Lovingkindness Meditation [Audiobook, Unabridged] [Audio CD]

Sharon Salzberg (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: November 2004

The Insight Meditation Society is one of North America's oldest institutions dedicated to bringing the life-changing gifts of mindfulness training to the West. On Lovingkindness Meditation, IMS cofounder and senior instructor Sharon Salzberg guides you through a six-step meditation designed to access the human heart's own limitless source of supreme energy-the energy of love. Known traditionally as metta (an ancient Buddhist term meaning "lovingkindness"), this timeless practice is an easy-tolearn method for unlocking your greatest internal resource for healing others and yourself. Here is a universal meditation to help you: Melt away feelings of isolation Awaken true compassion, even for those who have hurt you Find freedom from needless, self-created suffering Learn to trust your own loving, intelligent heart, and much more. Among the world's contemplative traditions, the meditation about how to love is perhaps the most basic-and most powerful. Lovingkindness Meditation is the perfect introduction to this enriching practice.

Editorial Reviews

About the Author

Sharon Salzberg has studied and practiced meditation with Burmese, Indian, and Tibetan teachers for the past 25 years. She is a cofounder of the Barre Center for Buddhist Studies and the Insight Meditation Society in Barre, Massachusetts, where she lives and teaches. She is the author of Lovingkindness, A Heart As Wide As the World, and, on audio, Lovingkindness Meditation and A Heart As Wide As the World.

Product Details

• Audio CD
• Publisher: Sounds True, Incorporated; Unabridged edition (November 2004)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1591792681
• ISBN-13: 978-1591792680
• Product Dimensions: 5.7 x 4.8 x 0.5 inches
• Shipping Weight: 2.9 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.2 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (5 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #83,906 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
  • #45 in Books > Books on CD > Health, Mind & Body > Meditation
  • #57 in Books > Books on CD > Health, Mind & Body > Relaxation & Meditation

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

69 of 69 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Inspiring but not sentimentalized, makes the practice seem doable!, October 27, 2005

By 

Melusine62 "Melusine62" (Seattle, WA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Lovingkindness Meditation (Audio CD)

Highly recommended! I really enjoyed Sharon Salzburg's introduction to the Buddhist metta practice, Lovingkindness Meditation. This is more of an education/explanation of metta than guided meditation sessions (i.e., she does not have long, substantive, discrete meditation sessions, but works brief examples into her explanation), but I found the explanation so good that it gave me an excellent intro to metta, which I subsequently felt like I could practice on my own. In fact, I had an interesting and symbolic dream about a mentor/benefactor figure the same night I had tried out the metta practice and included him, so it seemed the meditation reached my subconscious too!

Ms. Salzburg's presentation is detailed, conversational in style, and easily accessible to Westerners without seeming like a simplification, sentimentalization, or co-opting of the original practice. Her examples and stories given along the way make metta seem doable and practical and not like some overly idealized level of compassion that is impossible for many of us to reach. The Sounds True website has sound samples of this work (and many of their other authors' CDs and cassettes), something Amazon should be doing as well. If you like this tape, you might also enjoy the meditation CD (also available on Amazon) by Bodhipaksa titled "Guided Meditations: For Developing Calmness, Awareness, and Love," which includes a complete metta practice, along with two other meditations. I found Salzberg and Bodhipaksa's works very complementary--the Bodhipaksa CD gives a complete 27-minute meditation session of metta in an incredibly soothing voice, while this tape provides the in-depth explanation that gives the practice sense and purpose.

19 of 21 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Lovingkindness Meditation, July 19, 2005

By 

MorningsAre Best (Washington State) - See all my reviews

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Lovingkindness Meditation (Audio CD)

The Inspirational Sharon Salzberg does a beautiful gentle talk and meditation all about love and living. I noticed a difference in the way I felt about life after listening to it only one time. It is an important tool for meditation and an awakened happy life. You won't be sorry to own this one.

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Terrific audiobook, September 28, 2008

By 

Edie S. (United States) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Lovingkindness Meditation (Audio CD)

This is an excellent audiobook that provides a comprehensive overview of metta (lovingkindness) practice. I actually bought it thinking it was a companion audiobook of guided meditations to her book Lovingkindness: The Revolutionary Art of Happiness, but it turns out that this is essentially an audiobook version of that book!
She has a very pleasant, calming voice, and is easy to listen to. However, it's not so soothing that she makes me fall asleep - I've listened to it in my car. I will certainly be buying more of her books and audiobooks. Highly recommended!