This book contains two stories: A Monks Affairs and Two Predestined Flesh Relationships. A Monk's Affairs tells a story that happened in the Yuan Dynasty in China, which was nearly seven hundred years ago. A Taoist witch gave a retired officials wife a monk made from wick, who could be as small as ten centimeters and as big as or taller than two meters. He seduced the wife and had sex with her a lot. He also seduced the wifes slave girl, Nuan Yu, and had sex with her a lot. And he seduced the retired officials daughter, Chang Gu, and had sex with her a lot as well, who was his wife by the first marriage five hundred years ago. He declared that he would take Chang Gu away with him two years later. Nuan Yu had sex with Chang Gus husband in Chang Gus current life and gave birth to a son. Chang Gu was caught by her husband when she was having sex with the monk. Her husband became angry and divorced her. Finally Chang Gu died from too much sex with the monk. The monk took Chang Gus spirit away with him after she died, which happened just two years after his declaration. The witchs daughter came to seduce the retired official and Chang Gus husband as well. They had a lot of sex together. Finally the retired official was shocked to death by the monk. Nuan Yu stole a lot of money and ran away with a slave boy, her son, abandoned. The widow began to have sex with a young Taoist priest and finally married him. The story has a lot of detailed descriptions of sex and propagates the idea of karma as well. Two Predestined Flesh Relationships tells a story that happened in a dynasty that was later than the Yuan Dynasty in China. A rich man, Fengs wife, Liu, was grabbed away from his home by a richer man, Bian. Liu didn't commit suicide because she was pregnant with Fengs child. Later, Bian was killed by one of his slaves when he was having sex with the slaves wife. Liu and Feng reunited and inherited all Bians money and led a happy life with their son after Bians death. Like A Monks Affairs, this story also propagates the idea of karma.

The author's reflection upon Zen Buddhism and Catholicism has shown many points of contact between them, in spite of their divergent rituals and philosophies. Although he warns against the weaknesses of Zen, he urges Westerners in general, and Catholics in particular, to draw from its strengths, suggesting that the harmony Zen points to at the heart of religion could bring the West freedom from unnecessary anxiety and a new awareness of the peace of God.

In this “irresistible memoir that’s equal parts pathos and belly laughs,” the Irish American writer and actor shares stories from his first decade in the US (People). Malachy McCourt left behind a childhood of poverty and painful memories of his father and mother in Limerick, Ireland, when he followed his brother, Frank, to America in 1952. In A Monk Swimming, McCourt recounts the decade that followed. With not much to his name other than his sharp wit and knack for storytelling, McCourt was unsure what he would do after arriving in New York City. He worked as a longshoreman on the Brooklyn docks, became the first celebrity bartender in a Manhattan saloon, performed on stage with the Irish Players, and told tales to Jack Paar on The Tonight Show. Although McCourt gained success, money, women, and, eventually, children of his own, he still carried memories of the past with him. So, he fled again. He found himself in the Manhattan Detention Complex, otherwise known as the Tombs. He was arrested several times: poolside in Beverly Hills, in Zurich with gold-smugglers, and again in Calcutta with sex workers. McCourt’s journey also took him to Paris, Rome, and even Limerick again, until finally he was forced to grapple with his past. “[A] funny, oddly winning book.” —The New York Times “A rollicking good read that, as the Irish say, would make a dead man laugh.” —The Philadelphia Inquirer “A triumphant tale. . . . You will find yourself laughing through the tears.” —Newsday “Howlingly funny.” —Atlanta Journal-Constitution “Build[s] on the story of the McCourts’ early life so dazzlingly told in Angela’s Ashes by his brother Frank.” —Thomas Keneally, author of the international bestseller Schindler’s List

I am continually amazed at how Thich Nhat Hanh is able to translate the Buddhist tradition into everyday life and make it relevant and helpful for so many people. Cultivating the Mind of Love just might be my favorite book of his....

