AT HELL’S GATE(ISBN=) 英文原版

　　In this raw and moving memoir, Claude Thomas describes his
service in Vietnam, his subsequent emotional collapse, and his
remarkable journey toward healing. At Hell’s Gate is not only a
gripping coming-of-age story but a spiritual travelogue from the
horrors of combat to the discovery of inner peace—a journey that
inspired Thomas to become a Zen monk and peace activist who travels
to war-scarred regions around the world. “Everyone has their
Vietnam,” Thomas writes. “Everyone has their own experience of
violence, calamity, or trauma.” With simplicity and power, this
book offers timeless teachings on how we can all find healing, and
it presents practical guidance on how mindfulness and compassion
can transform our lives.
　　This expanded paperback edition features:
　　Discussion questions for reading groups
　　A new afterword by the author reflecting on how the current wars
in Iraq and Afghanistan are affecting soldiers—and offering advice
on how to help returning soldiers to cope with their combat
experiences

　　Claude Anshin Thomas went to Vietnam at the age of eighteen,
where he received numerous awards and decorations, including
twenty-seven Air Medals, a Distinguished Flying Cross, and the
Purple Heart. Today he is a monk in the Soto Zen tradition and an
active speaker and Zen teacher in the United States and Europe. He
is also the founder of the Zaltho Foundation, a nonprofit
organization that promotes peace and nonviolence (www.zaltho.org).
This is his first book.

　　”Thomas’s presentation of this difficult experience is
searingly honest.”—Shambhala Sun
　　”This gripping spiritual memoir bears witness to the transforming
meditation and mindfulness in the life of a Vietnam
Veteran.”—Spirituality and Health
　　”Let me start by simply recommending that you buy, read, and
think about Claude Anshin Thomas’s book, At Hell’s Gate. It was a
long time coming but worth the wait, especially in this time of war
and rampant violence.”—Turning Wheel
　　”What gives Thomas’s perspective so much weight is that it
carries the rare and undeniable authority of one who has seen
firsthand the extremes of both good and evil that lie in the human
soul.”—What Is Enlightenment?
　　”This is a book of great power. Thomas’s story has the power to
heal, to inspire, to teach.”—John Laurence, former CBS News
correspondent and author of The Cat from Hué: A Vietnam War
Story
　　”A powerful, wise, and genuinely profound spiritual odyssey from
the insanity of violence (in the world, within ourselves, and in
the assumptions of American culture) to the peace and compassion of
mindfulness practice. Thomas beautifully models Zen teachings in
his daily life, and by doing so he enlightens and liberates us
all.”—Charles Johnson, winner of the National Book Award for Middle
Passage
　　”Claude Anshin Thomas has been an inspiration to me. Our world
urgently needs to listen to him tell of his life in war and then in
peace.”—Maxine Hong Kingston, author of The Woman Warrior
　　”In these strange times, when fear and aggression often seem to
be the only responses we can imagine to a perceived threat, this
powerful book provides an honest, open-hearted, and very moving
testimony to the power of Buddhist practice to break this cycle.
Thomas is a hero in the truest sense of the word: having undergone
an epic trial, he has generously come back to help others in
need.”—George Saunders, author of Pastoralia and CivilWarLand in
Bad Decline
　　”Thomas’s journey from the killing fields of Vietnam to the path
of peace and pilgrimage testifies to his—and our—powerful urge to
awaken. At the same time, this is not a pretty story. Anshin Thomas
has lived in hell, knows its smell and taste, and continues to
confront it every day of his life. Yet he remains undeterred in his
work to make peace in himself and the world at large.”—Bernie
Glassman, author of Instructions to the Cook and Bearing
Witness