Hi all,

With so many Buddhist teachings already available online, I have always felt that one of the more helpful things I can offer at the BellaOnline Buddhism site is book and movie suggestions. Finding ways to support and inspire our practice amidst a culture that does not often do so is very important. This week I first have a book review:

The Novice, by Thich Nhat Hanh
The Novice is the first widely published fiction offering by revered Vietnamese Buddhist monk Thich Nhat Hanh. In this profound novella, he retells a Vietnamese folktale about a young woman who disguises herself as a male monk in order to study the dharma, and bears great hardship with equanimity.
http://www.bellaonline.com/articles/art175124.asp

I've also updated an older post that lists movies with Buddhist themes:

Movies with Buddhist Themes
Many wonderful Buddhist movies have been made in recent years, but what about movies that don't explicitly feature Buddhism, but might be said to explore Buddhist themes? Here's a list of some of my favorites - films exploring the nature of reality, consciousness, awakening, rebirth, and karma.
http://www.bellaonline.com/articles/art171325.asp

Please feel free to chime in in the forum, especially if you have more book or movie suggestions:

http://forums.bellaonline.com/ubbthreads.php?ubb=postlist&Board=351

In closing, I leave you with a passage from Thich Nhat Hanh's The Novice:

"There are days when you feel nothing seems to work out. You rely on your intelligence, on your talent, and think you can succeed just on that. But there are days when everything seems to go wrong. You say, "This is just not my day." The best thing to do is to stop struggling, go home to yourself, and recover yourself. Don't just keep slogging on, counting on your talent and intelligence to make things right. You have to go home and reestablish your solidity, freedom, peace, and calm before you try again."

In Peace,
Lisa Erickson, Buddhism Editor
http://Buddhism.Bellaonline.com
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