Wisdom Roads

Muller, a writer and journalist who is an oblate (a layperson who observes monastic tradition while maintaining a secular life) of the Benedictine New Camaldoli Hermitage in California, here records his interviews with eight great teachers of various meditation traditions. They include: from Christianity, Benedictine monk Laurence Freeman, Cistercian monk Edward McCorkell and Wayne Teasdale, a practitioner of Christian sannyasi; from Yoga, Swami Satchidananda and Swami Shankarananda; from Buddhism, Tenzin Wangyal Rinpoche and Bhante Henepola Gunaratana; and, from Jainism, Shree Chitrabhanu. In each case, Muller starts with the basics--""What is Christian meditation?"" ""What are the key teachings of Yoga meditation?"" ""What is the centering prayer?""--and then delves into specifics about practices, techniques and beliefs. He investigates what all meditation traditions have in common and what unique characteristic each tradition possesses. Muller intends his interviews to be helpful either to people of faith who want to increase their understanding of meditation to apply it to their own religious practice, or to those who do not believe in one particular tradition but have an interest in the topic of meditation. The interview format limits how thoroughly and systematically the chapters can impart information, but it does allow a sense of the teachers' diverse personalities. The book makes for a satisfactory, if basic, introduction to these meditation traditions. (Apr.)