Customer Reviews

Awake Mind, Open Heart: The Power of Courage and Dignity in Everyday Life

5 star:		(6)
4 star:		(0)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

When I was growing up, I never heard anyone talk about wisdom. Knowledge and skills were held to be within our reach, but "wisdom" was something for philosophers, not ordinary people like us. Cynthia Kneen's book is a wisdom book. It is a treasure chest of ideas and stories that demonstrate how each of us can work toward realizing our hearts' most cherished visions in everyday life. Its basic structure is to introduce, in a logically coherent way, a system of teachings known as Shambhala Buddhism. In this regard, you could say it is an intellectual text, one demanding of the reader both concentration and reflection. At the same time, the book contains such poignant and varied anecdotes as to touch even the most skeptical heart. It also relates its teachings to the lives of spiritual warriors readers are already likely to be familiar with, such as Nelson Mandela, Mother Theresa, and Rosa Parks. On an NPR radio show, Kneen once heard a new immigrant to the US say, "My dream is to have my family live in a peaceful situation, educate my children, contribute to my community and larger society, and help reduce the destructive forces in the world." Whereas my own family have been citizens for four generations, this is my dream, too. Kneen's book reminds me that the resources for realizing this dream exist within ourselves and the diverse world we share. It encourages me to stay true to the yearnings of my youth, confident that I have countless allies who have never given up on human goodness.

This book is for anyone who has ever had the sense that their life might be a path of continual unfolding to the profoundity of being alive, awake, right here, just as we are... Not only has Cynthia Kneen written a classic book on the teachings of Shambhala and a masterful tribute to her main teacher, Ven. Chogyam Trungpa Rinpoche, but she reveals how her own life has been a true example of a commitment to the practice of meditation and warriorship. She shows us the ground, path and fruition of the way toward bravery, a continual willingness to be stay open, no matter what life throws at us. She shows how this simple path of bravery can be ordinary, mundane, day-to-day. Yet sometimes it can manifest with surprise, power, and magic, like lightening striking all around you! This is arguably the greatest book on the Shambhala teachings since Jeremy Hayward's Sacred World. It goes to the heart of Shambhala Buddhism.

In her book Awake Mind, Open Heart, Ms. Kneen wonderfully sets forth the image of the Shambhala warrior, Buddhist yet imbued with that pro-active spirit that distinguishes itself from (the admittedly sterotypic image) of the the monk in the cave or even the layperson going about their daily Buddhist business.
Ms. Kneen's writing posseses the intellectual clarity found in academic treatises with the sense of ecstasy and compassion found in art and poetry.The discussion of mindfullness-awareness in particular, a concept that continues to confuse and lose me, is the best I've read...

Cynthia Kneen has blown my mind. I had no idea anyone could transmit the wisdom of the ages so simply and elegantly, without a trace of self-congratulation or ownership. Her writing is like the rain. It just comes down and touches us, and replenishes the well. I cannot speak highly enough about this book.

Cynthia Kneen has a clear mastery of the topics of Buddhism and Shambala. More importantly, she has translated this knowledge into insight and tools that can help passersby to (more easily) implement these teachings and improve our approach to problems in everyday life.

If books are "food for the mind", this is not McDonalds. Rather it is a 5 course Cordon Bleu feast.

This is the only book I've read four times! And plan to re-read it again and again!

It's an excellent introduction into Tibetan Buddhism ... Shambhala.

My family comments about how mellow I've become as a result of studying this work. And I would have to agree. I have good Windhorse as I seek the status of Shambhala Warrior.

Read the book...and you'll understand. Best wishes, Lee

PS. I've bought and given to friends and family five copies of this book...which is just another endorsement of how important I think it is.