Taming The Tiger Within [Hardcover]

Thich Nhat Hanh (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: October 21, 2004

Zen master Thich Nhat Hanh offers daily guidance for becoming free of the strong emotions that make us suffer the most.

Everyone wants peace, but as anyone who has tried to find it knows, the biggest obstacle is often our own powerful emotions. In Taming the Tiger Within, Thich Nhat Hanh distills the wisdom of his many books into short meditations and contemplations for applying his advice to daily life-for transforming anger, fear, jealousy, and other difficult emotions.

An acclaimed scholar, peace activist, and Buddhist master revered by people of all faiths, Thich Nhat Hanh has inspired millions worldwide. Now, he focuses his profound spiritual in-sight on the basic human emotions we all struggle with every day: anger, fear and love. Drawn from his national bestsellers No Death, No Fear; Anger; and Going Home and grounded in the Buddhist practices of mindfulness and compassion, this handbook of meditations and reflections offers readers inspirational and pragmatic techniques for diffusing anger, conquering fear, and cultivating love in every arena of life.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Vietnamese Zen Buddhist master Thich Nhat Hanh has authored three national bestsellers that deal with negative emotions: Anger, Going Home and No Death, No Fear. Here he distills some of the best quotations from those three books, offering advice on how to conquer rage, jealousy, fear and the desire for revenge. Often the thoughts are just a sentence long, and rarely more than three; the book is designed to be savored over time through deep reflection. Some of Hanh’s suggestions are practical (such as walking to diffuse anger or writing a love letter to a cherished individual), while others will require more rumination. One key to reducing anger, for example, is to practice "deep looking" and recognize that all beings are interconnected; the angry person is inextricably intertwined with the one she imagines is her enemy. Though spare, even Spartan, this book holds seeds of profound wisdom. However, more serious readers will want to delve into the three classics that this book draws upon, since they are already accessible, brief and easy to understand.
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Review

"Thich Nhat Hanh is a holy man, for he is humble and devout."—Rev. Martin Luther King, Jr.



"[Thich Nhat Hanh] shows us the connection between personal, inner peace and peace on earth."—His Holiness the Dalai Lama

--This text refers to the Mass Market Paperback edition.

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Hardcover: 304 pages
• Publisher: Riverhead Hardcover (October 21, 2004)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1573222887
• ISBN-13: 978-1573222884
• Product Dimensions: 7.6 x 5.4 x 1.1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 13.6 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 4.4 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (20 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #810,412 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Thich Nhat Hanh is a Vietnamese monk, a renowned Zen master, a poet, and a peace activist. He was nominated for the Nobel Prize by Martin Luther King, Jr., in 1967, and is the author of many books, including the best-selling The Miracle of Mindfulness.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

39 of 39 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars As inspirational, helpful, intelligent ...as his other great works., August 31, 2008

By 

ServantofGod - See all my reviews

This review is from: Taming the Tiger Within: Meditations on Transforming Difficult Emotions (Mass Market Paperback)

Actually I find it hard to comment on the author's books with words other than the standard positive ones coz they are always as intelligent, bright, inspirational, helpful....as they can be. I just keep do so to keep a record for my own reference. Pardon me. In short, recommended.

Below please find some of my favorite passages for your reference.

Every time you feel lost alienated, or cut off from life, or from the world, every time you feel despair, anger or instability, practice going home. Mindful breaking is the vehicle that you use to go back to your true home. pg 99

If your house is on fire, the most urgent thing to do is to go back and try to put out the fire, not to run after the person you believe to be the arsonist. pg 107

The reason we are foolish enough to make ourselves suffer and make the other person suffer is that we forget that we and the other person are impermanent. Someday, when we die, we will lose all our possessions, our power, our family, everything. Our freedom, peace, and joy in the present moment is the most important thing we have. But without an awakened understanding of impermanence, it is not possible to be happy. pg 119

If it is your partner who is angry, just listen. Listen and do not react....Do not listen for the purpose of judging, criticizing, or analyzing. Listen only to help the other person express himself and find some relief from his suffering. pg 159

We cannot enjoy life if we spend a lot of time worrying about what happened yesterday and what will happen tomorrow. We worry about tomorrow because we are afraid. If we are afraid all the time, we cannot appreciate that we are alive and can be happy now. pg 179

20 of 20 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Good, March 7, 2008

By 

C. Pennington (IL) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Taming the Tiger Within: Meditations on Transforming Difficult Emotions (Mass Market Paperback)

Great things to say in this book... I was a little disappointed to find that it's just a compilation of quotes from his other books (many of which I have already read). It is just one quote per page... felt a little gypped... not a bad book for daily meditation though.

16 of 16 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Very insightful!, January 7, 2005

By 

D. Dona (Boston, MA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Taming The Tiger Within (Hardcover)

This collection of aphorisms was my first introduction to the writings of Thich Nhat Hanh and I found the wisdom that he shares to be very profound. The book gave me a different and valuable new perspective on how to effectively deal with the complex emotions of anger and love, and I highly recommend this book.