YOU DON'T HAVE TO SIT ON THE FLOOR: Making Buddhism Part of Your Everyday Life, by Jim Pym. Berkley: Seastone, 2002, 185 pp. (BQ724. P95).

A friend of the author, half jokingly, said: I couldn't possibly be a Buddhist. I can't sit on the floor." (p. x) After all, Buddhism came to the West wrapped in Eastern culture. The question prompted Jim Pym to reflect on Buddhism in the West. Pym, a child of the West, reared as a Roman Catholic, became a Buddhist priest. With a background of several years in both faiths, the author believes Christianity and Buddhism have much to offer each other, without violating either tradition.

It has been suggested that the author, 40 years a Buddhist, is an advocate of a "Christianized" version of Buddhism. He believes the meditative practices of Buddhism can enhance the ChristianÕs spiritual journey. Pym sees the Dharma, the essential teaching of the Buddha, as universal.

Buddhism has been viewed by many to be a religion that has no place for God. This is another reason one might say, "I couldn't be a Buddhist." However, Pym believes one can believe in God, and also be a Buddhist, listing many famous Buddhists who are "not bothered by the word, and have used it freely though in their own way." (p. 137).

Addressed to both Christians and Buddhists, YOU DON'T HAVE TO SIT ON THE FLOOR was written to enrich the everyday lives of adherents of both faiths. The Glossary, pp, 171-174, can be especially helpful to Christians with little or no experience in Buddhism.