An Open Heart: Practicing Compassion in Everyday Life [FIRST EDITION, FIRST PRINTING]

Dalai Lama

Verlag: Little, Brown and Company, Boston, Massachusetts, 2001

Beschreibung

As new condition gold boards with gold spine lettering contained in an as new condition non price-clipped color photographic dust jacket. Includes Foreword by Nicholas Vreeland; Afterword: Khyongla Rato and Richard Gere; and Photo Credits. Illustrated with black-and-white photographs and drawings. "It is my hope that the reader of this small book will take away a basic understanding of Buddhism and some of the key methods by which Buddhist practitiners have cultivated compassion and wisdom in their lives. The methods discussed have been taken from three sacred texts of Buddhism. I would like to stress at the outset, however, that one doesn't have to be a Buddhist to make use of these meditation techniques. Meditation is merely the process whereby we gain control over the mind and guide it in a more virtuous direction. Meditation may also be thought of as a technique by which we diminish the force of old thought habits and develop new ones. Yet the techniques themselves do not lead to enlightenment or a compassionate and open heart. That is up to you, and the effort and motivation you bring to your spiritual practice." - The Dalai Lama, from the rear outer jacket. "Compassion - sympathy for the suffering of others and the desire to free them from it - is wrestled with in all spiritual traditions. Yet how does one actually become a compassionate person? What are the mechanisms by which a selfish heart is transformed into a generous heart? When His Holiness the Dalai Lama came to New York City in 1999, he spike simply and powerfully on the everyday Buddhist practice of compassion. Weaving together the contents of three sacred texts - one by the eighth-century Indian master Kamalashila, another by the fourteenth century Tibetan Togmay Sangpo, and a third by the eleventh-century sage Langri Tangpa - His Holiness showed that the path to compassion is a series of meditations. An Open Heart lays out this course of meditation, from the simplest to the most challenging, describing the mental training techniques that will enable anyone of any faith to change their minds and open their hearts. In this book the path begins with simple and clear ruminations on the advantages of a virtuous life and moves on to practices that can temper destructive and impulsive emotions. Such practices can be undertaken at odd moments of the day, at once transforming the aimless or anxious mind into a disciplined and open mind. Gradually, the book introduces the more challenging and sustained meditation practices. In these meditations the deepest and most profound insights of Buddhist practice become part of one's way of knowing and experiencing the world. An Open Heart is a clear and simple introduction to the Buddhist path to enlightenment, by its greatest teacher, His Holiness the Dalai Lama." - from the inner front and rear jacket flaps. Bestandsnummer des Verkäufers 007694

Bibliografische Details

Titel: An Open Heart: Practicing Compassion in ...

Verlag: Little, Brown and Company, Boston, Massachusetts

Erscheinungsdatum: 2001

Einband: Hardcover

Illustrator: Avedon, Elizabeth Paul (jacket design); Arrowsmith, Clive (front jacket photograph); Gere, Richard (back jacket photograph)

Zustand: As New

Zustand des Schutzumschlags: As New

Auflage: 1st Edition