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Summary:
In undertaking a spiritual life, we must make certain that our path is connected with our heart, according to author and Buddhist monk Jack Kornfield. Since 1974 (long before it gained popularity in the 1990s), Kornfield has been teaching westerners how to integrate Eastern teaching into their daily lives. Through generous storytelling and unmitigated warmth, Kornfield offers this excellent guidebook on living with attentiveness, meditation, and full-tilt compassion.
Part of what makes this book so accessible is Kornfield's use of everyday metaphors to describe the elusive lessons of spiritual transformation. For example, he opens with "the one seat" lesson taught to him by his esteemed teacher. Literally it means sitting in the center of a room and not being swayed or moved by all the people and dramas happening around you. On a spiritual level it means sticking "with one practice and teacher among all of the possibilities," writes Kornfield; "inwardly it means having the determination to stick with that practice through whatever difficulties and doubts arise until you have come to true clarity and understanding." The same could be said for this "one book." Among all the spiritual self-help books, this is a classic worth sticking with and returning to--a highly approachable teacher that can only lead to greater clarity and understanding. --Gail Hudson
Customer Reviews:
Average Customer Rating:
Velvet Glove
Customer Rating:
Kornfield's book is so soft-touch that it's very easy to miss just how hardcore and no-nonsense a practice he describes and advocates, and just how pragmatic it is.
So Many Words
Customer Rating:
For some reason psychotherapy and Buddhism mixed together seem to create joyless writers. This is no exception.
Here is a lawyer joke. Lawyer tells his client, "I can write a 10 page opinion for 2 thousand dollars or a 2 page opinion for 10 thousand dollars. Which do you want?" We have the 10 page version.
Beware of authors who use their own quotes to begin each chapter. We are not talking modest. Why in the world would I want to read a quote as the kickoff of each chapter taken from the chapter itself? Perhaps the next edition will come underlined by the author.
There are many other books that cover the same ground with more wit, more depth and fewer words. Seek them out.
Excellent book
Customer Rating:
I found this book to be very helpful in approaching Buddhism generally and Buddhist meditation specifically. I learned a lot about what to expect out of any Buddhist practice as well as pitfalls. So why not 5 stars? Well, as an atheist I find certain things a little difficult to accept: rebirth and karma as an example.
I doubt it will survive as a 'Classic'.
Customer Rating:
While it is very 'pragmatic', I think this will be it's downfall. All the mystery is replaced with how 'meditation' will be such an aid in making one righteous. EMPTINESS and NO-SELF (rather wondrous buddhist teachings) are treated, in my opinion, to a very one-sided interpretation. Only those taken with 'sitting' will find this book inspiring.
Here's a sample: 'As our development of self grows and our heart becomes less entangled, we begin to discover a deeper truth about self. We do not have to improve ourselves; we just have to let go or what blocks our heart.' (pg. 209)
This sounds rather too psychological for me. If its psychology we're advocating (very pragmatic) then lets call a spade a spade. Aren't we merely using 'meditation' to work on ourselves? Oh, and all those 'paradoxical' buddhist terms really are nothing more then the way Easterners talk about what we call psychology, only they use 'meditation' instead of a couch! It's ok if one feels that way, however, that may obscure things that don't fit that profile. The real danger here.
"Wishing to get out of birth and death, wishing to attain release, you try to become unified; but one does not attain unification after becoming homogenized. If you try to make yourself unified, you will certainly not attain unification." Chan Master Foyan (1067-1120)
Important, comprehensive, and beautiful book
Customer Rating:
This book is inspiring. Kornfield makes many important points, the most central being: does your path have a heart? I understand this to mean: reflect on what is most valuable to you in life. Read about the experiences of people near death and what they consider to be the best parts of their lives. Then ask yourself: is your path leading you to this valuable center of living?
Jack is excellent at describing the perils of spiritual striving: the ways that by striving to attain some fixed notion of "spirituality" that we actually increase our self-divisions and compartmentalization. I agree with him that working closely with a healer (which could be a psychotherapist, or could be someone with a different title) is necessary to resolve stuck family karma and to see into our blind spots.
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