Original love The four inns on the path of awakening

Meditation is rooted in a boundless "original love" that has inspired all of creation, according to the contemplative if meandering latest from zen teacher Shukman (One Blade of Grass). Guiding readers on a path toward such a love, Shukman outlines four "inns," or resting points, where one can learn the value of mindfulness (through which "we learn to love ourselves... to have compassion for the way we suffer"); support (connecting with others and with the meditative practice itself); absorption (finding fulfillment and total presence in the moment); and awakening (to an "infinite love" that connects the practitioner to the universe). Guided meditations and tips elucidate these concepts and how readers can practice them, as do frequent anecdotes from the author's life. To illustrate absorption, for example, Shukman recalls growing up with severe eczema and learning to access a mental "refuge" within the extreme pain by, paradoxically, letting go of his desire for relief: "I couldn't get there by wanting to... the door opened by itself." While the surfeit of personal examples sometimes takes things off track, Shukman's graceful prose and eye for nuance allows him to build an effective case for cultivating an "ever more breaking heart" that can love and be loved with total openness. Meditation practitioners of all levels will find inspiration in Shukman's wise guidance. (July)