Love, Marriage & Relationships: The Buddha Next Door

EL CERRITO, Calif. - Nov. 12, 2015 - PRLog -- So many men and women long for that perfect match - the perfect partner and love of their dreams. They go to great lengths to find that person; and even when they believe they have found Mr. Right or Ms. Wonderful, often their perfect world later comes unraveled, leading to deep and unexpected suffering.

Marriage is another minefield of broken hearts.

What is the key to relationships?

In a new series of talks, author and speaker James Hilgendorf delves into the deeper aspects of relationships in general, with insights gained from his marriage of forty-four years and his practice of Soka Gakkai Buddhism.

Today, he and his wife Elizabeth celebrate a very happy marriage, but it was not always so.  They met while living next door to each other in a boarding house in Boulder, Colorado.  Both of their lives were in a state of disarray.  The story of their marriage, its struggles and gradual transformation, is set against the deeper, karmic patterns underlying their relationship.  Buddhism, as Hilgendorf relates, provided the means of positively transforming those patterns, and, as a result, his marriage.

Both Hilgendorf and his wife have been practicing Buddhism for forty-three years with the Soka Gakkai International, the largest Buddhist lay organization in the world now, with 12,000,000 members in 192 countries and territories around the globe.

Hilgendorf is a speaker, filmmaker, and the author of ten non-fiction books, including “Forever Here”, a collection of short pieces about love, life and death, and the treasures of the heart.

Of another of his books, “Life & Death: A Buddhist Perspective”, two reviewers wrote:

“If I were to teach a basic college-level course in religion, philosophy, or metaphysics - call it Spirituality 101 - this book would be required reading.  In fact, it would be the first week’s assignment.  Having read all or parts of nearly a thousand books dealing with spiritual matters, I cannot recall another that so simply and effectively blends the fundamentals of religion and science.” - Michael E. Tymn, Journal of Religion and Psychical Research.

“A must-read!  I am serious when I say that reading James Hilgendorf’s ‘Life & Death: A Buddhist Perspective’ was a life-changing experience.  It has changed the way I will live the rest of my life.” - Lisbeth Gant-Britton, author of “African American History” and UCLA adjunct professor in African-American Studies.

James Hilgendorf is available as a speaker for small or large groups and organizations worldwide, either in person or via Skype.  For more information on the author and his books, visit his website at: http://www.jameshilgendorf.org