Customer Reviews

Turning the Mind into an Ally

5 star:		(41)
4 star:		(3)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

Sakyong Mipham's writing style is simple and to the point. Sometimes you don't even know you're being hit with deep wisdom until the 2nd or 3rd time you read it, which is the way most good books seem to work. His style is very different from his father Chogyam Trungpa's. What's great about this book is that he actually explains in precise detail, using simple but profound metaphors, exactly why somebody would want to do meditation, and exactly what the benefits are for you and the people around you. His instructions are never vague and mushy the way so many new-age teachers seem to be. He makes it all accessible and the barriers to actually starting to practice meditation seem to fall away in a hurry. It's not some ancient tradition of mystic-worshippers; it's something that can inform and aid our lives right here and right now, no matter what kind of lifestyle we lead.

This is a good book for those who are beginning meditators, those looking for information on meditation, or those who have been practicing meditation for some time. Sakyong Mipham Rinpoche uses more Western language versus Tibetan or Shambhala language, which makes this easier to read and understand. Sakyong Mipham Rinpoche also has expanded the traditional Shambhala meditation practice to include "contemplation" meditation.

Karen Armstrong's The Buddha is a beautiful exposition of the life of the Buddha, but has little to say about how to bring his wisdom and compassion into our lives. Turning the Mind into an Ally is a practical guide based on profound understanding of how to stabilize, clarify and strengthen the mind so that we can bring this wisdom and compassion into our lives. The author, Sakyong Mipham, writes with clarity, directness, and authority about how to live a life of true joy and deep compassion in our modern world. The book is a deceptively simple exposition of mind transformation through the meditation technique of calm abiding. The author is a direct intellectual and heart descendant of the wisdom teachings that go back more than 2500 years.
Sakyong Mipham follows the Buddha's tradition of piercing honesty about our predicament as sentient beings. He does not shy from telling the truth of suffering, impermanence, and selflessness of our existence. In these troubled times, it is wonderful to know that there is a practical and doable path of personal transformation by which we can live without deception and with loving kindness to benefit ourselves and all beings.

This book has been helpful for dealing with anxiety/depression. I'm not much into just meditating or even following Buddhist thinking, however, there is value in what I've learned from this book -- disciplining the mind and learning to keep the mind "present". This has helped me from worrying "too far ahead" or losing perspective of life by helping strengthen my mind. I highly recommend this book along with practicing some form of meditation if you struggle with anxiety or negative/worrying thoughts.

This book and Sakyong Mipham's more recent "Ruling Your World," are permanent fixtures in my library. Sometimes Buddhist writings can be difficult to understand or relate to, but this author has a Western background and is able to communicate ideas in ways that are easy to identify with for people without a background in Buddhist thought. Our culture and the media encourage "monkey mind," and it's hard to gain control of inner thought processes in a world that constantly communicates "Buy More, Do More, Be More." This book offers a means of calming the internal turmoil and developing your mind to reach its potential.
Especially helpful, was the practical information on meditation, such as how to sit, what posture to assume and when to meditate. Sometimes authors assume a certain level of sophistication of their readers that is unwarranted and the discussion starts out on an esoteric level and leaves the reader wondering how to proceed. If you are new to meditation practice, the materials at the end of the book will answer your practical questions, while the chapters on calming the mind and developing your meditation practice will point you in the right direction. I also got a great deal of benefit from the chapters dealing with the pitfalls and plateaus to expect when developing a practice. I'd give this book 6 stars if I could.

I've read a number of wonderful Buddhist authors. I really enjoyed them. The reason I recommend this one so highly is that it was so effective at getting me to actually begin meditating and doing so on a regular basis.

I am by no means advanced in my practice, but just doing it has been of incredible benefit to me. I don't know how to better describe it. I really do owe it to the focused approach Sakyong Rinpoche explains in this book.

'Turning The Mind Into an Ally' was responsible for getting me from a wild, untamed mind - procrastining and reading one book after another - to actually sitting down and beginning my meditation.

As a friend who observed me reading alot of books once told me, "Just remember, the map is not the journey."

I do feel that this book will start you on your mindfullness journey.

I have been meditating for about three or four years. I got started with contemplative prayer. Then, once I started studying Buddhism have been practicing based on Buddhist meditation techniques. I've found meditation to be relaxing, frustrating, hard to stick with and extremely beneficial. I want to meditate but there's always something more urgent to do. I want to meditate but it's so boring just sitting there by myself. I want to meditate but I just can't slow my thoughts down long enough to feel the time has been well spent. I've read books about meditation and contemplative prayer and listened to many PodCasts. But, of all the materials I have studied, the best so far is Turning the Mind Into An Ally by Sakyong Mipham.

