What if joy isn't a destination-but your default? A Buddhist Path to Joy, an expanded edition of The New Middle Way, is a warm, practical guide to living Buddhism in real life-without gatekeeping, perfectionism, or getting lost in jargon. Mel Pine offers a fresh middle way between over-secularized mindfulness and ossified tradition, so regular folks can actually wake up.

Inside you'll find:

• Simple practices you'll actually do: 2-10 minute meditations, metta, awareness of mind
• Grown-up ethics: skillful, flexible precepts that reduce harm (no moral grandstanding)
• Clear guidance on teachers and sanghas-with real-world red-flag radar
• A Rimé (nonsectarian) spirit: go deep in one path, stay open to others
• A friendly take on Pure Land, chanting, and deity practice-no litmus tests
• Science-meets-spirit curiosity (quantum strangeness, mind-first models, even AI)
• Lived wisdom: trauma, loss, aging, and returning to joy-again and again

You'll learn to:

• "Pull out the arrows" of needless suffering-here and now
• Rest in awareness and make friends with your mind
• Act from compassion with confidence ("vajra pride")-not self-importance
• Be "enlightened enough for where you are"

If you've ever thought, "There has to be a saner way," this book hands you the compass. One breath. One kinder choice. One moment of awareness. And then another. For seekers, skeptics, and seasoned practitioners ready for a grounded, open, human path to joy.