The Calm Buddha at Bedtime: 18 Mindful Stories to Inspire Peace, Calmness, and Empathy Before Bed

by Dharmachari Nagaraja

Growing up in the modern world, our children have to cope with an ever-increasing amount of stress, which can feel worrying to both them and us. The ancient wisdom of Buddhism, with its emphasis on peace, mindfulness and compassion, is the ideal basis for helping any child face these challenges with inner confidence and calm. Building on the age-old art of storytelling, this beautiful book retells 18 ancient Buddhist tales in a way that is thoroughly fun and accessible to children. Featuring original, full-page illustrations, the stories will transport children into imaginary worlds of enlightenment and discovery. Here, they will meet all sorts of delightful characters and discover easy-to-understand Buddhist messages that will empower them to think about how they can apply values such as patience, honesty, authenticity and generosity in their own lives. Designed either to be read aloud by parents to their 4–8 year olds or to be read by the older age range on their own, these compelling narratives help to focus and calm the mind, providing a soothing transition into sleep. And the selection of gentle mindfulness meditations at the end provides an extra practical dimension that can be used at any time to help enhance a sense of a calm and contentment.

Genres: Childrens, Buddhism, Picture Books

129 pages, Kindle Edition

Published November 14, 2017

About the author

Dharmachari Nagaraja regularly presents BBC Radio 2’s "Pause for Thought with Terry Wogan," and has appeared on BBC 1’s "Heaven and Earth" programme. A practising Buddhist for nearly 20 years, he formerly ran the Covent Garden Meditation Centre in London. He is currently involved with the Glasgow Buddhist Centre, where he works as a psychotherapist.

Reviews

[☘Tara Sheehan☘ · Rating 5 out of 5]

An excellent collection of stories perfect for kids will teach them compassion and wisdom which will generate wonderful thoughts to drift off to as they crawl into bed.

The story lengths are adequate to teach a positive lesson and get it across in a simple manner so they can understand without having to go into long, drawn out explanations but are still short enough they can be easily done with you sitting by their side trying to get them to sleep.

I’ve read and reviewed quite a few story collections over 2017 but surprisingly this is the first time I was unable to find a story that I didn’t like – a complete surprise as there always seems to be a few that missed the mark with me. I truly enjoyed reading these with my kids and even continuing our discussions over breakfast the next day or on the car ride to school so the positivity we started the night before was stretched long into the following day.

My girls are still young and at an age when bullying is in its primitive form so trying to teach them compassion and kindness will hopefully spread its way through to their friends and others.

I liked the meditations as they were easy to follow and helped teach all of us new ways to calm ourselves whether it’s because we’re trying to get ready for bed or deal with a stressful situation.

I highly recommend this book as it is so much more than just another way to get your kids to sleep, it’s about changing your overall life outlook.

[Suresh]

I enjoyed the stories and liveliness. I just didn't finish them all.

[Rachel · Rating 4 out of 5]

*thank you to Watkins Publishers and Netgalley for a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review*

4 stars.
This collection of short stories about wisdom, compassion and mindfulness for children, is just excellent! Each story is short enough for easy bedtime reading, but long enough to get a positive message across. I tend to find that with short story books, there are always some stories that I dont particularly care for. Except this book is the exception. I enjoyed each and every story and found myself looking forward to learning what hidden message each one contained. The messages at the ends of each story are very good. Its so easy to forget things like basic kindness and how to treat others if they have wronged you. This makes it a very good book choice for children based on the life lessons. There is more in this book though than just wonderful stories. At the end we are presented with 3 guided mindfulness meditations that are easy to follow. A wonderful thing to get children (and adults) to learn to do as I believe its very beneficial in life to know how to calm and relax yourself.

[Eve Costarelli · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is a lovely collection of read aloud stories on instilling wisdom, compassion and mindfulness into ours and our children's lives and by using the age old art of story telling, these stories make it very easy to bring these qualities to children. The short tale with morals empower children to take these teachings into the world by learning about patience, honesty and trust.
At the back of the book, there is a section of very sweet and simple mindful meditation scripts that can be used to enhance the teachings of the stories. The index makes it very easy to find themes that work in with what you are teaching.
This is a wonderful book that opens the hearts and minds of all who share them. I highly recommend these calming and enlightening stories.

[Tena · Rating 5 out of 5]

I won this in a GOODREADS giveaway. A wonderfully detailed and colorfully illustrated book. The stories are vibrant and fun, making it a pleasure to learn the lessons presented. This book is specifically designed for the "adult reader with child as listener" dynamic in mind. This created the only downside I encountered: due to the wonderful instruction/advice at the beginning, the first story starts a few pages in. My suggestion is to get some fun BOOKMARKS so when the child wants to try to read this on their own, they can flip right to their favorites of the stories! And they will want to! This book is going to not only encourage shared reading, but independent reading, as well. Bravo!

[Audrey Stars in Her Eye · Rating 2 out of 5]

I received an ARC from NetGalley; all reviews are my own. Unfortunately, this arc did not come with the illustrations and I feel that rally hurt my opinion the book.
This contains cute fables with Buddhist wisdom summarized in the end. Though this were great teaching stories, I wasn't sure how they truly meant to calm even though each story stats with take a deep breath.
I did enjoy the mediation exercises. They are simple and seem to lead more towards sleep than the stories did.
While there is nothing wrong with the bedtimes stories, there is nothing that makes them stick out.

[Karen · Rating 4 out of 5]

I purchased this book to share with my grandchildren and I am glad I did! They have loved the stories we have read and the conversations we have had about the stories. At first, I thought the stories might be too elementary for them, but they were just right! My ten-old granddaughter loved to read Hotei's words of guidance and wisdom at the end of each story. The guided meditations at the end of the book are excellent for children.

[Kathy Duffy · Rating 2 out of 5]

These are modernized version of the Jakata tales, the early buddhist teaching stories that stretch back to the 4th century BC . They are designed for today's children so the stories have changed significantly. I guess I was looking for the more original Jakata tales.

[Ron Turner · Rating 5 out of 5]

I really loved the idea behind this. A collection of cute stories that teach wisdom, compassion and thoughtfulness. Remember when those were taught to kids, how to be a good person? We've lost that.

[Darlene · Rating 2 out of 5]

I love the 1st book, "Buddha at Bedtime". This one is very different and really Bebe and I like it very little.

[Deborah Martin · Rating 5 out of 5]

Great story time for kids

Both the kids and I enjoyed our nightly stories with a lesson to learn. It is a great routine to develop with children.

[Jessica Sanders · Rating 5 out of 5]

Great bedtime stories

[Wayne Falgout · Rating 5 out of 5]

The author shares wonderful stories wife Life-Lessons intertwined within the pages of this enjoyable bed time story book. The stories are not long, which makes it perfect for bedtime. Included in the book is information for parents on the basic background of Buddhism and it's teachings. There is also a section on meditation and mindfulness, which as the author explains is perfect for calming the mind at the end of the day.

[Amber Webb · Rating 4 out of 5]

A lovely book for families or classrooms to use at bedtime or rest. I enjoyed the qualities it instilled.

[Sammm]

A digitized ARC of this book was provided by the publisher via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.