Balancing the Mind: A Tibetan Buddhist Approach to Refining Attention [Paperback]

B. Alan Wallace (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: April 8, 2005

B.Alan Wallace, widely recognized as of the clearest facilitators of the dialogue between science and Buddhism explains the methods and exoeriences fo those Tibetan practitioners and compares these with investigations of consciousness by Western scientists.

Editorial Reviews

Review

A spectacular cross-cultural presentation of techniques for achieving meditative states. -- Jeffrey Hopkins, author of Cultivating Compassion and Maps of the Profound

Alan Wallace is one of the great Western Buddhist thinkers of our day. -- Howard Cutler, co-author with H.H. the Dalai Lama of The Art of Happiness

Stop in your tracks -- this is an extraordinary book! -- David Galin, M.D., University of California San Francisco School of Medicine

From the Publisher

Seeking Tsongkhapa's Vision

The attempt to portray another person's vision of reality is a challenging one even if this person is a contemporary member of one's own culture The task is more difficult if this person lived in an earlier era of one's own civilization, and even more demanding if he or she was raised and educated long ago in an alien culture. Finally, if this person is an accomplished contemplative whose vision of reality purportedly transcends societal conventions and norms, the challenge of presenting his or her vision of reality may appear simply insurmountable. Tsongkhapa certainly fits into this final category, and though I can in no way claim to have penetrated the core of his vision, I shall attempt to sketch some of the central themes of his view of the world as he sets them forth in his own writings. In so doing, I shall not go into the details of the progression of his thought during the course of his life, nor shall I try to validate my assertions about his views with quotes from his writings; but I shall cite the textual bases in the eighteen volumes of his collected works for the major themes that are addressed here. Tsongkhapa asks fundamental questions of existence that have been posed by people the world over, but his Buddhist theoretical and empirical methods for seeking answers to these questions are often without analog in Western civilization. Moreover, many of the discoveries claimed by Buddhist contemplatives, if true, would shake the very foundations of our Western beliefs concerning the nature of consciousness and its role in the natural world. While passing through some of the salient features of his world view, I shall occasionally rub them against some distinctly Western beliefs, particularly those of Christianity and scientific naturalism. Although there are certainly many diverse belief systems that have sprung up in our civilization, none are more dominant than these two; and both continue to exert powerful (and not always incompatible) influences on our society today. Thus, I shall make references to three world views: (1) Christianity; (2) scientific naturalism, which branched off from Christianity and still intermingles with it on occasion; and (3) Indo-Tibetan Buddhism as represented by Tsongkhapa, which shares few, if any, common origins with either of the other two world-views; and has barely begun to interact with them. In the course of this discussion, I shall also make frequent references to the writings of William James, though I stop short of a fall-scale comparative analysis of his writings and those of Tsongkhapa. The reason for my emphasis on James is that, given his wide interests in the fields of psychology; philosophy, and religion, and his brilliant contributions in the fields of introspective psychology; pragmatism, empiricism, and the philosophy of religion, there are many points of contact between his writings and the literature of Indo-Tibetan Buddhism; I hope that this highlighting of points of contact will encourage more detailed comparative studies on the part of Jamesian and Buddhist scholars alike. In citing Western views in relation to those of Tsongkhapa, I shall not attempt any thorough or definitive comparative analyses. Rather, I shall confine myself to the more modest task of pointing out areas in which such comparative studies might eventually be pursued, possibly to the enrichment of our understanding of both Western and Buddhist traditions. Even this task, however, has its pitfalls, for if the cited views are not representative of the traditions in question, then their juxtaposition will be of little value to anyone. Thus, while my references to Western views must of necessity be cursory in nature, I shall do my best to choose those that are truly representative, and not distort them in the telling.

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Product Details

• Paperback: 352 pages
• Publisher: Snow Lion Publications (April 8, 2005)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1559392304
• ISBN-13: 978-1559392303
• Product Dimensions: 8.8 x 6 x 1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.1 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 3.3 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (3 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #980,261 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

32 of 33 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Interesting and Insightful, But By No Means Easy, January 25, 2007

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D. Buxman "A Seeker of Truth" (Pueblo, CO United States) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Balancing the Mind: A Tibetan Buddhist Approach to Refining Attention (Paperback)

If you are a beginning meditator, this book will be very difficult to digest. It is a scholarly examination of Tsongkhapa's exploration of quiescence, an advanced approach to refining attentive powers. It is well written and very well sourced and represents a wealth of information for the advanced meditator, but you have to be willing to study this book. It took me almost 6 weeks to read, but it was worth the effort.

12 of 12 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A first-rate book, September 10, 2008

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A. Reader (United States) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Balancing the Mind: A Tibetan Buddhist Approach to Refining Attention (Paperback)

Yes, the reviewer calling this "a misleading title" is right. It was originally published under the title, The Bridge of Quiescence: Experiencing Tibetan Buddhist Meditation, by Open Court Publishing Company in 1998. But the rave review blurbs on the back cover are right; it is a first-rate treatise on the science of meditation. It includes a careful translation of the meditative quiescence section of one of the last works written by one of the greatest meditation masters of all time, Tsongkhapa. This has been used successfully in Tibet for nearly six centuries by countless skilled meditators who leave us Westerners behind in the dust. That is a major reason why it seems so difficult to us. We are, by comparison, rank beginners in meditation. No wonder we prefer simpler presentations. But this one sets out in detail what can be and has been achieved in meditation, showing us where we need to go, and how to get there. Can we realistically expect it to be easy?

34 of 41 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars extremely misleading title, August 9, 2007

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Howard Burchfield (Hong Kong) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Balancing the Mind: A Tibetan Buddhist Approach to Refining Attention (Paperback)

Had this book been called something like "A Scholarly Analysis of Tsongkhapa's 'Small Exposition of the Stages of the Path to Enlightenment,' With Accompanying Discourse on Diverging Streams of Quiescence (Whether Complementary or Mutually Exclusive) in the Eastern and Western Traditions", it might merit 4 or 5 stars, for it is certainly a first-class academic (if pedantic) treatment of that topic. Of course, one can see the problems that the publisher of such a title would have selling more than 2 or 3 copies, unless it could be marketed as a college textbook. And so someone with questionable scruples (I doubt it was the author) decided to title the book to make it look like a practical guide to "Balancing the Mind" within the framework of the Tibetan Buddhist tradition. The blurbs on the back jacket describe the book as "[a] spectacular cross-cultural presentation of techniques for achieving meditative states", and "[t]he most important book on Buddhist meditation to appear in over a decade." These claims are ludicrous; the book has little if no pragmatic value for persons seeking to achieve balance and quiescence in their own lives. It may have some value as an historical account of Tsongkhapa's life and thought; it may serve some purpose in elucidating the Buddhist view of life as an ephemeral dream (although "Row, Row, Row Your Boat" got there first); but unless I'm gravely mistaken, it will help precious few readers to actualize its misleading, borderline fraudulent, title. For a better treatment of this subject, I'd recommend "Happiness" by Matthieu Ricard, "Ultimate Healing" by Lama Zopa Rinpoche, each of which presents a much fuller treatment of the spectrum of Tibetan Buddhist practices and beliefs, or even "Full Catastrophe Living" by Jon Kabat-Zinn, which approaches the subjects of mental balance and quiescence from a contemporary Western perspective. Let me make it clear that I do not wish to disparage B. Alan Wallace or spread malice or ill-will about the man or his work by submitting this review; I do, however, want to protect would-be purchasers of this book from spending their money without knowing exactly what they're getting for it.