Buddha takes no prisoners : a meditator's survival manual

This stands out from other recent books on meditation for its refreshingly irreverent and playful attitude.

It upends tradition by approaching the subject from the bottom up, from the iconoclastic perspective of a veteran student, rather than the top-down standpoint of a teacher.

Author Patrick Ophuls has drawn on his many years of experience as a meditation practitioner to distill the essential elements of the Buddha's teachings in this book: what students most need to know to practise meditation well, and how practice leads to the happiness of a liberated heart and mind.

The book begins with a brief outline of the historical Buddha's life and then goes on to describe the experience of insight meditation.

Practical explanations of the meditation process, its benefits and applicability to daily life, are given in the following chapters.

The author offers encouragement and advice on the difficulties practitioners often undergo, alongside humorous stories and anecdotes.

The later chapters of the book go through the basic tenets of Buddhism (The Four Noble Truths, The Three Gems etc.), explaining Pali terminology in a fuss-free, down-to-earth manner, and reinterpreting key terms for a Western audience.

Ophuls draws on current developments in science and society to make his points, and does not hesitate to criticize corruptions that have crept into Buddhism in the West, albeit with a sense of humour.