The Inner Art of Meditation

According to one sage, successful meditation requires a "cup of understanding, a bowl of love, and an ocean of patience." I don't know about the love and understanding, but there's no question about the patience--sensory-input hungry types like Camille Paglia would go up the wall five minutes into this solitary confinement-paced guide to focusing on one's breathing. Instructor Jack Kornfield offers general tips and techniques and conducts four separate meditations: breathing, body, thoughts and feelings, and forgiveness and lovingkind-ness. Although non-words like "lovingkind-ness" have a tendency to put my "feelings" on flambè, the basic principles here are, of course, quite sound: like the sign in Lost Wages, NV says, "you must be present to win." Too much of our time is spent thinking about the past or dreaming about the future; these exercises for the here and now will help quiet the restless mind. On the other hand, since this is exclusively a talking-head lecture, there's some question whether or not a set of Jon Kabat-Zinn's audiotapes might not be more appropriate. Recommended, with reservations. Aud: P. (R. Pitman)