Synopses & Reviews
Strengthening, calming, and stabilizing the mind is the essential first step in accomplishing nearly any goal. Growing up American with a Tibetan twist, Sakyong Mipham talks to Westerners as no one can: in idiomatic English with stories and wisdom from American culture and the great Buddhist teachers. Turning the Mind Into an Ally makes it possible for anyone to achieve peace and clarity in their lives.
Review
"With enchanting beauty and extraordinary clarity, Turning the Mind into an Ally offers profound and timely teachings." Tulku Thondup, bestselling author of The Healing Power of the Mind
Review
"That his teachings are finally available to a wider audience is wonderful. That they will benefit all who read them, I have no doubt. I am glad that many more people will now be able to experience the clear and precise wisdom of my heart friend and precious teacher." from the foreword by Pema Chodron
Review
"With warmhearted clarity and wise simplicity, Sakyong Mipham offers some of the best advice you can find for establishing and sustaining a strong, dedicated, and genuinely transformative meditation practice." Jack Kornfield, author of A Path with Heart
Review
"Like Zen Mind, Beginner's Mind, this book addresses the complexities, obstacles, and joys of meditation with the simple and extraordinarily generous voice. It's an amazing guidebook for a beginner, in the sense that one is always a beginner and that the journey never ends." Rudy Wurlitzer, author of Hard Travel to Sacred Places
Review
"This easy read is one of the best of the Buddhism-for-Westerners genre." Publishers Weekly
Review
"In language totally fresh and jargon-free, Sakyong Mipham Rinpoche distills the wisdom of many centuries. Simple as it is profound, his book bears reading many times." Peter Conradi, author of Iris Murdoch: A Life
Review
"Like Zen Mind, Beginner's Mind, this book addresses the complexities, obstacles, and joys of meditation with a simple and extraordinarily generous voice. It's an amazing guidebook for a beginner, in the sense that one is always a beginner and that the journey never ends." Rudy Wurlitzer, author of the screenplay The Little Buddha
Synopsis
Strengthening, calming, and stabilizing the mind is the essential first step in accomplishing nearly any goal. Growing up American with a Tibetan twist, Sakyong Mipham talks to Westerners as no one can: in idiomatic English with stories and wisdom from American culture and the great Buddhist teachers. Turning the Mind Into an Ally makes it possible for anyone to achieve peace and clarity in their lives.
About the Author
Sakyong Mipham is one of the most highly respected young incarnate lamas of Tibet. He is the director of Shambhala International, a worldwide organization of more than one hundred meditation and retreat centers. He teaches around the world to thousands, both Western and Asian audiences.
Table of Contents
Turning the Mind Into an Ally Foreward by Pema Ch?dr?n
Preface
One: Why Meditate?
1. The Rock and the Flower
2. Bewilderment and Suffering
3. Peaceful Abiding
Two: The Art of Peacefully Abiding
4. Taking Our Seat
5. Mindfulness and Awareness
6. How to Gather a Scattered Mind
7. The Virtues of Boredom
8. Laziness
9. Forgetting the Instructions
10. Not Too Tight, Not Too Loose
11. Nine Stages of Training the Mind
Three: Turning the Mind Into An Alley
12. Turning the Mind
13. The Joy of Being Human
14. The Unchanging Truth of Change
15. First We Got Old
16. And Then We Die
17. Samsara and Karma
18. Jumping into the Heart of the Buddha
Four: Warrior in the World
19. Rousing Motivation
20. Wisdom and Emptiness
21. Warrior in the World
Appendixes
A. Preparing to Practice
B. The Posture of Meditation
C. Instructions for Contempletive Meditation
Resources