"Buddhist teacher Cuong Lu opens Wait: A Love Letter to Those in Despair with his memory of witnessing a man being shot as he and his family left Vietnam. The experience opened him up to the violence in the world, and to the suffering at the heart of the violence and the individuals who perpetrate it. Lu emphasizes that hatred and anger do not just lead to actions that harm others; they harm people who cause violence as well. Wait is short, but powerful and provocative throughout. Lu suggests that the way to end violence is to first end violence within the self, and to live with more understanding for others--and for oneself, as "the moment the violence stops, peace is possible."

"Wait is composed of short meditations for chapters with poetry interspersed, and it invites readers to try to experience a new way of living by understanding themselves as not alone, but part of a much greater world and society. Lu does not ask his readers to ignore pain and suffering but instead to see how suffering can open the individual to a more connected existence, in celebration of the connection life has to offer. This book is a gift for a new year, an inspiration to take the hardships of 2020 and not recast them, but use those moments of pain, and others, to find renewal through individual experiences of despair. Most importantly, Lu offers, to those who need it, the knowledge that pain and despair are not the end, but there can be something waiting on the other side." – Michelle Anya Ạnirbag, freelance reviewer."

"Discover: Buddhist teacher Cuong Lu draws upon his own life experience carefully and gently to help readers interrupt and disrupt their own cycles of pain and violence."