Off Season Continues

Now well into my second week of my mid-off season, I seem to be on the road to recovery with my various race-related injuries. I still am having some twinges in my leg, particularly if I have to walk more than a mile or so at a time, but it seems to be getting better.

I have been hitting the pool at the gym irregularly, and have been attempting a few walks with Kami, although have been less successful. I am just hoping at this point that my leg will have recovered sufficiently for the large group hike I am participating in at the end of this month. Still plenty of time for recovery, so I am very hopeful.

I was recently browsing at Half-Priced books while Kami was searching for more in one of her serials, and stumbled across several new Buddhist works that I hadn't seen before. Most were the usual dissemination of various Sutras or compilations of various philosophical writers, even a few Thich Nhat Hahn works that I had not run across before. However, mixed in with these various works was a small unassuming form caught my eye immediately. It was simply titled "The Teaching of Buddha". A quick glance through showed that it was only half in English, with what appeared to be Chinese for the rest of it. Normally I'm skeptical of such works, as they usually turn out to be early and rough translations of older Sutras, but after reading a few lines from the middle I knew I had something different here. Rather than risk it not being there upon my return I purchased it and brought it home.

Upon doing a little further research I discovered that it is a proselytizing work developed by the Society for the Promotion of Buddhism in Tokyo, and apparently is as readily found in hotel rooms there as copies of the Gideon bible are found here in the US. Furthermore, it turned out to be an extremely well translated compilation of selections from several dozen Buddhist works, and is quite possibly, no, make that definitively, the most comprehensive and accurate single volume on Buddhism I have yet to come across.

Furthermore, I also learned that the society will happily distribute free copies of this work to anyone that asks for them, in well over several dozen languages. I'm thinking I may take them up on this so that I can acquire a more recent copy that is solely in English. In the meantime, I have been devouring the contents of this volume almost fervently. If anyone is interested in a great primer work for all aspects of Buddhism, this is book to start with.