Accidental Buddhist: Mindfulness, Enlightenment, and Sitting Still, American Style

Both the culturally curious and the maturing Buddhist will welcome Dinty W. Moore's "The Accidental Buddhist". Originally setting out to do some George Plimptonesque reporting -- meeting with the odd and the holy and coming back with the story of how Americans are turning to Buddhist meditation -- Moore never expected that what he found would change his life. After all, Moore prides himself on being a skeptic, "a commonsensical outsider...like the stage manager poking his head in around the set of Our Town" (San Jose Mercury News). In "The Accidental Buddhist", Moore shows us the geography of Buddhism, American style. Covering a lot of ground on his journey, he describes such events as an Indiana auditorium filled with starry-eyed Dalai Lama admirers, a Tibetan Freedom concert with the Beastie Boys, and Change Your Mind Day, a Buddhist Woodstock in Central Park.

Cutting through religious jargon and abstract concepts, Moore explains in clear terms why Buddhism is becoming part of popular culture. He has the rare ability to be at once sincere about religion and good-humored about the human condition. "The Accidental Buddhist" never takes itself too seriously -- which, as Moore discovers, Buddhists aren't supposed to do -- even when they are mindful, enlightened, and sitting perfectly still.

"(Moore's) witty and candid 'regular guy' approach to these experiences is entertaining and comforting, and his conclusions are right on target". -- Booklist