Lovingkindness: The Revolutionary Art of Happiness

by Sharon Salzberg

Overview

Throughout our lives we long to love ourselves more deeply and find a greater sense of connection with others. Our fear of intimacy—both with others and with ourselves—creates feelings of pain and longing. But these feelings can also awaken in us the desire for freedom and the willingness to take up the spiritual path.

In this inspiring book, Sharon Salzberg, one of America's leading spiritual teachers, shows us how the Buddhist path of lovingkindness can help us discover the radiant, joyful heart within each of us. This practice of lovingkindness is revolutionary because it has the power to radically change our lives, helping us cultivate true happiness in ourselves and genuine compassion for others. The Buddha described the nature of such a spiritual path as "the liberation of the heart, which is love." The author draws on simple Buddhist teachings, wisdom stories from various traditions, guided meditation practices, and her own experience from twenty-five years of practice and teaching to illustrate how each one of us can cultivate love, compassion, joy, and equanimity—the four "heavenly abodes" of traditional Buddhism.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781570629037
Publisher:	Shambhala
Publication date:	09/03/2002
Series:	Shambhala Classics Series
Edition description:	Revised Edition
Pages:	208
Product dimensions:	5.92(w) x 8.99(h) x 0.54(d)

About the Author

Sharon Salzberg is one of America’s leading spiritual teachers and authors and has been a practitioner of Buddhist meditation for over forty years. She is a co-founder of the Insight Meditation Society in Barre, Massachusetts, and teaches meditation across the country, online, and abroad. To learn more, visit sharonsalzberg.com

Table of Contents

Foreword Jon Kabat-Zinn ix

Acknowledgments xi

Introduction 1

1 The Revolutionary Art of Happiness 7

2 Relearning Loveliness 17

Exercise Remembering the Good within You 25

Exercise Phrases of Lovingkindness 26

3 Facets of Lovingkindness 29

Exercise The Benefits of Lovingkindness 39

Exercise The Benefactor 39

4 Hindrances to Lovingkindness 41

Exercise Reflection on Happiness 49

Exercise The Meaning of Friends 50

Exercise The Beloved Friend 50

Exercise The Neutral Person 51

5 Working with Anger and Aversion 53

Exercise Forgiveness 63

Exercise Seeing Goodness 65

Exercise The Difficult Person 66

Exercise Difficult Aspects of Oneself 69

6 Breaking Open the Loving Heart 71

Exercise Lovingkindness for All Beings 83

Exercise Lovingkindness toward Groups 84

Exercise Walking Meditation 85

Exercise The Ten Directions 85

7 Developing the Compassionate Heart 87

Exercise Meditation on Compassion 98

Exercise Compassion for Those Who Cause Pain 99

8 Liberating the Mind through Sympathetic Joy 101

Exercise Meditation on Sympathetic Joy 113

Exercise Skating Merit 114

9 The Gift of Equanimity 115

Exercise Equanimity 128

10 The Power of Generosity 131

Exercise Giving 142

11 Living Our Love 145

Exercise The Practice of Morality 160

Afterword to the 25th Anniversary Edition 165

For More Information 171

Credits 173

About the Author 175

Editorial Reviews

Sharon Salzberg’s book illuminates the heart of lovingkindness like a lamp in the darkness, like the clearing of fog, like a sunrise on a beautiful morning—it brings light so that all those with eyes may see.”—Jack Kornfield, author of After the Ecstasy, the Laundry
 
“Reading Salzberg’s book produces the sense of having been gifted abundantly.”—Sylvia Boorstein

From the Publisher