The Intelligent Heart: A Guide to the Compassionate Life

by Dzigar Kongtrül III, Joseph Waxman, Pema Chödrön (Foreword)

Practical instruction in a Tibetan Buddhist method for developing radical compassion--from a contemporary master with a gift for making the ancient teachings speak to modern hearts.


Dzigar Kongtrül's lively and accessible presentation of the Tibetan training method known as lojong (mind training) focuses on what he considers the heart of that practice: tonglen, the practice of exchanging self for other, for taking in others' pain and suffering and sending out kindness, ease, and consolation. It's a powerful method for developing compassion of the most tranformative kind, and its supreme expression is found in the classic text The Great Path of Awakening by Jamgon Kongtrül. This book is Dzigar Kongtrül's commentary on that beloved text, based on a series of talks he gave on it. It includes his fresh translation of the Great Path, and it is full of his characteristic humor as well as his skill in translating esoteric concepts into terms that not only are easily understood but that speak directly to the heart.

Genres: Buddhism, Spirituality, Psychology, Philosophy, Nonfiction

248 pages, Paperback

First published May 10, 2016

About the author

The 3rd Dzigar Kongtrul Rinpoche, also known as Jigme Namgyel, (Tibetan: འཛི་སྒར་ཀོང་སྤྲུལ་འཇིགས་མེད་རྣམ་རྒྱལ་, Wylie: 'dzi sgar kong sprul 'jigs med rnam rgyal, where "Rinpoche" is an honorific and not a surname) is a Tibetan Buddhist Lama of the Nyingma school, and is held to be one of the principle incarnations of Jamgön Kongtrül Lodrö Thayé, and the third such in a line traced through Dzigar Kongtrul Lodrö Rabpel.

Reviews

[Kate Hyde · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is my 3rd text on the lojong teachings and in my opinion, this is by far the text that drives the nail home the hardest: give up your self-importance if you want to move forward on the path. As a hard -headed practitioner myself, who needs to be told this message repeatedly to put it into action , I cherish the consistently gentle way the message ( how to loosen the knot of self -importance) permeates this text. As well, it's a great companion to any lojong card set one might have.

[Roben · Rating 4 out of 5]

Thank you, John Evans of Lemuria Books for suggesting Dzigar Kongtrul. The Intelligent Heart is conversational in style and so readable. For me this premise is a precise explanation of b0dhisattva wisdom..a magnificent explanation of what it means to clear one's heart.

[Markus Stobbs · Rating 5 out of 5]

I have finally begun to understand the bodhisattva vow after reading this book. This is a searingly insightful analysis of how humans continually choose self-importance over a life of compassion, service, and selflessness. The self that is just a mental construct BTW.

[𓂀 ✦ 𓋹 kandake 𓋹 ✦ 𓂀 of Mars X · Rating 4 out of 5]

It's really hard for me to remove a star from this book.

The author's motivation that fuels the book's overall message is pristine, but Buddhism needs filtering just from being outdated.

The message: take on others' internal suffering as your own, without fear or bias, and that will relieve your own personal suffering which only ever stems from self-importance a la ego.

This Buddhist practice called "tonglen" could be seen as a lifelong personal challenge.

At the end of the day life is full of hurts and these hurts can be looked at as good things.

"Huh? Why?..."

Because suffering gives us a chance to practice tonglen so we can be mentally and emotionally impervious to life's metaphorical punches and cuts whether coming from situations or people.

Here comes my however.

I don't have any desire to accept that a person's life has to end or be short, that death is inevitable.

*knock on wood*

As good as Buddhism is, I still believe hope is relevant to the human experience. I hope that life extension research will pan out for human beings so that physical suffering is diminished or atleast greatly reduced. *knock on wood* I would be happy with that. That is the major reason I removed one star.

Also, the writing is not so elegant which is my default preference, but there aren't any huge errors of any kind.

[Landon Shaw · Rating 5 out of 5]

A wonderful book that I read with my Buddhist study group over a few months. Dzigar Kongtrul Rinpoche teaches and writes in a way that facilitates actually putting these lojong slogans into practice by balancing ancient tradition with modernity. The Intelligent Heart has a high re-read value, as each time you delve into it you will glean something more from it that you may have missed in a previous read.

[Shaylee Harrison · Rating 4 out of 5]

I found this book incredibly insightful. It offers much wisdom about staying compassionate in our lives mainly concerning the practice of lojong. I had heard of tonglen (a method of lojong) before but this book gave me practical examples for incorporating it into my life. Great read.

“Whatever provokes your mind the most is also the greatest opportunity.”

[Scott Ford · Rating 5 out of 5]

Great overview of Buddhist principles applicable to contemporary Western contexts. Clear. Concise. Insightful. A helpful guide.

[Ally Lord · Rating 5 out of 5]

I lent this to someone and I forget who- so if this is you, LMK! Because this book is beautiful, highlighted in a fury, dog earred for days.

[Zyph · Rating 5 out of 5]

Although I would never say that the author has more wisdom and compassion than Dilgo Khyentse Rinpoche or Jamgon Kongtrul, I still find his commentary on this classic text, The Seven Points of Mind Training, more helpful than theirs! This is because it's aimed directly at my mentality and cultural conditioning. Traditional tibetan authors don't spend much time warning about the pitfalls of guilt, low self-esteem and beating yourself up. But Dzigar Kongtrul has been living and teaching in the West for decades and has a deep understanding of our particular flavours of neurosis.

That said, I would recommend any but the most sane and warm-hearted people to study his Training in Tenderness first. It helps lay a very necessary foundation. The Seven Points of Mind Training is a very radical and advanced teaching and despite Dzigar Kongtrul efforts, it's very difficult to understand and practice things like "Take all blame upon yourself" as they are meant without healing your heart, becoming friends with yourself, first. I used to take such instructions as ammunition for beating myself up and telling myself what a lazy, selfish, loser I am. Now, after about ten years of self-compassion, Loving Kindness and some psychotherapy, I'm slowly getting ripe for these teachings! And how incredible they are! To be guided, step by step, in opening your heart further and further until compassion becomes limitless and you are completely liberated from the prison of self-importance is just so precious! What a journey! What better support than these teachings?

[Suzanne Beveridge · Rating 5 out of 5]

Comprehensive discussion of lojong, mind training, and how to shift from self-importance to well-being of others.