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You have within you unlimited capacities for love, for joy, for communion with life, and for unshakable freedom—and here is how to awaken them. In The Wise Heart, one of the leading spiritual teachers of our time offers the most accessible and illuminating guide to Buddhism’s transformational psychology ever published in the West.
Trained as a monk in Thailand, Burma, and India, Jack Kornfield experienced at first hand the life-changing power of Buddhist teachings: the emphasis on the nobility and sacredness of the human spirit, the fine-grained analysis of emotion and thought, the precise techniques for healing, training, and transforming the mind and heart. In contrast to the medical orientation of most Western psychology and psychiatry, here is a vision of radiant human dignity, and a practical path for realizing it in our own lives.
The Wise Heart is the fruit of a life’s work that includes such classics as A Path with Heart and After the Ecstasy, the Laundry. Filled with stories from Kornfield’s Buddhist psychotherapy practice and portraits of remarkable teachers, it also includes a moving account of his own recovery from a violence-filled childhood. For meditators and mental health professionals, Buddhists and non-Buddhists alike, The Wise Heart offers an extraordinary journey from the roots of consciousness to the highest expression of human possibility.
Not His Best Book
| Customer Rating:   | I was disappointed and irked by The Wise Heart. My low rating comes from three sources: (1) Format (2) Content and (3) Peeves. My critical comments and poor rating come with hesitation because I have a a sincere appreciation of Jack Kornfield's work. I hope this book will be re-written.
(1) Format. I have been fortunate to attend many Monday nights of Jack's dharma talks at Spirit Rock, and his powers as a presenter are unmatched. Unfortunately, the formula in this book fails to deliver the sub- title's promise "A Guide to the Universal Teachings of Buddhist Psychology." The sections start with several quotes, next a vague notion ("So does mindfulness open us to that which is unseen in our experience" p. 97) followed by an intense story with a happy ending ("With mindfulness Peter found relief" p. 98) and ending up with a sweeping generality ("Since 1980 nearly a thousand scientific papers have documented the effectiveness of mindfulness, often studying Western trainings that are based on a Buddhist approach." p. 99). The therapy stories are too numerous, I come away from this book completely befuddled.
(2) Content. The notion of inner radiance or beauty as each human's intrinsic nature isn't an idea that is accepted by many followers of Theraveda or Zen Buddhism. I am finding that once you read the original texts not Western commentary, the Buddha is circumspect about settling any metaphysical debates, in Nikaya's translation of the Middle Length Discourses of the Buddha in the Aggivacchagotta Sutta on p. 590 for example, the Buddha refuses to settle a long sting of metaphysical debates in his discussion with the wanderer Vacchagotta. The 26 principles throughout the book are internally contradictory, and not universally accepted by Buddhists.
(3) Peeves. Authors that provide "early praise" for this book on the back cover have most of their books listed in the Related Documents section. Perhaps it isn't quid pro quo, but I find it really irritating to have the extraordinary claim that "Two thousand years before Freud and Jung's probed the unconscious, Buddhist psychology taught about the unconscious foundation of human behavior" on pg. 151 without providing the title and translating author of the book containing the Fifty Verses on the Nature of Unconscious in the in the Related Documents section. This book has hundreds of quotes, and there are no footnotes to check how the quotes mold the content. You can't check whether the quotes are taken out of context, or if the quote comes from a early inaccurate translation. Also, there are well intentioned but sloppy stereotypes, for example, the dubious stereotype "This is evident in the healthy, caring bond between parents and children in Buddhist countries." p. 187. Or, what I find most irritating of all, what I can only describe as sophistry via oxymoron baiting: this is the use of objective terms to modify subjective experiences to further the current self-help fad promoting Buddhism as a scientific not religious activity. So, we have the "technology of visualization" p. 277 "science of mind" p.xi, and "particle-like aspect of consciousness" p.39. |
The Wise Heart and Mind
| Customer Rating: | I enjoy,savor and collect almost every book by Thich Nhat Hahn,Ajahn Chah and others and this one goes right into the realm of Gem.The wisdom of Ajahn Chah(from "Food for the Heart",Everything arises,Everything falls away,Being Dharma,and A still forest pool,All highly recommended)is made easier to understand.The Structure of the book and contents is perfect.I read this one chapter and sometimes one section of a chapter at a time,realizing this is the best it gets with these kind of books.A perfect gift and I will give it away and reread when paperback comes out.I like to do that with Gems.Im doing that now with The Joy of Living(Yongey Rinpoche). This book is an excellent summary of all teachings of the Mind Science,Buddhism.
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The Wise Heart
| Customer Rating: | Use this book with my boyfriend (he has a copy)We take approximately 10 minutes to read a chapter, then we follow up with a 20 minute meditation.
Useful information. |
Another Home Run for Jack Kornfield
| Customer Rating: | As anyone who has heard Jack Kornfield speak or has read his previous books (e.g., A Path With Heart) knows, Jack is a wonderful storyteller who uses his beautifully touching stories to teach us the most profound truths about life. Any reader of The Wise Heart: A Guide to the Universal Teachings of Buddhist Psychology will not be disappointed.
Fifteen years after having written A Path With Heart, Jack's story telling abilities have not diminished--and he has new stories to tell. In addition, he clearly enunciates 26 principles of Buddhist psychology; moreover, as other outstanding teachers of psychotherapy have noted (including not only therapists with a solution-oriented bent, but also such psychoanalysts as Allen Wheelis and Herbert J. Schlesinger--e.g., see Endings and Beginnings: On Terminating Psychotherapy and Psychoanalysis), he reminds us that psychotherapy is not just about understanding but is also about action. In contrast with much of Western psychology, however, which has primarily focused on the contents of consciousness, "on what we think about," he points out that Buddhist psychology focuses on how we think, on our mental states themselves. In line with that orientation, at the end of each chapter, he offers a specific practice to help us shift from unhealthy states of mind to healthy ones, thus making it possible to turn theory into a living reality.
The Wise Heart is an outstanding book, worthy of being not only read but also chewed and digested.
Frank R. Timmons, Ph.D., P.C.
Certified Hudson Institute Executive and Life Coach
Licensed Psychologist
303-751-6301
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An exceptional book
| Customer Rating: | | This is an exceptionally intelligent, well-written and useful book. Based on Buddhist principals, it lays out a way of looking at the world and wisely becoming an integrated, constructive, comfortable member of it. It is generous and compassionate and anecdotal enough to show how its applications can enhance one's life. It's contrast of Buddhist psychology and Western psychology is extremely interesting and explains how the Eastern view gives more room for one to use already present internal mechanisms for healing. I recommend it highly. |
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