousand-year-old discipline of traditional Chinese medicine has much to offer Western readers who have an interest in the healing arts. The authors, both professors at Shanghai Medical University, explain the fundamental concepts of Chinese medicine, how and why it works, and its various...

The Beat movement exploded into American culture in the early 1950s with the force of prophecy. Not just another literary school, it was an artistic and social revolution. William S. Burroughs proclaimed that the Beat writers were “real architects of change. There is no...

"Life exists only at this very moment, and in this moment it is infinite and eternal. For the present moment is infinitely small; before we can measure it, it has gone, and yet it exists forever. . . . You may believe yourself out of harmony with life and its eternal Now; but you cannot be,...

The relationship between body and mind has always been a topic of speculation and spirited discussion. The authors of the pieces contained in this anthology address the problem from the unique dual perspective of being women and being students of Buddhism.

Chah offers a thorough exploration of Theravadan Buddhism in a gentle, sometimes humorous, style that makes the reader feel as though he or she is being entertained by a story. He emphasizes the path to freedom from emotional and psychological suffering and provides insight into the fact that taking...

When there's a disabled child in the family, how are normally developing siblings affected? According to Kate Strohm, a counselor and health educator, siblings of the disabled face particular emotional challenges that are often overlooked. Able siblings commonly struggle with feelings of isolation,...

Psychotherapist David Richo offers a fresh and inspiring approach to personal growth: we can use the process of writing and reading poetry to move toward greater self-understanding and emotional healing. Even if you’ve never written a poem before, you can learn to use poetry to explore your...

The Buddhist approach to death can be of great benefit to people of all backgrounds—as has been demonstrated time and again in Joan Halifax’s decades of work with the dying and their caregivers. Inspired by traditional Buddhist teachings, her work is a source of wisdom for all those...

In this long-awaited book of inspiring and practical teachings, Buddhist teacher Joan Halifax offers the fruits of her many years of work with dying people. Inspired by traditional Buddhist teachings, her work is a source of wisdom for all those who are charged with a dying person's care, who are...

We can use whatever life presents, Ezra Bayda teaches, to strengthen our spiritual practice—including the turmoil of daily life. What we need is the willingness to just be with our experiences—whether they are painful or pleasing—opening ourselves to the reality of our lives without...

Beneath a Single Moon is an extraordinary collection of the work of forty-five contemporary American poets—with over 250 poems and thirty essays on the influence of spiritual practice on the practice of poetry. Included are works by John Cage, Diane di Prima, Allen Ginsberg, Jane Hirshfield,...

Poignant, practical, and profound, The Best Buddhist Writing 2006 offers an eclectic and thought-provoking mix of Buddhist-inspired writing published during 2005. This year’s collection includes fiction, personal stories, essays on such themes as love, parenting, and social, political,...

Containing writings that are variously wise, witty, heartfelt, and profound, this is the fourth volume in an annual series that brings together the year’s most notable literature inspired by Buddhist philosophy and practice. Selected by the editors of the Shambhala Sun, North America’...