Grade level: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, p, e, i, s, t.

Can a meditative practice assist and promote the healing relationship between psychotherapist and patient? The notable contributors to this practical book draw on a wide range of Eastern and Western disciplines—psychoanalysis, Gestalt, Aikido, and various Christian, Hindu, and Buddhist contemplative traditions—to show that it can. What they propose is a meeting between the Western psychotherapeutic approach—grounded in working with the personal problems and the need to carve out a strong awareness of self—and Eastern tradition, which emphasizes a larger kind of awareness and equanimity as a continuously available source of clarity and health for those who know how to find it. They show that joining psychotherapy with meditation can mutually awaken the hearts of both therapist and client, sparking them both to open more fully. Jacob Needleman, Erich Fromm, Robin Skynner, Ram Dass, Karl Sperber, Roger Walsh, Chögyam Trungpa, and Thomas Hora are among the contributors.

A comprehensive, single-volume collection of the Buddha’s key sutras, translated with contemporary commentary by an internationally known Zen master An essential companion to Thich Nhat Hanh’s bestselling collection of meditation and mindfulness practices, Happiness, this book captures the heart of Buddhist wisdom and Thich Nhat Hanh’s unique talent to make the Buddha’s teachings accessible and applicable to our daily lives and times. This is a wonderful gift for anyone looking to deepen their practice and understanding of the teachings, as well as a unique resource to understand the fundamentals of Buddhism from its source. With a new introduction and updated commentary, Awakening of the Heart contains the following sutras: • Prajnaparamita Heart Sutra • Diamond Sutra • Sutra on Full Awareness of Breathing • Sutra on The Four Establishments of Mindfulness • Sutra on The Better Way to Catch A Snake • Sutra on The Better Way to Live Alone • Sutra on The Eight Realizations of The Great Beings • Discourse on Happiness • Teachings on the Middle Way

Everyone appreciates kindness. A smile, a few friendly words, a show of concern when we're troubled or feeling unwell, an offer of help - gestures of kindness like these brighten our day and ease whatever sadness we may feel in our hearts. Feeling that "someone cares" fulfills a very deep need that we all have. And just as we appreciate other people being kind to us, others appreciate it when we are kind to them. That is why it is important to learn to be kind, because it will help make our relationships and interactions with others more satisfying and less problematic. But it's not always easy to be kind. Sometimes our hearts are filled with anger, jealousy, or pride, and being kind is the last thing we feel like doing. Or we get so caught up in our work and responsibilities that we find no time to think of others and their needs, no time to be kind and gentle. However, these problems can be remedied. The Buddhist tradition offers a wealth of methods that can be used to overcome whatever prevents us from being kind and gentle. Some of these methods are explored and explained in this book - in a way that will allow you to practice them in your daily life. Awakening the Kind Heart offers powerful and inviting meditation techniques to activate the heart of kindness within us all - a modern and motivating interpretation of traditional and powerful practices.

I invite you to come on a journey with me into one of the most important, yet often most neglected dimension of yourself, namely your heart. I want to help you discover, as I have slowly been discovering, that our hearts not only hold the key to our being able to live a fuller and more meaningful life, but also to our being able to play a part in helping heal our planet.' The change needed is a shift out of our primarily head-focus into becoming increasingly heart-centred, where we are connected to our hearts and are potentially capable of moving mountains. We are only going to be good activists if we have plenty of heart in our lives - if we are big hearted with a well-activated Heart. A culture of Heart is vital if we are to heal the many wounds and splits that exist between different classes, religions, tribes and nations. The book has been written from a place of great hope and joy, based on knowledge that our world is changing and that the planetary heart is at last awakening.

The revered Buddhist teacher and author of When Things Fall Apart presents the lojong teachings—pithy slogans for daily contemplation—and the ways in which they can enrich our lives Welcome compassion and fearlessness as your guide, and you’ll live wisely and effectively in good times and bad. But that’s easier said than done. In The Compassion Book, Pema Chödrön introduces a powerful, transformative method to nurture these qualities using a practice called lojong, which has been a primary focus of her teachings and personal practice for many years. For centuries, Tibetan Buddhists have relied on these teachings to awaken the deep goodness that lies within us. The lojong teachings include fifty-nine pithy slogans for daily contemplation, such as “Always maintain only a joyful mind,” “Don’t be swayed by external circumstances,” “Don’t try to be the fastest,” and “Be grateful to everyone.” This book presents each of these slogans and includes Pema’s clear, succinct guidance on how to understand them—and how they can enrich our lives. It also features a forty-five-minute downloadable audio program entitled “Opening the Heart,” in which Pema offers in-depth instruction on tonglen meditation, a powerful practice that anyone can undertake to awaken compassion for oneself and others.