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Opening the Heart of Compassion: Transform Suffering Through Buddhist Psychology and Practice
In this intriguing book, Martin Lowenthal and Lar Short explain how "Buddhism" uses the practice of compassion as a way to transcend everyday suffering. They present a helpful and friendly introduction to Buddhist teachings on the habitual ways of thinking and feeling which characterize "the six realms of experience." They integrate this ancient knowledge wiht modern psychological insights to guide readers in their quest for freedom from unnecessary pain. Included are many meditative exercises that will help the reader to achieve a greater understanding of self and of others, and to cultivate joy in daily life. This is a remarkable book that presents a path of spiritual development rooted in creative action guided by compassion.
208 pages, Paperback
First published August 15, 1993
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239 people want to read
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Displaying 1 - 8 of 8 reviews
April 28, 2019
Contender for most life changing book for me.
December 26, 2020
LIFE IS A VIBRANT PLAY of energies and opportunities that we can experience with openness, clarity, joy, and wonder.
So opens this book on opening the heart of compassion. Actually this quote comes before it, just under the title for chapter one, Born to Be Free.
We have here the very same breeze as the remote
spring at Lumbini,
the birthplace of the Buddha.
The very same mist hangs over the evening garden
as it did over the
ancient woods of Asoka trees.
There is no spot on this good earth which is not the
birthplace
of a Buddha.
Senzaki Roshi
Organized into six realms, or types, of suffering with relevant antidotes, tools and techniques this book seems very practical while still delving into rather deep and emotional issues. It might seem to skim too much along the surface at times. Yet, rather than laboriously delving into the explorations of these maladies too much, we get enough of an introduction and some exercises or experiments so that we can explore and experience our states of being and transform situations by transforming our perceptions of others and reality itself.
Sometimes, during the introductory descriptions of what one might be experiencing in a realm of suffering, the wording can come across like negative self-talk.
I find myself wanting to be careful that I don't buy into what's being said too much. It might be harmful to think "we do this and this and this and then we do this and then we do this…"
If it were worded in past tense, as in "when we were caught in this particular type of suffering, we did this and we did this and we did that… " then maybe there would be more a sense of freedom and more accurate description of what actually happened for people. In the Twelve Steps and Twelve Traditions Alcoholics Anonymous manual, you see this past-tense hope-inducing languaging of how a group of people broke free of suffering. That sort of thing could have improved this book, I think.
Still, there are some very interesting mental models introduced here that come from a lineage of thought cultivated for many years in Tibet. They seem very well thought out and the tools and techniques that I have applied have really worked well for those who have needed to deal with this guy who used to be, well, rather closed and not very compassionate.
I think I read this book around the same time when I explored other works, such as Openness Mind: Self-Knowledge and Inner Peace Through Meditation and The Tibetan Book of Living and Dying.
This went deeper and pulled together an integrated system of thought that intrigued me after reading other works such as What to Say When You Talk to Yourself, The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People: Powerful Lessons in Personal Change, and Man's Search for Meaning.
Awaken the Giant Within: How to Take Immediate Control of Your Mental, Emotional, Physical and Financial Destiny! had also influenced me. I find amusing a book I later encountered that suggests a much deeper, broader and more significant mind shift, Awakening the Buddha Within. However that last title, a nice tie link between American self-help pop culture and wisdom gained by an American~Tibetan truth seeker and writer, got a bit more wordy and ponderous.
This book about Opening the Heart of Compassion is much more simple and practical. One of my mentors, who introduced it to me, later complained that it seemed to him much too seminar-ish. It fell out of favor for him. But then, if you knew him, you'd know that he created that sort of angst quite a bit. That was his realm, I guess. Some elements of Animal, Human or Hungry Ghost?
This book suggests that we may, all of us, bounce around a bit between different states of suffering. I can admit that I, personally, have jumped in and gotten stuck at times in ways of being that were other than openness, clarity, joy, and wonder. With the training in this book, I have experienced welcome respites of relaxation into relating more wholeheartedly with others.
So opens this book on opening the heart of compassion. Actually this quote comes before it, just under the title for chapter one, Born to Be Free.
We have here the very same breeze as the remote
spring at Lumbini,
the birthplace of the Buddha.
The very same mist hangs over the evening garden
as it did over the
ancient woods of Asoka trees.
There is no spot on this good earth which is not the
birthplace
of a Buddha.
Senzaki Roshi
Organized into six realms, or types, of suffering with relevant antidotes, tools and techniques this book seems very practical while still delving into rather deep and emotional issues. It might seem to skim too much along the surface at times. Yet, rather than laboriously delving into the explorations of these maladies too much, we get enough of an introduction and some exercises or experiments so that we can explore and experience our states of being and transform situations by transforming our perceptions of others and reality itself.
