"Buddhist Boot Camp" Author to Speak at Forum
Timber Hawkeye, author of the inspirational book "Buddhist Boot Camp," will discuss a nonsectarian approach to being at peace with the world, both within and around us, at a Community Forum in Newbury Park on Friday, Jan. 17.
The author says his aim is to awaken, enlighten, enrich and inspire at the 7:30 p.m. discussion at the Conejo Valley Unitarian Universalist Fellowship. His compact book of life lessons is a bestseller in Amazon's religion and philosophy category.
Hawkeye says on the book's website that Buddhism is all about training the mind, and boot camp is an ideal training method for this generation's short attention span. The book's brief chapters with mindfulness-enhancing techniques and inspirational stories are meant for people of all faiths and nonbelievers as well.
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"As the Dalai Lama says, 'Don't try to use what you learn about Buddhism to be a Buddhist, use it to be a better whatever-you-already are,'" the author writes.
At the forum, Hawkeye will discuss some of the ideas in his book. Among its broad themes are mindfulness; love and relationships; religion/spirituality; living in gratitude; success; and anger, insecurities and fears.
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The author's book grew out of emails he sent to friends sharing life lessons after he left his job as a paralegal in 2006 to live simply and further his studies of religion and psychology. His pursuits led him to live at a Tibetan Buddhist temple and a zen monastery. The emails evolved into a blog and later refined into book form.
In the book's introduction, Hawkeye says there are many incredible books covering religion, philosophy and psychology, but he aimed for something less academic, without dogma or rituals attached, that could inspire people to implement the ideas in their daily life.
The 7:30 p.m. forum is free and open to the public; donations will be accepted. The Conejo Valley Unitarian Universalist Fellowship is located at 3327 Old Conejo Road in Newbury Park. For information, visit forum.cvuuf.org.