"How to Be Sick: a Buddhist Inspired Guide for the Chronically Ill and Their Caregivers

All, the following was shared via the e-tree by a SA sangha member. I haven't included her name, thinking she might not like to be named here. If I find out otherwise I'll update this thread accordingly.

This info could be a help to many people and I appreciate receiving it.

Quote :

This book recommendation may be relevant only for a few; but I find it a significant discovery for my life. During the thirty years I've worked inside Chronic Fatigue Syndrome, I've been occasionally gifted, even though I'm frequently unable to read, with a meaningful book. Browsing through Amazon.com recently, I saw How To Be Sick: a Buddhist Inspired Guide for the Chronically Ill and Their Caregivers, a 2010 Wisdom Publication, by Toni Berhard, a former dean of students and law professor at UCDavis. I read the table of contents and sent for it.

Having had CFS awakened in her body ten or so years ago, now housebound and largely bedridden, the author discusses how her Buddhist faith helps her deal with conditions that arise through illness, supporting a deepening spiritual growth. She's not a Soto Zen Buddhist. She draws mostly on the words of the Buddha, a few Dogen references, and teaching from Thai Forest monks, like Ajahn Chah, plus teachers from the Vipassana tradition: Sylvia Boorstein, Joseph Goldstein, Sharon Salzberg, Jack Kornfield--all people who have fine skills to teach lay persons how to translate the Dharma into householder language for daily living. There is nothing that I can find in this text that conflicts with what our monks teach us.

Her cogent discussion of working with her personal attitude, within her approach to illness, with doctors, with friends and with family...sometimes persons well intentioned but not personally experienced with illness...is a positive affirmation to anyone who chooses to use this physical challenge to move toward greater spiritual Awareness.