An Open Letter to Andrew Holecek

Dear Andrew, My Spiritual Friend:

In my last blog post, I encouraged living with gratitude, and here I am expressing some of mine. After you helped me find the key to unlock my bodhicitta a year ago, you opened the door wider by taking the time to read my soon-to-be-published book and writing this about it:

Mel Pine has distilled a lifetime of learning and packaged it in the most caring heart. This is a delightful book dealing with noble truths that will benefit many.

That endorsement from one of the most prominent voices bringing the wisdom of the East to the West will encourage many more to read my humble, stumbling attempt to add mine.

You carved time out of your hectic schedule of practice, writing, teaching, and living to read my manuscript and write that endorsement of The New Middle Way. As I began writing this thank-you note, I realized you embody the middle way I suggest for other Westerners in the book.

Although you often point out that the spiritual way is not a path, we’re stuck with words to express it, so I’ll say that my book encourages this path:

Find the teacher and spiritual home that are right for you. Give them time, but move on to another primary teacher if necessary. Learn from additional teachers without losing the love and commitment to your core guru. When you live with the morals and ethics of your discipline, have gotten to know and made friends with your mind, and let go of clinging, aversion, and the grasping ego, you have awakened. Let go of striving to become something else, and it will evolve.

You, Andrew, spent decades in deep Vajrayana learning and remain committed to your practice while integrating Pure Land along with cutting-edge trends that merge science, philosophy, and religion. You have found a middle way that works for you and thousands of followers.

You are an essential piece of the mosaic that will emerge as Western Buddhism.

I thank you for that, as well as for helping this being called me.

With much love,

Mel

The New Middle Way: A Path Between Secular and Ossified - Enlightenment for Regular Folks is due out on June 13 in Kindle, paperback, hardback, and Audible versions. You can preorder the Kindle version now. You can read a free digital advance copy by agreeing to write and post an honest review on Amazon (after the release date) or your favorite website. And please visit my author website.

From the Pure Land has thousands of readers and subscribers in 40 U.S. states and 29 countries. Visit its website here.