Living Buddha, Living Christ"

Bonnie of Bonnie's Books motivated me to buy (yet) another book: Living Buddha, Living Christ by Thich Nhat Hanh. I finally had time to start reading it today, being captivated by Brother David Steindl-Rast's "Foreword" and Elaine Pagels' "Introduction."

In fact, I am so entranced with the first paragraph on the first page of the book that I am going to quote it below. This is by David Steindl-Rast:

Come alive! Bloom!

"Twice in this book Thich Nhat Hanh puts before us a powerful image of Christian legend: In midwinter, St. Francis is calling out to an almond tree, 'Speak to me of God!' and the almond tree breaks into bloom. It comes alive. There is no other way of witnessing to God but by aliveness. With a fine instinct, Thich Nhat Hanh traces genuine aliveness to its source. He recognizes that this is what the biblical tradition calls the Holy Spirit. After all, the very word 'spirit' means 'breath,' and to breathe means to live. The Holy Spirit is the breath of divine life." (xiii)

Nh'at Hanh, Thich. Living Buddha, Living Christ. NY: Riverhead Books, 2007.