One Breath at a Time: Buddhism and the Twelve Steps

235 Pages·2018·2.2 MB·English

by  Kevin Griffin

“In a wise and honest way, Kevin Griffin has written a book that is truly helpful
to Buddhist practitioners and the Twelve Step community alike. I am grateful
that he brings together these two traditions so skillfully.”
—JACK KORNFIELD, author of A Path with Heart and After the Ecstasy, the Laundry
“A Buddhist goes through the Twelve Steps to find God within. A book of
compassion and grace.”
—STEPHEN AND ONDREA LEVINE, authors of A Year to Live and Turning Toward the Mystery
“This is the book modern Dharma libraries have been waiting for! A wonderful
and thorough presentation of the essence of what the Buddha taught and
instructions for meditation practice spoken in the idiom of Twelve Steps and in
the voice of a gifted narrator. The shared message of the possibility of freedom
rings clearly from every page.”
—SYLVIA BOORSTEIN, author of It’s Easier Than You Think and Pay Attention, for Goodness’ Sake
“One Breath at a Time is a brilliant merging of Buddhist insights with those of
the Twelve Step program. This fine book will be of great benefit to all who are
recovering from something, and who isn’t?”
—WES NISKER, founder/editor of the Buddhist journal Inquiring Mind and author of The Big Bang, the
Buddha, and the Baby Boom
“This is a brave book, heartwarming and clear. It is a groundbreaking coming
together of the Twelve Step program with the Buddhist teaching in a way that is
practical, personal, and liberating.”
—SHARON SALZBERG, author of Lovingkindness: The Revolutionary Art of Happiness and Faith:
Trusting Your Own Deepest Experience
To RG and GLG. It’s with the two of you that I find my deepest comfort. I send
you every bit of my love.
CONTENTS
FOREWORD
PREFACE
INTRODUCTION
PART ONE
SURRENDER
STEP ONE
“We admitted we were powerless over alcohol; that our lives had become unmanageable.”
MEDITATION EXERCISE: VIPASSANA
STEP TWO
“Came to believe that a power greater than ourselves could restore us to sanity.”
STEP THREE
“Made a decision to turn our will and our lives over to the care of God as we understood Him.”
PART TWO
INVESTIGATION AND RESPONSIBILITY
STEP FOUR
“Made a searching and fearless moral inventory of ourselves.”
MEDITATION EXERCISE: NOTING THE HINDRANCES
STEP FIVE
“Admitted to God, to ourselves, and to another human being the exact nature of our wrongs.”
STEP SIX
“Were entirely ready to have God remove all these defects of character.”
STEP SEVEN
“Humbly asked Him to remove our shortcomings.”
STEP EIGHT
“Made a list of all persons we had harmed, and became willing to make amends to them all.”
STEP NINE
“Made direct amends to such people whenever possible, except when to do so would injure them or
others.”
PART THREE
FULFILLMENT
STEP TEN
“Continued to take personal inventory and when we were wrong promptly admitted it.”
STEP ELEVEN
“Sought through prayer and meditation to improve our conscious contact with God as we understood Him,
praying only for knowledge of His will for us and the power to carry that out.”
MEDITATION EXERCISE: CULTIVATING THE WHOLSOME: MUDITA AND KARUNA
STEP TWELVE
“Having had a spiritual awakening as the result of these Steps, we tried to carry this message to other
alcoholics, and to practice these principles in all our affairs.”
BACK TO STEP ONE
AFTERWORD
GRATITUDE AND APPRECIATION
CREDITS
FOREWORD
by WILLIAM ALEXANDER
“Both Buddhism and the Twelve Steps are kept alive, generation to generation
by sincere and deeply committed practitioners . . .” —KEVIN GRIFFIN
Kevin is just such a sincere and deeply committed practitioner. We can all be
grateful to him for his work in this book and his others, and in his workshops
around the world. He is an embodiment of the Bodhisattva vow to put an end to
suffering. He has done so for himself, and, by freely sharing his hard earned
wisdom, he has offered that freedom to us all in this remarkable book.
This book is for addicts of all kinds, in the same vein that the 12 steps are
useful for overcoming a multitude of painful habits of body, speech, and mind.
Mindfulness is not an afterthought, a something else for the recovering
person to add to their recovery toolkit. It is a quality that illuminates and clarifies
the spiritual nature of the undertaking in a way that is truly practical. In the
felicitous phrasing of Thich Nhat Hanh, the two qualities “inter-are.”
Humane, witty, tender, and engrossing, this is both a good stand-alone book
on mindfulness practice and an excellent look at the 12 steps. This is the first
book to meld these two, and seamlessly at that. And it has yet to be surpassed.
Like the book Alcoholics Anonymous, known as The Big Book, which first
posited the twelve steps and twelve traditions as a way out of suffering, One
Breath at a Time changes with every reading. I first read it when I was 22 years
sober. Now, many years later, on rereading, I find a new depth and a vivid
richness. The book hasn’t changed. But my mind has, due in no small part to
mindfulness practice.
There is no grandiosity here, no new age assumption of cosmic specialness.
In fact, Kevin warns practitioners and recovering people of becoming over-
zealous, of becoming too excitable and missing the “mystery, the joy, the
gratitude and bright attention”. Here is the voice of the bemused elder and the
lighthearted beginner, all in one.
Kevin evidences deep knowledge and enviable authority in his work. But he
brings to this book and to his workshops two rare qualities that spotlight the