Stop Biting the Tail You're Chasing: Using Buddhist Mind Training to Free Yourself from Painful Emotional Patterns

by Anyen Rinpoche, Allison Choying Zangmo

How to be free from bondage to your a practical and powerful Buddhist teaching for training the mind to be content in any circumstance.Are emotions our friends or our enemies? Is it possible to free ourselves from emotional conflict? The Buddhist practice of lojong is a way of letting go of attachment to both “positive” and “negative” emotions and leads to profound insight and compassion, unbounded by our habitual reactions. This book provides a set of tools that you can apply in daily life to gradually relieve your own suffering and extend that relief to everyone you encounter.

Genres: Buddhism, Nonfiction, Psychology, Emotion, Religion

160 pages, Kindle Edition

First published July 10, 2018

About the author

Khenpo Anyen Tulku Rinpoche is a Tibetan master of Dzogchen meditation as well as a seasoned scholar of the Nyingma and Gelugpa schools of Tibetan Buddhism. He is one of five "heart sons" of his root lama, Khenchen Tsara Dharmakirti Rinpoche, from whom he received an uncommonly short and unbroken lineage of the Longchen Nyingthig cycle of Jigme Lingpa in the lineage of Patrul Rinpoche.

Anyen Rinpoche founded the Orgyen Khamdroling Dharma Center in Denver, Colorado, which remains his principle seat in the West, and the Phowa Foundation, intended to help Buddhist practitioners prepare for the moment of death.

Reviews

[David Secondo · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is one of the best Buddhist books I have read in a long time. It gives exact instructions on how to decrease anxiety and suffering and how to increase happiness. I was very interested in the way the authors discussed the way that we relate to our emotions as either friends or enemies. It references ancient Buddhist texts and masters, showing that all of the usual ways we try to be happy are actually counterproductive and are the cause of our unhappiness...Though this idea seems difficult to understand, the book clearly details how to understand this, why we do it, and how to stop creating our own suffering so that we can continually increase our peace, joy and engagement in a meaningful life. Thank you to the authors for this book!

[Smitha Murthy · Rating 3 out of 5]

I am a fan of Shambala Publications. But this has to be the longest I have taken to ever finish a book. I started this back in March. And look here I am! It's not that the book wasn't appealing.

The paperback packed too many words in one page, and it felt all too dizzy after sometime. Lojong is a practice I am familiar with, thanks to Pema Chodron's teachings, but I felt the book wouldn't appeal to someone who has never heard of it.

I need to really stop biting this tail I am chasing, however.

[Carolyn Kanjuro · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book is filled with penetrating insight threaded through a series of very practical methods for unwinding the emotional habits that keep us bound in suffering. The writing is both sophisticated and straightforward, an accessible, hands-on manual for identifying how our emotions arise, our subtle attachment to feeding them that keeps us in a cycle of pain, and how it is truly possible to free ourselves, both moment to moment and, more deeply, over the course of time. For those who are willing to take a bold look at themselves and are ready to apply these time-tested techniques from some of the greatest Buddhist masters, this text is an invaluable map for the journey.

[Johanna Okker · Rating 5 out of 5]

If I could give this book more than five stars I would. I've read so many books about meditation and Buddhism, but this book is the most accessible, profound and direct. While reading it, it cleared up so much confusion of topics I thought I understood, like Karma, emptiness and selflessness. Not only that, the tools given in this book provide the clear and direct instructions necessary to cut through all the grasping that causes so much suffering. This is a must-read for anyone interested in the mind, Buddhism or happiness

[Patrick St-Amant · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book is a gem! I don't know why, but it feels quite uncommon. In many books I've read, the content had a very intellectual flavor, but this book is different. Not only it is deep and insightful, but you can really feel that the authors are living what they teach about compassion or getting rid of negative patterns. This gives me a lot of confidence in the tools shared in this book. I've started applying some of these tools and it is helping me get through some of my painful emotional stuff. I hope you'll find this book as valuable as I did.

[David P · Rating 3 out of 5]

Good explanations of basic Buddhist practices and the reasons behind them. Although I like books of Buddhist teachings which bring me back to “beginner’s mind,” I found this book wordy and repetitive. It did not hold my interest. If you order this book direct from Shambhala publications, they have a 30-day return option available.

[Kevin Orth · Rating 5 out of 5]

Wonderful read. Anyone experiencing tremendous emotional distress at any point in their life would be well served by reading this book. Which means everyone.

[Tom Shipley · Rating 5 out of 5]

I've always joked that we shouldn't get worked up over things because one day the sun will explode, the Earth will die and all of this will be nothing. Turns out that's basically what Buddhism is!

[DRugh · Rating 5 out of 5]

Very help text with practical advice on engaging with your emotions from a Buddhist perspective.

[Jason Comely · Rating 4 out of 5]

If you want to experience what Buddhism has to offer on a very practical level, I can think of no better book than this. However (and this isn't necessarily a negative), for people who already have exposure to Buddhism and lojong, there is a lot of familiar territory here.