Sometimes, during the introductory descriptions of what one might be experiencing in a realm of suffering, the wording can come across like negative self-talk.
I find myself wanting to be careful that I don't buy into what's being said too much. It might be harmful to think "we do this and this and this and then we do this and then we do this…"
If it were worded in past tense, as in "when we were caught in this particular type of suffering, we did this and we did this and we did that… " then maybe there would be more a sense of freedom and more accurate description of what actually happened for people. In the Twelve Steps and Twelve Traditions Alcoholics Anonymous manual, you see this past-tense hope-inducing languaging of how a group of people broke free of suffering. That sort of thing could have improved this book, I think.
Still, there are some very interesting mental models introduced here that come from a lineage of thought cultivated for many years in Tibet. They seem very well thought out and the tools and techniques that I have applied have really worked well for those who have needed to deal with this guy who used to be, well, rather closed and not very compassionate.
I think I read this book around the same time when I explored other works, such as Openness Mind: Self-Knowledge and Inner Peace Through Meditation and The Tibetan Book of Living and Dying.
This went deeper and pulled together an integrated system of thought that intrigued me after reading other works such as What to Say When You Talk to Yourself, The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People: Powerful Lessons in Personal Change, and Man's Search for Meaning.
Awaken the Giant Within: How to Take Immediate Control of Your Mental, Emotional, Physical and Financial Destiny! had also influenced me. I find amusing a book I later encountered that suggests a much deeper, broader and more significant mind shift, Awakening the Buddha Within. However that last title, a nice tie link between American self-help pop culture and wisdom gained by an American~Tibetan truth seeker and writer, got a bit more wordy and ponderous.
This book about Opening the Heart of Compassion is much more simple and practical. One of my mentors, who introduced it to me, later complained that it seemed to him much too seminar-ish. It fell out of favor for him. But then, if you knew him, you'd know that he created that sort of angst quite a bit. That was his realm, I guess. Some elements of Animal, Human or Hungry Ghost?
This book suggests that we may, all of us, bounce around a bit between different states of suffering. I can admit that I, personally, have jumped in and gotten stuck at times in ways of being that were other than openness, clarity, joy, and wonder. With the training in this book, I have experienced welcome respites of relaxation into relating more wholeheartedly with others.
November 28, 2021
The authors use the frame of the 6 realms of existence, or the 6 paths of rebirth, to explain the various ways humans deceive themselves about their true nature. Each of these deceptions causes suffering, and the authors hope that by naming and defining these deceptions we can break free of their dominion.
If only it were so easy.
Yet the authors know that enlightenment isn't easy. Our true nature is like a dance: though difficult to learn, and thus needing to be taught, there is something effortless about it which transcends instruction. It is this spirit of effortlessness, of ease, of lack of tension, and of direct perception of some kind of spirit, that the authors try to impart through their many observations of a frustrated humankind.
God-realm emotions are defined by blissed-out self-satisfaction. People in this realm are consumed by pleasure until they grow indifferent to the suffering of others. Focussing on pleasure and bliss also robs them of the ability to experience themselves as multidimensional beings. In serving themselves, they grow numb to both themselves and others.
Titan-realm emotions are defined by an obsession with success. Titans want power, yet they suffer from feelings of inferiority, jealousy, and envy when they compete against each other. They constantly struggle to overcome an unfair world, all the while robbing themselves of the joys of a gentle coexistence with other people. Titans feel pleasure but not peace.
Human-realm emotions strive to impose an arbitrary order on a chaotic universe. They name things, categorise them, and turn them into concepts in an attempt to "make sense" of the world--that is, they force the world to make sense on their terms. This attempt to transform the universe into something that is clear and definite is central both to the process of enlightenment as well as to the process of fabulation, whereby humans construct fantasy-worlds that are comforting because they're easy to understand. Humans make things up in order to feel good, even if those made up things are wrong.
Hungry-ghost-realm emotions feel incomplete. Hungry ghosts feel like their life is missing something which, if they possessed it, would make them happy. They compare themselves to others and always find themselves lacking. Eventually, the constancy of this sense of lack becomes a kind of shield: hungry-ghosts identify with their sense of failure and transform it into the one thing they can rely on. Like two people in self-destructive co-dependent love, hungry-ghosts crave an end to their suffering but treasure the thing that hurts them.
