Day by Day Buddhist: a diary

Every morning for about fifteen years it was my custom to write a paragraph or two to clear the cobwebs out of my head before morning meditation, or on occasion between my very early AM meditations. These impromptu thoughts reflect what has been important to me during several decades of meditation practice. Ten of those years were as a fully ordained monastic and fifteen years as a householder, and in and out of monasteries after that, studying with Buddhist Masters in Nepal and India "Thoughts" cover what I hope to be helpful advice for living a spiritual life, whether as an ordained monk or nun or householder. These "thoughts" were published daily on my website: rjosephson.com. I went through them all and did my best to eliminate repetition and thereby was able to condense the material significantly. The intention of publishing this book is the same as my website "thoughts," that is to give inspiration and guidance, briefly, and yet packed with meaning. It is meant to be read much like it was written, a short read every morning to gather an idea or two for the day. Although this is not intended as a scholarly book, it is based on authentic teachings that I have received from my teachers or read in the Buddhist canon. Therefore, it is meant to be reliable for practice, and not my "opinion" as much of "New Age" material, for example. Much of the material is aimed for an audience who has no interest in meditation and just want to disentangle themselves from stress, afflictions, anger, and so forth. One of my interests is to show how to approach life in a liberating rather than entangling way for people who just want to be happy, but do not want to formalize it with meditation, and so forth. I hope that those who read these "thoughts" find at least one that makes their life better. I happily wrote this book and wish you to happily read it and stay happy.