The reporters said it was a sexy story—church, money, greed, adultery, blood, a defenseless child with profound disabilities, and a good man who never saw it coming, all the elements that garnered column inches and high ratings. The main players on the stage included a talented journalist who played the organ at church, a cunning narcissist who hid behind a pretty face and a sweet demeanor, and a respected businessman and father. The plan, her plan, unfolded in the early morning hours of June 8, 1994, when a flyspeck of a man dressed in black, covetous and possessed by passion, clutched a large knife in his gloved hands and stood above his sleeping prey. He could not know, as the blade arced toward its target, how many lives would be forever changed by their crimes.

Half down-and-dirty adventure and half inspirational memoir, this title documents an unusual pilgrimage taken by earthy scientist Nick Scott and fastidious Buddhist monk Ajahn Sucitto, who together retraced the Buddha's footsteps through India.

Gonthier teaches managers and human resource professionals how to build a culture of civility within a company, and the reasons why rudeness and even violence in the workplace has evolved over time.

Can Zen tell us whether particular wars are right or wrong? What role did D. T. Suzuki and other Zen figures play in the Japanese nationalism that fueled World War II? What are we to make of nationalistic elements in the thought of Nishida Kitaro, Tanabe Hajime, Nishitani Keiji, and other philosophers of the Kyoto School? What connection was there between the Japanese project of overcoming the modernity of the West and the militarism of its 15-year war in Asia? In a collection of carefully documented essays, 15 Japanese and Western scholars take up these and other questions about the political responsibility of Japanese Buddhist intellectuals. This well-indexed and meticulously edited volume offers a variety of critical perspectives and a wealth of information for those interested in prewar and wartime history, Zen, Japanese philosophy, and the problem of nationalism today.

In the land known as Terra Infirma (so-called due to its weak constitution), in the once vibrant city of Marasmus, the Trollian Conquest is complete and an authoritarian and oppressive regime holds sway. Religion is banned and the city's patron God, WACCHUS, finds Himself forcibly retired. He discovers that resurrection is only possible through the person of the Awakener. Unfortunately, the only being who remotely fits the bill is a drunken and world-weary dwarf called Anyx. Can Anyx really be the Awakener? And can he (with the assistance of, amongst others, an elephant, a down-on-his-luck leper, a bunch of half-crazed pirates and some blokes in tights) evade the clutches of the psychotic troll Granntt, and the demonic Theo De Ville, and save the day?

Several years ago, Dylan Rasche was abducted by the Green Valley UFO, otherwise known as the “Phantom in the Sky.” For years, Dylan remained unable to recall the memories of his abduction, except for a recurring dream of a strange black-eyed boy wearing a hooded sweatshirt. But months ago, Dylan remembered everything. Afterward, Dylan wrote a memoir of his abduction experience which prompted other abductees to remember and come forward. As they did, they realized they had one specific thing in common, dreams of strange black-eyed children. Now, these odd children have claimed the abductees are their parents and have begun stalking them. But the truth is too hard to believe for those have been abducted, had their memories erased, and have now been rudely awakened. The Black-Eyed Kids have made their presences known in the worst possible way. Now, the investigators must confront them face-to-face where it all began on Eagle Rock Mountain. But when the truth about the BEK is revealed, it brings Rude Awakenings to the team and those they have sworn to help and protect.

We live in the Golden Age of publishing for spiritual, esoteric, and new age books of all conceivable stripes (and then there is the Internet). Amongst this wild proliferation of available information there has occurred a cheapening effect, in which many teachings have been watered down to make them palatable for a public with diminishing attention spans and suffering from information overload. For the sincere spiritual seeker there needs to be an awareness of the various ways we can go astray on the path, or fall off the path altogether. The whole idea of spirituality is to be awake, yet it is all too easy to simply end up in yet another dream world, thinking that we have found some higher truth. Rude Awakening: Perils, Pitfalls, and Hard Truths of the Spiritual Path is dedicated to examining, under a sharp light, the many ways our spiritual development goes wrong, or disappears altogether in the sheer crush of books and the routine grind of daily life.