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Meditations on the Trail

A Guidebook for Self-Discovery

Published by Wisdom Publications
Distributed by Simon & Schuster

About The Book

Discover how to explore and deepen your connection to nature with a rich array of do-anywhere meditations.

Meditations on the Trail offers a rich array of do-anywhere meditations that will help you explore and deepen your connection to nature, and yourself, in new ways, making the most of your time on the trail.

This small book—perfect for throwing in a daypack or a back pocket as you head out for the trail—is filled with practices to take you into the heart of the natural world and uncover your most vibrant self. You’ll return home grateful, more aware of interconnection, and maybe just a little wiser.

“For walkers of all paces and geographies, this lovely book is a helpful guide for savoring moments on the trail, and feeling how deeply related we are to all existence.”—Stephanie Kaza, author of Conversations with Trees: An Intimate Ecology

About The Author

Christopher Ives is a professor of religious studies at Stonehill College in Easton, Massachusetts. In his teaching and writing, he focuses on ethics in Zen Buddhism and Buddhist approaches to nature and environmental issues. His publications include Zen on the Trail: Hiking as Pilgrimage; Meditations on the Trail: A Guidebook for Self-Discovery; Imperial-Way Zen: Ichikawa Hakugen’s Critique and Lingering Questions for Buddhist Ethics; Zen Awakening and Society; a translation (with Masao Abe) of Nishida Kitaro’s An Inquiry into the Good; a translation (with Gishin Tokiwa) of Shin’ichi Hisamatsu’s Critical Sermons of the Zen Tradition. He is on the editorial board of the Journal of Buddhist Ethics.

Product Details

  • Publisher: Wisdom Publications (May 11, 2021)
  • Length: 152 pages
  • ISBN13: 9781614297680

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Raves and Reviews

“For walkers of all paces and geographies, this lovely book is a helpful guide for savoring moments on the trail, and feeling how deeply related we are to all existence.”

– Stephanie Kaza, author of Conversations with Trees: An Intimate Ecology

“Meditations on the Trail is a guidebook to hiking as a spiritual practice that can nurture our capacities for attention, presence, and joy. Ives offers us a sparkling net of Dharma jewels: traditional teachings made accessible through practices that cultivate deep connection with the pulsing matrix of life that envelops and supports us.”

– William Edelglass, wilderness guide, director of studies at Barre Center for Buddhist Studies, and associate professor at Emerson College

“Practical, elegant, and personal, Christopher Ives’ book is a treasure, transporting our hikes into the ordinary profundity of Zen practice. It will certainly be in my backpack!”

– Judith Simmer-Brown

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