This is one of the very first books on the subject that features, among other interesting love stories, a revelation of the exact identity of Beethoven's "Immortal Beloved"; the letters of Liszt to his princess; letters of Chopin long supposed to have been burned, as well as diaries and letters gathered by an intimate friend for a biography whose completion was prevented by death; the publication of a vast amount of Wagneriana; the appearance of a full life of Tschaikovski by his brother, with complete elucidation of much that had been suppressed; a detailed account of the whole progress of Clara Schumann's beautiful love story, down to the day of the marriage; and numberless fugitive paragraphs throwing new light on affairs more or less unknown or misunderstood._x000D_ Volume 1:_x000D_ The Overture_x000D_ The Ancients_x000D_ The Men of Flanders_x000D_ Orland Di Lassus and His Regina_x000D_ Henry and Frances Purcell_x000D_ The Strange Adventures of Stradella_x000D_ Giovanni and Lucrezia Palestrina_x000D_ Bach, the Patriarch_x000D_ Papa and Mamma Haydn_x000D_ The Magnificent Bachelor_x000D_ Gluck the Domestic, Rousseau the Confessor, and the Amiable Piccinni_x000D_ A Few Tunesters of France and Italy – Peri, Monteverde, et al._x000D_ Mozart_x000D_ Beethoven: the Great Bumblebee_x000D_ Von Weber – the Rake Reformed_x000D_ The Felicities of Mendelssohn_x000D_ The Nocturnes of Chopin_x000D_ Volume 2:_x000D_ Franz Liszt_x000D_ Richard Wagner_x000D_ Tschaikovski, the Woman-Dreader_x000D_ The Heart of a Violinist_x000D_ An Omnibus Chapter_x000D_ Robert Schumann and Clara Wieck_x000D_ Musicians as Lovers

August Turak is a successful entrepreneur, corporate executive, and award-winning author who attributes much of his success to living and working alongside the Trappist monks of Mepkin Abbey for seventeen years. As a frequent monastic guest, he learned firsthand from the monks as they grew an incredibly successful portfolio of businesses. Service and selflessness are at the heart of the 1,500-year-old monastic tradition's remarkable business success. It is an ancient though immensely relevant economic model that preserves what is positive and productive about capitalism while transcending its ethical limitations and internal contradictions. Combining vivid case studies from his thirty-year business career with intimate portraits of the monks at work, Turak shows how Trappist principles can be successfully applied to a variety of secular business settings and to our personal lives as well. He demonstrates that monks and people like Warren Buffett are wildly successful not despite their high principles but because of them. Turak also introduces other "transformational organizations" that share the crucial monastic business strategies so critical for success.

Details the true story of seven monks kidnapped from a Trappist monastery in war-torn Algeria to be used as negotiation tools to free imprisoned terrorists and whose severed heads were found in a tree two months later.

Cover -- Half Title -- Title -- Copyright -- Dedication -- Contents -- Acknowledgments -- Introduction -- One: The Buddhist World and the United States at the Onset of the Cold War, 1941-1954 -- Two: Washington Formulates a Buddhist Policy, 1954-1957 -- Three: Thailand and the International Buddhist Arena, 1956-1962 -- Four: Reforming the Monks: The Cold War and Clerical Education in Thailand and Laos, 1954-1961 -- Five: Thailand and the International Response to the 1963 Buddhist Crisis in South Vietnam -- Six: Enforcing the Code: South Vietnam's "Struggle Movement" and the Limits of Thai Buddhist Conservatism -- Seven: Thailand's Buddhist Hierarchy Confronts Its Challengers, 1967-1975 -- Eight: The Rage of Thai Buddhism, 1975-1980 -- Conclusion: From Byoto to Kittivudho -- Notes -- Selected Bibliography -- Index -- A -- B -- C -- D -- E -- F -- G -- H -- I -- J -- K -- L -- M -- N -- O -- P -- Q -- R -- S -- T -- U -- V -- W -- X -- Y -- Z

A screenwriter and stand-up comic’s hilarious and profound account of his journey into Zen monkhood—featuring a foreword by Leonard Cohen Shozan Jack Haubner is the David Sedaris of Zen Buddhism: a brilliant humorist and analyst of human foibles, whose hilarity is informed by the profound insights that have dawned on him—as he's stumbled and fallen into spirituall practice. Raised in a truly strange family of Mel-Gibson-esque Catholic extremists, he went on to study philosophy (becoming very un-Catholic in the process) and to pursue a career as a screenwriter and stand-up comic in the clubs of L.A. How he went from life in the fast lane to life on the stationary meditation cushion is the subject of this laugh-out-loud funny account of his experiences. Whether he’s dealing with the pranks of a juvenile delinquent assistant in the monastery kitchen or experiencing profound compassion in the presence of his spiritual teacher, Haubner’s voice is one you'll be compelled to listen to. Not only because it’s highly entertaining, but because of its remarkable insight into the human condition.