Customer Reviews

A Truthful Heart: Buddhist Practices for Connecting with Others

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The Midwest Book Reviewer summed it up well. It is in part a vivid memoir of the author's transformation from the self-confinement of hostility to the open-heart of love. At the same, it is a systematic and authoritative guide to bringing that same change into our own lives. Highly recommended. If you have found some of Hopkins's other works tough going, don't worry: this one is a great read for all.

With a bookcase full of books about Buddhism with many takes on developing equanimity and cultivating compassion, I was skeptical that Jeffrey Hopkins' A TRUTHFUL HEART would add anything "new." A quick skim through HEART at an airport Borders convinced me I was wrong. I plopped down my money and got reading.

Hopkins does a fabulous job of making traditional, well-known meditation practices real--and feelingful. I suspect he has grounded these practices in Western culture in such a way they are now just as fresh for us as they might be to a novice monk. This grounding is much appreciated.

The only "negative" is the realization that other traditions seemed less focused on the practical steps required to "love they neighbor as thyself"--and are unlikely to read/adapt HEART.

Recommended, even if you have a stack of meditation books already. Enjoy.

Dr. Kirtland Peterson

Written by Jeffrey Hopkins, who served as the interpreter for the Dalai Lama for a decade, and featuring a foreword by the Dalai Lama himself, A Truthful Heart: Buddhist Practices for Connecting with Others is a guide to developing a more compassionate outlook, and therefore improve one's ability to project love and accomplish positive endeavors. Chapters guide the reader in using Buddhist meditations (including the Dalai Lama's favorite!) and visualizations, as well as offering vignettes from the author's own life. A welcome resource not only for Buddhist practitioners and those curious about the faith, but also for any reader regardless of religion seeking surcease from anger and pain, and desiring an increase of love and compassion within the world at large.

This book brings much light into developing compassion with many very practical hints. The language Mr. Hopkins is using, is very much down-to-earth.
The guided meditations he is giving in this book are simple yet profound.
I recommend the book to everyone who is no longer satisfied with the abstract idea "may everyone be happy" and truly wants to develop a heartfelt and intimate compassion for sentient beings.
Thank you Mr. Hopkins!