Hell-realm emotions see themselves as victims. Identities are formed around hatred, frustration, guilt, and blame, and the bearers of these identities feel constantly persecuted. Other people--their bad intentions, their malice, their cruelty--and the world at large--its corruption, violence, normlessness--seem always to be at one's throat. People who live in the hell realm struggle to free themselves from their emotions because they feel that doing so means freeing the entire world; their struggle reflects the world struggle, so their thoughts, behaviours, and actions are justified. People in the hell realm hate their lives, but cannot admit that they're the problem.
Animal realm emotions are focussed on survival. Unlike in the hell realm, there is not even the suspicion of persecution: fear is primal, and any intrusion into the orderliness of their lives is suspect. Disaster lurks everywhere, and animal-realm emotions seek healing the way a dying cat seeks solitude. They just want to be left alone. Animals live in a universe of one, and perceive all the world as unfathomable chaos.
If only it were so easy.
Yet the authors know that enlightenment isn't easy. Our true nature is like a dance: though difficult to learn, and thus needing to be taught, there is something effortless about it which transcends instruction. It is this spirit of effortlessness, of ease, of lack of tension, and of direct perception of some kind of spirit, that the authors try to impart through their many observations of a frustrated humankind.
God-realm emotions are defined by blissed-out self-satisfaction. People in this realm are consumed by pleasure until they grow indifferent to the suffering of others. Focussing on pleasure and bliss also robs them of the ability to experience themselves as multidimensional beings. In serving themselves, they grow numb to both themselves and others.
Titan-realm emotions are defined by an obsession with success. Titans want power, yet they suffer from feelings of inferiority, jealousy, and envy when they compete against each other. They constantly struggle to overcome an unfair world, all the while robbing themselves of the joys of a gentle coexistence with other people. Titans feel pleasure but not peace.
Human-realm emotions strive to impose an arbitrary order on a chaotic universe. They name things, categorise them, and turn them into concepts in an attempt to "make sense" of the world--that is, they force the world to make sense on their terms. This attempt to transform the universe into something that is clear and definite is central both to the process of enlightenment as well as to the process of fabulation, whereby humans construct fantasy-worlds that are comforting because they're easy to understand. Humans make things up in order to feel good, even if those made up things are wrong.
Hungry-ghost-realm emotions feel incomplete. Hungry ghosts feel like their life is missing something which, if they possessed it, would make them happy. They compare themselves to others and always find themselves lacking. Eventually, the constancy of this sense of lack becomes a kind of shield: hungry-ghosts identify with their sense of failure and transform it into the one thing they can rely on. Like two people in self-destructive co-dependent love, hungry-ghosts crave an end to their suffering but treasure the thing that hurts them.
Hell-realm emotions see themselves as victims. Identities are formed around hatred, frustration, guilt, and blame, and the bearers of these identities feel constantly persecuted. Other people--their bad intentions, their malice, their cruelty--and the world at large--its corruption, violence, normlessness--seem always to be at one's throat. People who live in the hell realm struggle to free themselves from their emotions because they feel that doing so means freeing the entire world; their struggle reflects the world struggle, so their thoughts, behaviours, and actions are justified. People in the hell realm hate their lives, but cannot admit that they're the problem.
Animal realm emotions are focussed on survival. Unlike in the hell realm, there is not even the suspicion of persecution: fear is primal, and any intrusion into the orderliness of their lives is suspect. Disaster lurks everywhere, and animal-realm emotions seek healing the way a dying cat seeks solitude. They just want to be left alone. Animals live in a universe of one, and perceive all the world as unfathomable chaos.
Want to read
April 7, 2021didn't read it yet. read that it is "one of the best books I know for calling yourself out on the patterns you are avoiding noticing." hope to read this one day and see if i think that's the case
December 18, 2023
even discounting the buddhism, this is an incredibly useful book about the different ways that cognitive distortions lead to suffering. i found myself highlighting on every page. i am shocked that it's not more widely read. and absolute must.
May 1, 2025
wonderful book if you have some background
June 29, 2019
Part II of the book was the most significant for me as it talks about the pitfalls of humanity: territorial nature, victimhood and righteousness, the hungry ghost of never enough, power seeking, and seeking for worldly comfort. It made me reflect on the varying ways we struggle in the dark side of our human nature and psyche. It was a theoretical capture of common pitfalls people fall into.
March 25, 2024
This is a deeply wise book that describes ways of being in the world where "we see the world, not as it is, but as we are." The drawings are unpleasant; so are the realms described. There's real insight here. The book's claim to provide a path "from the Realms of Suffering to the Wisdom of Aliveness" has not yet been completely fulfilled in my life.
Displaying 1 - 8 of 8 reviews