What do You think about The Wisdom Of No Escape: How To Love Yourself And Your World (2004)?
I don't know why I keep bothering with this kind of book. They offer nothing to me. While I can appreciate and/or respect certain aspects of the Buddhist philosophy, most of the time I feel it's a cop-out, including most of the rather generalised writing in this book. While I found it definitely less annoying than most self-help type books, I couldn't quite relate to it, as the goals are not my goals. I don't believe in many of the tenets in this book. Life is suffering though, I agree with that, but as my answer/response to a parable related in the book and on the back cover of my copy: I don't even like strawberries very much. I only made it through about 2/3 of this book. My headache prevents me from concentrating on my out-breath and my sense of loving-kindness.
—Katey
This book is very practical and one of the earlier books published by Pema Chodron. The writing is very clear and simple and introduces the reader to concepts like "maitra", which means giving loving kindness to yourself, and "boddhichita" which means giving loving kindness to others. Essentially an introduction to the bare bones of Buddhist philosophy, Chodron uses these cornerstones as sites for illustrating how essential truths, when seen through an intentionally loving and kind way, can be not only bareable, but a foundation for clarity, peace, and joy.
—Elizabeth
The first part of this book resonated with me more than the second part. Chapter 3 "Finding Our Own True Nature" begins with a metaphor of horses and how the worst horse turns out to be the best practitioner, not the best horse, the horse everyone wants to be when they first hear the story. There is also wonderful story at the beginning of the chapter titled "Joy" about strawberries. I was reading it during the same week our local strawberries were right at their peak. Enjoy the moment. Discussion of the idea that "You are always standing in the middle of sacred space," a concept from Black Elk Speaks on page 28 is worthy of note. And, I liked this quote best of all "The humor and beauty of practice is that going from one extreme to another is not considered to be an obstacle; sometimes we're like a drill sergeant, sometimes we're like mashed potatoes."
—Jennifer
