A Burning Desire
Dharma God & The Path of Recovery
By Kevin Griffin
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A Burning Desire is a gift for those who struggle with the Twelve Step program’s focus on the need to surrender to a Higher Power. Taking a radical departure from traditional views of God, Western or Eastern, author Kevin Griffin neither accepts Christian beliefs in a Supreme Being nor Buddhist non-theism, but rather forges a refreshing, sensible, and accessible Middle Way.
Griffin shows how the Dharma, the teachings of the Buddha, can be understood as a Higher Power. Karma, mindfulness, impermanence, and the Eightfold Path itself are revealed as powerful forces that can be accessed through meditation and inquiry.
Drawing from his own experiences with substance abuse, rehabilitation, and recovery, Griffin looks at the various ways that meditation and spiritual practices helped deepen his experience of sobriety. His personal story of addiction is not only raw, honest and engrossing, but guides readers to an inquiry of their own spirituality.
In doing so, he poses profound questions, including:
• How can I understand God from a Buddhist perspective?
• How can I “turn my will and my life over” as a Buddhist?
• How can this idea of God “remove my shortcomings”?
• How do I learn this God’s “will”?
About the author
Kevin Griffin is the author of the seminal 2004 book One Breath at a Time: Buddhism and the Twelve Steps. He has been practicing Buddhist meditation for three decades and has been in recovery since 1985. He’s been a meditation teacher for almost 15 years. His teacher training was at Spirit Rock Meditation Center, where he currently leads Dharma and Recovery classes.
Kevin teaches nationally in Buddhist centers, treatment centers, professional conferences, and academic settings. He has worked as a consultant on NIH studies of mindfulness and taught meditation in prisons and homeless shelters. He specializes in helping people in recovery connect with meditation and a progressive understanding of the 12 Steps. His events range from evening classes, to daylong workshops and residential retreats.
Kevin grew up in Bethlehem, Pennsylvania, the youngest of five brothers. He dropped out of high school in the late ’60s to pursue a career as a rock guitarist. In his 20s he lived in New England and played the club circuit until moving to LA in 1979 with an Afrobeat band called Zzebra. There Kevin found Buddhism and began to explore the spiritual life. After getting sober, he returned to school, earning his B.A. from U.C. Berkeley and M.F.A. in Creative Writing from U.C. Irvine. He is a published songwriter and unpublished novelist.
He now divides his time between writing, teaching, and family life with his wife and daughter. He still plays and writes music and is currently recording a CD of Dharma-related rock songs.
For more information, visit: www.KevinGriffin.net