Wayne Teasdale - A monk in the world : cultivating a spiritual life

Teasdales account of spiritual life in the midst of the city touched me with its compassionate understanding of the real dimensions of the search for God and the moral work of growing our souls. Although he writes from another tradition than mine, he is an ecumenical and post-triumphalist pilgrim. Reading how he shares his rich contemplative life, I felt often the tug of spirit refreshing me in my own devotion. He will most likely do the same for you.

Rabbi Zalman Schachter-Shalomi,
Naropa University, co-author of From Age-ing to Sage-ing

This book is where the growing edge is: available spirituality drawn from the worlds great traditions, our path to a viable future. Inter-spirituality for the millions: an eminently readable and applicable guide to a beautiful life.

Beatrice Bruteau, author of Radical Optimism and
What We Can Learn from the East

This wonderful book helps us learn how to integrate the fundamental principles of contemplative spirituality into our modern lives. In the nonsectarian monk-in-the-world spirit of Thomas Merton and Bede Griffiths, Brother Wayne has opened the mystic heart and noble mind of a monk in order to show us the many sacred opportunities we can find in our own lives for sharing his own contemplative vocation and delighting in the world without being overcome by it.

Lama Surya Das, author of Awakening the Buddhist Heart

With exquisite sincerity, beauty, and wisdom, Brother Wayne offers an inspiring model of living an authentic life, participating in the bazaar of life with a heart fragrant with love, truth, and spaciousness.

Jamal Rahman, Sufi teacher and author
of The Fragrance of Islam

A Monk in the World will have a wide readership: Many who just cant join a monastery suspect, nonetheless, that they are somehow monks at heart. They will be thrilled by this book, in which a monk-without-a-monastery reveals intimate glimpses of his life and convictions.

Brother David Steindl-Rast, OSB, www.gratefulness.org

N EW W ORLD L IBRARY
N OVATO , C ALIFORNIA

New World Library
14 Pamaron Way
Novato, California 94949

Copyright 2002 by Wayne Teasdale
Cover and interior design: Mary Ann Casler

All rights reserved. This book may not be reproduced in whole or in part or transmitted in any form, without written permission from the publisher, except by a reviewer, who may quote brief passages in a review; nor may any part of this book be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or other, without written permission of the publisher.

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Teasdale, Wayne.

A monk in the world : notes on cultivating the spiritual life / by Wayne Teasdale ; foreword by Ken Wilber.

p. cm.

Includes index.

ISBN 1-57731-181-7 (hardcover : alk. paper)

ISBN 1-57731-437-9 (paperback : alk. paper)

1. Spiritual lifeCatholic Church. 2. Teasdale, Wayne. I. Title.

BX2350.65 .T44 2002

255dc21

2002001425

First paperback printing, October 2003

ISBN 1-57731-437-9

Printed in Canada on acid-free, partially recycled paper

Distributed to the trade by Publishers Group West

10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1

T here are so many people to whom I owe a debt of gratitude, especially those who have contributed something to my vision of living as a mystic in the world. First, I wish to express my deep appreciation and friendship for my literary agent, Joseph Durepos, and my editor at New World Library, Jason Gardner, both of whom have given so much of their time and energy to shepherding this book into print. Thank you to Jim Somerville and Beatrice Bruteau, especially for her invaluable assistance with the text. I would be remiss if I didnt mention a special circle of friends in Chicago who rallied around me when I had a bout with cancer. In particular, I want to remember Diane Kelleher; Barbara Fields Bernstein; Terry Burson; Josie and Patrick Evans and their children, Shenade, Lauren, Brett, and Zzak; Michael Terrein and Ali, his daughter; Brian Muldoon and his children, Molly, Micky, and Sean; Nick and Carolyn Groves; Bill and Clare Epperly; Nancy Ging; Bill Sheenan; Sean McEntee; Jim Barry; and Judy Walter.

I mention with fondness my friends in the monastic world: Thomas Keating, Theophane Boyd, Basil Pennington, William Mennenger, James Connor, Donald Corcoran, Pascaline Coff, Robert Hale, Bruno Barnhart, Johanna Becker, Katherine Howard, Meg Funk, Gregory Perron, and Terrence Kardong; the Snowmass community; St. Josephs Abbey in Spencer, Massachusetts, especially Matthew Flynn and Kevin Hunt; the Monastery of Christ in the Desert; Holy Cross Monastery in Chicago; Sacred Heart Monastery in Lisle, Illinois; and New Camaldoli Hermitage in Big Sur, California, and Brother David Steindl-Rast. I would be remiss if I didnt mention my brothers and sisters who are also sannyasis here in the states, Brother Francis Ali, Michaela Terrio, Kateri Kautai, Romulad Roberts, and Richard Rosenkranz. Special thanks are expressed to His Holiness the Dalai Lama, his staff in the private office, and especially to Tenzin Choegyal, who is the Ngari Rinpoche, his wife, Rinchen Khando, their children and extended family; to Tenzin Geyche Tethong, Ven. Thakdor, Rinchen Dharlo, Lodi Gyari, Dorjee Wangdue, and the members of the Tibetan community scattered in exile, as well as everyone in the International Campaign for Tibet, including Lesley Fridell, Mary Beth Markey, Bhuchung Tsering, and John Ackerly.