The advice is simple, yet powerful, and often feels confrontational at first. There is no holding back, just a "That's the way it is" underpinning it. Certainly much is in counterpoint to Western social mores. Although the ideas are ancient there is a timelessness that transcends the gaps of cultures and technology.

The book is rich in quotable quotes and sayings, for example:

"Work is love made visible." (What a great quote for parents of teenagers!)

"Your pain is breaking of the shell that encloses your understanding."

"Manage the spaces in your togetherness." (Speaking about marriage)

Speaking of children he explains that our children are with us but do not belong to us. We can strive to be like them but should not seek to overpower them with our ideas of what they should be.

At first, it is not clear what holds all these sayings together. Then the reader begins to feel that it is all about freeing oneself from attachments in every area of life. It can feel like a rock that you can break yourself and your ideas upon without any effect on the rock. As such, if you enjoy personal development, this is a book you may want to reread often to get the most of what it teaches.

This book is an ageless classic that will still be read when other books have long since crumbled. There is a sense of drinking the water from the pure source rather than after it has been through the cattle fields.