The Beginner's Guide to Walking the Buddha's Eightfold Path

“Writing a ‘nuts and bolts’ guide that is genuinely wise, charmingly conversational, and a pleasure to read requires a particular talent, and Jean Smith has proved once again that she has it.”—Sylvia Boorstein, author of Don’t Just Do Something, Sit There

The third of Jean Smith’s Beginner’s Guides focuses on the Buddha’s Eightfold Path—the concepts central to practicing the Buddha’s teachings in daily life. The eight steps on the path are: right understanding, thought, speech, action, livelihood, effort, mindfulness, and concentration. Smith explains exactly what the Buddha had in mind, using translations of his own words and then elucidating them for us. Throughout the book are wonderful quotes from a broad range of Buddhist teachers, giving a taste of the very best each of them has to offer. The Beginner’s Guide to Walking the Buddha’s Eightfold Path is a prescription for happiness, not just for overcoming suffering, which is how many people think of Buddhism. Here is a book for Buddhists of every tradition.

Jean Smith is the author of The Beginner’s Guide to Zen Buddhism, the coauthor of The Beginner’s Guide to Insight Meditation, and the editor of four much-admired collections of Buddhist teachings: Breath Sweeps Mind, Everyday Mind, Radiant Mind, and 365 Zen. She lives in Keene, New York, and Taos, New Mexico.