3 of 4 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
More Reviews, January 28, 2008
This review is from: Cultivating a Compassionate Heart: The Yoga Method of Chenrezig (Paperback)
Thubten Chodron is an American-born Tibetan Buddhist nun and the author of many books including How to Free Your Mind: Tara the Liberator. Chenrezig is the Buddha of Compassion, also known as Kuan Yin in China, Kannon in Japan, and Avalokiteshvara in the Sanskrit language. This deity has eleven faces and a thousand arms. In the foreword to this paperback, the Dalai Lama says he does the meditation practice of Chenrezig every day so that compassion can direct his life. Thubten Chodron presents the yoga method of Chenrezig, which consists of transforming the mind into compassion by means of reflective meditation, visualization, and mantra.
The challenge for all of us is to diminish the selfish, grasping ego that always puts itself before others. This is not easy in a world where anger, hatred, and revenge are so prevalent in our emotions and consciousness. The defensive ego that needs to be right and triumphant is constantly on the lookout for enemies. But one of the most remarkable teachings of Tibetan Buddhism is that we can learn from those who irritate us and press out buttons; the way to do this is to train our minds by reframing:
"For example, when we look at a fly buzzing around, we train ourselves to think, 'My enlightenment depends on that fly.' This isn't fanciful thinking because, in fact, our enlightenment does depend on that fly. If that fly isn't included in our bodhicitta, then we don't have bodhicitta, and we won't receive the wonderful results of generating bodhicitta -- the tremendous purification and creation of positive potential. Imagine training your mind so that when you look at every single human being, you think, 'My enlightenment depends on that being. The drunk who just got on the bus -- my enlightenment depends on him. The soldier in Iraq -- my enlightenment depends on him. My brothers and sisters, the teller at the bank, the janitor at my workplace, the president of the United States, the suicide bombers in the Middle East, the slug in my garden, my eighth-grade boyfriend, the babysitter when I was a kid -- my enlightenment depends on each of them.' All sentient beings are actually that precious to us."
Later, Chodron observes that if we are at a social gathering and there are 30 people there, we might have a problem with one or two individuals but the rest are okay with us. In other words, the number of people in the world whom we can't stand is very small. So when we do come across someone who presses all our buttons and draws out our worst qualities, we ought to rejoice in their presence. They give us opportunities to practice compassion and equanimity, or as Chodron puts it, ""Fantastic, I get to practice patience now."
One of the things we love about Thubten Chodron is the way she shares her personal experiences. We can identify with many of them, including this one:
"During a retreat I did a few years ago, the cook served rice six times a week. I can't digest rice very well but I would think, 'Never mind, so many sentient beings worked hard to make this food. I see it as blissful wisdom nectar.' Then, I would eat a little and make offerings to the birds with the leftovers. I got to know the birds, which coincidentally were the same color as the deity I was meditating on. I saw the birds as the deity and imagined these deities flying in from everywhere, landing on the railing of my porch. I put out the rice transformed into blissful nectar and then made offerings to them. That helped me to transform the complaining mind that said, 'Oh no, not rice again!' "
Cultivating a compassionate heart is one of the privileges we have during this lifetime. Chodron explores sadhana practice in all its richness and variety, opening new doors and letting in fresh air with her meditations and visualization exercises.
"Chenrezig (Avalokiteshvara / Kuan Yin) is not only Tibet's patron deity, he also is the embodiment of the compassion of all the Buddhas and as such is deemed the best possible contemplative gateway to the cultivation of compassion.
"In this book, which has received high praise from monastics and lay Buddhist scholars alike, the American-born nun Ven. Thubten Chodron lucidly and engagingly elucidates the Tibetan Buddhist Yoga of Chenrezig. Her explanations are based not only on scriptural but also oral teachings, which makes them eminently authoritative and practical. -Spirituality and Practice.com
"Essentially, Cultivating a Compassionate Heart is a knowledgeable, highly practical, and fairly extensive commentary on the Chenrezig sadhana. The book starts with the Thousand-Armed Chenrezig visualization and the preliminary prayers found in most sadhanas, and the long mantra of Chenrezig. Only then does the author proceed to explaining the various concepts that make up the theoretical underpinnings of this extraordinary practice.
