Who Is My Self?

I've enjoyed Leigh Brasington's books so much that I thought I would read something from his teacher Ayya Khema.  With Who Is My Self? though, Khema tries to do something that I think Brasington wisely avoided -- trying to outline the entire path in a single short book.  While this type of overview of the Buddha's teaching is both interesting and useful (eg. In The Buddha's Words) I've heard enough of it now that it no longer offers more than repetition and reinforcement.  Since the path has to be continually cultivated, I hardly cause for turning this observation into complaint.  Who Is My Self? is a fine book that I quite enjoyed.  But because it's a survey, it's not terribly distinctive in my mind.  And if I want to explore some of the themes it addresses -- jhanas, not-self, path-moments -- in greater depth, I would reach for other, more specialized, writing.  So I have doubts that I would ever come back to this one.

The most interesting aspect of the book is the way she structures it around the exegesis of a single sutta: the Potthapada Sutta.  This long discourse summarizes the entirety of the gradual training, beginning with morality and guarding the senses, and progressing through the jhanas towards insight into the three charateristics.  Khema reads through and comments on each aspect of the sutta, loosely translating it into her own words and converting it into a sort of meditation manual.  Like I say, it's a fine introduction to meditation if that's what you're looking for.