Head & Heart Together

by Ṭhānissaro Bhikkhu

The fourth collection of essays. Includes: The Lessons of Gratitude, No Strings Attached, The Power of Judgment, Think like a Thief, Strength Training for the Mind, Mindfulness Defined, The Joy of Effort, Head & Heart Together, The Wisdom of the Ego, Ignorance, Food for Awakening, The Buddha via the Bible, and Freedom from Buddha Nature.

81 pages, ebook

First published January 1, 2010

About the author

Ṭhānissaro Bhikkhu, also known as Ajaan Geoff (born Geoffrey DeGraff, 1949), is an American Theravada Buddhist monk of the Dhammayut Order (Dhammayutika Nikaya), Thai forest kammatthana tradition. He is currently the abbot of Metta Forest Monastery in San Diego County. Ṭhānissaro Bhikkhu is a translator of the Pāli Canon as well as more modern Buddhist works and the author of many articles and books on Dhamma.

Reviews

[Emma]

The author doesn’t shy away from tricky controversial topics surrounding Buddhism. Is there a intrinsic Buddha nature(no)? Is meditation supposed to be a relinquishing of judgement to just accept all that’s in the present moment (no)? Is Buddhism sufficient for cultivating a healthy ego, in the western psychological sense, or does it need to be complemented by western psychology (no).

The author is a Buddhist intellectual extraordinaire. Western understanding of Buddhism is just budding, and it’s great to see treatises like these.

Will be reading more ancient Chinese and Japanese texts on Buddhism soon, let’s see how deep the scholarship goes.

[Sejin]

My second Thanissaro Bhikkhu book.
My first "review", not even a review.

Not easy to read, but there is depth.
Should I write the other way around?
There is depth, but not easy to read.
Not easy to summarize the book.
Not easy to review.

[Eileen Spillane]

I especially appreciated the clarifications of terms and concepts the Buddha never said but have been expressed at the risk of diluting the dharma.

[T.]

Some of the talks were a bit complicated for me but it was good dharma nonetheless.