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Summary: "May we lead the life of a warrior."
Review: "I offer this guide on the training of the compassionate warrior," Pema Chodron writes in the Prologue of her newest book. "May it help move us toward the places that scare us. May it inform our lives and help us to die with no regrets" (p. 2). Chodron is a Buddhist nun, and the resident teacher at Gampo Abbey in Nova Scotia. Chogyam Trungpa was her teacher. When Chodron was about six years old, an old woman told her, "Little girl, don't you go letting life harden your heart" (p. 3). Chodron offers this "pith instruction" as the central teaching of her this book. She writes, "we can let the circumstances of our lives harden us so that we become increasingly resentful and afraid, or we can let them soften us and make us kinder and more open to what scares us. We always have this choice" (p. 3).Chodron quotes Albert Einstein, who observed "a human being . . . experiences himself, his thoughts and feelings, as something separate from the rest--a kind of optical delusion of consciousness. This delusion is a kind of prison for us, restricting us to our personal desires and affection for a few persons nearest to us. Our task must be to free ourselves from this prison by widening the circle of understanding and compassion to embrace all living creatures and the whole of nature in its beauty" (p. 9). To escape this prison, Chodron encourages us to live life with an enlightened heart and mind ("bodhichitta"), and by analogy, with the "rawness of a broken heart" (p. 4). "This genuine heart of sadness can teach us great compassion. It can humble us when we're arrogant and soften us when we are unkind. It awakens us when we prefer to sleep and pierces through our indifference. This continual ache of the heart is a blessing that when accepted fully can be shared with all" (p. 4). "Each of us has a variety of habitual tactics for avoiding life as it is" (p. 15), Chodron writes. She teaches us that through the heart practices of sitting meditation (the "natural seat" and "home ground" of bodhichitta training, p. 23), loving-kindness, compassion, tonglen, joy, and equanimity, wherever we are, we can train as a bodhichitta warrior. "Bodhisattva training encourages us to have a passionate involvement with life," Chodron says, "regarding no emotion or action as unworthy of our love and compassion, regarding no person or situation as unacceptable" (p. 115). "Warriors-in-training need someone to guide them," Chodron says, "a master warrior, a teacher, a spiritual friend, someone who knows the territory well and can help them find their way" (p. 113). For some people, reading this book along with Chodron's previous books, START WHERE YOU ARE and WHEN THINGS FALL APART, may be enough. Chodron is a wise teacher. Rather than praising these three books all day, I'll conclude by saying this book is sure to become one of the most trusted dharma resources on my bookshelf. ...G. Merritt
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Summary: She does it again...
Review: All of Pema's books are great. Practical, down to earth, funny, and very honest. No dogma. She is the living essence of compassion. Like another of my favorite authors, James Hillman, she simply invites you to think, try,.. and experience the results. She changed my life.
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Summary: A "How To" book
Review: As a Christian I find my direction in the Christian scriptures but I find this book in the Buddhist tradition a very practical book that helps me identify how to live into the message of love of my own tradition. It is a book not to be read but to be lived. It is a practical guide to becoming free of the fears that keep us from living life more fully and opening our hearts by removing unnecessary protections we have built around them.I have felt spiritually in a rut and this book has made each day become an adventure.
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Summary: Read this book and be less alone.
Review: As a psychotherapist and writer dealing with fear from a psychological perspective (Embracing Fear, HarperSanFrancisco 2002), I am delighted to discover Pema Chodron, an author who both supports and challenges my beliefs from a spiritual point of view. Chodron speaks directly and clearly to our hearts, but never fails to attend to our minds in this thoroughly enjoyable and immensely helpful book. She goes beyond teaching us what it means to be brave; she shows us how to make courage a daily practice. I am especially impressed with what Chodron has to say about the value of moving toward (rather than hiding from) what scares us. She validates what I have experienced --- professionally and personally --- time and again: that fear is a tremendous teacher. And last but certainly not least: if an excellent sense of humor is really a sign of intelligence, this woman is brilliant.
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Summary: Deeply satisfying
Review: Excellent book--heartful advice. Helped me immeasurably! And I'm still using it. The author asks the questions that matter and touches on all those "I must be the only one who feels this way" kind of thinking and behavior. No empty pages of empty words telling the reader the obvious. Right to the point in a gentle humane way. Really opened my eyes!
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Summary: Thank you Pema!
Review: I bought this book out of desperation. I was experiencing emotional turmoil I had never experienced before and could not get a handle on it. This book happened to be featured in one of my on-line news letters and was a God send.
I started to cry within the first 3 pages. It helped me to let go of so much anxiety. I thought I was going crazy because I could not control my emotions. This book was my anchor and helped me to hold on. I have notes written all over my book where her words brought out my own honesty with myself. It was the best therapy I could have had. It helped me identify with myself and understand that it is really OK to be feeling that way. It helped me to get a grip and move on.
I have bought several of Pema Chodron's books since, but none have hit the spot like this one. Thank you Pema!
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Summary: Honesty
Review: I have listened to all of the tapes and cd's that Pema Chodron has put out plus the books but even though the tape set that I have implies that Pema is speaking on the tapes it is actually not her voice or spirit. This should have been stated up front. The reader sounds like she is reading from a script rather than from her heart. Not very helpful! I will get the book. Truthful advertising is very important in any circumstance. Especially in " spiritual" communication. Thanks to Pema anyway.
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Summary: More esoteric than "When Things Fall Apart"
Review: I love Pema Chodron's work. "When Things Fall Apart" has become a bible of sorts for me. I keep reading it over and over again, underlining more of it each time. Her recent "The Places That Scare You" is far less tangible, somewhat more esoteric, more traditional in the sense of feeling more removed from our everyday reality. It just doesn't cut to the bone like her earlier book, didn't speak to me at as deep a level, and certainly didn't provide what I'd hoped for in terms of a continuation of the meaty advice of "When Things Fall Apart." It's more of a rehash of Buddhist thinking and meditation practice than it is a book that grabs you and shakes you to experience your life as deeply as you can.
Rating:
Summary: More esoteric than "When Things Fall Apart"
Review: I love Pema Chodron's work. "When Things Fall Apart" has become a bible of sorts for me. I keep reading it over and over again, underlining more of it each time. Her recent "The Places That Scare You" is far less tangible, somewhat more esoteric, more traditional in the sense of feeling more removed from our everyday reality. It just doesn't cut to the bone like her earlier book, didn't speak to me at as deep a level, and certainly didn't provide what I'd hoped for in terms of a continuation of the meaty advice of "When Things Fall Apart." It's more of a rehash of Buddhist thinking and meditation practice than it is a book that grabs you and shakes you to experience your life as deeply as you can.
Rating:
Summary: Best Book Ever
Review: I've re-read it a hundred times, in whole and in part, since purchasing it at the beginning of 2003. It's tightly written, incisive, cogent, insightful and honest. It's just the best interpretation of Buddhist principles I've read without becoming precious, contrived, gratuitous, academic or overly dramatic. Buy it; it's a keeper.
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