The Art of Happiness
Dalai Lama XIV Bstan-ʼdzin-rgya-mtsho, Howard C. Cutler
Another excellent Religion for readers interested in this subject
Our Appointment with Life
A patient, plain-spoken guide to the Buddha's teaching on living in the present, useful for anyone who wants mindfulness grounded in an early source text.
What It's About
Our Appointment with Life is a short book built around one early Buddhist discourse, which Thich Nhat Hanh renders in his own plain English and then comments on passage by passage. The sutra concerns how to live well in the present, and the title points to the same idea: life is always happening now, and the only place to meet it is here. The text is brief, so most of the book is spent unpacking a few core instructions rather than covering wide ground.
The style is gentle and repetitive in the way much of Thich Nhat Hanh's teaching is. He circles back to the same points, uses everyday images, and asks the reader to test ideas through attention rather than argument. Reading it feels less like studying a doctrine and more like sitting with a teacher who wants you to notice your own mind. Expect a slow pace; the book rewards reading a little at a time and pausing to reflect.
Because the commentary stays close to the sutra, it is useful for readers who want to see where modern mindfulness ideas come from. It is less a self-help manual with exercises than a reflection on one teaching, and its strength is clarity about what the Buddha was pointing at rather than a broad program for change.
Read this if you…
- are new to Buddhist teaching and want a grounded, readable starting point
- already practise mindfulness and want to see its roots in an early sutra
- find general talk about living in the moment too vague and want a specific text to think with
Skip it if you…
- want a step-by-step program, daily exercises, or measurable results
- are looking for a scholarly edition with notes on the Pali text and its historical context
Key Ideas
- 1
Living alone means living mindfully
The phrase in the sutra's title does not mean withdrawing from people. Thich Nhat Hanh reads it as being fully present with your own experience, even in a crowded room. The idea reframes solitude as an inner condition rather than a physical one, which makes the teaching relevant to people who are never truly alone yet rarely feel settled.
- 2
Releasing the past and the future
Much of our suffering comes from replaying what has already happened and bracing for what has not yet arrived. The book presents this as the main way we lose the only moment we actually have. Letting go is not forgetting or ignoring responsibilities; it is refusing to live in those mental places at the expense of what is here now.
- 3
Looking deeply at what is happening
Thich Nhat Hanh's recurring method is to look deeply, meaning to see past surface labels and habitual reactions to the real nature of an experience. The commentary shows this as a practice of careful observation rather than a belief to accept. It asks readers to check the teaching against their own moment-to-moment experience.
- 4
Peace as the result of attention
The book argues that peace, joy, and happiness are not rewards promised for later but things that become available when we meet the present moment fully. This is a central claim, and readers who find it persuasive will likely find the rest of the book coherent. Those who are skeptical may find it more of a stated conviction than a demonstrated argument.
Limitations
The commentary is brief, and readers used to more structured or argumentative books may find it repetitive or thin. It is also one teacher's interpretation of the sutra, framed through his own tradition, rather than a neutral translation of the kind scholars usually prefer. Historical and textual background is limited, so readers wanting to place the sutra among other early sources will need to look elsewhere. Those who want concrete practical application may also find more in other books from his catalogue.
Questions Readers Ask
- Do I need to be Buddhist to read Our Appointment with Life?
- No. The book is written for general readers and explains its terms as it goes. It does assume you are willing to consider a religious teaching on its own terms, and it is more rewarding if you approach it as a reflection on attention and suffering rather than as a set of doctrines to adopt. Readers from any background can take what is useful.
- How does it compare to his more practical mindfulness books?
- Thich Nhat Hanh's more practical books tend to offer exercises and everyday guidance for practice. This one is closer to a close reading of a single early teaching. If you want to understand where his approach comes from, it is a good choice. If you want methods to try this week, you may prefer one of his more hands-on titles.
- Published
- 2007
- ISBN
- 9781935209799
- Difficulty
- beginner
- Category
- Self-Improvement
Book details and cover from Google Books.
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