1998 was a banner year for Eastern Religion titles. Science came to the service of Zen, martial arts raised the bar of self-worth, Islam struggled with modernity, women masters told their life stories, and Buddhism boasted some of the finest writing anywhere. Our Eastern Religion editor, Brian Bruya, brought the best books to you every month, and now he has put together a representative sampling of the best of the best of 1998.

1. Zen and the Brain: Toward an Understanding of Meditation and Consciousness
   by James H. Austin
   If Zen is so darn anti-intellectual, you'd think the brain would have little to do with it. But the brain does more than you think, or so says Dr. James H. Austin in his profound exploration of Zen consciousness, "Zen and the Brain."

2. The Light Inside the Dark: Zen, Soul, and the Spiritual Life
   by John Tarrant
   Enter a dimension of life rarely acknowledged by Zen. Buddhism purports to alleviate suffering but talks little about the actual experience of inner pain. Zen teacher and psychologist John Tarrant takes it up with a vengeance in "The Light Inside the Dark."

3. The Wooden Bowl: Simple Meditation for Everyday Life
   by Clark Strand
   Clark Strand's "The Wooden Bowl" is a meditation manual "for people who want to meditate with the lives they have, a book for people who don't want to adopt a new religion or hand all their money over to some organization."

4. Sharp Spear, Crystal Mirror: Martial Arts in Women's Lives
   by Stephanie T. Hoppe
   Maturing into true personhood is a process of integration, of achieving wholeness. In "Sharp Spear, Crystal Mirror," 20 outstanding martial artists describe that process from the perspective of one of the East's most valued traditions of self-development.

5. In the Shadow of the Prophet: The Struggle for the Soul of Islam
   by Milton Viorst
   For most non-Muslims, Islam is an indistinct religion of white tunics, much kneeling, and fanatic violence. Longtime New Yorker writer Milton Viorst begins refining this image for us by traveling throughout the Arab world and taking us back into the early days of Muhammad's empire.

6. Beyond Belief: Islamic Excursions Among the Converted Peoples
   by V.S. Naipaul
   With the pen of a novelist, V.S. Naipaul scrutinizes the Muslims of the non-Arabic countries of Pakistan, Iran, Indonesia, and Malaysia in his thought-provoking nonfiction book "Beyond Belief."

7. Inner Revolution: Life, Liberty, and the Pursuit of Real Happiness
   by Robert Thurman
   America's foremost scholar/evangelist of Buddhism brings his manifesto for the future from the classroom to the political arena. In a controversial interpretation of Buddhist and world history, professor Robert Thurman advances a political vision that seeks to bring together the "outer" modernity of the West with the "inner" modernity of the East.

8. I Give You My Life: The Autobiography of a Western Buddhist Nun
   by Ayya Khema
   Buddhist nun Ayya Khema comes through with a quiet, methodical story, that if written in any other way would seem more hyperbole than biography. At the age of 55, when most people are mulling how many tulip bulbs to plant for next spring, Ayya Khema took Buddhist vows. From then on, she established three monasteries, arranged Buddhist women's conferences, and gave teachings on a lost meditation technique at venues around the world.

9. Buddha's Nature: A Practical Guide to Enlightment Through Evolution
   by Wes Scoop Nisker
   Drawing on the latest developments in evolutionary biology and deep-ecology, from writers such as Lynn Margulis and Theodore Roszak, Wes Nisker illustrates Buddhist teachings of the interconnectedness of all things.

10. Art of Happiness: A Handbook for Living
    by His Holiness the Dalai Lama
    Why do we suffer? How should we deal with unfairness and anger? How do you handle the death of a loved one? These are the conundrums that psychiatrist Howard Cutler poses to the Dalai Lama during an extended period of interviews.

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