It's likely you don't think of your mind as an enemy. But, for many of us an untamed, out of control mind is just that. I've known for years that my thoughts race. I knew I wanted to get control of the flashes of anger that could just pop out or the rush of fear that could be triggered by a single thought. One thought leads to another which leads to another and you "wake up" minutes later to find you've said or done something you regret. Meditation helps us study the often unconscious habitual patterns our minds fall into, so that we can see those things happening as they happen and, ultimately, before they happen. Buddhist practice isn't so much a religion as it is a disciplining of the mind and an attempt to face ultimate reality. When I first started reading the book, it seemed too basic for me, like Meditation 101. It's written in non-technical language and is full of real-life illustrations that make the material easy to read and grasp. One metaphor the author uses throughtout the book is comparing the mind to a wild horse that we need to tame and that once tamed is a powerful vehicle to take us where we want/need to go. I also appreciated that he did not talk about the ego and how it's something we have to kill. The untamed mind is not something to be killed but something to be tamed. The goal of meditation is to transform the wild horse into the windhorse which we can ride to boundless joy and freedom.

I've been meditating and following the breath for a few years now. My meditation practice has been spotty (at best). This book motivated me to get back on to the cushion. Thanks to this book, for the first time I think I really understand the purpose of following the breath which is not just following the breath for the sake of counting it or even experiencing it but for the sake of training your mind to focus on what you want to focus on and set aside distractions. This will inevitably fail and you will find yourself drifting and have to re-focus your attention. This act, repeated time and time again is like yoga for your mind, making it stronger and allowing you to see how it works. After the mind has been trained in this technique, we can begin to truly contemplate ultimate reality. The joys of being born human, the fact that our actions have consequences, the natural progression of growing older, becoming sick and dying, having compassion for all sentient beings. And, when we are off of the cushion, we actually have some chance of being able to get control of those patterns we so easily fall into when our mind is running out of control.

I think this is an excellent book for beginning meditators to those who may have begun meditation a while ago, don't fully understand it or just need a reminder of why it's so important and how it can help. You don't have to be Buddhist or even spiritual to get something out of this book and out of meditation. It's a book I'm glad to have in my library and one that I'm sure I'll be reading again just to remind myself of how and why to continue to practice.

The Sakyong's book is like a portable Zabuton (cushion for meditation). The book provides a solid, yet comfortable, base for the practice of meditation: it's not too soft and not too hard. While 'Turning the Mind Into an Ally' does not provide an in-depth philosophy of Buddhism, it does offer a great overview of meditation practice for beginners. For this reason alone, it is unfair to evaluate the book against the work of the Sakyong's father, Chogyam Trungpa. 'Turning the Mind Into an Ally 'is simply a new route down a very old path. Some may actually prefer this to some of the more celebrated texts on Buddhism, many of which can be confusing or intimidating to those new to practice.

For all of you folks out there that have any interest in figuring out what meditation is all about this is the book for you, so easy to understand. the ideas are so lucidly explained that you can just read and read and it all just makes sense. Its like all those things that you have felt deep down but could not put your finger on placed out on the table for you in plain and simple language.
also for all of you like myself who have been meditating for a few years its a great book to reinvigourate your practice, i have found that his examples just jump into my mind through out the day and remind me of what this path is all about and why i am on it
i really recomend this book for all

I've read about a dozen books on Buddhism now, and that's all I've done, so that's not nearly enough activity to make me an expert on Buddhism or meditation or anything else. But this book is so gentle and peaceful, so warmly written, I can't help but recommend it to anyone who's interested in those topics.
I find some books on Buddhism to be unrealistic for the person I am. I DO care. I AM attached. I DO push for things to get better, and oftentimes, I get frustrated and angry. But that makes me get up the next day and try again to push for things to get better. The world needs people like me. So, to think I must become this glacial person who rises above all of that -- well, it's just not going to happen.
Some books on Buddhism are so esoteric, I can't understand them at all, and I come away feeling I've been reading air.
Some books have so many lists of things (4 of those, 12 of this, 8 of that, 14 of those ... egad ...) I get stressed out thinking I must remember them all ...
But this book is not like any other book on Buddhism I've read. I almost feel that the author wrote it just for me, that's how attached I've become to it. This book makes me feel relaxed, peaceful and happy. I always sleep well if I read this book at bedtime. I feel that this author knows me, and he knows I must live in the real world, and he knows that all I want is to be able to do my work with compassion and wisdom, and to learn how to be peaceful at the end of the day.
This is just a lovely piece of work. I feel that if I ever met the author, I would like him.