"The crux and spirit of the Chenrezig sadhana could not be more beautifully epitomized than in the response the late Lama Yeshe gave to a student who had asked him whether Mao Tse-tung was an evil being. Lama Yeshe, who had been personally affected by Mao Tse-tung's brand of communism, simply said: 'He meant well, dear.' This remark shows a level of forgiveness and understanding that is possible only when there is genuine compassion. What better way is there to cultivate compassion than by contemplating Chenrezig?"--Georg Feuerstein, Ph.D., Traditional Yoga Studies
"Clearly written by an American-born Buddhist nun and the author of Buddhism for Beginners, this engaging book on the traditional 'Meditation on Thousand-Arm Chenrezig' is less a guide to practice than a full explication of it for a contemporary audience."--Library Journal
"Another in her series of eminently practical and sublimely inspiring teachings... The rituals and visualizations are brought directly into our everyday lives... As she says, 'We don't just go poof! and become a Buddha.' But her insight and humor, her skillful way of translating the profound into mundane reality has the potential to open our hearts and minds to more compassion."--Turning Wheel
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5 of 7 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
Good commentary on useful Kriya Yoga practice, August 9, 2006
This review is from: Cultivating a Compassionate Heart: The Yoga Method of Chenrezig (Paperback)
This book includes: Lama Zopa's "Meditation on the 1000-arm Chenrezig" with "8 Verses of Thought Transformation" for empowered or not practitioners, Yangsi Rinpoche's "A Lamentation Requesting Blessings from the Great Compassionate One", & founder of Sravasti Abbey, Bhikshuni (fully ordained Tibetan Buddhist nun) Thubten Chodron's "Commentary on The Yoga Method of Chenrezig." pp. 55-6: "Chenrezig is a lower Tantric practice (Kriya Tantra)...a practice of Guru Yoga." Ani Chodron gives her own Western-oriented, often psychological interpretations, feelings, personal insights, experiences (e.g. interviews with prison inmates), practical meditation advice, & humor: pp. 133-4: "Your hands are soft like lotus petals, even though you don't use hand lotion...You're wearing attractive, flowing, celestial silks that don't stain when you spill spaghetti sauce on them" & p. 167: "Goddesses with pierced tongues & tattoos."
Down-to-earth: p. 49: "The most important thing is to get a sense of being in the presence of an enlightened one, p. 57: "Our teachers are not our personal property. They work for all sentient beings; they belong to the universe, p. 70: "Sukhavati arises inside us; it's a mental state. Sukhavati isn't two clouds up & one cloud to the left, pp. 99-100: "Sadhanas don't spell out everything in words...we need to receive teachings on the sadhana so that we will know how to meditate & what points to stop & meditate in depth, & p. 166: "Knowing many different ways to meditate enables us to maintain interest in the practice by varying the visualization when needed." Psychologically: p. 85: "Give people the level of trust that they are capable of bearing, p. 96: "Guilt & self-hatred are disturbing emotions that keep us locked in patterns of useless behavior, p. 96: "Chenrezig comes from our mind, p. 116: "Anger is...a convenient label we use in relation to some mind-moments that are similar, & p. 172: "The trick is not to get involved in the story behind the emotion...Instead, watch the thoughts that form the story behind the emotion & ask yourself, `are they true?' [or]...we become screenwriters for the melodrama in our mind."
A Gelugpa disciple of Lama Yeshe & Zopa Rinpoche, Ani Chodron refers to Lamrim, pp. 23 & 162: "gradual path to enlightenment" comparable to Sakya Lamdre but not Kagyu Mahamudra & Nyingma Dzogchen--e.g. definitions of mindfulness & the 4 Immeasurables differ. Ch. 6 emphasizes Prasangika Madhyamaka philosophy--non-affirming negation, emptiness vs. self--dependent on a binary & exclusive OR assumption that seem simplistic to me. But per Rime, I see value in each school--with much to teach us; per George MacDonald, "Those don't know England who only England know." One needs contrast; e.g. compare Thubten's description of Tonglen to Kagyu Ani Pema Chodron's. I enjoy Thubten's "positive potential" vs. merit, explanation of the value of visualization, compassionate antelope story--symbolized in Chenrezig's clothing, pp. 120-1: "Tantra is like being a kid & playing dress-up...we imagine being a Buddha like Chenrezig," & p. 166: "Another visualization is to generate millions of Chenrezigs from our heart. They go to rest on top of the heads of all sentient beings. Light flows from these Chenrezigs into every sentient being"-like Karma Chagme's exercise in Thrangu Rinpoche's "Medicine Buddha Teachings." This is a worthwhile book. Enjoy!
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