You can't get away from suffering. That's the good news, teaches Pema
Chödrön. For at the core of your most painful experiences, perhaps more
than anywhere else, you will find the seeds of your awakening.
On Noble Heart, this beloved American-born Buddhist nun shows you how
vulnerability is your greatest spiritual resource on the path through
life's difficulties. The noble heart, Ane Pema teaches, is one that
sheds its armor, opening itself fearlessly to both heartache and
delight. Using special meditations and traditional teachings, Pema
Chödrön leads you, step-by-step, toward a full realization of your true
strength, the strength that can come only through embracing the pain of
your own experience.
Noble Heart was recorded as it happened, within the peaceful shrine
room of Gampo Abbey, Ane Pema's home on the cliffs of Cape Breton
Island, Nova Scotia. Structured so that you can create your own retreat
at home or at your meditation center, this complete curriculum brings
you key teachings about how to recognize and cultivate the soft spot
that is the gateway to your own noble heart.
Here is the promise of the Four Limitless Ones--maitri
(loving-kindness), compassion, joy, and equanimity--and down-to-earth
advice about how to draw strength from them every day, in any situation.
Here, too, are the treasured teachings about the Six Paramitas: the
Buddha's own map of the journey to enlightenment. Learn how to connect
with your innately unlimited friendliness, and how it can grow big
enough to contain the entire world.
With four complete meditations, unique heart teachings, and Ane Pema's
trademark humor, Noble Heart invites you to discover for yourself the
compassion and wisdom that have established her as a leading voice in
American Buddhism. Includes more than nine hours of direct teachings
from this revered acharya (master teacher), as well as a 48-page study
guide.
Highlights: The four great catalysts of awakening, and how to begin
integrating them into your life today
- The basic goodness that nothing can take away from you
- Authentic Tibetan Buddhist chants for generating gratitude and
compassion
- Where to find and how to build your inner strength and trust
- The maitri meditation that multiplies love
- How the Three Noble Principles can enrich everything you do
- Why you need your soft spot to awaken spiritually
- When don't know mind is wiser than all the teachings in the world
- The Three Lords of Materialism--and how to diffuse their power
- The antidote to aggression
- A melting practice you can use to undo isolation and anxiety
