The Great Path of Awakening: The Classic Guide to Using the Mahayana Buddhist Slogans to Tame the Mind and Awaken the Heart

Written by the nineteenth-century Tibetan scholar Jamgon Kongtrul, this book provides clear and concise instructions for working with fifty-nine traditional Buddhist maxims or slogans. This practice—made popular in such books as Start Where You Are by Pema Chödrön and Training the Mind by Chögyam Trungpa—is designed to awaken the heart and cultivate love and kindness toward oneself and others. Here is a practical Buddhist guidebook that offers techniques for developing a truly compassionate heart in the midst of everyday life. For centuries, Tibetans have used fifty-nine pithy slogans-such as "A joyous state of mind is a constant support" and "Don't talk about others' shortcomings"-as a means to awaken kindness, gentleness, and compassion. While Tibetan Buddhists have long valued these slogans, recently they have become popular in the West due to such books as Start Where You Are by Pema Chodron and Training the Mind by Chogyam Trungpa. This edition of The Great Path of Awakening contains an accessible, newly revised translation of the slogans from the famous text The Seven Points of Mind Training. It also includes illuminating commentary from Jamgon Kongrul that provides further instruction on how to meet every situation with intelligence and an open heart.