Turning the Mind Into an Ally

"In language totally fresh and jargon-free, Sakyong Mipham Rinpoche distills the wisdom of many centuries. Simple as it is profound, his book bears reading many times."—Peter Conradi, author of Iris Murdoch: A Life and Going Buddhist

Strengthening, calming, and stabilizing the mind is the essential first step in accomplishing nearly any goal. Growing up American with a Tibetan twist, Sakyong Mipham talks to Westerners as no one can: in idiomatic English with stories and wisdom from American culture and the great Buddhist teachers. Turning the Mind Into an Ally makes it possible for anyone to achieve peace and clarity in their lives.Turning the Mind Into an AllyForeward by Pema Ch?dr?n
Preface

One: Why Meditate?
1. The Rock and the Flower
2. Bewilderment and Suffering
3. Peaceful Abiding

Two: The Art of Peacefully Abiding
4. Taking Our Seat
5. Mindfulness and Awareness
6. How to Gather a Scattered Mind
7. The Virtues of Boredom
8. Laziness
9. Forgetting the Instructions
10. Not Too Tight, Not Too Loose
11. Nine Stages of Training the Mind

Three: Turning the Mind Into An Alley
12. Turning the Mind
13. The Joy of Being Human
14. The Unchanging Truth of Change
15. First We Got Old
16. And Then We Die
17. Samsara and Karma
18. Jumping into the Heart of the Buddha

Four: Warrior in the World
19. Rousing Motivation
20. Wisdom and Emptiness
21. Warrior in the World

Appendixes
A. Preparing to Practice
B. The Posture of Meditation
C. Instructions for Contempletive Meditation

Resources

"In language totally fresh and jargon-free, Sakyong Mipham Rinpoche distills the wisdom of many centuries. Simple as it is profound, his book bears reading many times."—Peter Conradi, author of Iris Murdoch: A Life

"With warmhearted clarity and wise simplicity, Sakyong Mipham offers some of the best advice you can find for establishing and sustaining a strong, dedicated, and genuinely transformative meditation experience."—Jack Kornfield, author of A Path with Heart

"Like Zen Mind, Beginner's Mind, this book addresses the complexities, obstacles, and joys of meditation with a simple and extraordinarly generous voice. It's an amazing guidebook for a beginner, in the sense that one is always a beginner and that the journey never ends."—Rudy Wurlitzer, author of Hard Travel to Sacred Places

"One of the best of the Buddhism-for-Westerners genre."—Publishers Weekly

Sakyong Mipham Rinpoche is one of the most highly respected young incarnate lamas of Tibet. He is the head of the Shambhala lineage and the director of Shambhala International, a worldwide organization of more than two hundred meditation and retreat centers. He teaches around the world to thousands, both Western and Asian audiences. He is a husband, father of three daughters, and an avid runner.