Start your path toward happiness and inner peace with the essential guide to Buddhism from bestselling author Franz Metcalf.

Written for spiritual seekers who deal with unenlightened coworkers and inconsiderate bank tellers more often than Zen masters and Tibetan monks, this book demonstrates the practical side of Buddhism.

Author Franz Metcalf shows how to weave simple vows, quick rethinks, instant relaxations, fast visualizations, and many other stripped-down Buddhist practices into every area of life. Individually, Metcalf's techniques work as quick fixes for specific dilemmas, but woven together, they gradually strengthen one's spiritual base when one day a habitual way of being has been quietly transformed.

While not written to impress pure Buddhists, this book takes Buddhism seriously. Approachable sections on Buddhism's rich tradition and a sprinkling of quotes from ancient scripture and contemporary teachers connect the book's practices to the deeper wisdom underlying them.

Always, Just Add Buddha remains squarely focused on daily life, drawing out the most practical aspects of Buddhism.

Franz Metcalf did his Masters work at the Graduate Theological Union in Berkeley, CA, and received a doctorate from the University of Chicago with a dissertation on the question, "Why Do Americans Practice Zen Buddhism?" He continues to study psychological development and American Buddhism, and is a contributor to Buddhist Spirituality as well as several scholarly journals. He currently works with the Forge Institute for Spirituality and Social Change, serves on the steering committee of the person, culture and religion group of the American Academy of Religion, and teaches at California State University Los Angeles.