Teachings on Love [Hardcover]

Thich Nhat Hanh (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: September 1997

Weaving together traditional anecdotes, personal experiences and a deep understanding of the Buddha's way of mindful living, Thich Nhat Hanh offers step-by-step practices that foster the growth of understanding and intimacy in any relationship, even with those who have done us harm. There are meditations on love, ways to heal our relationships with our family and our own spiritual traditions, and methods for resolving conflicts.

--This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com Review

For venerated Vietnamese Zen master Thich Nhat Hanh, love is more than an emotion. Drawing on millennia of Buddhist wisdom and his own therapeutic methods, Teachings on Love further develops his practical notion of interbeing in terms of love. If all things are interrelated, what could be more paramount to negotiating those relations than love? And more than just a way of relating, love is a way of living: "Love by the way you walk, the way you sit, the way you eat." Nhat Hanh supports his practical advice with numerous verses for enhancing mindfulness, prostrations for expressing reverence, and succinct formulas, such as the Five Awarenesses and the Five Mindfulness Trainings. The fifth mindfulness training exemplifies the broad scope of Nhat Hanh's love: "Aware of the suffering caused by unmindful consumption, I am committed to cultivating good health, both physical and mental, for myself, my family, and my society by practicing mindful eating, drinking, and consuming." Thich Nhat Hanh forever writes with reassuring warmth, from which readers may derive insight as well as comfort. --Brian Bruya

From Library Journal

A Buddhist monk, prolific author of 30 books, and candidate for the Nobel Peace Prize for his efforts during the Paris peace talks, Hanh here continues his theme of peace?this time through the tool of love. His topic, how to love well, will be of interest to many, and his simple prose style is easy and soothing to read. Hanh makes a point of trying to reach his modern audience, even those without Buddhist sensibility, with refences to E-mail and faxes in his chapter on deep listening. Elsewhere he speaks of four-star hotels as nothing compared to the "abode of Brahma...a four thousand star hotel." His message is clear: love yourself and others by listening deeply, using "right" speech, and building a strong sangha (community). To stay away from harming ourselves and others he advises mindfulness and practicing the four immeasurable minds?love, compassion, joy, and equanimity. By using these disciplines, Hanh promises a sense of contentment and peace. There is honesty and beauty in Hanh's writing. Recommended for all libraries.?Barbara O'Hara, Free Lib. of Philadelphia
Copyright 1997 Reed Business Information, Inc.

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 183 pages
• Publisher: Parallax Pr (September 1997)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0938077961
• ISBN-13: 978-0938077961
• Product Dimensions: 8.4 x 5.6 x 1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 10.4 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (18 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #689,725 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

37 of 38 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A Valuable Practice Guide, March 6, 2004

By 

Swing King (Cincinnati, OH USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Teachings on Love (Paperback)

Once more our beloved Zen master and amazing poet does it again in yet another spiritual masterpiece, guiding us all towards a more meaningful and joyful life. I actually may very well believe that this particular text is the very finest you will ever read on this much debated topic: Love. In Buddhism there is a teaching known as The Four Immeasurable Minds. They are love, compassion, joy, and equanimity. The root and source of love is in all human beings, and it is our responsibility to realize this and cultivate love as the way of our very lives.

He starts with beneficial practices here on just how to do that seemingly arduous task; how to listen to others with patience, how to accept and love yourself, and ultimately how in a sense "rewrite your karma." Thich covers issues like anger and jealousy, which of course cause ourselves and countless others innumerable amounts of stress and trouble. As with some of his other works where he advises we create, for instance, our own sutra -Thich likewise develops 4 original mantras in a chapter here intended to develop a loving relationship with all that is through a program of awareness, respect for ourselves and others, nurturing, and perhaps most importantly communication.

It's with practice suggestions and the like which Thay provides here that make this work a landmark in his teaching career. Just when you think you've reaped all which Thich Nhat Hanh has to offer you, a book like this comes along to refresh your expert mind back to a baby. After all, a baby's mind is open to most anything, it has nothing to do but learn. And so is our practice. Learning, cultivation, hardship. To sum up, practice is our life.

Teachings on Love may be that book you are looking for in times of Great Doubt which reminds you of the potential of your practice, thus renewing your Great Belief. This work is a testament to the wonderful teachings this modern master always seems to deliver. I can't actually recommend this one enough. Enjoy it.

44 of 49 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Meditations on love..., May 4, 2001

By 

Olga Loaiza (Dallas, TX United States) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Teachings on Love (Paperback)

"Teachings on Love" helps water those seeds of love in your heart. Here one of the parts I liked the most:

"Look into the eyes of your beloved and ask deeply, "Who are you, my love, who has come to me and taken my suffering as your suffering, my happiness as your happiness, my life and death as your life and death? Who are you whose self has become my self? Why aren't you a dewdrop, a butterfly, a bird, a pine tree? Ask with your whole body and mind. Later, you will have to ask the person who causes you the most suffering the same questions...To understand, you have to become one with your beloved, and also one with your so-called enemy. You have to worry about what they worry about, suffer their suffering, appreciate what they appreciate. You and the object of your love cannot be two. They are as much you as you are yourself...See and listen with the whole of your being. If you are fully present, the rain of the Dharma will water the deepest seeds in your store consciousness, and tomorrow, while you are washing the dishes or looking at the blue sky, that seed will spring forth, and love and understanding will appear as a beautiful flower."

Beautiful isn't it? Now I must go, I need to begin my practice...

15 of 15 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Beautiful, moving, enchanting...., October 6, 1999

By A Customer

This review is from: Teachings on Love (Paperback)

For anyone who is just beginning to get into Buddhism or for people of other religious traditions, this is the book for you. Tich Nhat Hanh is the most known writer of Buddhism of our time and he has done a stunning job talking about and teaching the Buddha's ideas on love. This is an inspiring piece of literature; one that should not be missed.