The Best Buddhist Writing 2005, by Melvin McLeod et al (eds)
Good (possibly not best) Buddhist writing (mostly from 2005)
(Review posted 3 Jan 2006 01:14:25)

The stuff in this book is good. If I were omniscient I might not agree that it was strictly the best Buddhist writing of 2005 (not all of it seems to be particularly 2005, even), but some of it was very good, and all of it was worth reading.

I'm probably least fond of the very techical expositions of complicated formal Tibetan-style Buddhism. I have to admit that when for instance I read the Dalai Lama writing stuff like

Through the first seven boddhisattva levels, which begin upon reaching the true path, the accumulation of merit of the second incalculable eon is completed. At the eight boddhisattva level, we finally overcome all the afflictive emotions and thoughts.

I always find myself thinking

We also get a +2 on all spiritual saving throws, and can cast an unlimited number of first-level Illusionist spells per day.

But that's just my own limited (if perfectly aligned with the dharma) perspective talking.

Little matters of personal taste like that aside, I have no significant complaints, and considerable significant praise, for this volume. There's some good straightforward stuff ("Have a Cup of Tea") from John Loori, and some poetry from Gary Snyder, and some really powerful stuff about being a American Vietnam veteran and being (at least partly) healed with the help of Vietnamese monks, and some other really powerful stuff about discovering Buddhism while serving a life sentence for murder, and about what it's like to be a college student who signs up almost casually to try training as a nun in the Forest Order and what that turns out to actually be like, and lots of good stuff like that.

(There's also Natalie Goldberg, telling us again what a great guy Dainin Katagiri was and how devastated she was when he died, but in this company I pretty much enjoyed even that.)

So yeah, definitely; if that sort of thing sounds interesting you'll probably enjoy this book, and I recommend buying it even at full price (I paid like sixteen bucks you-ess, I think, and it was a good investment).