IRB Media Summary of Jack Kornfield's A Path with Heart

Annotation

Please note: This is a companion version & not the original book. Book Preview: #1 I returned to America in 1972 as a Buddhist monk. I had been studying in Asia for five years, and when I returned, I wanted to see how it would be to live as a monk in America, even if for only a short while.#2 I grew up in a scientific and intellectual household, but was still unhappy. I turned to the East to find happiness, and I began practice at a Thai forest monastery led by the young but later quite famous master Achaan Chah.#3 I have had many spiritual experiences over the years, but my practice is not about ascending the chakras but descending them. I have found myself working my way down the chakras rather than up them.#4 I had used my mind in meditation to suppress painful feelings, but I had little skills for dealing with my emotions or engaging on an emotional level. I had to shift my practice down the chakras from the mind to the heart. I began a long and difficult process of reclaiming my emotions, bringing awareness and understanding to my patterns of relationship, and learning how to feel my feelings.