Against the Stream: A Buddhist Manual for Spiritual Revolutionaries, by Noah Levine Foreword by Stephen Levine

(179 pp., HarperOne, 2007)

“Wake up, the revolution has already begun,” writes Noah Levine in his efforts to show counterculture rebels that the most truly defiant acts involve the courageous cultivation of wisdom and compassion. Having traced his own journey from angry, self-destructive teenager to Dharma practitioner and teacher in his memoir, Dharma Punx, Levine now distills the elements of that journey into a path for others to explore. Sections like “Basic Training” and “Boot Camp” offer beginners a helpful history of the Buddha and the basics of Theravada practice in casual, engaging language. The “Field Guide” addresses the thorny realms of community, sex, money and addiction—mainstay concerns of the rebel’s life—from Levine’s spiritual revolutionary perspective. By emphasizing the legitimately subversive nature of the Buddha’s teachings, Against the Stream continues the important work of bringing the Dharma to young adult communities. This is not your parents’ Buddhism!

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From the Fall 2007 issue of Inquiring Mind (Vol. 24, No. 1)

© 2007 Lailah Robertson

Addiction, Theravada, Youth

Lailah Robertson, MFT, was the communications coordinator for Insight Meditation Society. She is deeply committed to providing a compassionate, listening presence for children, teenagers, the bereaved and the dying.